352 THE LIFE OF JAMES D. FORBES. [CHAP. x. 



tive solitude. I returned to England with little delay, 

 except a day or two spent at Copenhagen, crossing the 

 North Sea from Hamburgh to Hulk' 



The tour had been a fatiguing one. The constant 

 changes from excessive heat to intense cold, and from 

 active exercise on foot or on horseback to hours of 

 exposure in an open boat, severely tried Forbes's strength. 

 Still worse, the realized wish of an indefatigable observer 

 for *a day four-and-twenty hours long' had constantly 

 tempted the mind to cheat the body of its rest, and, as 

 he often said, he found it impossible to sleep among the 

 glories revealed by the midnight sun. All this sent him 

 back but ill prepared for his work, and soon after he 

 resumed it, his overtasked energies broke down. The tale 

 must now be told of an illness, which put an end to his 

 active life, and compelled him to break off, at once and 

 for ever, his glacier observations : leaving unsolved more 

 than one problem which still awaits solution. 



