34 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. 



'KME, 31st December, 1826. 



' These two months have passed over my head without 

 abating one jot those charms, or rather endearments, 

 which the noble study of astronomy holds out to me. 

 My utmost earthly wish for my own happiness, as far as 

 I am personally concerned in it, is to devote my days to 

 the study of my beloved pursuit. My imagination is 

 not heated, nor are my fancies distended or distorted, 

 while I write this. It is my earnest wish and prayer in 

 my soberest moments. I shall be more sensible of my 

 advantage when I return home, than I was when I left 

 it. I have opened a source of great satisfaction, and 

 what one day may be most advantageous to my advance- 

 ment, in my anonymous communications to Brewster's 

 Journal, which, to my almost inconceivable pleasure and 

 surprise, appear to have been well received. This opens 

 a vista before me, which I would scarcely have looked 

 for in my time of life and situation. I have kept this a 

 secret to the present time from every one. I am now 

 preparing a packet of papers, chiefly on meteorological 

 subjects about Naples, which I shall soon send. 



* My labours recorded in the past pages have chiefly 

 been directed to the calculation of the conjunction of 

 Jupiter and Venus, the eclipse of the moon in November, 

 the eclipses of the sun, and the formation of my quad- 

 rant. I have also written an essay on the apparent 

 number of the stars, ascribing their immensity to the 

 effect of oblique vision/ 



The scientific correspondence with Dr. Brewster alluded 

 to above, which had commenced before James Forbes 

 left Scotland, and which formed so important a stage in 

 his scientific education, was never lost sight of during 

 his Italian sojourn. The ascent of Vesuvius, the solar 

 eclipse at Naples, and other sights or events presented 

 during his travels, were recorded almost on the spot, and 

 speedily despatched to Dr. Brewster, to appear in his 

 Journal. On the return of the family to Scotland, 

 among the first things that attracted the eyes of James 



