DEP/BGW/2 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He describes his lodgings; Berlin, Germany and his journey to Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria] via Dresden, Germany. | 21 Oct 1845 |
DEP/BGW/3 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Probably missing the first page but written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He describes a journey from Prague, Austria-Hungary [Czech Republic] to Teplitz, Austria-Hungary [Czech Republic]; and Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. | Nov 1845 |
DEP/BGW/4 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He describes the cost and method of posting letters; reading Skoda's work; the currency; the weather; getting an introduction to Fleischman; that Dr Sigmund was sending a book; observing in the pathology room etc. | 4 Nov 1845 |
DEP/BGW/5 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour, Ireland | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He expresses concern about the Irish if the potatoes fail; he describes witnessing a funeral; having had an introduction to Professor Rokitanski [Professor Carl Freiherr von Rokitansky]; and that Dr Skae's papers are very popular etc. | 14 Nov 1845 |
DEP/BGW/6 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He describes his moustache with drawings of the beards of others he knows; the manners and dress of Viennese gentlemen and ladies; that 'C L R' should come and work in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]; and Viennese architecture; and asks for pictures of Edinburgh, Scotland to show his friends. | 29 Nov 1845 |
DEP/BGW/7 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of his efforts to find work and the possibility of going to India; the weather; the squares of Vienna [Austria]; the rivers Wien and Danube; and his progress with German. | 16 Dec 1845 |
DEP/BGW/8 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of Dr Peddie's and his own opinions on puerperal fever and the spread of infection; the rates of mortality in the hospital he works in (the biggest in the world); burial practices; house numbering; Christmas church services; and the Viennese secret police. | 29 Dec 1845 |
DEP/BGW/9 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna. He writes of the Emperor of Russia's visit and the failed attempts to arrange a marriage between an Archduke and a Russian princess; John's [Balfour's eldest brother, eventually a surgeon to the East India Company] request for a lens and a book on talbotypes; instructions to his sister to find a suitable wife for himself; [Johann] Strauss' musical style; similarity between Scots and German; and courses with Rokitansky and Skoda. | 6 Jan 1846 |
DEP/BGW/10 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of cases of the affect of phosphorous on the jawbone and his hopes to write an article; finding a publisher his translation of Rokitansky's Handbook of Pathology; possibly moving to Florence, Italy and life there; domestic architecture and geography of Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]; and the beauty of Bohemian glass. | 24 Jan 1846 |
DEP/BGW/11 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of the cost of postage; the charge for receiving newspapers; his hopes to do a course in Munich, Germany under Vogel, a morbid anatomist, and in Heidelberg under Naegele and Teidemann 'the first accoucheur and the first anatomist in Europe'; his introduction from Sigmund to Fleishmann; and personal gossip. | 12 Feb 1846 |
DEP/BGW/12 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of possible fees for journal articles; a revolt in Russian Poland; the shooting of two men in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria] for not removing their cigars; a trip to a gallery where he saw paintings by Raphael, Dürer, Metsys and Holbein. He encloses an article on necrosis of the jaw caused by phosphorous fumes. | 23 Feb 1846 |
DEP/BGW/13 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of his correspondence with Forbes British and Foreign, the journal that had requested an article on homeopathy; giving Fleischmann McLeod's introduction to homeopathy; continuing to get instruction from both Fleischmann and the court physician; the dangers of trepanning and Sir Astley Cooper's warning about the brain; and the case of a patient of Skoda's with lung disease. | 14 Mar 1846 |
DEP/BGW/14 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of their friend William Traquair; a visit to a mental hospital and a concert by two patients; a friend going to Zurich, Switzerland to collect Engel's papers and if Dr Bennett donated them to the Gesellschaft der Arzte zu Wien [Society of Physicians of Vienna] Balfour could nominate him as a corresponding member; description of Fleischmann's hospital; speed of recovery of pneumonia and typhus when treated homeopathically; Fleischmann's success compared to Skoda's; and his scepticism concerning homeopathy. | 26 Mar 1846 |
DEP/BGW/15 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of a letter from Forbes denying him the post of accredited agent on the basis of his lack of experience but still commissioning an article on homeopathy; his scepticism about the curing of pneumonia but belief in the cure of pericarditis; case of caesarean operation which he could send notes on; continued interest in his paper on necrosis of the jaw; the Emperor washing the feet of old men; the wind in Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria] and the dust it disturbs making it famous for eye surgery; a proposed visit to the lying in hospital to see cases of puerperal fever and a technique of altering the position of the child; and a suggested treatment for his uncle's sciatica. | 4 Apr 1846 |
DEP/BGW/16 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of not getting a ticket to see the footwashing of the elderly by the Emperor; and Easter celebrations. | 18 Apr 1846 |
DEP/BGW/17 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of Spring at the hospital; epidemic of intermittent fever and it possibly being a precursor to the cholera currently in Russia; success of treating cholera homeopathically; his surprise at seeing an engraving by Edward Burton (a friend); and a trip into the countryside at Laab, Austria-Hungary [Austria] to visit a friend working at a water cure place. Two copies of each page due to lines being missed in photocopying. | 1 May 1846 |
DEP/BGW/18 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of Bohemian glass which he will send soon; visit to Briel and the ruined castle of Prince Lichtenstein; and the geography around Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. | 10 May 1846 |
DEP/BGW/19 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of cholera being in Carpathia and asks for Dr Robertson's composition of the salt injection used by him and Dr McKintosh for cholera; an article giving a strange cure for tetanus; his reversal in opinion about bleeding; criticism of catholicism; and musical manias for Liszt and [Jenny] Lind. | 31 May 1846 |
DEP/BGW/20 | Letter from George William Balfour to his father, Reverend Lewis Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of the continuing saga of the delivery of Bohemian glass; a published article of his; and the feast of Corpus Christi celebrations. | 18 Jun 1846 |
DEP/BGW/21 | Letter from George William Balfour to his sister, Jane Balfour | Written from Vienna, Austria-Hungary [Austria]. He writes of the Bohemian glass being sent at last; the requiem for Pope Gregory XVI; and his continued refusal to answer letters from Agnes. | 2 Jul 1846 |