Excerpt from Memoir of Edward Forbes, F. R. S., Late Regius Professor of Natural History in the University of Edinburgh This Memoir was begun by the late Dr. Wilson towards the close of 1 854, very soon after Professor Forbes's death. He made a considerable collection of materials, in the form of letters, note-books, and other papers. The weakness of his health, however, together with the constant demands upon his time and labour, greatly hindered his progress, so that he had only advanced to the close of the sixth chapter when, in November 1 8 5 9, he was seized with the illness which rapidly carried him to the grave. These six chapters were never revised by him; nor has it been thought expedient to make any change upon them - they are printed as they came from his pen. He left no notes or outline of the work beyond the point where his manuscript ended, and thus the greater part of the Memoir remained still to be written. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.