brothers Arthur, Gerald, and Frank Balfour. The last-named was killed, aged 31, in a climbing accident in 1882 on the Aiguille Blanche near Courmayeur. He was remarkable both for his scientific work and for his striking and most lovable personality. George’s affection for him never faded. His daughter remembers her father (not long before his death) saying with emotion, “I dreamed Frank Balfour was alive.” I imagine that tennis was the means of bringing George into contact with Mr. Arthur Balfour. What began in this chance way grew into an enduring friendship, and George’s diary shows how much kindness and hospitality he received from Mr. Balfour. George had also the advantage of knowing Lord Rayleigh at Cambridge, and retained his friendship through his life.
In the spring of 1869 he was in Paris for two months working at French. His teacher used to make him write original compositions, and George gained a reputation for humour by giving French versions of all the old Joe Millers and ancient stories he could remember.
It was his intention to make the Bar his profession, [161] and in October 1869 we find him reading with Mr. Tatham, in 1870 and 1872 with the late Mr. Montague Crackenthorpe (then Cookson), and in November 1871 he was a pupil of Mr. W. G. Harrison. The most valued result of his legal work was the friendship of Mr. and Mrs. Crackenthorpe, which he retained throughout his
life. During these years we find the first indications of the circumstances which forced him to give up a legal career—namely, his failing health and his growing inclination towards science. [162] Thus in the summer of 1869, when we were all at Caerdeon in the Barmouth valley, he writes that he “fell ill,” and again in the winter of 1871. His health deteriorated markedly during 1872 and 1873. In the former year he went to Malvern and to Homburg without deriving any advantage. I have an impression that he did not expect to survive these attacks, but I cannot say at what date he made this forecast of an early death. In January 1873 he visited Cannes, and “came back very ill.” It was in the spring of this year that he first consulted Dr. (afterwards Sir Andrew) Clark, from whom he received the kindest care. George suffered from digestive troubles, sickness, and general discomfort and weakness. Dr. Clark’s care probably did what was possible to make life more bearable, and as time went on his health gradually improved. In 1894 he consulted the late Dr. Eccles, and by means of the rest-cure, then something of a novelty, his weight increased from 9 stone to 9 stone 11 pounds. I gain the impression that this treatment produced a permanent improvement, although his health remained a serious handicap throughout his life.
Meanwhile he had determined on giving up the Bar, and settled in October 1873, when he was 28 years old, at Trinity in Nevile’s Court next the Library (G 4). His diary continues to contain records of ill-health and of various holidays in search of improvement. Thus in 1873 we read, “Very bad during January. Went to Cannes and stayed till the end of April.” Again in 1874, “February to July very ill.” In spite of unwellness he began in 1872–3 to write on various subjects. He sent to Macmillan’s Magazine [163a] an entertaining article, “Development in Dress,” where the survivals in modern costume were recorded and discussed from the standpoint of evolution. In 1873 he wrote “On beneficial restriction to liberty of marriage,” [163b] a eugenic article for which he was attacked with gross unfairness and bitterness by the late St. George Mivart. He was defended by Huxley; and Charles Darwin formally ceased all intercourse with Mivart. We find mention of a “Globe Paper for the British Association” in 1873. And in the following year he read a contribution on “Probable Error” to the Mathematical Society [163c]—on which he writes in his diary, “found it was old.” Besides another paper in the Messenger of Mathematics, he reviewed “Whitney on Language,” [163d] and wrote a “Defence of Jevons” which I have not been able to trace. In 1875 he was at work on the
“Flow of Pitch,” on an “Equipotential Tracer,” on slide rules, and sent a paper on “Cousin Marriages” to the Statistical Society. [164a] It is not my province to deal with these papers; they are enumerated here as showing his activity of mind and his varied interests,—features in his character which were notable throughout life.
The most interesting entry in his diary for 1875 is a “Paper on Equipotentials much approved by Sir W. Thomson.” This is the first notice of an association of primary importance in George’s scientific career. Then came his memoir, “On the influence of geological changes in the earth’s axis of rotation.” Lord Kelvin was one of the referees appointed by the Council of the Royal Society to report on this paper, which was published in the Philosophical Transactions in 1877.
In his diary, November 1878, George records, “Paper on tides ordered to be printed.” This refers to his work, “On the bodily tides of viscous and semi-elastic spheroids, etc.,” published in the Phil. Trans. in 1879. It was in regard to this paper that his father wrote to George on October 29th, 1878: [164b]
My dear old George,
I have been quite delighted with your letter and read it all with eagerness. You were very good to write it. All of us are delighted, for considering what a man Sir William Thomson is, it is most grand that you should have staggered him so quickly, and that he should speak of your ‘discovery, etc.’ . . . Hurrah for the bowels of the earth and their viscosity, and for the moon and for the Heavenly bodies, and for my son George (F.R.S. very soon). . . . [165a]
The bond of pupil and master between George Darwin and Lord Kelvin, originating in the years 1877–8, was to be a permanent one, and developed, not merely into scientific co-operation, but into a close friendship. Sir Joseph Larmor has recorded [165b] that George’s “tribute to Lord Kelvin, to whom he dedicated Volume I of his Collected Papers [165c] . . . gave lively pleasure to his master and colleague.” His words were: