36 Sketch oj the Life uj the late Professor Edward Forbes. 



secuted their studies together with an earnestness and enthu- 

 siasm rarely equalled. He attended nearly all the classes required 

 for graduation, but he did not take the degree of INI.D. He 

 studied natural history and botany under Jameson and Graham, 

 and became an intimate friend of both, more particularly of the 

 latter, who by his zeal in the prosecution of practical botany in- 

 spired his pupils with an enthusiastic love of science. 



In 1833, Forbes visited Norway with a fellow-student, and 

 made considerable collections both geological and botanical. 

 Many of the si)ecimens of the plants are now in the Herbarium 

 of the University of Edinburgh. They are by no means well 

 preserved, but they are well selected, more especially as regards 

 their bearing on botanical geography. For at this period 

 of his history Forbes began to look with a comprehensive 

 glance on the flora of Europe, and gave indication of those views 

 of distribution which were afterwards developed fully in the 

 Memoirs of the Geological Survey of Britain. An account of 

 his observations in Norway were published in the Magazine of 

 Natural History. On the 12th of May, 1836, I find a notice by 

 Dr. Graham, in the Proceedings of the Botanical Society, of the 

 flowering of a Primula, sent to the Garden by Forbes from Nor- 

 way. Forbes sent it as a variety of P. furinosa, which he called 

 alpina, while Graham considered it a variety of P. Scotica. 



He became a member of the British Association in 1834, and 

 afterwards was one of the most regular attenders of its meet- 

 ings, contributing on all occasions valuable papers and reports. 

 He it was who called the attention of the Association to the 

 subject of dredging, and secured their cooperation and aid in this 

 most important matter. 



He appears to have visited the Alps in 1835; and in the 

 Magazine of Zoology and Botany for 1837, he contributed a 

 communication on the Comparative Elevation of the Testacea in 

 the Alps. 



His zeal for botany was at this time very great, and he saw the 

 importance of not confining his attention to the flora of Britain. 

 He therefore determined, along with his fellow-students in Edin- 

 burgh, to commence the formation of a public herbarium, by means 

 of contributions and exchanges. This led to the establishment of 

 the Botanical Society, an event which took place on Tuesday, the 

 9th of February, 1836. Well do I recollect the evening when 

 he and I, with eight others, viz. W. H. Campbell, now LL.D. 

 and attorney in Georgetown, Demerara ; Dr. Parnell, afterwards 

 author of the work on British Grasses, &c. ; Dr. R. C. Alexander, 

 who subsequently published accounts of botanical tours in many 

 parts of Europe and America ; William Brand, now Secretary of 

 the Union Bank ; Dr. Gilbert M*^Nab, now practising in Jamaica ; 



