gestive of that peculiar line of thought and research in which he was afterwards to become so distinguished, the relation of organic beings to space and time. His aim was to fit himself for a natural history chair, and to found such a reputation as might warrant his becoming a candidate for such an appointment. His love of travel had been indulged in to some extent, and was now prosecuted with increased ardour, as bringing in rich accessions to his knowledge of living forms and their distribution. In 1833, he had visited Norway, and spent several weeks in admiring its scenery and collecting its minerals and plants. In 1835, he had made a tour in France, Switzerland, and Germany. The winter of 1836 was spent in Paris, and, at the close of the winter course at the Jardin des Plantes, he visited the South of France, and from Avignon passed over to Algiers. The summer of 1838 was spent on the Continent. He went by Frankfort and Vienna through Styria and Carniola, as far as Trieste. To botany he gave special attention, and collected above 3000 specimens. Add to these explorations his dredgings in the Irish Sea, a tour in Ireland in 1840, and the preparation of his "History of British Starfishes," and it is obvious that a large amount of labour was expended, seemingly in a desultory manner, but really in amassing the materials which were to form the groundwork of wide and philosophic generalization at a future day. But while all this was going on, Forbes had no clear prospect as to the future, and "he began to weary of the uncertainty and dependence of his lot." "I mean," he says, in one of his letters at this period, 1840, "to give science another chance for a year, and if there are no better prospects at the end of it, I must bid it adieu." But a sudden change was at hand. In February 1841, a proposal was made to him to go out to the Egean, as naturalist to H.M.S. "Beacon," under the command of Captain Graves. To Forbes this, as he himself expressed it, "would be the acme of naturalizing happiness." His father gave his consent; his friend, William Thompson of Belfast, was prevailed on to accompany him; and, on the 1st of April 1841, they left London together for Malta, where the vessel was then lying. His sojourn on board the "Beacon" was in many respects all that Forbes could wish, and a few weeks of intercourse with the officers and crew sufficed to enlist all their sympathy in his pursuits. Even "the first lieutenant," says Captain Graves, "although anxious, as all first lieutenants are, to keep the decks clean, never objected to the contents of the dredge being spread out, but almost became a convert." "It was quite amusing," he continues, "to see how Forbes gained the good opinion of the sailors of the 'Beacon,' and how they all endeavoured to add to his collections. If a boat returned from surveying, there were always some shells for Mr. Forbes." On the important scientific results of this expedition our space does not here permit us to dwell. They were in part made known, soon after his return, at the Cork meeting of the British Association in 1843. He found that the Ægean Sea could be subdivided into eight provinces of depth. "Each of these zones showed a marked and peculiar assemblage of living beings, and could even be further separated into sub-regions." Two laws were deduced from these investigations: 1. That "the range of a species in depth is commensurate with its geographical distribution." 2. That "parallels in latitude are equivalent to regions in depth, correspondent to that law in terrestrial distribution, which holds that parallels in latitude are representative of regions of elevation." His travels in Lycia, in conjunction with Lieutenant (now Captain) Spratt, R.N., were given to the world in 1846. While still in the Ægean, Forbes was seized with fever. He was at the time in a small caique, with Lieutenant Spratt, on his way from Rhodes to rejoin the "Beacon ;" and "for eight miserable days he lay in the bottom of the boat, without medical advice or comfort of any kind." From the effects of this illuess there is reason to fear he never perfectly recovered. Another change was now impending; one that transferred him from the sunny Cyclades, and the blue seas of the Egean, to the toil, the bustle, and the intellectual life of London. Mr. Don, the Professor of Botany in King's College, had died, and Edward Forbes was appointed his successor. Nor had he long returned, when the death of Mr. Lonsdale, the curator of the Geological Society, caused a fresh vacancy which he was selected to fill. In some respects it was well that these appointments, with salaries which, though small, were certain, fell to his lot. His father's affairs had become embarrassed; an allowance of £150 a year, which he had received from the time he went to Edinburgh, had ceased; and he was absolutely thrown on his own resources. That he should chafe at times under the continual labour which his new duties imposed was but natural; but what especially grieved him was that the routine of daily employment left him no time for working up that mass of material which he had brought home with him from the Ægean. His complaints find expression in letters to his intimate friends. Thus: "DEAR THOMPSON,-Time! time! time! no time now, I fear, for anything! You say I'm lucky, but you are far luckier yourself in being able to work at what you like, and at your own work. I wish to God somebody would leave me £300 a year, and then I would keep my professorship and work out my work; but, as it is, I see no prospect." And again, in a few days: "DEAR THOMPSON,-You mistake me, if you fancy I find fault with my work and amount of occupations; what annoys me is that, under such circumstances, all the original matter I have collected must lie dormant." Later in 1844, he writes to the same correspondent :-" My plants are rotting, and half my collections going to ruin. I wish I had stuck to the brush, and never meddled with natural history, which is only fit for independent amateurs." And, in another letter we have : this striking sentence :- "You Gentlemen who sit at home at ease,' must not be too hard on us poor professionals, to whom a spare moment is like the intermissions of an ague, too valuable to be spent in doing anything." There is something touching in the frequent complaint of limited means and over-work. Mr. Geikie enters fully upon the subject of the "uncongenial drudgery" which consumed his time, the confinement that told upon his health, and "the inability to find time for study, especially for the preparation of the Ægean sea researches." We admit with him that as Forbes "had never yet been accustomed to regular and continuous labour, he would have felt any situation irksome that demanded it." But, acknowledging this to the fullest extent, we may be permitted to ask why should England send forth a naturalist of his attainments, to enter on investigations of high scientific importance, and fail to provide him on his return with facilities for completing his labours, and a moderate competence while engaged in bringing them to a conclusion? This is not the only instance in which such penny-wise economy has prevailed; an economy, in many respects, unworthy of a great nation. The extent to which science has suffered under this system no man can estimate. In the case of Forbes, a portion, and but a small portion, of his Egean work was published; the rest remains utterly lost to science, for he alone could have arranged the heterogeneous mass, and given utterance to the truth it was fitted to unfold. In 1844, it was determined that a Palæontologist should be added to the officers of the Geological Survey. Forbes, who was preeminently qualified for its duties, obtained the appointment, and, in November 1844 entered on his new office, under Sir Henry de la Beche. The salary was £300 a year. The curatorship of the Geological Society was now resigned; and henceforth, during the remainder of his London life, his time was mainly devoted to the duties of his new post, and those of the Professorship of Botany at King's College. Mr. Geikie gives us a pleasant sketch of the manner in which the out-door work of the Survey was then carried on, and furnishes us with illustrations of the cheerful, genial, friendly spirit that pervaded the little brotherhood of workers. In all this there was much to Forbes's taste, and much also to his liking in the duties in which they were engaged. But his thoughts still turned to the Egean specimens, neglected and unarranged. The leisure to work them up never came, and gradually he was led to the conviction that, if the long coveted leisure was ever to be his, it could come only with the Natural History Chair of Edinburgh. In April 1854, the death of Professor Jameson, which had long been anticipated, took place. Forbes was appointed his successor, and, on the 13th of May 1854, left London, "to take his place as a Professor in the University which, rather more than two-and-twenty years before, he had joined as a student." On the 15th of May, when he delivered his inaugural lecture, the largest class-room in the University was filled to overflowing. Ere the ensuing November was ended that eloquent tongue was mute, and a large concourse of the most distinguished citizens of Edinburgh stood sorrowing around the grave of Edward Forbes ! Were we disposed to dwell on the vanity of human wishes, we might point to his anxious life and his early death as an illustration. The Chair of Natural History in Edinburgh had been the dream of his youth and the aspiration of his manhood; he had striven for the prize, had reached the goal, "and then he died." Had his life been prolonged for ten or twenty years, and a band of naturalists, actuated by his zeal for science, been sent into the world, the effects would, doubtless, have been great, but how great we can only conjecture. His writings are numerous, and of the most diversified character. Some of them are highly suggestive, and embody great conceptions, or demand long-continued and extensive research. To treat of his published works would, however, require a separate article. The estimation in which he was held as a man of science is attested by the fact that, although young in years, he had successively filled the offices of President of the Geological Society and President of the Geological Section of the British Association. He was eminently social, avoiding solitude save only when at work, and joining in the song, the dance, or the frolic of the hour, with a thorough and hearty zest. His mirth at such times was particularly joyous and catching, winning the gravest and most austere to forsake the wisdom of their ways, and join in the merriment of which he was the leader. When a spell so potent was thrown over men of his own standing, what wonder was it that the young were attracted around him? His spirit was one that found pleasure in pursuits the most varied and even opposite. He delighted in literature, in poetry, and in art. He could observe minute specific details, yet rise from them to the loftiest generalizations. He desired to diffuse among the masses the lore that had hitherto dwelt among the learned; to pursue truth for its own sake, not for self-glorification; and to bring men of the most varied character and attainments to work together for the common good. The spell by which this was achieved was not the authority of the man of science nor the fascination of the humorist, but it was that of a lofty intellect joined with a genial, kindly, joyous nature. This it was that rendered him so universally beloved, and caused the deep wail of sorrow at his decease. A man never lived who more truly than Edward Forbes exemplified the lines :--- "One who in life, where'er he moved, XIII. NOTICES OF BOOKS. The Epics of Hesiod, with an English Commentary. By F. A. Paley, M.A. Whittaker & Co., London. 1861. Ir is surprising, to say the least, that no adequate edition of the remains of Hesiod's poetry should until this time have issued from the press of this country. Hesiod and Homer are so coupled, by the Father of history, and by most recent inquirers into early Greek literature and mythology, that it might have been expected that English scholarship would have done more for one of the oldest Greek poets, a poet too, whose extant works are entirely sui generis, and represent a class of didactic compositions, of which there are no specimens of a date equally_early. Up to the present time, however, the insufficient edition of Robinson (A. D. 1737), with that of Gaisford, in the Poeta Minores (if we may except the translation in Mr. Bohn's series, which is furnished with notes, critical and explanatory), stands almost alone as the result of the lucubrations of English scholars in the field of Hesiod. In the University of Oxford, so far as our recollection serves, the "Works and Days' and the Theogony are very rarely placed upon a classman's list of books; whilst, at Cambridge, the few students who acquire a knowledge of this poet, of a special style and time, for the purposes of the classical tripos or the University scholarship, have been obliged to have recourse to Goettling or Van Lennep, the most trustworthy foreign editors, in default of any sufficient edition of home production. Hence perhaps Hesiod is not so generally read and appreciated as his merit deserves; or, indeed, as he will probably be, when Mr. Paley's edition, just put forth, has supplied the undoubted want of a sound and complete English edition of Hesiod, by a competent hand. That Mr. Paley approaches his task with special qualifications, it is unnecessary to refer to his Eschylus and his Euripides, or to his long familiarity with the works of Hesiod, for the purpose of proving. His high academical repute augurs well for the work, and careful examination justifies the assertion that, as a critical edition, the volume before us will supply all the chief requirements of the "tyro," as well as what is looked for by the advanced scholar. The preface is replete with original thought and matter, as well as with critical siftings of the opinions of Müller, Mure, and others. A careful account is given of the manuscripts which the editor has himself collated; and an extremely interesting synopsis of the application of the Eolic Digamma to the versification of Hesiod, is an addition which enhances the value of the prefatory matter. Mr. Paley, with much reason on his side, considers Hesiod's use of the digamma "to be pretty constant, though not absolutely invariable," and the result of his inquiries into a subject, which former editors of Hesiod have passed over sub silentio, is the removal of numerous minor corruptions of the text of the poet, and the ejection, in many places, of VOL. I. Q |