hands the appointment lay, not only were distinct offers made to him, but he was repeatedly pressed to accept the post. Nor was it until after a considerable struggle that he finally refused, his love for his own University in the end overcoming the many inducements to leave; he elected to stay where he was, trusting to the future opening up for him some suitable position. In this decision he was undoubtedly influenced by the consideration that Cambridge, besides being the centre of his old friendships, had become as it were a second home for his own family. By the appointment of Lord Rayleigh to the chair of Experimental Physics his sister Lady Rayleigh had become a resident, his sister Mrs Sidgwick had lived there now for some years, and his brother Gerald generally spent the summer there; their presence made Cambridge doubly dear to him. At the close of the Michaelmas term, with feelings of relief at having completed his _Comparative Embryology_, the preparation of the second volume of which had led to almost incessant labour during the preceding year, he started to spend the Christmas vacation with his friend Kleinenberg at Messina. Stopping at Naples on his way thither he found his pupil Caldwell, who had been sent to occupy the University table at the Stazione Zoologica, lying ill at Capri, with what proved to be typhoid fever. The patient was alone, without any friend to tend him, and his mother who had been sent for had not yet arrived. Accordingly Balfour (with the kindness all forgetful of himself which was his mark all his life through) stayed on his journey to nurse the sick man until the mother came. He then went on to Messina, and there seemed to be in good health, amusing himself with the ascent of Etna. Yet in January, soon after his return home, he complained of being unwell, and in due time distinct symptoms of typhoid fever made their appearance. The attack at first promised to be severe, but happily the crisis was soon safely passed and the convalescence was satisfactory. While yet on his sick bed, a last attempt was made to induce him to accept the Edinburgh offer, and for the last time he refused. These repeated offers, and the fact that the dangers of his grave illness had led the University vividly to realize how much they would lose if Balfour were taken away from them, encouraged his friends to make a renewed effort to gain for him some adequate position in the University. This time the attempt was successful, and the authorities took a step, unusual but approved of by the whole body of resident members of the University; they instituted a new Professorship of Animal Morphology, to be held by Balfour during his life or as long as he should desire, but to terminate at his death or resignation unless it should be otherwise desirable. Accordingly in May, 1882, he was admitted into the Professoriate as Professor of Animal Morphology.