reminded his royal highness that the laws of the country should be observed; but he was repulsed with the reply—"The laws of the country! I'll make a brigade give laws." The ingratitude of the government, and the sufferings of the people, had a depressing effect upon the mind of the president; his health rapidly declined, and he died 10th December, 1747, leaving a reputation for learning, eloquence, integrity, wisdom, courage, gentleness, and kindness, of which the recollection is scarcely yet effaced in his native land. He took a deep interest in the agriculture, trade, and commerce of Scotland, and established a considerable number of manufactures throughout the country. His legal and general learning was profound and extensive, and his eloquence forcible, manly, and persuasive. His principles were as pure as his understanding was enlightened, and his efforts for the public welfare were acknowledged, even by his opponents, to be as disinterested as they were unwearied. He made several important reforms in the procedure of the courts of justice, and purified them from that gross partiality by which they had been previously disgraced. He was an excellent Hebrew scholar, and is said to have read the Bible in the original eight times. He was the author of "Thoughts on Religion, natural and revealed;" "A letter to a bishop on Hutchinson's writings;" and "Reflections on Incredulity," 2 vols. 12mo. The well-known song, "Ah! Chloris, could I now but sit," &c. is also attributed to him. His correspondence respecting the rebellions of 1715 and 1745, was published in 1815 in one volume 4to.—J. T.
FORBES, Edward, a very distinguished British naturalist, was born in the Isle of Man, 12th February, 1815, and died at Edinburgh, 17th November, 1854. In his early years he displayed a great taste for natural history, and at the age of seven he had collected and arranged a small museum. He visited London at the age of sixteen, and studied the art of drawing under Sass. In 1831 he went to Edinburgh, and entered the medical classes of the university, studying natural history and botany under Professors Jameson and Graham. In 1833 he visited Norway, and made large geological and botanical collections. An account of his trip is published in the Magazine of Natural History. He became a member of the British Association in 1834, to which he afterwards contributed most valuable papers and reports. He called the attention of the association specially to the subject of dredging, and secured their co-operation in this important matter. In 1835 he visited the Alps, and subsequently published a paper on the comparative elevation of the testacea on these mountains. He was a zealous botanist, and was one of the founders of the Edinburgh Botanical Society. To this society he sent many communications, and contributed largely to its herbarium. He prosecuted his studies in Edinburgh more or less continuously until 1839. During this period he had opportunities of visiting Algiers, Styria, and Carniola. In 1839-40 he lectured in Edinburgh on zoology, and in a special manner brought under the notice of his hearers the subject of palæontology. At the Birmingham meeting of the British Association he founded the Red Lion Natural History Club, which has continued to hold its convivial meetings annually at the places visited by the association. During the same year he published "Geological Researches in Orkney and Shetland." In 1840 his paper on the distribution of the mollusca of Britain appeared, and in 1841 his excellent monograph on the British star fishes. In 1841 he visited the Mediterranean in the Beacon with Captain Graves, and made most important observations on the Ægean Sea and the coasts of Asia Minor. During this expedition, botany, zoology, geology, geography, and antiquities were alike subjects of his study and observation. His travels in Lycia were published in 1846. In 1842 he was appointed professor of botany in King's college, London, and in 1843 he became curator and assistant-secretary of the Geological Society of London, as well as fellow of the Linnæan Society. He rose rapidly into high honour and fame, and developed in a remarkable manner his palæontological views. In 1845 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society, and was afterwards a member of council. He occupied subsequently the important place of palæontologist to the geological survey of Great Britain, and was chosen professor of zoology and palæontology in the government school of mines. In 1848 he brought out his monograph on the British naked-eyed medusæ, under the auspices of the Ray Society; and in 1850 he compiled with Mr. Hanley the work on the natural history of the British mollusca and their shells. His wonderful facility in all departments of science was due, Hooker says, to the early age at which he acquired its rudiments, and to the efficient practical training in systematic botany and collecting which he received in Edinburgh; to his quick perception of affinities; to his philosophical views of morphology, distribution, structure, functions, and the mutual relations of all these; to his mind being richly stored with the literature of the sciences; to the wide experience obtained during his travels; and finally to that heaven-given power of generalization and abstraction which he so eminently possessed. In 1853 he was president of the Geological Society, and delivered an excellent address on the state of geology. In May, 1854, he was chosen to fill the chair of natural history in the university of Edinburgh, which was vacant by the death of Professor Jameson. He commenced his career with the greatest success, and his class amounted to one hundred and fifty. During the summer he made many excursions with his pupils, and in September he attended the meeting of the British Association at Liverpool, presiding in the geological section with his usual ability and urbanity. At the commencement of the winter session in November, 1854, he was attacked with symptoms of disease in the kidney, and after a few days illness he died from peritonitis, caused by the bursting of a renal abscess. Forbes was pre-eminently a naturalist. His attention had never been exclusively directed to any one of the natural sciences. He was equally a botanist, a zoologist, and a geologist from first to last. With a remarkable eye and tact for the discrimination of species and the allocation of natural groups, he combined the utmost delicacy in the perception of organic and cosmical relations. He possessed that rare quality so remarkable in the great masters of natural history, Linnæus and Cuvier—the power of availing himself of the labours of his brethren, not, as is too often the case, by appropriating their acquisitions, but by associating them voluntarily in the common labour. Entirely destitute of jealousy in scientific matters, he rather erred in overrating than in underrating the services of his friends. He was consequently as much beloved and confided in by his seniors in science as by the youngest naturalists of his acquaintance. Forbes contributed extensively to the proceedings of almost all the scientific societies of Britain. Besides the papers and works already referred to, we may mention the following—"Malacologia Monensis, a Catalogue of the Mollusca of the Isle of Man and of the Irish Sea;" "On the Land and Fresh Water Shells of Algiers and Bougia;" "Monograph of Southern Indian Fossils;" Palæontological and Geological Map in Johnston's Physical Atlas; "Siluria," in Quarterly Review; "Introductory Lecture to the Natural History Class at Edinburgh, and to the Class of Botany at King's College, London," &c.—J. H. B.
FORBES, James, born in London in 1749. He went to Bombay in 1765, as a writer in the East India Company's service. He accompanied the troops sent in 1775 to assist Ragonath Row, the pashaur of the Mahrattas. In 1780 he was appointed collector and chief resident in the town and district of Dhuboy in Gugerat; his official duty ceased there in 1783, when Gugerat was ceded to the Mahrattas; and he returned to England in 1784, having amassed an ample fortune. During his long residence abroad, and in his travels, Mr. Forbes studied the natural history of the regions he visited, described the scenery, and delineated the costume and the customs and manners of the inhabitants. His coloured drawings are generally faithful representations of the magnificent tints which characterize the animal and vegetable kingdoms in the places he visited. He made interesting notes of the mode of life and peculiar tenets of the Brahmins. His drawings and his letters, written during his travels, procured for him the honour of being elected fellow of the Royal and Antiquarian Societies and of the Arcadian Society at Rome. After having travelled through Holland in 1803, he happened to be in France when the rupture of the peace of Amiens occurred, and was detained a prisoner at Verdun with other English visitors; but as being a man of science, engaged in research, he was liberated a few months afterwards at the solicitation of the Royal Society and the Royal Institute of France. Mr. Forbes was the author of "Letters from France," published in 1806, 2 vols. 8vo; "Reflections on the Character of the Hindoos, and the importance of converting them to Christianity," published in 1812, 2 vols. 8vo; "Oriental Memoirs, a narrative of seventeen years' residence in India, including observations on parts of Africa and South America, and journals of four voyages.
