28 
MEMOIR OF 
of taste, soon ripened their intimacy into friend- 
ship. Dr Balfour possessed an excellent library 
on that subject ; and he pointed out to Sibbald 
such authors as he thought most worthy of his 
study. “ I had,” says the latter, “ from my settle- 
ment here, a design to inform myself of the 
Natural History this country could' afford, for I 
had learned at Paris that the simplest method of 
physic was the best, and those that the country 
afforded came nearest to our temper, and agreed 
best with us ; so I resolved to make it part of my 
study to know what animals, vegetables, minerals, 
metals, and substances, cast up by the sea, were 
found in this country', that might be of use in 
medicine, or other arts useful to human life ; and 
I began to be curious in searching after them, 
and collecting them, which I continued to do ever 
since.” 
Sibbald introduced Balfour to Mr Patrick 
Murray, the Laird of Livingston, a great botanist, 
who had collected many plants, both foreign and 
indigenous, in his garden, at his country seat, to 
which the two friends frequently resorted. Stimu- 
lated by his success, they resolved to establish a 
garden of their own ; and for this purpose, they’ 
rented a plot of ground about forty feet square, 
in the north yards of the Abbey. And having 
become acquainted with Mr James Sutherland, a 
young man, who had acquired a knowledge of 
