DUNCAN, of Culloden, one of the most honest and enlightened of Scottish patriots, was descended from the Forbeses of Tolquhoun in Aberdeenshire, a branch of whom had settled in Inverness about the end of the sixteenth century. His great-grandfather, the first northern Duncan Forbes, carried on business in the Highland capital, exchanging the native products of the country (chiefly salmon and the skins of game and cattle collected from every strath and glen) for the conveniences and luxuries to be had in England and Holland. He built ships, traded largely, and was able in 1625 to purchase the barony of Culloden from the laird of Mackintosh. He was also provost of the town, and in this capacity it fell to the lot of "Grey Duncan" (as from his flowing grey beard he was usually called) to receive the Marquis of Montrose, a prisoner, on his way from the north to Edinburgh, where shortly afterwards he was tried and beheaded. Forbes was a stern old Whig, but it appears he did not, like some others of higher rank, insult the fallen general in his misfortunes. He spread a table at the market cross, in the street through which Montrose had to pass, and covered it with wines and other refreshments, of which the prisoner partook. He accompanied him to the end of the town, and on taking leave of him courteously said, "My lord, I am sorry for your circumstances." Montrose replied, "I am sorry for being the object of your pity." (MS. History of the Frasers.) The incident has a touch of the picturesque romance of the old feudal times. The son and successor of Grey Duncan continued the prosperity of the family, and added to its possessions the barony of Ferrintosh in Ross-shire, and the estate of Buncrew, a pleasant well-wooded spot on the southern shore of the Moray Frith, about three miles from Inverness. Both of these properties were purchased from the Frasers of Lovat, on whose more ancient greatness the Forbeses were now encroaching. A second Duncan Forbes inherited the strong Presbyterian Whig principles, as well as the lands of his progenitors, and was a conspicuous member of the Convention Parliament. As such, in 1689, his estates were ravaged and wasted by the Jacobite soldiery under Buchan and Cannon, and to compensate him for his losses, the Scottish Parliament granted him a privilege, always dear in the Highlands—a license perpetual to him and his heirs to distil duty free all the barley that might be grown in Ferrintosh. The "loyal Forbes' chartered boast," as Burns designates it, became a valuable possession. It was enjoyed nearly a century, and was withdrawn by the government in 1785, when a sum of about £20,000 was granted as compensation. The third Duncan Forbes, afterwards Lord President, was born at Buncrew or Culloden in the year 1685. He studied law at Edinburgh and Leyden, and was admitted advocate at the Scottish bar in 1709. His own talents, and the influence of the Argyle family, soon elevated him in his profession. At the period of the rebellion in 1715, he stood firm to the Hanoverian cause, as did also his brother, John Forbes, then Laird of Culloden, a popular and hospitable Highland gentleman, whose convivialities are described in Burt's Letters from the North of Scotland. In 1722 Duncan Forbes was returned member for Inverness, and in 1725 he was appointed Lord Advocate. He succeeded to the patriarchal estates in 1734, and in 1737 he attained to the highest legal honours in Scotland, being made Lord President of the Court of Session. As Lord Advocate, Forbes had laboured to improve the legislation and revenue of the country, to spread manufactures and extend trade, and no less to render the imperial government popular and respected in Scotland. In the proceedings which followed the memorable Porteous mob, when the government brought in a bill (which passed the Lords) for disgracing and removing the Lord Provost of Edinburgh, and for abolishing the town-guard and city gate, Forbes opposed the measure, and both spoke and voted against that paltry and vindictive outrage on the national feeling. A miserable spirit of faction and jealousy pervaded the ministry as to all just and public claims, especially on Scottish questions, while at the same time they were profuse and profligate on private and party objects. Forbes' influence abated if it could not remove this evil, and as Lord President he also carried out some legal reforms and insured the quick and impartial administration of the law. The Rebellion of 1745 found him at his post, and it tried all his patriotism. He had in vain urged upon the government the expediency of embodying Highland regiments, putting them under the command of colonels whose loyalty could be relied upon, but officering them with the native chieftains and cadets of old families in the north. Such a plan was afterwards successfully pursued by Chatham; but though Walpole is said to have approved of Forbes's scheme, the Council unanimously rejected it. Had it been adopted in time, and a few thousand pounds placed in Forbes's hands to be spent usefully in the Highlands, there would have been no Jacobite rising in '45. Through his personal influence with the chiefs of Macdonald and Macleod, those two powerful western clans were prevented from taking the field for Charles Edward; the town of Inverness he also kept loyal and well protected at the commencement of the struggle, and many of the neighbouring proprietors were won over by his persuasions. His correspondence with Lord Lovat, published in the Culloden Papers, affords a fine illustration of his character, in which the firmness of loyal principle and duty is found blended with neighbourly kindness and consideration. In the case of Lovat he had to contend with inveterate duplicity and low-minded ambition. The crafty old chief had been nearly all his life a plotter for the restoration of the Stuarts, but he would never have raised his clan had he not obtained from the Court of St Germain a commission as lieutenant-general and a patent of dukedom. This gratified his inordinate vanity and love of power. The ducal coronet, surmounting his yew-crested bonnet as chief of the Frasers, formed a vision of greatness unparalleled in the north! At this critical juncture of affairs, the apathy of the government was immovable. No advance of arms or money could be obtained until it was too late, and though Forbes employed all his own means and what money he could borrow on his personal security, his resources were quite inadequate to the emergency. And it is doubtful whether these advances were ever fully repaid. Part was doled out to him, after repeated solicitations, that his credit might be maintained in the country—his own sacrifices he did not mention, but he had fallen into disgrace in consequence of his exertions to mitigate the inhuman and impolitic severities inflicted upon the poor misguided Highlanders after their defeat at Culloden. His entreaties for mercy were heard with contempt—a brigade, it was said, would give laws! The ingratitude of the government, and the many distressing circumstances connected with this insurrection, sunk deep into the mind of Forbes. He never fairly rallied from his depression, his health declined, and he died on the 10th of December 1747, in the sixty-second year of his age. A tardy act of justice was rendered to his family. Two years after his death, a pension of L.400 per annum was granted to his only son, John Forbes; and the same good fortune that had attended the early history of his race, enabled this worthy man (the chosen associate of Thomson the poet in his youth) to free the estate from the debt so generously contracted by his father, and to add to the amount of his possessions by the purchase of contiguous lands. The fair fame of the President is, however, the proudest inheritance of his descendants. He was a patriot without ostentation or pretence—a true Scotsman with no narrow prejudices—an accomplished and even erudite scholar without pedantry—a man of genuine piety without asceticism or intolerance. His country long felt his influence through her reviving arts and institutions, and the example of such a character in that coarse and venal age, and among a people distracted by faction, political strife, and national antipathies, while it was invaluable to his contemporaries in a man of high position, is entitled to the lasting gratitude and veneration of his countrymen. In his intervals of leisure, President Forbes cultivated the study of Hebrew and biblical criticism. He was something of a speculative theologian, having embraced the views of his friend John Hutchison, the English philosopher and theological writer, that a system of natural science as well as religion could be drawn from the books of the Old Testament if interpreted according to the radical import or root of the language. In his retirement at Bunchrew—his favourite retreat—he is said to have read the Hebrew bible through eight times. His published writings are—1, A Letter to a Bishop, concerning some Important Discoveries in Philosophy and Theology; 2, Some Thoughts concerning Religion, natural and revealed, &c.; and 3, Reflections on Incredulity. His correspondence was collected and published in 1815, and a Memoir of him (from the family papers) was written by John Hill Burton, Esq., advocate, and published along with a Life of Lord Lovat, in 1847.

EDWARD, F.R.S., F.G.S., &c., Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh, was a distinguished naturalist. His range of subjects was extensive, while his consistent conduct, the candour of his disposition, the cheerfulness and amenity of his mind and manners, all added to the influence produced by the possession of great natural powers, assiduously and successfully devoted to the attainment of knowledge. So early was his admiration of natural objects developed, that he has been heard to say, that had he attempted to define the period when the love of natural history first arose as the day-star in his heart, he must have searched back into the dim and distant recollections of his earliest childhood. At this period, also, he compiled, for private use, a Manual of British Natural History, in all its branches,—a youthful labour to which he often afterwards referred with advantage.

At the age of sixteen he visited London, and while there occupied himself chiefly in the acquirement of the art of drawing, under Sass, a well-known trainer for the Royal Academy in those days. The careful practice of drawing in outline from the antique afterwards proved of great advantage to him in all his pursuits and publications. He proceeded in 1831 to Edinburgh, where he entered the medical classes. Although the study of medicine was the ostensible object of his matriculation, it was foreseen that the practice of that profession would have but few charms for one whose mind was so pervaded by the love of nature; and he in truth soon devoted himself almost entirely to the study of natural history. He became at once the friend and pupil Jameson, of whom he eventually became the successor; and he also derived great advantage from his acquaintance with Professor Graham, whom he delighted to accompany in his botanical explorations in the Highlands of Scotland. During this youthful and energetic period, scarcely a season elapsed without some important excursion in connection with botany, or the dredging of the great waters. At the age of eighteen, with the companionship of a fellow-student, he visited Norway, from which he returned with large collections. His first public contribution to science was now made under the title of "Notes of a Natural History Tour in Norway," in the 8th and 9th volumes of Loudon's Magazine. At nearly the same period, and in the same work, he printed his earliest papers on submarine researches, "Records of the result of Dredging," a department in which he eventually became so noted.

He thus pursued his studies with great intensity of thought, yet with such radiant cheerfulness and buoyancy of spirit, as possibly to induce the belief, among those who saw not beneath the surface, that he was making less progress than others of less impulsive habit who kept upon the shady side of science. Neither did he confine himself to purely scientific matters, but mingled with these many miscellaneous exercises of a literary nature; thus strengthening and enlarging his intellectual faculties, and fitting himself all the more to take advantage of those points in the minds of younger men of the same kindly constitution, to whom a discursive power and some imaginative impulse are required to create and carry onwards their scientific tendencies. But though bold and adventurous, he was by no means fanciful. If it was by the exercise of something akin to the imaginative faculty that he foresaw and felt the grandeur of those general views, such as the graduated zones of living life, which exist not alone upon the sunny surface of the earth, but in the darksome waters far beneath it, which he was among the first to announce, it was by the most patient and oft-repeated investigations that he ascertained and combined the facts on which his final views were founded. The important law, of which he was among the earliest, as he afterwards became the most successful, exponent, is this—that as there are great and characteristically distinct zones of animal and vegetable life in height, as we proceed upwards on the sides of mountains, or into alpine valleys, from the sea shore, so there are also equally distinct and different zones of animal and vegetable life in depth, as we proceed from that shore down the sides of sea-encircled mountains and into the great submerged and sunless valleys of the ocean.

Forbes continued to make Edinburgh his headquarters almost uninterruptedly till 1839; though he spent the greater part of 1837 in Paris, studying geology under Constant Prevost, mineralogy under Beudant, and zoology under De Blainville and Geoffroy St Hilaire. During the autumn of these several years he explored some interesting portions of Continental Europe, or beyond it, doing good service to science by a somewhat lengthened sojourn at one time in Illyria, at another in Algiers. In 1838 he visited Styria and Carniola, and published some observations on those countries in the "Proceedings of the Botanical Society," as he afterwards did an account of the freshwater shells of Algiers and Bougie, in the "Annals of Natural History" for 1839. About the same period he published a short treatise on the mollusca of the Irish Sea, and several papers in zoology and botany. In the winter of 1839 he also delivered two courses of lectures on zoology and comparative anatomy—one strictly scientific—the other of a more popular nature.

In 1841 he published his beautiful and well-known work, the "History of British Star Fishes and other Echinoderms," adorned by not fewer than 120 illustrations, all designed by himself. It may be here stated that his great artistic skill was fully and frequently employed, not only in the accurate representation of the precise forms of animal life, but also in sketches of rural and architectural scenery, and most characteristically of all in the vignettes and tail-pieces to his various works, where we have humour and sentiment very gracefully combined. In the spring of 1854 he accepted an invitation from his friend Captain Graves to join the surveying ship Beacon, then employed on the coast of Asia Minor and the adjacent islands; and having obtained a nominal appointment from the Admiralty, he joined that vessel in the capacity of naturalist. During 1841, and the following year, he pursued his researches with continuous and unabated energy, assisted by Captain Graves, who omitted no opportunity of enabling his scientific companion to accomplish all in his power. What marvel, then, that in the course of almost countless excursions with the Beacon and her boats, along the coasts of Asia Minor, and among the islands of the Ægean Sea, so rich a harvest should have been reaped. The results of their researches were made known to the public in the "Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Ægean Sea, and on their distribution, considered as bearing on Geology," read to the meeting of the British Association held at Cork in 1843. It appears that the data on which that report is founded were derived from eighteen months' constant researches. The calculations were based on very numerous and fully recorded dredging operations at various depths, from 1 to 130 fathoms, and in many localities from the shores of the Morea to those of Asia Minor—the chief objects being to give account of the distribution of the several tribes of mollusca and radiata in the Eastern Mediterranean, to exhibit their range in depth, and the circumstances under which they are found, to inquire into the laws which appear to regulate their distribution, and to show the general bearings of these investigations on the science of geology.

The most important result of these inquiries was the ascertainment of the almost uniform occurrence of particular species in particular zones of depth below the surface. This distribution of marine life is determined by three primary, modified by several secondary, influences. The primary influences are—climate, sea composition, and depth—the most important of the secondary agencies being the character and constitution of the sea-bottom—for according as rock, mud, sand, gravelly or weedy ground prevails, so will the number of the several genera and species vary. The form and geological construction of the neighbouring coast are also modifying features, and considerable influence is exercised by the run of tides and currents, and the influx of fresh water. The elements to be considered are therefore of a somewhat complicated nature.

Forbes gives us in this report an ample description of eight well-marked regions of depth in these eastern waters, each characterized by its own peculiar fauna, and, in such places as produce plants, by its flora. These regions are distinguished from each other by the association of the species they severally include. Certain species occur in no other, several are found in one region which do not range into the next above, whilst yet they extend to that below, or vice versâ; certain species have their maximum of development in each zone, being most prolific in individuals in that zone in which is their maximum, and of which they may be regarded as specially characteristic. Every zone has also a more or less mineral character, the sea-bottom not being equally variable in each, and becoming more and more uniform as we descend. The deeper zones, too, are the greater in extent, so that whilst the first or most superficial is but 12, the eighth or lowest is above

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1 For a nearly complete list of Professor Edward Forbes' writings, see Bibliographia Zoologiae et Geologiae, vol. II., pp. 446–450. 700 feet in perpendicular range—its horizontal extent increasing in a somewhat similar proportion. Another marked and significant feature is, that as we attain to the eighth zone, the number of species, and of individuals, diminishes as we descend—thus pointing to a zero in the distribution of animal life, as yet unvisited. Species disappear in depth, which do not seem to be replaced by others; and from various observations the inference has been deduced, that the extent of the range of a species in depth is correspondent with its geographical distribution. These eight regions are themselves the scene of incessant change, for not only are the depths modified by the addition of fresh matter, but the very animals themselves, by their own increase, so alter the nature of the sea-bottom as to render it unfit for their own existence, until a new layer of sedimentary matter, uncharged with living organic contents, has formed a fresh soil for similar or other animals to thrive on. Of these observations, the high importance is obvious as explaining so many of the constantly recurring phenomena now brought under the notice of the geologist, such, for example, as the interstratification of fossiliferous and non-fossiliferous beds.

The report refers to the phenomena which would be presented to us were the bottom of the Aegean Sea to be elevated and converted into dry land, or to be filled up by a long series of sedimentary deposits, and concludes by stating that, "supposing such an elevation to have taken place, a knowledge of the association of species in the regions of depth would enable us to form a pretty accurate notion of the depth of water in which each bed was deposited. A beautiful example is given from observations made on the island of Santorin, and under different circumstances the contrary observations might be made; the geologist is thus enabled, by a careful examination of the successive overlying groups of species, to ascertain whether, in any given locality brought under his notice, the sea-bottom was being elevated or depressed."

The Beacon having visited the coasts of Lycia in the beginning of 1842, for the purpose of carrying off the remarkable remains of antiquity discovered at Xanthus by Sir Charles Fellows, her crew were employed there in making excavations among the ruins, and preparing for the removal of the marbles. For the latter task, however, the vessel proved unfitted, and while she was sent back to Malta for the necessary requirements, Forbes and Lieutenant Spratt (having been previously joined by the Rev. Mr Daniel, an accomplished draughtsman) were permitted to remain, for the sake of further antiquarian, as well as natural history, investigations. On one occasion, in company with Mr Hoskyn, the party discovered the sites of two of the Cibyra cities; and a second excursion was still more important, as they determined the precise position of not less than eighteen ancient cities, till then unknown to geographers,—the names of fifteen being identified by inscriptions found among the ruins. During this expedition, Mr Daniel unfortunately fell a victim to the malignant malaria of the country, and Forbes himself narrowly escaped. However, he so entirely recovered as to have been on the point of setting out to prosecute his dredging operations in Egypt and the Red Sea, when the information reached him that he had been appointed to the chair of Botany in King's College, London, vacant by the death of David Don. He returned immediately to England, and delivered his inaugural lecture May 8, 1843.

A short time prior to this, Forbes had become closely connected with another important institution. On the close of 1842, Mr Londsdale, the valued curator of the museum of the geological society, resigned that situation, and Forbes was appointed in his room. But before the close of 1843, his abilities as a palaeontologist introduced him into a more extended sphere of action. On the establishment of the museum of practical geology, in connection with the ordnance geological survey, under the direction of Sir Henry De la Beche, Forbes was appointed palaeontologist to that new institution. On the removal of the museum to Jermyn Street, he was named its professor of natural history; and here his talents had ample scope for exercise.

Towards the conclusion of 1846 he published, in conjunction with Lieutenant (afterwards Captain) Spratt, "Travels in Lycia, Milyas, and the Cibyraites," an admirable work. About this period he gave forth also a most important contribution to geology and the sciences to which it is related, "On the connection between the Distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles, and the geological changes which have affected their area." In this work we have opened up to us a wide field of speculative research into almost every department of natural science, while it contains, imbedded in itself, a large and varied mass of knowledge. It throws great light on some difficult and complex inquiries regarding the age and relationship of the rocks of Britain. It affords an admirable example of the aid to be derived from other branches of natural history in the prosecution of geological researches, and of the application of animal and vegetable physiology, and a knowledge of the habits and distribution of animals and plants, in the elucidation of very difficult problems in geology. The principle or theory of this essay is based on the presumed existence of specific centres, or certain geographical points from which the individuals of each species have been diffused, involving their consequent descent from a single progenitor or pair, according as the sexes are united or distinct. The author is of opinion that the abandonment of that doctrine would place in a very dubious position all evidence the palaeontologist could offer to the geologist towards the comparison and identification of strata, and the determination of the epoch of their formation. Having thus assumed the truth of the doctrine of specific centres, he then proposes to solve the problem of the origin of those assemblages of animals and plants which now inhabit the British Islands. Within even that limited area naturalists have recently shown that there are numerous animals and plants which are by no means universally distributed, but are congregated in such a way as to form distinct groups or provinces of life. Our vegetation, for example, exhibits five well-marked Floras, four of which are restricted to definite districts, whilst the fifth, besides exclusively claiming a portion of the area, also commingles with and over-spreads the others. Forbes was of opinion, that of the three modes by which an isolated area may become inhabited by animals and plants, immigration before isolation of the area was that by which the British Isles have chiefly acquired their existing fauna and flora, terrestrial as well as marine, and that it took place subsequently to the miocene epoch. From this argument it follows, that previous to the isolation of our area, it must have been in direct union with those portions of the European continent the florals of which are shown to be identical with one or other of the five florals of the British Isles. These five distinct florals, and the districts with which he maintains they demonstrate our former connection, are as follows:

1. The West Irish Flora. The high lands in the north of Spain present the nearest point where a vegetation occurs identical with that which is characteristic of the mountainous district of the west and south-west of Ireland; consequently, at some period or other, continuous dry land must have existed from the coast of Spain to that of Ireland.

2. The Devon Flora.—connected with that of the Channel Islands, and the neighbouring parts of France.

3. The Kentish Flora. The vegetation of the south-east of England is distinguished by the presence of a number of species common to this district and the opposite coast of France.

4. The Alpine Flora. On the tops of some of our most lofty mountains, particularly in Scotland, are plants not found elsewhere in the British islands, but which are identical with those of the Scandinavian Alps, thus pointing to a former connection in that direction. 5. The General Flora. This universal flora is almost identical as to species with the flora of central and western Europe, and may properly be styled Germanic.

The distribution of marine species, both of animals and plants, is also very skilfully handled. That of the British mollusca, a favourite department, is gone into con amore, and a mass of information presented of great value, and at that time elsewhere unattainable. It is of great importance to the student of the tertiary geology. The author's conclusions are: That the flora and fauna, terrestrial and marine, of the British islands and seas have originated, so far as that area is concerned, since the miocene epoch; That the greater part of the terrestrial animals and flowering plants now inhabiting the British islands are members of specific centres beyond their area, and have migrated to it over continuous land, before, during, or after the glacial epoch; That all the changes, before, during, or after that epoch appear to have been gradual and not sudden, so that no marked line of demarcation can be drawn between the creatures inhabiting the same element and the same locality during two proximate periods.

For many successive seasons after this time, Forbes laboured with great assiduity, not only with pen and pencil, but in the arrangement and classification of the vast store of fossils collected by the ordnance geological surveyors, and placed in the Jermyn Street Museum. In connection with this department may here be mentioned the palaeontological and geological map of the British islands, with explanatory dissertation, and the map of the "Distribution of Marine Life." In 1853 he was elected president of the Geological Society, and had scarcely occupied that chair for half the allotted time when the death of his old master, Jameson, opened up to him the professorship of natural history in the University of Edinburgh.

Professor Forbes delivered a course of lectures in Edinburgh during the summer session of 1854. He had commenced his more extended winter course when he was seized with an internal ailment from which he had previously suffered. The symptoms soon became alarming, his strength sunk rapidly, and he died, after not many days' illness, at Wardie, near Edinburgh, on the evening of Saturday, Nov. 18, 1854, in the fortieth year of his age, leaving a widow, with two infants, a son and a daughter. He was buried in the Dean Cemetery.