142 The late Professor Edward Forbes. 



generalization and abstraction which he so eminently pos- 

 sessed." * His introductory address, on assuming the Chair 

 of Botany, was remarkable alike for excellency of expression 

 and originality of thought. It was printed by desire of the 

 Governors and Council. " Those who attended his class will 

 ever remember the charm he threw around the study of vege- 

 table structure, and the delightful hours they spent in his com- 

 pany during the periodical excursions, which he made a point 

 of taking with his pupils, in the neighbourhood of London. 

 Nor were these excursions attended by pupils alone. Many 

 are the distinguished men of science in London who sought 

 the opportunity of availing themselves of his great practical 

 knowledge of every department of natural history." t 



One of his most important papers (belonging to an after pe- 

 riod) is of a mixed nature, such as he alone could furnish from 

 his own " invincible armoury," — " On the connection between 

 the Distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of the Bri- 

 tish Isles, and the Geological Changes which have affected 

 their area." J In this signal work we have opened up to us a 

 wide field of speculative research into almost every depart- 

 ment of natural science, while it contains, imbedded in itself, 

 a vast and varied mass of knowledge. It throws a flood of light 

 on some most intricate inquiries regarding the age and rela- 

 tionship of the rocks of Britain. 



In 1845 he was offered and accepted the honorable and 

 advantageous appointment of Palaeontologist to the Geological 

 Survey of the United Kingdom ; and thereafter resigned his 

 situation in the Geological Society, of which at a future pe- 

 riod (1853) he was chosen president. § In connection with this 



* Gardeners' Chronicle, Dec. 2, 1854. t Athenceum, Nov. 25, 1854. 



X This very remarkable paper is published in the Memoirs of the Geological 

 Survey of Great Britain, vol. i., p. 336. Our author's other works, as bearing 

 on Botany, are chiefly these : — " On the Morphology of the Reproductive Sys- 

 tem of Sertularian Zoophytes, and its analogy with that of Flowering Plants," 

 — Rep. Brit. Assoc., 1844. " On some important analogies between the Animal 

 and Vegetable Kingdoms,'' — Royal Institution, Feb. 1845. " On the Distribu- 

 tion of Endemic Plants, more especially those of the British Islands, considered 

 with regard to Geological Changes/' — Rep. Brit. Assoc, 1845. 



§ His " Anniversary Address" forms a part of the " Proceedings" of the 

 Geological Society for 1854. 



