Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FORBES, EDWARD (1815—1854)

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 638 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FORBES, See also:EDWARD (1815—1854) , See also:British naturalist, was See also:born at See also:Douglas, in the Isle of See also:Man, on the 12th of See also:February 1815. While still a See also:child, when not engaged in See also:reading, or in the See also:writing of verses and See also:drawing of caricatures, he occupied himself with the See also:collecting of See also:insects, shells, minerals, fossils, See also:plants and other natural See also:history See also:objects. From his fifth to his See also:eleventh See also:year, delicacy of See also:health precluded his attendance at any school, but in 1828 he became a See also:day See also:scholar at Athole See also:House See also:Academy in Douglas. In See also:June 1831 he See also:left the Isle of Man for See also:London, where he studied drawing. In See also:October, how-ever, having given up all See also:idea of making See also:painting his profession, he returned See also:home; and in the following See also:month he matriculated as a student of See also:medicine in the university of See also:Edinburgh. His vacation in 1832 he spent in diligent See also:work on the natural history of the Isle of Man. In 1833 he made a tour in See also:Norway, the botanical results of which were published in Loudon's See also:Magazine of Natural History for 1835—1836. In the summer of 1834 he devoted much See also:time to dredging in the Irish See also:Sea; and in the succeeding year he travelled in See also:France, See also:Switzerland and See also:Germany. • Born a naturalist; and having no relish for the See also:practical duties of a surgeon, Forbes in the See also:spring of 1836 abandoned the idea of taking a medical degree, resolving to devote himself to See also:science and literature. The See also:winter of 1836—1837 found him at See also:Paris, where he attended the lectures at the Jardin See also:des Plantes on natural history, See also:comparative See also:anatomy, See also:geology and See also:mineralogy. Leaving Paris in See also:April 1837, he went to See also:Algiers, and there obtained materials for a See also:paper on See also:land and See also:freshwater See also:Mollusca, published in the See also:Annals of Natural History, vol. ii. p. 250.

In the autumn of the same year he registered at Edinburgh as a student of literature; and in 1838 appeared his first See also:

volume, Malacologia Monensis, a synopsis of the See also:species of See also:Manx Mollusca. During the summer of 1838 he visited See also:Styria and See also:Carniola, and made extensive botanical collections. In the following autumn he read before the British Association at See also:Newcastle a paper on the See also:distribution of terrestrial Pulmonifera in See also:Europe, and was commissioned to prepare a similar See also:report with reference to the British Isles. In 1841 was published his History of British Starfishes, embodying extensive observations and containing 120 illustrations, inclusive of humorous tail-pieces, all designed by the author. On the 17th of April of the same year Forbes, accompanied by his friend See also:William See also:Thompson, joined at See also:Malta H.M. See also:surveying See also:ship " See also:Beacon," to which he had been appointed naturalist by her See also:commander See also:Captain See also:Graves. From that date until October 1842 he was employed in investigating the See also:botany, See also:zoology and geology of the Mediterranean region. The results of these researches were made known in his " Report on the Mollusca and See also:Radiata of the See also:Aegean Sea, presented to the British Association in 1843," and in Travels in See also:Lycia, published in See also:conjunction with Lieut. (afterwards See also:Admiral) T. A. B. See also:Spratt in 1847. In the former See also:treatise he discussed the See also:influence of See also:climate and of the nature and See also:depth of the sea bottom upon marine See also:life, and divided the Aegean into eight biological zones; his conclusions with respect to bathymetrical distribution, however, have naturally been modified to a considerable extent by the more See also:recent explorations of the deep seas.

Towards the end of the year 1842 Forbes, whom See also:

family misfortunes had now thrown upon his own resources, sought and obtained the curatorship of the museum of the See also:Geological Society of London. To the duties of that See also:post he added in 1843 those of the professorship of botany at See also:King's See also:College. • In See also:November 1844 he resigned the curatorship of the Geological Society, and became palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of See also:Great See also:Britain. Two years later he published in the See also:Memoirs of the Geological Survey, i. 336, his important See also:essay " On the Connexion between the distribution of the existing See also:Fauna and See also:Flora of the British Isles, .and the Geological Changes which have affected their See also:Area, especially during.the See also:epoch of the See also:Northern See also:Drift." It is therein pointed out that, in accordance with the theory of their origin from various specific centres, the plants of Great Britain may be divided into five well-marked See also:groups: the W. and S.W. Irish, represented in the N. of See also:Spain, the S.E. Irish and S.W. See also:English, related to the flora of the Channel Isles and the neighbouring See also:part of France; the S.E. English, characterized by species occurring on the opposite See also:French See also:coast; a See also:group See also:peculiar to See also:mountain summits, Scandinavian in type; and, lastly, a See also:general or Germanic flora. From, a variety of arguments the conclusion is See also:drawn that the greater part of the terrestrial animals and flowering plants of the British Islands migrated thitherward, over continuous land, at three distinct periods, before, during and after the glacial epoch. On this subject Forbes's brilliant generalizations are now regarded as only partially true (see C. See also:Reid's Origin of the British Flora, 1899).

In the autumn of 1848 Forbes married the daughter of General See also:

Sir C. Ashworth; and in the same year was published his Monograph of the British Naked-eyed Medusae (See also:Ray Society). The year 1851 witnessed the removal of the collections of the Geological Survey from See also:Craig's See also:Court to the museum in Jermyn See also:Street, and the See also:appointment of Forbes as See also:professor of natural history to the Royal School of Mines just established in See also:con-junction therewith. In 1852 was published the See also:fourth and concluding volume of Forbes and S. See also:Hanley's History of British Mollusca; also his Monograph of the Echinodermata of the British See also:Tertiaries (Palaeontographical See also:Soc.). In 1853 Forbes held the See also:presidency of the Geological Society of London, and in the following year he obtained the fulfilment of a See also:long-cherished wish in his appointment to the professorship of natural history in the university of Edinburgh, vacant by the See also:death of R. See also:Jameson, his former teacher. Since his return from the See also:East in 1842, the determination and arrangement of fossils, frequent lectures, and incessant See also:literary work, including the preparation of his palaeontological memoirs, had precluded Forbes from giving that See also:attention to the natural history pursuits of his earlier life which he had earnestly desired. It seemed that at length he-was to find leisure to reduce to See also:order his stores of biological See also:information. He lectured at Edinburgh, in the summer session of 1854, and in See also:September of that year he occupied the post of See also:president of the geological See also:section at the See also:Liverpool See also:meeting of the British Association. But he was taken See also:ill just after he had commenced his winter's course of lectures in Edinburgh, and after not many days' illness he died at Wardie, near Edinburgh, on the 18th of November 18 J4. See Literary See also:Gazette (November 25, 1854) ; Edinburgh New Philosophical See also:Journal (New See also:Ser.), (1855); Quart.

Journ. Geol. Soc. (May 1855); G. See also:

Wilson and A. See also:Geikie, Memoir of Edward Forbes (1861), in which, pp. 575-583, is given a See also:list of Forbes's writings. See also Literary Papers, edited by See also:Lovell See also:Reeve (1855). The following See also:works were issued posthumously: " On the See also:Tertiary Fluviomarine Formation of the Isle of See also:Wight " (Geol. Survey), edited by R. A. C.

See also:

Godwin-See also:Austen (1856); " The Natural History of the See also:European Seas," edited and continued by R. A. C. Godwin-Austen (1859).

End of Article: FORBES, EDWARD (1815—1854)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FORBES, DUNCAN 		[next]
FORBES, JAMES DAVID (1809—1868)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries