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of Edinburgh, Session 1869 - 70 . 
political. But he seems to have valued his scientific position 
above all adventitious dignities. At his death he had attained 
his seventy-fifth year, which might be generally thought a pretty 
fair allowance of life; but from our ignorance of facts above 
alluded to, we are unable to say whether this, in his view, & prema- 
ture termination of his existence, is or is not a confirmation of 
his own theory on the subject. 
There is no member of the Roj^al Society of whom we have 
occasion to lament the death, and to cherish the memory, more 
than Principal Forbes, who was for so long a period our faithful 
and efficient Secretary. It will not be easy to do justice to the 
merits of one who had so many claims upon our gratitude and 
regard, and who reflected so much honour on every public institu- 
tion with which he was connected. 
James David Forbes was born at Edinburgh, on the 20th of 
April 1809, and was the son of Sir William Forbes, of Pitsligo, 
Bart. The death of his mother in the year after his birth, and the 
delicacy of constitution which proved fatal to her, made his father 
feel anxious about the boy’s health ; and as he grew up, his slender 
frame, and almost premature intellectual development, seemed to 
indicate that his education should be conducted with caution, 
and limited, in the first instance, to the simplest and most essential 
subjects. It is remarkable, that it was thought necessary, on this 
ground, to prohibit strictly his study of mathematics ; and it was 
only at spare moments, and almost by stealth, that he acquired a 
branch of knowledge so intimately connected with the pursuits in 
which he was afterwards destined to excel. His preliminary edu- 
cation was chiefly domestic, but in due time he attended several of 
the classes of the Edinburgh University. On leaving it, he has 
told us that geology, meteorology, and physics were his favourite 
pursuits; and he then began those excursions at home and abroad 
which were to him all his life so great a source of pleasure and 
scientific improvement. While he was still a youth his father had 
occasion to spend two successive winters in Italy, whither he took 
his son with him; and young Forbes’s natural taste for investiga- 
tion led him to make frequent visits to Vesuvius and the celebrated 
Pillars of Serapis. His mind was strongly moved by what he 
