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"The loss sustained by the
death of [this great Naturalist] was aggravated to those who knew him, by
the consideration of how much of his knowledge had perished with himself,
and, notwithstanding all that he had written, how much of the light
collected by a life of experience and observation was now completely
extinguished. It is, indeed, melancholy to reflect, that with all who make
proficiency in the sciences, founded on nice and delicate observation,
something of this sort must invariably happen. The experienced eye, the
power of perceiving
the minute differences and fine analogies which discriminate or unite the
objects of science, and the readiness of comparing new phenomena with others
already treasured up in the mind, these are accomplishments which no rules
can teach, and no precepts can put us in possession of. This is a portion of
knowledge which every man must acquire for himself, and which nobody can
leave as an inheritance to his successor. It seems, indeed, as if Nature had
in this instance admitted an exception to the rule, by which she has
ordained the perpetual accumulation of knowledge among civilized men, and
had destined a considerable portion of science continually to grow up and
perish with the individual.”
This Memoir was begun by the
late Dr. Wilson towards the close of 1854, very soon after Professor
Forbes’s death. He made a considerable collection of materials, in the form
of letters, note-books, and other papers. The weakness of his health,
however, together with the constant demands upon his time and labour,
greatly hindered his progress, so that he had only advanced to the close of
the sixth chapter when, in November 1859, he was seized with the illness
which rapidly carried him to the grave. These six chapters were never
revised by him; nor has it been thought expedient to make any change upon
them—they are printed as they came from his pen. He left no notes or outline
of the work beyond the point where his manuscript ended, and thus the
greater part of the Memoir remained still to be written.
Having for many years enjoyed the privilege—never to be forgotten—of Dr.
Wilson’s intimate friendship, the task of continuing and completing his
biography of the great naturalist was, in the spring of 1860, intrusted to
me. The duties of a member of the Geological Survey are little favourable to
continuous literary work. Hence the Memoir has proceeded slowly, at broken
and uncertain intervals, amid many changes of abode, and at a distance from
libraries and books of reference. A year has thus passed away, and only now,
after the lapse of so long a period since the death of Professor Forbes, is
this imperfect record of his life completed.
To the numerous friends who, in addition to the papers and information
supplied by the family, have furnished the materials of the following pages,
every acknowledgment is due: especially to Mr. Bobert Patterson of Belfast,
who lent an ample collection of letters to the late Mr. William Thompson,
Captain Graves, and himself; to Professor Ramsay, who supplied many
incidents relating to Forbes’s connexion with the Geological Survey; and to
Mr. J. Beete Jukes, whose assistance throughout has been of the most
essential service. Sir Roderick Murchison, Principal Campbell of Aberdeen,
Professors Bennett and Balfour of Edinburgh, Mr. Leonard Horner, Dr. Percy,
Dr. Day, Mr. Trenham Peeks, Mr. Bowerbank, Mr. Bristow, Mr. Baily, and
others, have kindly supplied letters and information.
The tail-pieces scattered
through the volume have been selected from a large collection of the rough
penandink sketches with which, in his leisure moments, Forbes’s pen was ever
busy, some of the best having been furnished by Mr. Bowerbank. They are
introduced, for the most part, without reference to the text—a mode of
illustration to which Forbes himself was partial, and which was adopted by
him in his History of British Starfishes.
Among his papers was found a small octavo notebook, in which he recorded his
writings, literary and scientific, from 1831 up to the month before his
death. This list—itself incomplete—has been used as the basis of that given
in the Appendix to this volume. Of the numerous articles and critiques which
he wrote for periodicals, a large number could with difficulty be recovered.
With a few exceptions, only those are given in the Appendix which he
regarded as worthy of being chronicled in his own list.
ARCHD GEIKIE
Memoir of Edward Forbes (1861) |
