EDWARD FORBES. 193 



latter being only a department of zoology as an absolutely 

 indispensable part of his equipment. At the present day, 

 it is no very unusual thing for even a distinguished zoolo- 

 gist to be largely or wholly ignorant of these subjects ; and 

 in another fifty years it is more than probable that the 

 increase in our store of knowledge will be so great, that 

 only the exceptionally gifted will be able to master 

 thoroughly more than a single branch of natural history. 

 That something may be thereby gained in depth is 

 probable enough; but there will be unquestionably a 

 corresponding loss in width. 



Edward Forbes was born at Douglas, in the Isle of 

 Man, on the i2th February 1815. He was a delicate 

 child, and received, therefore, no systematic education up 

 to his twelfth year. He early showed a strong taste for 

 natural history; and was one of those boys who make 

 friends with all sorts of animals, whose pockets are always 

 full of all sorts of beasts, birds, and minerals, who are 

 never so happy as when in the open air, and who, naturally 

 enough, cause as much anxiety to their teachers as does 

 the supposititious duckling to the hen which brings it up. 

 The few years of school-life which he ultimately had, left 

 him with a limited amount of classical knowledge, a still 

 smaller amount of any mathematical learning, no know- 

 ledge of any physical or natural science, and a total want 

 of even a rudimentary acquaintance with any modern 

 language. The one accomplishment that he had acquired 

 was that of drawing, though it does not appear that he 

 learned even this at school. 'Educated,' therefore, he 

 certainly was not, when at sixteen years of age he left his 

 Manx school for good. 



M 



