194 NATURAL HISTORY. 



It was moreover unfortunate, as Dr George Wilson, 

 his biographer, has remarked, that ' his home-circle 

 included no intelligent senior of his own sex, who 

 could have wisely trained him to habits of systematic 

 study, and taught him by precept and example the 

 importance of rule and method in intellectual as well as 

 physical work. For want of such training, much of his 

 energy was unwisely directed, and he left behind him at 

 his death a far less compact and conspicuous monument 

 to his genius than his enormous diligence would have 

 produced, had his intellect revolved in an orbit of smaller 

 area, and been less liable to deflection towards new 

 centres of attraction in every portion of its path.' At the 

 same time, Forbes's mental idiosyncrasy was peculiar, and 

 it is doubtful if it could have been fundamentally altered 

 by any educational process. He had a naturally un- 

 methodical, discursive mind. As the wise writer above 

 quoted further remarks, ' the minds of some men are like 

 diving-bells, with walls of opaque iron, and one small 

 window at the top. Little light enters them, and that 

 always in one direction. The minds of an exactly 

 opposite class are crystal palaces, the walls all glass, and 

 light entering in every direction. The choicest minds are 

 intermediate in structure. They have windows to each 

 point of the compass, besides a goodly skylight, but 

 shaded corners abound under all degrees of illumination 

 short of exposure to the direct glare, and there are 

 shutters to close each window when that is desirable, and 

 prevent the confusion of conflicting cross-lights. Edward 

 Forbes's intellect was of the second class, and open at 

 every moment to all the skyey influences. It would have 



