12 
Proceedings of the Royal Society 
there saw ; and in 1827, when eighteen years of age, his first 
scientific papers appeared in Dr Brewster’s Journal, but without 
his name. Two other papers from him, on the natural features of 
the same region, appeared in the same journal, also anonymously, 
but with the signature “Delta;” and from that time forward he 
continued to be a regular contributor to that publication in com- 
munications which were avowed. 
In 1830, in compliance with his father’s wishes, Mr Forbes 
passed advocate at the Scottish bar, and walked the boards for a 
short time; but his heart was not there, and it would have been 
vain to confine his buoyant spirit and active frame to the close 
discipline of that profession, when it was in his power to indulge 
his tastes and faculties in the pursuit of physical science and 
geological exploration. He soon afterwards resolved to quit the 
law, and rejoiced in the change he had thus made. At this time 
he visited Switzerland, and imbibed that interest in the subject of 
the glacier formations which afterwards stimulated so much of his 
exertions, both as an explorer and as a scientific author. 
In 1833, on returning from the Continent, he found that the Chair 
of Natural Philosophy had become vacant by the death of Professor 
Leslie, and that Forbes’s friends had put him in nomination as a candi- 
date. It was a painful position for him to occupy when his competitor 
was Sir David, then Dr Brewster, who had been among his earliest 
scientific friends, and who had fostered and encouraged his talents 
by the kindest sympathy and assistance. It was a keen contest, 
and the friends of Brewster might naturally feel indignant that so 
young a man should be preferred to one of such high eminence 
and long standing as Brewster had attained to. This preference 
was imputed entirely to political feeling or local influence, and 
these undoubtedly entered largely into the question. But the 
supporters of Forbes were no false prophets when they predicted 
for their candidate a long career of ardent exertion and eminent 
success, not only as a scientific inquirer, but as a lecturer and 
teacher ; and as to his youth, it was pointed out that Maclaurin, 
Dugald Stewart, and other eminent professors, were appointed at 
as early an age, or earlier. The appointment, ultimately, had all 
the justification which the event could supply. Professor Forbes 
occupied the Chair of Natural Philosophy for more than a quarter 
