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FORBES 313 the materials for many more. One of the most important works in which he took part after his connection with the geological society was the preparation of the palaBontological and geological map of the British isles, to which he appended an explanatory dissertation and a map of the "Distribution of Marine Life." In 1852 he was elected president of the geological society, and in the succeeding year obtained the professorship of natural history in the uni- versity of Edinburgh. lie delivered a course of lectures in Edinburgh in the summer of 1854, but was soon after attacked by a disease of the kidneys, which ultimately proved fatal. In addition to the works enumerated, Prof. Forbes assisted Mr. Hanley in the preparation of the " History of British Mollusca " (4 vols. 8vo, 1853), the descriptions in which were written by himself, and contributed important infor- mation respecting the distribution of plants and animals to a revised edition of Johnston's "Physical Atlas." He also possessed a con- siderable knowledge of general literature, which in the intervals of his scientific labors he assiduously cultivated ; and after his death his friends were surprised to learn that for a number of years he had been a regular contrib- utor of miscellaneous articles to the columns of the London "Athenasum" and "Literary Gazette," a collection of which was published under the title of "Literary Papers by the late Edward Forbes," with a Memoir by Hux- ley (12mo, 1855). His other posthumous pub- lications are : " Zoology of the Voyage of H. M. Ship Herald" (3 vols. 4to), and "Mol- lusca and Radiata of the Voyage of H. M. Ship Herald," the latter written in conjunction with Prof. Huxley. FORBES, James David, a Scottish physicist, born in Edinburgh, April 20, 1809, died at Clifton, Eng., Dec. 31, 1868. He was edu- cated at the university of Edinburgh, and at the age of 17 he began a correspondence on scientific matters with Dr. (afterward Sir David) Brewster, which continued for some years, and Forbes's papers were published in Brewster's "Journal." In the summer of 1826 he visited the continent; he ascended Vesuvius, publishing his observations, and du- ring this tour made his first visit to Chamouni. In June, 1830, he passed as an advocate, but immediately abandoned the bar to devote himself to scientific pursuits. In the ensuing winter he became a member of the royal so- ciety of Edinburgh. In September, 1831, he assisted in founding the British association. In January, 1833, at the age of 24, he was elected professor of natural philosophy in the university of Edinburgh, and entered upon the duties in November following. In 1837 he was appointed dean of the faculty of arts. His summer vacations were devoted to travel. He passed the summers of 1837 and 1838 in an extended tour through north Germany and Austria ; from May to August, 1839, he was in the south of France, and was more or less among the Alps; and in July, 1841, in com- pany with Prof. Agassiz, he ascended the Jungfrau. His first Alpine experiences ap- peared in an article on glaciers in the " Edin- burgh Review," April, 1842, though the year before he had published in the proceedings of the royal society his views on the peculiar structure of the ice in glaciers, and in August, 1840, he had crossed the southern spurs of Monte Rosa from valley to valley, exploring the glaciers as he went. In September, 1842, he was again at Chamouni, and numerous geo- logical excursions to Vesuvius in the vicinity of Naples occupied him till the end of the year. In 1843 he published "Travels through the Alps of Savoy," and in April of that year he visited Mt. Etna. The summers of 1844 and 1846 he devoted to the measurement of the rate of motion in the Swiss glaciers. In the summer of 1845 he made a tour of the western highlands, explored Coolin mountain in the isle of Skye, in company with M. Necker, and found indisputable traces of gla- ciers. In September of that year Sir Robert Peel conferred upon him a government pen- sion of 200 a year. He passed his vacation in 1850 at Chamouni, not specially occupied with glacier observations, but correcting and extending his survey. He crossed from the Glacier du Tour, descending into the Swiss Val Ferret by the Glacier de Salena, making the most interesting, most difficult, and last of his expeditions among the higher glaciers of the Alps. His survey of the Mer de Glace was the last of his Alpine work. His last scien- tific journey was in June, 1851, to Bergen, Norway, to observe an eclipse of the sun visi- ble only in northern latitudes ; and on his way to Christiania he visited the glaciers of the Hardangerfield. In 1853 he published "Nor- way and its Glaciers," and in 1855 "Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa." In December, 1859, he succeeded Sir David Brewster as principal of the United college in St. Andrews, and in April following he resigned his chair at Edinburgh. His health had been failing since 1852, and he resigned his principalship in Oc- tober, 1868, two months before his death. He had received the degree of D. C. L. from Ox- ford university in 1855. Besides the works above enumerated, Dr. Forbes printed from 1827 to 1867 in the "Edinburgh Journal of Science " the proceedings of the royal society of Edinburgh and of the British association, the "Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal," and other publications, more than 100 im- portant scientific papers on geology, meteorol- ogy, electricity, magnetism, refraction and po- larization of heat, volcanic formations, tem- perature and conducting powers of different strata, excessive rainfall, and many other subjects. Among his original contributions to physical science is the polarization of radiant heat, which he confirmed by a variety of in- genious experiments. Besides his works on the Alps and Norway, he published 15 letters