reflections in rhombs of rock-salt. His work won him the Rumford medal of the Royal Society in 1838, and in 1843 he received its Royal medal for a paper on the “Transparency of the Atmosphere and the Laws of Extinction of the Sun’s Rays passing through it.” In 1846 he began experiments on the temperature of the earth at different depths and in different soils near Edinburgh, which yielded determinations of the thermal conductivity of trap-tufa, sandstone and pure loose sand. Towards the end of his life he was occupied with experimental inquiries into the laws of the conduction of heat in bars, and his last piece of work was to show that the thermal conductivity of iron diminishes with increase of temperature. His attention was directed to the question of the flow of glaciers in 1840 when he met Louis Agassiz at the Glasgow meeting of the British Association, and in subsequent years he made several visits to Switzerland and also to Norway for the purpose of obtaining accurate data. His observations led him to the view that a glacier is an imperfect fluid or a viscous body which is urged down slopes of a certain inclination by the mutual pressure of its parts, and involved him in some controversy with Tyndall and others both as to priority and to scientific principle. Forbes was also interested in geology, and published memoirs on the thermal springs of the Pyrenees, on the extinct volcanoes of the Vivarais (Ardêche), on the geology of the Cuchullin and Eildon hills, &c. In addition to about 150 scientific papers, he wrote Travels through the Alps of Savoy and Other Parts of the Pennine Chain, with Observations on the Phenomena of Glaciers (1843); Norway and its Glaciers (1853); Occasional Papers on the Theory of Glaciers (1859); A Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa (1855). He was also the author (1852) of the “Dissertation on the Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science,” published in the 8th edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica.
See Forbes’s Life and Letters, by Principal Shairp, Professor P. G. Tait and A. Adams-Reilly (1873); Professor Forbes and his Biographers, by J. Tyndall (1873).
FORBES, SIR JOHN (1787–1861), British physician, was born
at Cuttlebrae, Banffshire, in 1787. He attended the grammar
school at Aberdeen, and afterwards entered Marischal College.
After serving for nine years as a surgeon in the navy, he graduated
M.D. at Edinburgh in 1817, and then began to practise in
Penzance, whence he removed to Chichester in 1822. He took
up his residence in London in 1840, and in the following year
was appointed physician to the royal household. He was
knighted in 1853, and died on the 13th of November 1861 at
Whitchurch in Berkshire. Sir John Forbes was better known
as an author and editor than as a practical physician. His
works include the following:—Original Cases ... illustrating
the Use of the Stethoscope and Percussion in the Diagnosis of
Diseases of the Chest (1824); Illustrations of Modern Mesmerism
(1845); A Physician’s Holiday (1st ed., 1849); Memorandums
made in Ireland in the Autumn of 1852 (2 vols., 1853); Sightseeing
in Germany and the Tyrol in the Autumn of 1855 (1856).
He was joint editor with A. Tweedie and J. Conolly of The
Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine (4 vols., 1833–1835); and in
1836 he founded the British and Foreign Medical Review, which,
after a period of prosperity, involved its editor in pecuniary
loss, and was discontinued in 1847, partly in consequence of
the advocacy in its later numbers of doctrines obnoxious to
the profession.
FORBES, a municipal town of Ashburnham county, New
South Wales, Australia, 289 m. W. by N. from Sydney, on the
Lachlan river, and with a station on the Great Western railway.
Pop. (1901) 4313. Its importance as a commercial centre is due
to its advantageous position between the northern and southern
markets. It has steam-sawing and flour-mills, breweries and
wool-scouring establishments; while the surrounding country
produces good quantities of cereals, lucerne, wine and fruit.
FORBES-ROBERTSON, JOHNSTON (1853– ), English
actor, was the son of John Forbes-Robertson of Aberdeen, an
art critic. He was educated at Charterhouse, and studied at
the Royal Academy schools with a view to becoming a painter.
But though he kept up his interest in that art, in 1874 he turned
to the theatre, making his first appearance in London as Chastelard,
in Mary, Queen of Scots. He studied under Samuel Phelps, from
whom he learnt the traditions of the tragic stage. He played
with the Bancrofts and with John Hare, supported Miss Mary
Anderson in both England and America, and also acted at
different times with Sir Henry Irving. His refined and artistic
style, and beautiful voice and elocution made him a marked
man on the English stage, and in Pinero’s The Profligate at the
Garrick theatre (1889), under Hare’s management, he established
his position as one of the most individual of London actors.
In 1895 he started under his own management at the Lyceum
with Mrs Patrick Campbell, producing Romeo and Juliet, Hamlet,
Macbeth and also some modern plays; his impersonation as
Hamlet was especially fine, and his capacity as a romantic
actor was shown to great advantage also in John Davidson’s
For the Crown and in Maeterlinck’s Pelléas and Mélisande. In
1900 he married the actress Gertrude Elliott, with whom, as his
leading lady, he appeared at various theatres, producing in
subsequent years The Light that Failed, Madeleine Lucette
Riley’s Mice and Men, and G. Bernard Shaw’s Caesar and
Cleopatra, Jerome K. Jerome’s Passing of the Third Floor Back,
&c. His brothers, Ian Robertson (b. 1858) and Norman Forbes
(b. 1859), had also been well-known actors from about 1878
onwards.
FORBIN, CLAUDE DE (1656–1733), French naval commander,
was born in Provence, of a family of high standing, in 1656.
High-spirited and ungovernable in his boyhood, he ran away
from his home, and through the influence of an uncle entered
the navy, serving his first campaign in 1675. For a short time
he quitted the navy and entered the army, but soon returned to
his first choice. He made under D’Estrées the American campaign,
and under Duquesne that of Algiers in 1683, on all occasions
distinguishing himself by his impetuous courage. The most
remarkable episode of his life was his mission to Siam. During
the administration of the Greek adventurer Phaulcon in that
country, the project was formed of introducing the Christian
religion and European civilization, and the king sent an embassy
to Louis XIV. In response a French embassy was sent out,
Forbin accompanying the chevalier de Chaumont with the
rank of major. When Chaumont returned to France, Forbin
was induced to remain in the service of the Siamese king, and
accepted, though with much reluctance, the posts of grand
admiral, general of all the king’s armies and governor of Bangkok.
His position, however, was soon made untenable by the jealousy
and intrigues of the minister Phaulcon; and at the end of two
years he left Siam, reaching France in 1688. He was afterwards
fully engaged in active service, first with Jean Bart in the war
with England, when they were both captured and taken to
Plymouth. They succeeded in making their escape and were
soon serving their country again. Forbin was wounded at the
battle of La Hogue, and greatly distinguished himself at the
battle of Lagos. He served under D’Estrées at the taking of
Barcelona, was sent ambassador to Algiers, and in 1702 took a
brilliant part in the Mediterranean in the War of the Spanish
Succession. In 1706 he took command of a squadron at Dunkirk,
and captured many valuable prizes from the Dutch and the
English. In 1708 he was entrusted with the command of the
squadron which was to convey the Pretender to Scotland; but
so effectually were the coasts guarded by Byng that the expedition
failed, and returned to Dunkirk. Forbin was now beginning
to be weighed down with the infirmities of age and the toils of
service, and in 1710 he retired to a country house near Marseilles.
There he spent part of his time in writing his memoirs, published
in 1730, which are full of interest and are written in a graphic
and attractive style. Forbin died on the 4th of March 1733.
FORCELLINI, EGIDIO (1688–1768), Italian philologist, was
born at Fener in the district of Treviso and belonged to a very
poor family. He went to the seminary at Padua in 1704, studied
under Facciolati, and in due course attained to the priesthood.
From 1724 to 1731 he held the office of rector of the seminary
at Ceneda, and from 1731 to 1765 that of father confessor in
the seminary of Padua. The remaining years of his life were
