John Hutton Balfour
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John Hutton Balfour (Edinburgh 15 September 1808 – 11 February 1884, Inverleith House, Edinburgh) was a Scottish botanist[1]. He became Professor of Botany first at the University of Glasgow in 1841, and then moved to Edinburgh University, also becoming Regius Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden Edinburgh and Her Majesty's Botanist in Scotland in 1845, which posts he held until 1879. He was awarded the degree of LLD by Edinburgh University, Glasgow University and St Andrews University in 1879. Balfour's sister, Magdelen Balfour, married William A. F. Browne (1805-1885), the well known phrenologist and asylum reformer, and her sons were Sir James Crichton-Browne (1840-1938), an eminent psychiatrist and Sir John Hutton Balfour-Browne K.C. (1845-1921), leader of the parliamentary bar and author of The Medical Jurisprudence of Insanity.
Balfour was educated at the Royal High School in Edinburgh and then studied at St. Andrews University and Edinburgh University, graduating with degrees of M.A. and then M.D., the latter in 1832. In Edinburgh, he became a notable member of the Plinian Society, where he encountered William A.F. Browne and entered the vigorous debates concerning natural history. His original intention had been to seek ordination in the Church of Scotland but instead started medical practice in Edinburgh in 1834 after studying abroad. With an interest in botany, and a botanical knowledge which he continued to expand, Balfour was prominent in the moves to establish the Botanical Society of Edinburgh in 1836 and the Botanical Club in 1838. In 1840 he began giving lectures on botany with some success and in 1841 he became Professor of Botany at Glasgow University. In 1845, Balfour was appointed Professor of Botany at Edinburgh University and nominated Keeper of the Royal Botanic Garden in Edinburgh. These appointments followed a protracted political struggle in which Balfour triumphed over his distinguished opponent, Joseph Hooker (1817-1911), a close associate of Charles Darwin. He served for many years as Dean of the Medical Faculty in Edinburgh University. Balfour was an enormously successful teacher of botany, lacing his scientific lectures with theological asides, as he remained profoundly wedded to Christian teachings; in 1862, he corresponded with Charles Darwin on botanical matters, and made some touching critical comment on Huxley's controversial Edinburgh lectures on the comparative anatomy of the primates. Under his care the Royal Botanic Garden was enlarged and improved and a palm-house, arboretum, and teaching accommodation was built. His publications include botanical text-books such as Manual of botany (1848), Class book of botany (1852), Outlines of botany (1854), and Elements of botany for schools (1869), Botanist's companion (1860), Introduction to palaeontological botany (1872), and The plants of scripture. He also contributed to the article on botany in the 8th edition of Encyclopaedia Britannica. Balfour retired in 1879. His son, Sir Isaac Bayley Balfour (1853-1922), became a distinguished botanist in his own right, serving as Sherardian Professor at Oxford University from 1884 to 1888, before returning to his father's old Chair at Edinburgh.
California's foxtail pine is named Pinus balfouriana Balf. after him.
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Wikisource has original works written by or about: John Hutton Balfour |
- Balfour, John Hutton (1851). A manual of botany: being an introduction to the study of the structure, physiology, and classification of plants. J. J. Griffin. http://www.archive.org/details/manualofbotanybe00balfiala. Retrieved 2008-05-10.
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