Andrew Balfour


 * This article is about the Scottish botanist. For more individuals with the name "Balfour", see Balfour.

Andrew Balfour was a Scottish botanist, doctor, antiquary, and book collector. He was the younger brother of Sir James Balfour, 1st Baronet.

Biography
Balfour was educated at the University of St. Andrews, where he was taught by his brother, James, and studied philosophy and arithmetic under Thomas Glegg. After graduating with a Master of Arts, he moved to London, and in 1650 became a pupil to John Wedderburn, the physician to King Charles II. He traveled in France studying at Paris at the University of Caen, where he gained a degree with a research paper that he entitled De Venae Sectione in Dysenteria. After returning to London, he became governor to John Wilmot, Earl of Rochester, of whom he travelled with to Italy in 1667.

In 1667, Balfour began to practice medicine in St Andrews. By this time, Balfour had written several scientific and medical books, curiosities, and instruments; his "rarities" were called "Museaum Balfourianum" by contemporaries. In 1670 he moved to practice in Edinburgh where he planted a small botanical garden next to his house. Here, he became a friend of Robert Sibbald, who he had succeeded as president of the College of Physicians in 1684. Together, they set up a garden near Holyrood Abbey, which Balfour managed to persuade the university to fund.

After his death, his library was sold, with a printed catalogue listing 3,501 items. Travel advice to Patrick Murray, Laird of Livingstone, who died on a European tour in 1671 was published in 1700 as Letters to a Friend.