STATE HORTICULTURAL SOCIETY. 133 



his predecessors in office. With but limited opportunities for ac- 

 quiring a classical training, he obtained, by individual effort, its 

 equivalent— a thorough, practical understanding of the prin- 

 ciples of scientific knowledge. His labors, it may be said, are 

 wholly original, carrying him and his students along strange 

 pathways, many times treading byways almost unknown to other 

 scientists, yet ever keeping in view the advancement of the in- 

 terest of his fellow man. While our other official entomologists 

 were known as entomologists only, Prof. Forbes is known and 

 recognized as one of our most eminent scientists in the broadest 

 sense — a master investigator, a matured philosopher. 



Stephen Alfred Forbes was born in the year 1844, in Stephen- 

 son County, Illinois. In early life he attended the district school 

 of the neighborhood until he was fourteen, when he entered the 

 preparatory department of Beloit College. Ill health com- 

 pelled him, after a year's study, to return to his home, where he 

 continued his studies under the tuition of an elder brother, Col. 

 Forbes, now of Princeton. When but seventeen he enlisted as 

 a private in the 7th Illinois Cavalry, being regularly appointed 

 to the rank of captain before he was twenty-one, and placed in 

 command of a company. In 1862, while acting as orderly for 

 Gen. Rosecrans, he was captured by the rebels, and spent four 

 and a half months in the prison pens of Macon, Mobile and 

 Richmond, saving himself from utter despair and consequent 

 mental and physical wreck by the persistant study of a Greek 

 grammar, a copy of svhich he had by some means obtained. 

 After being exchanged he returned to his regiment, and re- 

 mained in the service until the close of the war, being mustered 

 out at Nashville, Tennessee. He was engaged in the battles of 

 New Madrid, Corinth, Port Hudson, Franklin and Nashville, be- 

 sides many small skirmishes, and accompanied Gen. Grierson in 

 his memorable raid through Mississippi. 



At the close of the war Capt. Forbes returned to his home, 

 where he began the study of medicine, spending a year at Rush 

 Medical College, Chicago, and two years under a preceptor, 

 studying and practicing. Dr. Forbes now laid aside his military 

 aspirations forever, and from thenceforth he has been identified 

 with the cause. of education. While reading medicine his atten- 

 tion was attracted toward botany, and he became so intensely 

 interested in the study of nature that he determined to devote 

 himself to scientific pursuits. That his choice was a wise one all 

 will admit who are acquainted with the recent history of scien- 

 tific progress. Dr. George Vasey was at that time in charge of 

 the museum at Normal, and had a growing reputation as a 

 botanist. To him the young aspirant for scientific knowledge 

 appealed for aid and advice, as did he to many other eminent 

 batanists through the medium of a correspondence. Dr. Vasey 

 recognized the powers as yet undeveloped in the young man, and 



