x 



and an 'Excursion in the Tyrol.' In 1852 the University of 

 Oxford conferred upon him the Degree of D.C.L., and in 1853 the 

 honour of knighthood was bestowed upon him. At the end of 

 1854, having heen requested by Government to organize and super- 

 intend a large hospital at Smyrna for the sick of the Crimean war, 

 he accepted the post with alacrity under the promptings of that 

 earnest desire to make himself useful in his day and generation 

 which had shown itself in his previous undertakings, and actively 

 commenced the necessary arrangements; but with more time for 

 deliberation and consultation with friends he began to question 

 whether his physical powers would be equal to the post, and finally 

 determined to resign it. Not long subsequently he had the first 

 warnings of that failure of nervous power which progressively in- 

 creased, until in 1859 he found it necessary to withdraw altogether 

 from active life, and to remove to the residence of his only son at 

 Whitchurch near Reading, where he gradually and tranquilly sank, 

 his death occurring on the 13th of November, 1861. 



Although Sir John Forbes cannot be ranked among those who 

 have advanced the science of medicine by the discovery of new facts 

 or the promulgation of new principles, he must be regarded as 

 having done most essential service to the cause of progress, on the 

 one hand by his ready recognition and zealous diffusion of every 

 novelty of sterling value, on the other by the determined onslaught 

 which he made upon prevalent errors, and the vigorous earnestness 

 with which he pleaded for generally-neglected truths. In the depth 

 and extent of his knowledge, in his sagacity as a reasoner, in the 

 earnestness of his search for truth, in his fearless courage in pro- 

 claiming it, in his single-minded devotion to right and justice, and 

 in the disinterestedness with which he sacrificed all personal consi- 

 derations to promote the general good, Sir John Forbes combined 

 all the best qualities of a Reformer. When we add to this estimate 

 his ardent love and extensive knowledge of literature, the general 

 liberality of his sentiments, the wide range of his sympathies, the 

 geniality of his disposition, and that active benevolence which cease- 

 lessly urged him to employ every means in his power for the promotion 

 of objects of public philanthropy, and for the individual benefit of 

 those who had acquired a peculiar claim to his regard, we have such 

 a combination of admirable qualities as could not but command for him 



