HISTORICAL NOTES

Edward Green Balfour (1813–1889) and his contributions to Indian agriculture and forestry

Anantanarayanan Raman

Edward Balfour sparkles in the history of opened its gates Contributions to Indian science science of Madras Presidency as a poly- to women1 in 1875. The Balfour Memo- math. He also features prominently in rial Gold Medal (1891) at the University Balfour’s adeptness in writing on a range different roles as an administrator. Start- of Madras with the sole object of encour- of subjects is astonishing. More than 30 ing as an army surgeon, he retired as the aging women studying medicine com- works of varying lengths are his contri- chief administrator of Madras Medical memorates Balfour (note 3). He returned butions (Table 1). Department. In whichever work outfit he to Britain in 1876. He died in on His articles ‘Statistical data for form- was, Balfour achieved the best outcome; 8 December 1889. His portrait by Walter ing troops and maintaining them in his enthusiasm towards development of Barnard in 1880 (Figure 1) was placed in health in different climates and locali- science is imminent. His profundity in the Government Central Museum (the ties’ and ‘Observations on the means of meticulously documenting his observa- ‘ Museum’ today). Balfour was a preserving the health of troops by select- tions on diverse aspects of science, medi- Fellow of the and a ing healthy localities for their canton- cine, biology, agriculture, forestry, corresponding member of the Imperial ments’, written early in his career, anthropology and astronomy is stunning. Royal Geological Institute of Vienna. brought him into limelight. These publi- Balfour supported grant of independ- cations induced the Government of Ma- ence to , although it materialized dras in establishing the military hospital Life and work in India only in 1947. His uncle at Wellington (The Nilgiris), which later (1777–1855), a medical doctor and a became the Defence Services Staff Col- , who retired as the Sur- radical British parliamentarian, probably lege. He was passionately interested in geon General of Madras Presidency, was influenced Balfour towards this thinking. the epidemiology of cholera. His report born in Scotland on 6 September 1813. (1829–1912), son ‘On the influence exercised by trees on He qualified for the licentiate of the of Joseph Hume, who served as an Indian the climate of a country’ in 1849 and the Royal College of Surgeons of Edinburgh Civil Servant (and an avid ornithologist ‘Timber trees, timber, and fancy woods, in 1833. Balfour joined the medical de- and horticulturist) and who worked in the as also the forests of India and of eastern partment of the Indian army in 1834 and North-West Provinces of the Raj (pres- and southern Asia’ indicate his interest was commissioned as an Assistant Sur- ently Uttar Pradesh) was his first cousin. in weather and its then-strongly- geon in 1836 and became a full Surgeon Many would recall that Allan Hume was emphasized role in health. Serving as the in 1852. He was the acting government a founding pillar of the Indian National first officer-in-charge during 1850–1859 agent at Chepauk (note 1) and the pay- Congress in 1885, the concept of which of the Museum in Madras, he published master of the Carnatic stipends in 1850. was conceived in a private meeting held articles pertaining to special branches of During the early years of his service, during a Theosophists’ convention in scientific study (Table 1). His ‘Baromet- Balfour mastered Hindustani and Persian Madras in December 1884. rical survey of India’ (1853) is an exam- (note 2). He was the Deputy Inspector- In this note, I write on Balfour’s major ple of his versatility in climatology. He General of Hospitals during 1862–1870. contributions to Indian agriculture and published ‘Localities of India exempt He also served as the Deputy Surgeon- forestry, after referring briefly to his con- from cholera’ in 1857, characterizing the General in Burma, the Straits Settle- tributions to Indian science in general. geography and spread of cholera. ments, and Andamans, in the ceded dis- Before leaving India in 1876, Balfour tricts, in the Mysore division, and in the wrote ‘Medical hints to the people of Hyderabad subsidiary force and Hydera- India’, which included ‘The Vydian and bad contingent. While displaying a sharp the Hakim, what do they know of medi- administrative acumen in these roles, he cine?’ and ‘Eminent medical men of maintained a sustained interest in science Asia, Africa, Europe, and America, who and in its promotion. He was the brain have advanced medical science’. He behind the establishment of the Madras translated J. T. Conquest’s Outlines of Museum (1851), Madras Zoo (1855), and Midwifery into Hindustani and had them Mysore Museum (1866). Balfour became printed in Tamil, Telugu, and Kannada. the Surgeon General of Madras Presi- He also translated Tate’s Astronomy into dency in 1871, which he held until 1876. Hindustani; he prepared Statistical Map In this role, he impressed the Govern- of the World (1854) in both Hindustani ment of Madras on the need for qualified and English, which was reprinted in women doctors, since local social cus- Tamil and Telugu. toms restricted women from receiving The logical and reliable methods Bal- treatment from male doctors and attend- four used in either medicine or other ing public hospitals. Consequently, the Figure 1. Edward Balfour. disciplines are impressive. He relied on

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Table 1. Science-related publications of E. G. Balfour, presumably complete, not referred to in the article

Anthropology On the ethnology of Hyderabad in the Dekhan (3 parts). The Madras Monthly Journal of Medical Science, Madras, 1871.

Astronomy Tate’s Astronomy, Gleigs’s School Series, translated into Hindustani (translation by EGB), Madras, 1858.

Biology, including economic biology The Mollusca or the Classes, Families and Genera of Recent and Fossil Shells, Asylum Press, Madras, 1855. Catalogue of the British shells in the museum, Central Museum, Madras, 1855. Report on the woods and trees of the city of Madras, Madras, 1856. Catalogue of the shells in the museum, Central Museum, Madras, 1856. Remarks on the gutta percha of Southern India. Noticing also the history and manufacture of the gutta percha of commerce, Government Central Museum, Madras, 1856. The commercial products of the Madras Presidency, as shown by its exports and imports, their quantities and values, for the four years: 1852–53 to 1855–56 (inclusive), Madras, 1857.

Geology, including economic geology On the marbles of southern India, report from the Central Government Museum, Madras, 1854. On the iron ores, the manufacture of iron and steel; with notices of the coals of the Madras Presidency, Madras, 1854. Catalogue of aqueous rocks as mineral structures: palaeontology or the catalogues of aqueous rocks and their fossils in the order of their superposition. Madura, its rocks and minerals and geology of Tinnevelly, Madras (Central Museum), 1855. Catalogue containing palaeontology, Part II, Madras, 1855. Catalogue of the minerals in the museum; to illustrate the physical and chemical characters of minerals, Madras, 1855. Appendix to the report on iron ores, the manufacture of iron and steel of southern India, Madras, 1856. Report on the Elliot marbles, report on museum in the provinces and report on the mineral substances of southern India, useful as grinding, polishing, and sharpening materials, Madras, 1856. Catalogue of the iron ore &c. of southern India, and samples of iron smelted and manufactured from them, Madras, 1856. Catalogue containing palaeontology, Part III, Madras, 1857. Catalogue of minerals, Part II, containing minerals used in metallurgy and the arts. Minerals entering into the composition of rocks, minerals used as gems, gems in their natural state, Madras, 1857. Catalogue of the minerals, Part III, containing minerals in the Government Central Museum, Madras, arranged to illustrate systematic mineralogy, Madras, 1857. Catalogue of the hypogene and volcanic rocks in the museum, Madras (date not known).

Museology Government Central Museum: on its origin and objects, Report from the Government Central Museum, Madras, 1853. Catalogue of the library of the museum, Madras, 1856.

Miscellaneous Statistical map of the world (three Hindustani editions), Madras, 1849. Statistical map of the world (one diglot Hindustani and English), Madras, 1850. Statistical map of the world (one diglot English and Tamil edition), Madras, 1854. Statistical map of the world (one diglot English and Teloogoo edition), Madras, 1854. large samples and used right tools to ana- four explains the context for this essay in Balfour stopped in on his way lyse his findings. As one story goes, he his cover letter to the Secretary of the from Scotland to Madras in the 1830s. ‘assessed’ human behaviour towards Revenue Department of the Government He read the writings on vegetation con- caged and cheetah cubs displayed at of Madras (# 981, dated 31 March 1848). servation in Mauritius by Jacques-Henri the entrance of the Madras Museum, then He explains why he pursued this subject Bernardin de Saint-Pierre3 (1737–1814). located in the Oriental College precinct in response to the call of the Government He was inspired by the writings of Jean- (note 4). The outcome of this assessment of Madras: Baptiste Boussingault4 (1802–1887). led to establishing the zoological garden Their thoughts influenced Balfour. Joseph in People’s Park, near Madras Central Priestley was another key motivational ‘A remark in one of Dr Priestly’s Station (note 5). factor for Balfour. Priestley’s words are [spelt so in the original, for Joseph inspirational in the context of trees and Priestley] writings had directed my their role in preserving moisture5: attention to the influence of trees on Notes on the influence exercised by trees in inducing rain and preserving the health of man, and in the course moisture of my inquiries, some years ago, I ‘These proofs of a partial restoration think in 1840, I arranged a few notes of air by plants in a state of vegeta- This essay was published in Madras2, which I had collected on a collateral tion, though is a confined and unnatu- when Balfour was an Assistant Surgeon subject, viz., the influence of tress in ral situation, cannot but render it with the Madras army. Writing from inducing rain and preserving mois- highly probable, that the injury which Kurnool (now in Andhra Pradesh), Bal- ture.’ is continually done to the atmosphere

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by the respiration of such a number ment to make this call. Balfour refers to mercial, Industrial, and Scientific Pro- of animals, and the putrefaction of recurrences of famines in India due to ducts of the Mineral, Vegetable and such masses by both vegetable and denudation of forests by Indians in the Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and animal matter, is, in part at least, re- earlier periods2. In this essay, Balfour Manufactures appeared in Madras in paired by the vegetable creation. urges that trees be extensively planted to 1857 (Figure 2). This encyclopædia em- And, notwithstanding the prodigious obtain a more abundant and regular rain bodied profound experience, extensive mass of air that is corrupted daily by for the country and to prevent famine reading and indefatigable effort. A sec- the above mentioned causes; yet, if occurrence in southern India. ond edition was published in India in we consider the immense profusion 1873. Between 1877 and 1884, Balfour of vegetables upon the face of the The Cyclopædia of India and of revised this book further. The last edi- earth, giving in places suited to their Eastern and Southern Asia tion, published in London in 1885, is su- nature and consequently at full liberty perior to the earlier editions on several to exert all their powers, both inhal- The first edition of Balfour’s three- scores, with a lavish and ungrudging out- ing and exhaling, it can hardly be volume work7, the Cyclopædia of India lay. The usefulness of the work was soon thought, but that it may be a suffi- and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Com- and well recognized; the whole expendi- ciently counterbalance to it, and that the remedy is adequate to the evil.’

Towards the end of his essay, Balfour2 says that

 extensive clearing of trees of a coun- try diminishes the quantity of running water, which flows over its surface;  it is impossible to determine what in- fluences the diminution: whether it is the lack of rainfall or it is the en- hanced evaporation of surface water;  greater level of moisture accumulates in wooded land than in denuded land;  mountains covered by forests influ- ence cloud gathering;  forest trees at the mountain summits are specially adapted to receive (and store) more moisture;  denuded lands encourage more rapid evaporation; Figure 2. (Left) Cover page of vol. I of Balfour’s Cyclopædia of India. (Right) First  forests store water and regulate its page from the same volume. flow;  temperature within forests are nearly the same throughout the year;  forests regulate wind flow;  trees restrict dissipation and loss of water;  the clayey-soil in southern Indian forests preserves surface and subsoil waters;  the power of trees to gather moisture from fogs varies with species.

He concludes his commentary, saying:

‘If the facts (listed above) detailed warrant deductions it may be confi- dently asserted that Southern India would be greatly enriched and its climate ameliorated by the introduc- tion of arboriculture.’

The series of famines in India in the 19th Figure 3. (Left) Cover page of The Timber Trees…. (Right) First page from the same century6 triggered the Madras Govern- volume.

1596 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 106, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2014 HISTORICAL NOTES ture was recouped in two years. The third ment, the botanist, the medical practi- with biological names and their syno- edition of this work, which he published tioner, the naturalist, and the nyms and he provides a lengthy explana- with Bernard Quaritch, London in 1885, merchant, may perhaps each find tory footnote referring to the history of includes 35,000 articles, 16,000 index something in it, which, from his en- scientific botany in India citing exten- headings pertaining to 70 million people gagements, he did not know before, sively from Wight and Walker-Arnott9. from an area of 0.3 million square km. or though once known he may have Balfour clarifies that he relied on Rox- Balfour justifies the production of forgotten.’ burgh10 for determining individual trees. these massive tomes, each running to The 1870 edition published in England several hundred pages, as an effort to fill includes a substantial revision with knowledge gaps in the eastern nations, The Timber Trees, Timber and Fancy information added on different Indian including India and to provide a quick Woods as also the Forests of India forest trees with supplementary notes he and ready source for getting summary in- and of Eastern and Southern Asia received from H. Cleghorn, J. L Stewart, formation on every object of interest. To A. Gibson, R. H. Beddome, R. Thomp- achieve the best outcomes, he gathered Three editions of The Timber Trees, Tim- son, and G. Bidie in India. He also made information on India and other South ber and Fancy Woods as also the Forests efforts to update information on the trees Asian and southeast Asian nations. of India and of Eastern and Southern from beyond South Asia, using informa- 8 Moreover, his roles as the Secretary to Asia were published by Balfour in tion from Bennett11 on the trees of New the Madras Central Committees for the Madras in 1858, 1862, and 1870 (Figure South Wales, Australia. Great Exhibition (1851) (note 6), the 3). The 1858 edition clarifies the purpose Madras Exhibition (1855), the Universal and scope of this volume as follows: Exhibition held in Paris (1855), and the ‘that it is a handbook, which provides The Agricultural Pests of India and Madras Exhibition (1857) facilitated him botanical names and matching local of Eastern and Southern Asia, to assemble information in this volume. names of useful timbers; it outlines the Vegetable and Animal, Injurious to His role as the officer-in-charge of the characters of different woods and their Man and his Products Government Central Museum of Madras other economic products and it explains 12 also enabled him to know about and the nature of vegetations in which they Balfour published this book in London obtain several products of economic rele- grow with remarks on how these plants in 1887 (Figure 4). In the first 15 pages, vance. could be better raised’. In the 1862 edi- he talks about the status of agriculture in He rationalizes the purpose and scope tion, Balfour carried out significant revi- India providing staggering number-based of this volume saying, sions – obviously based on the extensive details, starting from the human popula- feedback he got from users. The 1862 tion of India and its relation to domesti- ‘The Cyclopædia is not intended to edition bears a thoroughly revised format cated animals and birds. In the following comprise the whole science of Botany with the names of useful woods and tim- pages, he talks of crop rotation, mixing nor that of Medicine, or Zoology; nor bers arranged alphabetically according to of annual-crop plants with perennials and to instruct in all matters useful in their biological names, wherever avail- the reason he provides offers an exciting Commerce or the Arts; but whether able, and vernacular names. Under- reading, which I will reproduce here as examined for information or amuse- standably, Balfour experienced difficulty such (pp. 16–17):

‘One of the protective measures against insect ravages, which [is] strongly urged on cultivators in all countries, is to change the cops in successive years. Each insect species has its own particular plants on which alone it lives, and deprived of food by a change in cultivation, they die. The cucumbers, the rice, and cotton plants, the tea and coffee shrubs, the bamboo, the sãl, pine, and fir trees, have each their own enemies; and on land where a rotation of crops is fol- lowed, the parasites (sic. pestiferous arthropods) have to seek fresh ma- rauding ground once a twelve-month of [or?] oftener, and are frequently kept away entirely or for a consider- able period by an absence of their special food. … A large percentage of them would thus be destroyed from

Figure 4. (Left) Cover page of The Agricultural Pests of India…. (Right) First page from season to season, before they reached the same volume. their particular food-stuff.’

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He talks of parasitic species belonging to yed officers in charge of Eaux et Forêts17. oped in Continental Europe based on the the Acari and the Ichneumonidae (Hy- In the context of post-renaissance period experiences of thinkers who had trav- menoptera) that eventually kill larval hydrology, Bernard Palissy (16th cen- elled to tropical colonies of their respec- forms of the Lepidoptera and Coleoptera, tury) blazed new trails proposing the tive nations. When Balfour arrived in the Coccinellidae that predate on aphids, concept of infiltration in water move- Madras, the semi-arid nature of the east- use of Quassia extract (Simaroubaceae), ment, which later evolved into the hydro- ern peninsular India ‘surprised’ him2, and the use of light traps to catch insects. logic cycle theory. Pierre Perrault (17th stimulating him to reflect on the relation- He also refers to the chemical properties century) polished Palissy’s proposal18. ship between the limited water availabi- of certain plants that are today recog- Kircher (1602―1680) first used the term lity and the sparseness of trees. The nized as botanicals. He cites several spe- ‘hydrologic cycle’19 in his Mundus Sub- sparseness of the vegetation is further in- cies of Apiaceae such as Anethum sowa terraneus. Bécher20 (1635–1682) ex- fluenced by a weak northeast monsoon, (Anethum graveoeloens var. sowa), Co- plained that the earth functioned similar which brings low rainfall to the inland riandrum sativum, Foeniculum panmori to a distillation apparatus: seawater va- segments of Madras presidency. Based (= F. vulgare), F. vulgaris (= F. vulgare), porized to the earth; on its way to the on these observations, Balfour wrote his Petroselinum sativum (= P. crispum), surface, it entered the interior of snow- essay on the importance of improving and Ptychotis ajowan (= Trachyspermum clad mountains, which condensed the tree abundance in this part of India, and ammi) as examples that are generally vapour into water, which sprang down how it can be worked to perform better. free from insects and recommends using mountain slopes and ran back into the He extensively compares his observa- them along with crop plants. Several sea. The next noteworthy explanation tions to those he had known in the high- other fascinating remarks occur on pages was by Antonio Vallisnieri21 (1661– lands of Scotland and the tropical island 18–20. Pages 21–118 include an alpha- 1730), who established infiltration. By of Mauritius that receive abundant rain betical treatment of agriculturally rele- the mid-18th century, we got a compre- annually. Correlation between forest vant organisms – not only those of crop hensive clarity of the hydrologic cycle. A cover and rainfall has been shown with relevance, but also those of veterinary little before the French Revolution, more emphatic evidences by Meher- importance – starting with Acarina. French naturalists were already propos- Homji23,24, nearly 100 years later in pen- Wherever relevant, Balfour includes ver- ing romantic views on the possible influ- insular India. It would be appropriate nacular names transliterated in Roman ence of forests on climate and water here to recall the work of Hugh Cleg- alphabets. I provide here an example per- flow. The best among them are the re- horn, a Madras-born Scot. After a few taining to Eucheirus longimanus (Col- marks of de Saint Pierre in his monu- stints with Madras-Medical Service, eoptera: Scarabaeideae) from pp. 53: mental Études de la Nature3, which Cleghorn became the Conservator of outlined the role and impact of forests on Forests in Madras in 1856. In this role ‘Eucheirus longimanus, a chafer rain and stream flow in Mauritius. The Cleghorn made substantial contributions that attack the palms. It is known in words of de Saint Pierre (see quote to forestry and forest management in the the Moluccas as the grand sagueir below) take us back to Balfour: Madras Presidency and later as a deputy feeding beetles, because they perish to in Dehra Dun, he in thousands during the night by ‘This attractive force of the forests on enabled the scientific management of dropping into the palm wine collect- this island is such that a field in an Indian forests. In Cleghorn’s volume on ing buckets. It is one of the Lamelli- uncovered situation close to them the forests of southern India25, he refers corn Coleoptera.’ often suffers a lack of rain whereas it to Balfour’s Cyclopædia7, but not his rains almost all year long in woods 1849 paper2. Remarks that are situated within gunshot. It is It is not an exaggeration to say that the by destroying part of the trees crown- Indian forest conservation and manage- Today we know with certainty that for- ing the heights of this island that one ment schemes, in principle, developed ests and large human-made woodlands has caused most of the streams that out of Balfour’s thinking. Those schemes influence water quality and abundance; watered it to dry up. I attribute to the indeed formed the model for most of the also that they influence water flows and same lack of foresight the notable forest management projects in other the availability of water resources13. Be- diminishing of the streams and rivers British and French colonies26. During cause forest catchments provide water to in a large part of Europe.’ Balfour’s study at Edinburgh, Scottish meet diverse human needs, the challenge medical training emphasized the role and faced by land managers is maximizing The later French authors, such as importance of water in human health, the range of multi-sectoral forest benefits Rougier de la Bergerie (1800), talk of and in high probability, this training without detriment to water resources and denudation of forests in France and the prompted Balfour to recognize the finite- ecosystem functions14,15. We know that consequent irregularity in water flows as ness of water and to study the role played forests influence temperature regimens either trickles or floods. A few other fur- by forests in recycling water27. Balfour and other vital climate factors. ther explanations followed, which can be found it both logical and expedient to The science of relation between water read in Adams22. consider the forest problem as being and trees was recognized formally first in Returning to Balfour’s essay on the fundamentally a public-health issue, France (note 7), because a royal ordi- importance of conserving trees and for- demanding an interventionist solution in nance on waters and forests existed in ests in regulating water cycle and rain- the countryside26. France as early as AD 1219 (ref. 16). fall, it is not surprising that sufficient The Indian subcontinent was popular French governments, since then, emplo- intelligent thinking had already devel- across the world for its rich natural variety

1598 CURRENT SCIENCE, VOL. 106, NO. 11, 10 JUNE 2014 HISTORICAL NOTES and legacy, favoured by its diversity in contemporaries. This versatile Scottish– landscape, climate, orientation, seas and Madras resident linked science, science rivers, and mountains. This diversity at- administration and human values amaz- tracted foreigners from the time of Alex- ingly. Quite appropriately, this Briton is ander the Great (c. 4 century BC), who remembered today in Madras in Balfour saw India as a terminus for trade and en- Figure 5. His signature of July 1889 that Road, Kilpauk. trepreneurship. The East India Compa- includes his title held in Madras until nies of different European nations in the 1876. Notes 16th and 17th centuries had entrepre- neurship in full view, which after a che- 1. Chepauk is a suburb in Madras city, close quered range of geopolitical events, moth populations (Insecta: Lepidoptera) to the Marina beach. The Nawab of culminated in the subcontinent becoming and parasitic wasps, Ichneumonidae (In- Arcot’s palace exists in Chepauk. Possi- bly Chepauk is the corruption of the Urdu a British dependency. Most of the British secta: Hymenoptera). More exciting to bureaucrats of the 19th century India saw term ‘Ché Bagh’, meaning six gardens. me, are Balfour’s notes on using differ- The Nawab’s past household spoke Urdu the country’s natural materials as the ent Apiaceae in crop husbandry, which and the present Prince’s household property of Britain for the economic de- can either deter or repel arthropods speaks Urdu. velopment Britain. In this context Bal- because of their strong volatiles. Such 2. Balfour translated Gul-dastah-i-Sukhan four stands tall with nobler objectives. applications are being intensely explored (extracts from Persian and Hindustani His perception of the natural materials of presently to manage the pestiferous poets) and published it as The Bunch of India as India’s wealth led him to docu- arthropods ecologically in agroecosys- Roses in 1851. He established the Mo- ment their details scientifically and use tems32,33. hammedan Public Library in Madras, an them judiciously. He added value to The most notable element in these vol- institution that included books in English and Oriental languages. This service to them. His Cyclopædia of India and of umes is that Balfour revised them peri- Eastern and Southern Asia is a remark- Muslim literature and culture in India, on odically adding the latest information; he his departure, was gratefully acknowl- able effort that celebrates the natural publicly acknowledges the support and edged through a Persian Address pre- wealth of India. While browsing through counsel he received from many of his sented to him by the leading Muslim 7 Balfour’s Cyclopædia , I remembered contemporaries. That enthusiasm of residents of Madras. 28 the Wealth of India [WoI] volumes . The seeking new information and nobility to 3. The ‘gold’ Balfour Medal today survives similarity in the style of presentation and accept suggestions, speak well of Bal- as a ‘silver’ medal in the Tamil Nadu Dr details of contents prompted me to think four’s personality. His signature (Figure M.G.R. Medical University, Madras. so. The CSIR website referring to the 5) makes me wonder whether he had a 4. Today, the Directorate of Public Instruc- 28 evolution of WoI series indicates that touch of vanity about himself (a ‘Balfou- tion on College Road. 5. The Madras Zoo started in 1855 was the series builds on George Watt’s A rian’ manner’? (note 8)). Dictionary of the Economic Products of seeded by a gift of a few mammals and birds by the Nawab of Arcot to Balfour. India (1885). I checked the bibliography It functioned in People’s Park (1855– 29 Conclusion in Watt , which, unfortunately, does not 1976). 7 refer to Balfour’s Cyclopædia , the first 6. The Great Exhibition was held at the Madras edition of which pre-dates Watt’s Many British bureaucrats have functio- Crystal Palace, Knightsbridge, London, dictionary by 28 years. Why Watt did not ned in Madras. Balfour outshines them. in the summer of 1851. Holding this refer to Balfour’s Cyclopædia and why He came to Madras to serve as a surgeon exhibition was a cherished dream of the WoI history page too does not allude in the Madras army; his innate acumen Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victo- to the remarkable labour of Balfour leave seems to have guided him to accept tasks ria, to display the wonders of industry me baffled! that would generally be formidable to a and manufacturing from around the mod- The Timber Trees, Timber and Fancy person trained minimally as a surgeon. ern world. India contributed an elaborate throne of carved ivory, a coat embroi- woods …8 and his Agricultural pests of He was empathetic to the people of dered with pearls, emeralds and rubies, 12 India, as apparent from his passion to India… are technically the expanded and a magnificent howdah and other notes on trees and agricultural pests from learn local languages, in informing sci- decorations that go on a royal elephant, his Cyclopædia. Of particular interest to ence to Indian people in those languages, and the priceless ‘koh-i-noor’ diamond. me are his references to parasitic wasps and in supporting independence to India. Following the Great Exhibition of 1851, and predatory beetles and bugs in regu- He was also deeply concerned with George Harris (Governor of Madras) lating populations of pestiferous arthro- women empowerment. His particular ef- mooted the Madras Exhibition to improve pods in agriculture in his volume on fort in throwing open the gates of Madras the Presidency’s agricultural and manu- agricultural pests12. Only in the 1880s, Medical College for women to enter facturing industries. The Executive Orga- the ‘classical’ concept of biological con- medical training is commendable1. I will nizing Committee was chaired by Harris with Balfour, its Secretary. It was held trol was established with trials made to not say that he was superbly successful at the Banqueting Hall, Madras in Febru- regulate populations of Icerya purchasi in every effort he made. And not all of ary–April 1855. The 1857 Madras Exhi- (Insecta: Hemiptera) infesting citrus his efforts were laced by altruism. But bition too was held keeping the same orchards using the predatory Rodolia the efforts he made are laudable. He im- theme that was enshrined for the 1855 cardinalis (Insecta: Coleoptera)30, al- presses as a genuine person and as one exhibition and was held from February though Darwin31 had earlier casually who worked at a plane that was different to April in 1857, with Lord Harris as the remarked on the interactions between and superior, compared with many of his chair and Balfour as the secretary34.

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7. The connection between trees and rain Carey), W. Thacker & Co, Calcutta, the Origins of Environmentalism, Cam- has been recognized in India from ancient 1832, vol. 1, p. 741, vol. 2, p. 691, vol. bridge University Press, Cambridge, days (e.g. Vriksãyurvéda by Parãsarã, c. 3, p. 880. 1995, p. 540. AD 1000). 11. Bennett, G., Wanderings in New South 27. Raman, A., Int. J. Ecol. Environ. Sci., 8. Arthur Balfour, Prime Minister of Eng- Wales, Batavia, Pedir Coast, Singapore 2009, 35, 281–287. land (1902–1905) displayed a manner and China, being the Journal of a Natu- 28. CSIR, The Wealth of India, Raw Materi- dominated by self-obsession, which was ralist in those Countries during 1832, als Series, A Ready Reckoner on Biodi- recognized by his friends as the ‘Balfou- 1833 and 1834, Richard Bentley, Lon- versity and Bioresources of India, 2010; rian manner’. Edward Harold Bagbie don, 1834, p. 428. http://www.niscair.res.in/activitiesand- (1871–1929) in Mirrors of Downing 12. Balfour, E. G., The Agricultural Pests of services/products/wealth-of-indiaFolder- Street – Some Political Reflections [G. P. India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, 2010.pdf (accessed on 24 March 2014). Putnam’s & Sons, New York, p. 171], 1887, Bernard Quaritch, Piccadilly, Lon- 29. Watt, G., A Dictionary of Economic written under the pseudonym ‘a gentle- don, p. 127. Products of India, Department of Reve- man with a duster’ criticised Arthur Bal- 13. Calder, I., Hofer, T., Vermont, S. and nue and Agriculture, Government of In- four for his manner. I would not know Warren, P., FAO Corporate Document dia, printed by the Superintendent of whether Arthur Balfour and Edward Bal- Repository, 2007; http://www.fao. Government Printing, Calcutta, 1885, 10 four were, in any way, related! org/docrep/010/a1598e/a1598e00.htm volumes.

(accessed on 28 March 2014). 30. Debach, P., Biological Control of Insect 1. Raman, A., Madras musings; http:// 14. Calder, I. R., For. Ecol. Manage., 2007, Pests and Weeds, Chapman & Hall, Lon- www.madrasmusings.com/the-pioneer- 251, 110–120. don, 1964, p. 844. ing-woman-doctor.html (accessed on 2 15. Pan, Y. et al., Science, 2011, 333, 988– 31. Darwin, C., On the Origin of Species by April 2014). 993. Means of Natural Selection, John 2. Balfour, E. G., Madras J. Lit. Sci., 1849, 16. Kittredge, J., Forest Influences: The Ef- Murray, London, 1859, p. 502. 15, 402–448. fects of Woody Vegetation on Climate, 32. Jervis, M. A., Lee, J. C. and Heimpel, G. 3. de Saint-Pierre, J. H. B., Études de la Water and Soil, with Applications to the E., In Ecological Engineering for Pest nature, Tourneizen, Basel, Switzerland, Conservation of Water and the Control Management: Advances in Habitat Ma- 1797, p. 544. of Floods and Erosion, McGraw Hill, nipulation for Arthropods (eds Gurr, G. 4. Boussingault, J. B., Économie r urale New York, 1948, p. 394. M., Wratten, S. D. and Altieri, M. A.), considérée dans ses rapports avec la 17. Andréassian, V., J. Hydrol., 2004, 291, CSIRO, Collingwood, Victoria, 2004, chimie, la physique, et la météorologie. 1–27. pp. 65–100. Béchet Jeune, Paris, 1843, vol. 1, p. 648; 18. Dooge, J. C. I., In The Basis of Civiliza- 33. Parmar, B. S. and Walia, S., In Phyto- 1844, vol. 2, p. 736. tion–Water Science? (eds Rodda, J. C. chemical Biopesticides (eds Koul, O. and 5. Priestley, J., Philos. Trans., 1772, 62, and Ubertini, L.), IAHS Publication # Dhaliwal, G. S.), Harwood Academic 147–264. 286, International Association of Hydro- Publishers, Amsterdam, 2001, pp. 133– 6. Cotton, A., The Madras famine with Ap- logical Sciences, Wallingford, 2004, pp. 210. pendix Containing a Letter from Miss 3–12. 34. Anon., Reports by the Juries on the Sub- Florence Nightingale, and other Papers, 19. Kircher, A., Mundus subterraneus in XII jects in the 30 Classes into which the Simpkin, Marshall & Co., London, 1877, libros digestus, Joannem Janssonium à Exhibition was Divided. Madras Exhibi- p. 35. Waesberge & Filios, Amsterdam, 1664, tion of Raw Products, Arts, and Manu- 7. Balfour, E. G., The Cyclcopædia of India p. 986. factures of Southern India, The Central and of Eastern and Southern Asia, Com- 20. Becher, J. J., Chymisches Laboratorium. Committee of the Madras Exhibition, mercial, Industrial, and Scientific Pro- Oder Unter-erdische Naturkündigung, J. Madras, 1858, p. 190. ducts of the Mineral, Vegetable, and Haas, Frankfurt, 1680, p. 1255. Animal Kingdoms, Useful Arts and 21. Vallisnieri, A., Giorgi, G.-G., Avanzini, Manufactures (3rd edn), Bernard G., Poletti, P. and Pagliai, L. B., Lezione Quaritch, London, 1885, vol. 1, p. 1280, Accademica Intorno l'Origine delle Fon- ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS. I am deeply vol. 2, p. 1128, vol. 3, p. 1203. tane: Con le Annotazioni per Chiarezza grateful to Keith M. Harris (Former Director, 8. Balfour, E. G., The Timber Trees, Timber Maggiore della Medesima, Pietro Poletti, International Institute of Entomology, Lon- and Fancy Woods as also the Forests of Venice, 1726. don) and Srinivasan Prasad (Scientist, India and of Eastern and Southern Asia, 22. Adams, F. D., The Birth and Develop- l’Institut Français de Pondichéry, Pudu- Higginbotham & Company, Madras, ment of the Geological Sciences, Wav- cherry) for helpful remarks on the pre-final 1870, p. 370. erly Press Inc, Baltimore, Maryland, draft. I also thank Sally Pagan and Bruce Jill 9. Wight, R. and Walker-Arnott, G. A., 1938, p. 506. (, Edinburgh) for Prodromus Florae Peninsulae Indiae 23. Meher-Homji, V. M., Trans. Inst. Indian supplying archived details on Balfour. Orientalis (Containing Abridged De- Geogr., 1980, 2, 59–65.

scriptions of the Plants Found in the 24. Meher-Homji, V. M., Climatic Change, Peninsula of British India, Arranged 1991, 19, 163–173. Anantanarayanan Raman is in the Charles According to the Natural System), Par- 25. Cleghorn, H., The Forests and Gardens Sturt University & Graham Centre for bury, Allen & Co., London, 1834, vol. 1, of South India, W.H. Allen & Co., Lon- p. 519. don, 1861, p. 412. Agricultural Innovation, PO Box 883, 10. Roxburgh, W., Flora Indica: Descrip- 26. Grove, R., Green Imperialism: Colonial Orange, NSW 2800, Australia. tions of Indian Plants (edited by William Expansion, Tropical Island Edens, and e-mail: [email protected]

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