In Memoriam

Abstract

THE death of Alfred Henry Garrod at the early age of thirty-three was a great misfortune to the cause of zoology in this country. But that his distinguished successor, William Alexander Forbes, a man full of vigour and in the best of health, should have suddenly succumbed to the influence of a pernicious climate at the age of twenty-eight, was perhaps a still more severe blow, and one that will long be felt by the naturalists of the present day. We do not seek to compare Forbes with Garrod, but it must be recollected that Forbes was a man of undoubtedly strong physique, for whom there was every prospect of a long and successful career. There can be not the slightest doubt that, had he not lost his life from the accidental force of circumstances, Forbes would have left a considerable mark on the progress of science. As regards natural history at least, if not in some other matters, Forbes was a universal genius. Of the whole zoological series he had an enormous knowledge, ranging from one end of the animal kingdom to the other. Possessed of a most retentive memory and of an abundant stock of energy, he was unremittingly at work on his favourite subject, and never forgot what he had acquired either by reading or by experience. Not only was he thoroughly up in zoological literature, but he was also an accurate observer and a diligent collector in the field, where nothing came amiss to him. Mammals, birds, butterflies, and beetles were perhaps the groups which he knew best; but Forbes had, as already stated, an excellent general knowledge of the whole animal series. Whatever novel object might be shown to him he was very rarely at a loss for its correct name, nor for where to refer to for information about it.

In Memoriam.

The collected Scientific Papers of the late William Alexander Forbes., Fellow of St. John's College, Cambridge, Lecturer on Comparative Anatomy at Charing Cross Hospital, Prosector to the Zoological Society of London. Edited by F. E. Beddard, M.A., Prosector to the Zoological Society of London. With a preface by P. L. Sclater, M.A., Ph.D., F.R.S., Secretary to the Zoological Society of London. (London: R. H. Porter, 1885.)