Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 19.djvu/395

 he published a paper on them in the ‘Wernerian Memoirs,’ vol. viii. The winter of 1838–9 found him delivering a course of lectures before the Edinburgh Philosophical Association on ‘The Natural History of the Animals in the British Seas.’ At this period he describes himself as studying ‘with a view to the development of the laws of species, of the laws of their distribution, and of the connection between the physical and mental development of creatures.’

At the British Association meeting of 1839 at Birmingham Forbes obtained a grant for dredging researches in the British seas, with a view to illustrating the geographical distribution of marine animals, and started the famous club of ‘Red Lions,’ named from the place of the first dinner. Throughout his life Forbes's humorous songs, the subject often taken from some branch of science, were among the most conspicuous after-dinner features. About this time Forbes undertook to publish a ‘History of British Star-fishes,’ many of which had been first observed by himself. The work was published in parts, illustrated from his own drawings, and completed in 1841. In 1839–40 he lectured on natural history both at Cupar and St. Andrews with great success, having much original material, and aiding his lectures by excellent chalk drawings on the spot. Towards the end of 1839 he founded a ‘University Club,’ under whose auspices an ‘Academic Annual’ (the only one which appeared) was published, containing Forbes's paper ‘On the Association of Mollusca on the British Coast considered with reference to Pleistocene Geology,’ in which he established his notable division of the coast into four zones, and pointed out the effects on the fauna of subsidence and elevation. He gave a series of lectures at Liverpool in the spring of 1840, visited London and made the acquaintance of many leading men of science, and travelled and dredged extensively before the meeting of the British Association at Glasgow. In the following winter he was disappointed by failure to gain a class for lectures in Edinburgh.

In 1841 Forbes was appointed naturalist to H.M.S. Beacon, engaged on surveying work in the Levant. Gaining the interest of all on board in his studies, he made extensive collections of marine animals and learned many facts of importance in the natural history of the Ægean Sea. He also studied the relations of animals and plants on the islands of the Archipelago. His friend William Thompson of Belfast [q. v.] accompanied the expedition from April to June. In the autumn Forbes dredged on the south-west coast of Asia Minor, and made antiquarian and natural history excursions into the uplands of Lycia. In the spring of 1842 he took an extended journey in Lycia with Lieutenant Thomas Abel Brimage Spratt [q. v.] and the Rev. Edward Thomas Daniell, M.A. of Balliol College, Oxford (who died on 24 Sept. 1843 at Adalia in Syria), discovering the ruins of Termessus, and exploring other interesting sites. Some sketches by Daniell are in the British Museum. Besides antiquarian discoveries Forbes made collections of land and fresh-water mollusca, and of plants, and ascertained the main features of the geology of Lycia. In the early summer Forbes returned to Rhodes, and learned that his father's losses precluded further remittances, and that his friend John Goodsir and others were canvassing for his appointment as professor of botany at King's College, London. The British Association, however, granted him 60l., and he proposed to compare the fauna of the Red Sea with that of the Mediterranean. But a week's fever on board a becalmed caique impaired his constitution for life. On recovering, he was cheered by an increased grant from the British Association, and prepared to go to Egypt, but being strongly urged to return to London if he wished to secure the King's College chair, he reluctantly came back in October 1842.

During his absence he had been elected to the coveted professorship at King's College, but it was worth less than 100l. a year. He consequently applied for the curatorship of the museum of the Geological Society at 150l. a year, and was elected, thus relieving the society from a dangerous conflict about other candidates. The detailed work of the new appointment absorbed nearly all his time, and necessitated the postponement of full publication of his researches in the Ægean; but he presented a valuable ‘Report on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Ægean Sea’ to the British Association in 1843, which raised his reputation greatly. His botanical lectures opened well, and became popular from their philosophical tone and practical illustrations based on a wide knowledge of plants in their native habitats. He had frequent returns of intermittent fever, and his labour at the Geological Society was incessant. The want of a skilled palæontologist on the Geological Survey became evident in 1844, and at Mr. (now Sir A. C.) Ramsay's suggestion Forbes received the appointment in October. Meanwhile he delivered an important lecture before the Royal Institution (23 Feb. 1844) on ‘The Light thrown on Geology by Submarine Researches,’ in which he expounded his discoveries about littoral zones, the characters of deposits formed at various depths in the ocean, and the migration of mollusca. The