Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/404

390 FORBES stores of biological information of which long protracted and original research had made him the possessor. At Edinburgh, in the summer session of 1854, he lectured to a large and appreciative audience ; and in September of that year he occupied the post of president of the geologi cal section at the meeting of the British Association. He had already commenced his winter s course of lectures in Edinburgh when he was seized with feverishness, culminat ing in an attack of nephritic disease, from which he had on several previous occasions been a sufferer. His symptoms soon became alarming, and after not many days illness he expired at Wardie, near Edinburgh, Nov.. 18, 1854, in the fortieth year of his age. See Literary Gazette, November 25, 1854; Edinburgh New Philo sophical Journal (NewSer.), 1855 ; Quart. Journ. Gfol. Soc., May 1855 ; G. Wilson and A. Geikie, .Memoir o/Edivard Forbes, 1861, in which, pp. 575-583, is given a list of Forbes s writings. See also the Koval Society s Catalogue of Scientific Papers, vol. ii. pp. 654- 658. (F. H. B.) FORBES, JAMES DAVID (1809-1868), successively pro fessor of natural philosophy in the university of Edinburgh and principal of the United College in the university of St Andrews, was the fourth son of Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo, the lineal representative of the Forbeses of Mony- musk and Pitsligo. His mother was Wilhelmina Belches- Stuart, sole child and heiress of Sir John Stuart of Fetter- cairn. Their family consisted of two daughters and four sons, of whom James David, born at his father s town house, 86 George Street, Edinburgh, on the 20th April, 1809, was the youngest. Two years after his birth, the death of Lady Forbes took place., Sir William retired with his family from Edinburgh to Colinton, his country resi dence, and thus it happened that, up to the age of sixteen, when he entered college, James Forbes was entirely a home-bred boy, and his only teacher the schoolmaster of the village. At an early age, however, he developed re markable powers of self-education. Passionately fond of natural science, he stored his mind with all available knowledge of physics, constructed for himself astronomical instruments, and actually commenced a connected series of meteorological observations, which he kept up for many years. But these pursuits were carried on without the knowledge of his family; for Sir William had destined him. for the bar, and Forbes loved his father too well to betray tastes and inclinations which might seem to point towards a different career. In November 1825 he entered the university of Edinburgh, and joined the classes of Latin and chemistry. He still continued his self-imposed studies, and at length forwarded anonymously to Sir David (then Dr) Brewster, who was at the time conducting the Edin burgh Philosophical Journal, a paper on " The Apparent Number of the Stars." It was at once inserted, and further communications were requested from the anony mous "A." The request was complied with, and during an extended tour through France, Germany, and Italy, in company with a large family party, Forbes contributed a number of papers on " The Physical Geography of the Bay of Naples," " The Horary Oscillations of the Baro meter at Home," and other subjects, all of which were inserted in the Journal On his return to Scotland after a year s absence, he made himself known to Brewster as his unknown correspondent. Brewster, astonished at his extensive reading and remarkable powers of observa tion, encouraged him in his scientific pursuits, and pro posed him as a fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh, to which, at the age of 1 9, he was elected. In the mean time he had re-entered college, where his subsequent career was a distinguished one. In the class of moral philosophy, taught by the celebrated Professor Wilson, he gained the highest honours, and in Sir John Leslie s natural philo sophy class he twice carried off the gold medal. An event now occurred which changed the whole tenor of his life. His father died on the 24th of October 1828, and it became necessary that Forbes should seriously consider his future course of life. The choice lay between the bar and a scientific career, and after much consultation with his friends he chose the latter. He passed his law trials indeed, and put on his advocate s gown, but never wore it, for a competence given him by his father had rendered him independent. About this time Sir David Brewster was engaged in laying the foundations of the British Associa tion. Forbes joined cordially in the work, and contri buted much towards placing the Association on the basis it now occupies. Throughout the rest of his life he attended, with rare exceptions, all its meetings, often breaking off a foreign tour, and hastening back to do so. The presidency of the meeting held at Dundee in 18G7 was offered to him, but ill health compelled him to decline it. Immediately after his election as fellow of the Royal Society of London, in June 1832, Forbes started on an extensive scientific tour, but was suddenly recalled from Geneva by news of the death of Sir John Leslie, professor of natural philosophy at the university of Edinburgh. Forbes had left word that should this chair at any time become vacant, he desired to be put in nomination, and on his return found that this had actually been done. He also found himself, to his surprise and dismay, the rival of his old friend Sir David Brewster. But Forbes was already committed, and had received testimonials from Whewell, Airy, Peacock, Vernon Harcourt, Chalmers, and others, bearing high testimony to his attainments, and the immense results they promised. After a more than usually excited contest, into which politics to some extent entered, Forbes was elected, at the age of twenty-four, to a pro fessorial chair of the highest distinction. The inaugural lecture with which he opened the session of 1833-34 was listened to with unusual interest. As a professor, he more than realized the high expectations which had been formed of his special capacity for the work. During the twenty- seven years of his professorship his lectures left no branch of natural philosophy untouched, and owing to his thorough acquaintance with the literature of the subject, each of them was a mass of condensed information, not, however, con fined to old knowledge taken from books, but enriched from time to time by the results of original research, enlivened by many a happy illustration drawn from his travels and adventures, and rendered more effectivs by his clear ringing voice and graceful delivery. He soon gathered round him an enthusiastic body of hard-working students, and although the high standard he aimed at made him a somewhat strict disciplinarian, their personal interest in his researches and their pride in his success increased as years went on. Forbes took an interest in his students no less personal, and more than one acquaint ance formed in the class-room ripened into a tender and affectionate friendship. But his energies were not confined to the work of his professorship ; they soon made them selves felt throughout all the machinery of the university. The system of examination for degrees already for some time in operation at Oxford was then much wanted at Edinburgh, where, owing to the absence of any sufficient test of proficiency, graduation was little valued and seldom sought for. Forbes became an energetic reformer in this direction, and to him is mainly owing the complete system of examination for degrees which, under his guidance as dean of the faculty of arts, greatly tended to raise the standard of Scottish education. Again, in 1841, there was much discussion in the senatus as to the disposal of a large sum of money bequeathed by General Reid for the foundation of a chair of music and for other purposes.