Edward Forbes
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Edward Forbes FRS, FGS (12 February 1815 – 18 November 1854) was a Manx
naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...
. In 1846, he proposed that the distributions of montane plants and animals had been compressed downslope, and some oceanic islands connected to the mainland, during the recent
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
. This mechanism, which was the first natural explanation to explain the distributions of the same species on now-isolated islands and mountain tops, was discovered independently by
Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 β€“ 19 April 1882) was an English Natural history#Before 1900, naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all speci ...
, who credited Forbes with the idea. He also incorrectly deduced the so-called azoic hypothesis, that life under the sea would decline to the point that no life forms could exist below a certain depth.


Early years

Forbes was born at Douglas in the
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
. His father was a well-to-do banker. As a child, Forbes was very interested in collecting insects, shells,
minerals In geology and mineralogy, a mineral or mineral species is, broadly speaking, a solid substance with a fairly well-defined chemical composition and a specific crystal structure that occurs naturally in pure form.John P. Rafferty, ed. (2011): M ...
,
fossils A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserved ...
, and plants. Due to poor health, he was unable to attend school from his 5th through his 11th years. In 1828, he started attending the Athole House Academy in Douglas. In June 1831, Forbes moved to London to study drawing but was not admitted by the Royal Academy. However, having given up on art as a profession, he trained privately and moved back to Douglas. In later years, Forbes used his artistic abilities to create humorous drawings for his publications. In November 1832, Forbes matriculated as a medical student in the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
attending the lectures of Robert Jameson and Robert Knox while also being active in student societies. In 1832, he studied the natural history of the Isle of Man. Forbes's brother
David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...
was a notable
mineralogist Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
.


Travels

In 1833, Forbes travelled to
Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
to study its botanical resources. His findings were published in Loudon's '' Magazine of Natural History'' for 1835–1836. The British Association funded his studies based on
dredging Dredging is the excavation of material from a water environment. Possible reasons for dredging include improving existing water features; reshaping land and water features to alter drainage, navigability, and commercial use; constructing d ...
in the
Irish Sea The Irish Sea is a body of water that separates the islands of Ireland and Great Britain. It is linked to the Celtic Sea in the south by St George's Channel and to the Inner Seas off the West Coast of Scotland in the north by the North Ch ...
for biological specimens. In 1835, he travelled in France, Switzerland and Germany to study their natural histories. In 1836, Forbes abandoned his medical studies and moved to Paris, where he attended the lectures at the
Jardin des Plantes The Jardin des Plantes (, ), also known as the Jardin des Plantes de Paris () when distinguished from other ''jardins des plantes'' in other cities, is the main botanical garden in France. Jardin des Plantes is the official name in the present da ...
on natural history, comparative
anatomy Anatomy () is the branch of morphology concerned with the study of the internal structure of organisms and their parts. Anatomy is a branch of natural science that deals with the structural organization of living things. It is an old scien ...
,
geology Geology (). is a branch of natural science concerned with the Earth and other astronomical objects, the rocks of which they are composed, and the processes by which they change over time. Modern geology significantly overlaps all other Earth ...
and
mineralogy Mineralogy is a subject of geology specializing in the scientific study of the chemistry, crystal structure, and physical (including optical mineralogy, optical) properties of minerals and mineralized artifact (archaeology), artifacts. Specific s ...
. In April 1837, Forbes traveled to
Algiers Algiers is the capital city of Algeria as well as the capital of the Algiers Province; it extends over many Communes of Algeria, communes without having its own separate governing body. With 2,988,145 residents in 2008Census 14 April 2008: Offi ...
to gather material for a paper on land and freshwater
Mollusca Mollusca is a phylum of protostome, protostomic invertebrate animals, whose members are known as molluscs or mollusks (). Around 76,000 extant taxon, extant species of molluscs are recognized, making it the second-largest animal phylum ...
. The paper was published in the ''Annals of Natural History'', vol. ii. p. 250. He remained in Edinburgh, paid for by his father. In 1838, Forbes published his first volume, ''Malacologia Monensis'', a synopsis of the mollusk species native to the
Isle of Man The Isle of Man ( , also ), or Mann ( ), is a self-governing British Crown Dependency in the Irish Sea, between Great Britain and Ireland. As head of state, Charles III holds the title Lord of Mann and is represented by a Lieutenant Govern ...
. During the summer of 1838 he visited the
Duchy of Styria The Duchy of Styria (; ; ) was a duchy located in modern-day southern Austria and northern Slovenia. It was a part of the Holy Roman Empire until its dissolution in 1806 and a Cisleithanian crown land of Austria-Hungary until its dissolution i ...
(now part of
Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...
and
Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...
) and
Carniola Carniola ( ; ; ; ) is a historical region that comprised parts of present-day Slovenia. Although as a whole it does not exist anymore, Slovenes living within the former borders of the region still tend to identify with its traditional parts Upp ...
in Slovenia to gather botanical specimens.


Scholarly years


Marine biology

In 1838, Forbes presented a paper to the
British Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...
at
Newcastle Newcastle usually refers to: *Newcastle upon Tyne, a city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle-under-Lyme, a town in Staffordshire, England, United Kingdom *Newcastle, New South Wales, a metropolitan area ...
on the distribution of terrestrial Pulmonata in Europe. He was then commissioned to prepare a survey on pulmonata in the
British Isles The British Isles are an archipelago in the Atlantic Ocean, North Atlantic Ocean off the north-western coast of continental Europe, consisting of the islands of Great Britain, Ireland, the Isle of Man, the Inner Hebrides, Inner and Outer Hebr ...
. In 1841, Forbes published his ''History of British star-fishes'', embodying extensive observations and containing 120 illustrations, all designed by Forbes. On 17 April 1841, Forbes and naturalist William Thompson, joined at Malta HM surveying ship ''Beacon'', to which he had been appointed naturalist by her commander Captain Thomas Graves (1802–1856). From April 1841 until October 1842, Forbes investigated the
botany Botany, also called plant science, is the branch of natural science and biology studying plants, especially Plant anatomy, their anatomy, Plant taxonomy, taxonomy, and Plant ecology, ecology. A botanist or plant scientist is a scientist who s ...
,
zoology Zoology ( , ) is the scientific study of animals. Its studies include the anatomy, structure, embryology, Biological classification, classification, Ethology, habits, and distribution of all animals, both living and extinction, extinct, and ...
and geology of the
Mediterranean The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern ...
region. In 1843, Forbes presented a ''Report on the Mollusca and
Radiata Radiata or Radiates is a historical taxonomic rank that was used to classify animals with Symmetry (biology)#Radial symmetry, radially symmetric body plans. The term Radiata is no longer accepted, as it united several different groupings of anim ...
of the
Aegean Sea The Aegean Sea is an elongated embayment of the Mediterranean Sea between Europe and Asia. It is located between the Balkans and Anatolia, and covers an area of some . In the north, the Aegean is connected to the Marmara Sea, which in turn con ...
'', to the British Association. In the report, he discussed the influence of climate and of the nature and depth of the sea bottom upon marine life. He divided the Aegean region into eight biological zones. In his azoic hypothesis, Forbes stated that the sea regions below 300
fathom A fathom is a unit of length in the imperial and the U.S. customary systems equal to , used especially for measuring the depth of water. The fathom is neither an international standard (SI) unit, nor an internationally accepted non-SI unit. H ...
were entirely devoid of life. This hypothesis was disproved 25 years later. In 1847, Forbes published ''Travels in
Lycia Lycia (; Lycian: πŠ—πŠ•πŠπŠŽπŠ†πŠ– ''TrmΜƒmis''; , ; ) was a historical region in Anatolia from 15–14th centuries BC (as Lukka) to 546 BC. It bordered the Mediterranean Sea in what is today the provinces of Antalya and Muğ ...
'' with Lieut. T. A. B. Spratt. In 1848, he published his monograph on
jellyfish Jellyfish, also known as sea jellies or simply jellies, are the #Life cycle, medusa-phase of certain gelatinous members of the subphylum Medusozoa, which is a major part of the phylum Cnidaria. Jellyfish are mainly free-swimming marine animal ...
, the ''British Naked-eyed Medusae'' ( Ray Society). In 1852, Forbes published the fourth and concluding volume of Forbes and S. Hanley's ''History of British Mollusca'' He also published his ''Monograph of the
Echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...
ata of the British Tertiaries'' (Palaeontographical Soc.).


Posts in London

In 1842, financial pressures forced Forbes to take the curatorship of the museum of the
Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...
. In 1843, he also became a professor botany at
King's College London King's College London (informally King's or KCL) is a public university, public research university in London, England. King's was established by royal charter in 1829 under the patronage of George IV of the United Kingdom, King George IV ...
. In November 1844, Forbes resigned the curatorship and became
palaeontologist Paleontology, also spelled as palaeontology or palæontology, is the scientific study of the life of the past, mainly but not exclusively through the study of fossils. Paleontologists use fossils as a means to classify organisms, measure geolo ...
to the Geological Survey of Great Britain. Trilobite leading authority John William Salter was appointed on the staff of the Geological Survey and worked under Edward Forbes until 1854. Salter replaced Forbes as palaeontologist to the survey and gave his chief attention to the Palaeozoic fossils, spending much time in Wales and the border counties. On 26 August 1848, Forbes married Emily Marianne Ashworth, the daughter of General Sir Charles Ashworth.


Botanical studies

In 1846, Forbes published in the ''Memoirs of the Geological Survey'' his important essay ''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, especially during the epoch of the Northern Drift''. In this essay, Forbes divided the plants of Great Britain into five geographic groups and compared them to other regions in Europe: *The West and Southwest Irish group, related to flora from Northern Spain *The Southeast Irish and Southwest English group, related to flora of the
Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They are divided into two Crown Dependencies: the Jersey, Bailiwick of Jersey, which is the largest of the islands; and the Bailiwick of Guernsey, ...
and nearby coastal France *The Southeast English group, characterized by species from the Northern French coast *The mountain summits group, related to
Scandinavia Scandinavia is a subregion#Europe, subregion of northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Sweden. It can sometimes also ...
n flora *A general or Germanic flora group Forbes theorized that the majority of British terrestrial animals and flowering plants migrated there over
land bridge In biogeography, a land bridge is an isthmus or wider land connection between otherwise separate areas, over which animals and plants are able to cross and colonize new lands. A land bridge can be created by marine regression, in which sea le ...
s before, during and after the
ice age An ice age is a long period of reduction in the temperature of Earth's surface and atmosphere, resulting in the presence or expansion of continental and polar ice sheets and alpine glaciers. Earth's climate alternates between ice ages, and g ...
. His theory was later discredited. (see C Reid's ''Origin of the British Flora'', 1899). In 1851 Forbes was professor of natural history to the
Royal School of Mines The Royal School of Mines comprises the departments of Earth Science and Engineering, and Materials at Imperial College London. The Centre for Advanced Structural Ceramics and parts of the London Centre for Nanotechnology and Department of Bioe ...
. In 1852 Forbes submitted an abstract to the 22nd Meeting of the
British Association for the Advancement of Science The British Science Association (BSA) is a Charitable organization, charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Scienc ...
in Belfast. He described the fossil plant ''Cyclopteris hyberinca'', now ''Archaeopteris hybernica'' (E.Forbs) Stur. This is the type species of the genus ''
Archaeopteris ''Archaeopteris'' is an extinct genus of progymnosperm tree with fern-like leaves. A useful List of index fossils, index fossil, this tree is found in Stratum, strata dating from the Upper Devonian to Lower Carboniferous (), the oldest fossils b ...
'' (Dawson) Sturr. The genus is often incorrectly attributed to
John William Dawson Sir John William Dawson (1820–1899) was a Canadian geologist and university administrator. Life and work John William Dawson was born on 13 October 1820 in Pictou, Nova Scotia, where he attended and graduated from Pictou Academy. Of Sco ...
(1871), but correctly attributed to (1875).


T. H. Huxley

Forbes served as an important mentor to the young biologist
Thomas Henry Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...
. During Huxley's 1846 to 1850 voyage on to
Northern Australia The unofficial geographic term Northern Australia includes those parts of Queensland and Western Australia north of latitude 26th parallel south, 26Β° and all of the Northern Territory. Those local government areas of Western Australia and Q ...
, Huxley relayed news of his discoveries back to Forbes in the United Kingdom, who then published them. Forbes provided Huxley with introductions to influential people, wrote a favorable review of Huxley's work, and helped his admission to the
Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...
( FRS) at age 26.


Illustrations

Forbes's scientific illustrations have been said to be anthropomorphic, often just hiding a human form even when depicting an invertebrate. File:Forbesfrontispiece.jpg, Frontispiece to Forbes's ''Natural History of the European Seas'' (Forbes's initials are in the lower right of this cartoon depicting deep sea dredging for marine fauna) File:Forbes_cartoon.jpg, Indian cosmogony and ''Fauna Sivalensis'', cartoon by Forbes in the notebook of
Hugh Falconer Hugh Falconer MD FRS (29 February 1808 – 31 January 1865) was a Scottish geologist, botanist, palaeontologist, and paleoanthropologist. He studied the flora, fauna, and geology of India, Assam, Burma, and most of the Mediterranean island ...
File:Gideon Mantell engaged in battle by Edward Forbes.jpeg, Drawing by Forbes of
geologist A geologist is a scientist who studies the structure, composition, and History of Earth, history of Earth. Geologists incorporate techniques from physics, chemistry, biology, mathematics, and geography to perform research in the Field research, ...
Gideon Mantell Gideon Algernon Mantell Membership of the Royal College of Surgeons, MRCS Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS (3 February 1790 – 10 November 1852) was an English obstetrician, geologist and paleontology, palaeontologist. His attempts to reconstr ...
engaged in battle with flying dinosaurs on the English coastline, c. 1830s


Final years

In 1853 Forbes became president of the
Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...
. In 1854, he was appointed professor of natural history at the
University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...
, a long sought goal. During his later years, Forbes found more time in between lecturing and writing to order his stores of biological information. In the summer of 1854, Forbes lectured at Edinburgh and in September served as president of the geological section at the
Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
meeting of the
British Science Association The British Science Association (BSA) is a charity and learned society founded in 1831 to aid in the promotion and development of science. Until 2009 it was known as the British Association for the Advancement of Science (BA). The current Chief ...
. He served briefly as Professor of Natural History in succession to Prof
Robert Jameson image:Robert Jameson.jpg, Robert Jameson Robert Jameson Fellow of the Royal Society, FRS FRSE (11 July 1774 – 19 April 1854) was a Scottish natural history, naturalist and mineralogist. As Regius Professor of Natural History at the Univers ...
. In November 1854, soon after the start of winter classes at Edinburgh, Forbes became ill. He died at Wardie Parish, near Edinburgh, on 18 November 1854. He was interred at the
Dean Cemetery The Dean Cemetery is a historically important Victorian cemetery north of the Dean Village, west of Edinburgh city centre, in Scotland. It lies between Queensferry Road and the Water of Leith, bounded on its east side by Dean Path and o ...
in Edinburgh. In 1859, a former student of Forbes;
James Hector Sir James Hector (16 March 1834 – 6 November 1907) was a Scottish-New Zealand geologist, naturalist, and surgeon who accompanied the Palliser Expedition as a surgeon and geologist. He went on to have a lengthy career as a government employed ...
dedicated Mount Forbes in what is now
Banff National Park Banff National Park is Canada, Canada's first National Parks of Canada, national park, established in 1885 as Rocky Mountains Park. Located in Alberta's Rockies, Alberta's Rocky Mountains, west of Calgary, Banff encompasses of mountainous ter ...
in
Alberta, Canada Alberta is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Canada. It is a part of Western Canada and is one of the three Canadian Prairies, prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to its west, Saskatchewan to its east, t ...
to his memory. The following Forbes works were issued posthumously: *''On the Tertiary Fluviomarine Formation of the Isle of Wight'' (Geol. Survey), edited by RAC Godwin-Austen (1856) *''The Natural History of the European Seas'', edited and continued by RAC Godwin-Austen (1859). Forbes's widow provided papers to George Wilson to write up the memoirs of Forbes. Wilson however died in 1859 and his sister then passed on the papers to Archibald Geikie who had met Forbes only twice. Forbes's widow married Major Yelverton in 1858 and forbade Geikie to work on the memoirs, seeking back all the papers. Forbes's brother however wished that Geikie finish the book as did the publisher Alexander Macmillan. In 1860, it was found that Yelverton had earlier married Maria Teresa Longworth and the separation had not been made with a witness. Yelverton was accused of bigamy and Teresa Longworth wrote about her plight in a book ''Martyrs to Circumstance.'' Mrs Forbes had two sons by Yelverton and with the case being in the limelight, she had no time to apply pressure on Geikie. Geikie however had to exercise considerable diplomacy while writing the biography as Forbes had claimed that he had been sufficiently remunerated by the School of Mines.


See also

*
European and American voyages of scientific exploration The era of European and American voyages of scientific exploration followed the Age of Discovery and were inspired by a new confidence in science and reason that arose in the Age of Enlightenment. Maritime expeditions in the Age of Discovery were ...
* "The New Museum Idea"


Notes


References

* * ;Attribution * Endnotes: ** ''Literary Gazette'' (25 November 1854); ** ''Edinburgh New Philosophical Journal'' (New Ser.), (1855); ** ''Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc.'' (May 1855); ** G. Wilson and A. Geikie, ''Memoir of Edward Forbes'' (1861), in which, pp. 575–583, is given a list of Forbes's writings. ** ''Literary Papers'', edited by Lovell Reeve (1855).


External links

*
''Memoir of Edward Forbes''
by George Wilson and Archibald Geikie (MacMillan and Edmonston co., 1861)

by
Thomas Huxley Thomas Henry Huxley (4 May 1825 – 29 June 1895) was an English biologist and anthropologist who specialized in comparative anatomy. He has become known as "Darwin's Bulldog" for his advocacy of Charles Darwin's theory of evolution. The stor ...
(''Journal of Science and Literary Gazette'', 1854);
Clarke College Clarke College may refer to: * Clarke College, the former name of Clarke University, in Dubuque, Iowa, U.S. * Clarke College, in 1992 merged into Mississippi College, in Clinton, Mississippi, U.S. * William Clarke College, in Sydney, New South Wale ...

Manx Worthies: Professor Edward Forbes
(an

, by A.W. Moore (''The Manx Note Book, Vol. iii'', 1887)

Western Kentucky University Western Kentucky University (WKU) is a public university in Bowling Green, Kentucky, United States. It was founded by the Commonwealth of Kentucky in 1906, though its roots reach back a few decades earlier. It operates regional campuses in Glas ...
{{DEFAULTSORT:Forbes, Edward 1815 births 1854 deaths British geologists Manx people Fellows of the Royal Society Academics of King's College London Presidents of the Geological Society of London Fellows of the Geological Society of London Academics of the University of Edinburgh Burials at the Dean Cemetery Alumni of the University of Edinburgh People from Douglas, Isle of Man British Geological Survey British malacologists Explorers of West Asia