'Band of Hope Review,' and the 'Onward' series. Others were issued as Social Science Tracts, and some published by the Scottish and the British Temperance Leagues.
Mrs. Balfour's last public appearance was at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, in May 1877, when she was elected president of the British Women's Temperance League. She died at Croydon 3 July 1878, aged 70 years, and was buried at the Paddington Cemetery, the Rev. Dawson Burns, M.A., preaching her memorial discourse (which was afterwards published) in the Church Street Chapel, Edgware Road.
A son of Mrs. Balfour, Mr. J. S. Balfour, was M.P. for Tamworth on the liberal side.
[Templar and Temperance Journal, 10 July 1878; Hand and Heart, 12 July 1878; The Oracle, 22 July 1882. p. 60; Notice prefixed to Home Makers, 1878.]
BALFOUR, FRANCIS, M.D. (fl. 1812), Anglo-Indian medical officer, appears to have taken the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh. He entered the East India Company's service in Bengal as assistant-surgeon on 3 July 1769, was appointed full surgeon on 10 Aug. 1777, and retired from the service on 16 Sept. 1807 (Dodwell and Miles' Indian Medical Officers, 4-5). He afterwards returned to Edinburgh; but the date of his death is uncertain. He appears to have been living in 1816.
Balfour lived for several years on terms of some intimacy with Warren Hastings. He dedicated a book—'The Forms of Herkern'— to him in 1781, and addressed him a letter in the same year complaining of the want of courtesy shown him by other officials in the East India service at Lucknow (Addit. MS. 29151, f. 109). In May, June, and July 1783, Balfour, while at Benares, corresponded frequently with Hastings in an abortive attempt to disclose a plot between the resident of Benares, Francis Fowke, and Rajah Cheyte Sing, which he claimed to have discovered (Addit. MSS. 29159, ff. 257, 388, 394, 400; 29160, ff. 49, 50, 69, 83, 104, 116). Balfour not only interested himself in politics and medicine, but devoted much time to Oriental studies. 'The Forms of Herkern . . . translated into English ... by Francis Balfour,' was published at Calcutta in 1781, and republished in London in 1804. It is a state letter-writer in Persian; a vocabulary is given by the translator at the end. Balfour was one of the earliest members of the Bengal Asiatic Society, founded, under the presidency of Sir William Jones and the patronage of Warren Hastings, in 1784. To the 'Asiatic Researches' ('Transactions of the Bengal Asiatic Society') Balfour contributed in 1790 a paper on Arabic roots, showing how the Arabic language had entered into the Persian and the language of Hindostan (ii. 205), and in 1805 a paper entitled 'Extracts from Tehzeebul Mantik; or the Essence of Logic, proposed as a small supplement to Arabic and Persian Grammar, and with a view to elucidate certain points connected with Oriental Literature' (viii. 89).
Balfour's medical works were as follows:
- 'Dissertatio de Gonorrhea Virulenta,' 1767.
- ' A Treatise on Sol-Lunar Influence in Fevers,' vol. i. Calcutta, 1784 ; 2nd ed. London, 1795; 3rd ed. Cupar, 1815; 4th ed. Cupar, 1816. A German translation of the book, with a preface by Herr Lauth, appeared at Strasburg in 1786. Balfour here expounds his favourite theory, that fevers are under the direct influence of the moon, and reach their critical stage with the full moon.
- 'Treatise on Putrid Intestinal Remitting Fevers,' 1790; 2nd ed. 1795.
- A paper on the Barometer in the 'Asiatic Researches' (iv. 195), 1795.
- A paper on the Diurnal Variations of the Barometer,' Edinburgh Phil. Trans.' (iv. pt. i. 25), 1798.
- A paper on the Effects of Sol-Lunar Influence on the Fevers of India in 'Asiatic Researches' (viii. 1), 1805.
[Authorities cited above; Watt's Bibl. Brit; Balfour's works; Dict. of Living Authors. 1816.]
BALFOUR, FRANCIS MAITLAND (1851–1882), naturalist, the third son of James Maitland Balfour, of Whittinghame, East Lothian, and Lady Blanche, daughter of the second Marquis of Salisbury, was born at Edinburgh, during a temporary stay of his parents there, on 10 Nov. 1851
His first years were spent at Whittinghame, where a love for natural science, carefully fostered by his mother, early developed itself in him, and led him, while still a boy, to make not inconsiderable collections of the fossils and birds of his native county. After two years spent in a preparatory school at Hoddesdon, Herts, he entered at Harrow in 1865. In the ordinary studies of the school he did not greatly distinguish himself, but, under the guidance of one of the masters, Mr. G. Griffith, he made rapid progress in natural science, especially in geology. His attainments in this direction, together with the increasing proofs that he possessed a character of unusual strength, led those around him thus early to conclude that he would before long make his mark. In October 1870 he entered into residence at Trinity College, Cambridge, and, being now able to
