of Edinburgh, Session 1869 - 70 . 
15 
his memory, in the address lately delivered by his excellent and 
accomplished successor Principal Shairp. 
Principal Forbes had a certain reserve and apparent dryness of 
manner, but he had a kind and noble heart, an unremitting zeal for 
the promotion of science, a conscientious desire to discharge every 
duty, an ardent love of truth, and a strong detestation of injustice. 
He was not unmindful of what he felt to be his own claims, but he 
also fought many a battle in vindication of what he considered to 
be due to others. 
The late Master of the Mint will be readily enrolled by all who 
knew him, or who know what he has done, as another among the 
great names that Scotland can boast of in chemical science. 
Thomas Graham was born at Glasgow, on the 21st December 1805, 
and after passing through the usual course of preliminary study in 
that city, he entered the University of Glasgow in 1819. He early 
showed a strong taste for science, and a decided bias for chemistry 
as a pursuit. His father, it is believed, wished him to enter the 
Scotch Church; but Graham felt that his true vocation lay in 
another direction, and his desire of penetrating the secrets of 
natural knowledge was too strong to be repressed. Thomas Thom¬ 
son was then Professor of Chemistry in Glasgow University, and it 
cannot be doubted that from his instruction Graham derived great 
benefit, and received a strong confirmation of his natural tastes in 
that direction. After graduating at Glasgow, he repaired to 
Edinburgh, and studied for two years under Dr Hope, who, if not 
distinguished by powers of original discovery, was an able and ele¬ 
gant expositor of the discoveries of others, and most successful in 
conducting the experiments by which his lectures were illustrated. 
Graham at this time also made the acquaintance of Professor 
Leslie, a man of undoubted originality and of most diversified 
knowledge, and with whom it was impossible to associate without 
being stimulated to intellectual exertion and scientific inquiry. 
It is probable that, during the time when he was engaged in his 
University studies, both in Glasgow and Edinburgh, he was sub¬ 
jected to muck anxiety as to his prospects, and as to the proba¬ 
bility of his being able to justify, by success, the choice which he 
had made of a position in life, which could scarcely be said to 
