Balfour, JOHN HUTTON

Balfour, JOHN HUTTON, born in Edinburgh, September 15, 1808, graduated at the university of Edinburgh, and abandoning his intention of entering the church, took the degree of M.D. in 1831. From 1841 to 1845 he was professor of Botany at Glasgow University, and in the latter year succeeded to the same chair in Edinburgh, and was nominated regius keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden, the efficiency of which was greatly extended under his rule. In 1879, after being for thirty years dean of the medical faculty, he resigned these appointments, the universities of Edinburgh, Glasgow, and St Andrews conferring on him the degree of LL.D. He died at Edinburgh, February 11, 1884. Professor Balfour was for many years secretary of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, and was a member of numerous British and foreign learned societies. More eminent as a teacher than as an original investigator, he published a number of useful text-books and other works on Botany, including a Manual, Class-book, Outlines, and Elements, and contributed the article on that subject to the 8th and 9th editions of the Encyclopædia Britannica.