XXI 



children some taste for natural science or natural history. Under 

 her guidance the children early formed a geological collection, begin- 

 ning with fossils picked from the gravel in front of the house ; in 

 this collection, little Frank, as yet only seven or eight years old, inte- 

 rested himself greatly, and when oifered the choice of a birthday 

 present, begged for a large box, with trays and divisions, for hold- 

 ing fossils. The love for geology thus started grew strong in him 

 during his boyhood; and, indeed, this continued to be his favourite 

 study until he went to Cambridge. At the same time he was also 

 drawn to natural history, making a collection not only of butterflies, 

 as most boys do, but also of birds, having learnt how to prepare 

 and preserve skins. 



After spending some little time at Hoddesdon, in Hertfordshire, at 

 the preparatory school of the Rev. C. B. Chittenden, he entered at 

 Harrow in 1865. His love of science was daily growing stronger, but 

 the ordinary school studies awakened very little interest in him; and 

 at Harrow, as at Hoddesdon, he was not very successful in the routine 

 class work. He was left-handed, and in his early days somewhat 

 awkward in muscular exercises, though later on he overcame his defi- 

 ciencies in this respect, and not only acquired great skill in anatomical 

 and microscopical manipulation, but became an expert Alpine climber. 

 A similar inaptitude to learn by mere imitation followed him into 

 his school work ; writing was a trouble to him, and, indeed, spelling 

 no less so ; hence his school career gave no promise of the achievements 

 which were to come. Happily, even at that time, science was cared 

 for at Harrow, and, in the scientific teaching of Mr. G. Griffith, 

 Balfour found a satisfaction which he failed to get from his class 

 work. Though these science studies were, so to speak, extra acade- 

 mical, he threw himself into them with great enthusiasm, and his 

 future life was perhaps foreshadowed by the delight he showed when 

 the Rev. A. E. Eaton, on a visit to Harrow, taught him the art of 

 dissecting under water. 



Geology still, however, remained his favourite study. In 1868, he 

 sent up, in competition for a prize, an essay on the geology and 

 natural history of East Lothian. This and another essay, by Mr. A. 

 Evans, son of Mr. J. Evans, F.R.S., were considered to be of such 

 unusual worth that Professor Huxley was specially requested to 

 adjudicate on them; the two essays received equal prizes. The sub- 

 stance of his essay, Balfour, in conjunction with his brother, Mr. Gerald 

 Balfour (afterwards with Francis a Fellow of Trinity College), sub- 

 sequently elaborated into a paper " On some points in the Geology of 

 the East Lothian Coast," which was published in the " Geological 

 Magazine " for 1872. 



In 1870 he left Harrow for Cambridge with the reputation of a boy 

 not likely to distinguish himself greatly in ordinary University 



