even by his admirers (including the late Edmund Parkes), that he was carried too far by his love of fairness in approving what could only be accepted by professed homœopathists, though he denounced some of the absurdities of Hahnemann's system. The article undoubtedly did good in helping to prove that far too much medicine was habitually given to patients. When Forbes gave up the ‘Review’ it was amalgamated with Johnson's, under the title of ‘The British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review,’ and continued on the same lines till the end of 1877. In 1845 Forbes was made a fellow of the London College of Physicians, in 1852 an honorary D.C.L. of Oxford, and in 1853 he was knighted. He was also a member of various learned and scientific societies both in Europe and America. He continued to live in London till 1859, employing himself chiefly in benevolent and literary works, and occasionally making short tours on the continent, of some of which he wrote an account. Among other inquiries he gave a good deal of attention to mesmerism, attempting to separate the truth from the superincumbent mass of imposture. He carefully investigated cases of clairvoyance, and gave a very amusing account of his detection of the impostors in some letters originally published in the ‘Athenæum’ and the ‘Medical Gazette,’ and afterwards in a collected form, with the title ‘Illustrations of Modern Mesmerism from Personal Investigation,’ 18mo, 1845. His last medical work was published in 1857 with the title of ‘Nature and Art in the Cure of Disease,’ which he ‘bequeathed as a legacy to his younger brethren,’ explaining in it more fully than had been done in his article in the ‘Review’ his ideas on the nature of diseases, and especially their curability by the powers of nature alone. Not long after the publication of this work he began to suffer from symptoms of softening of the brain; and in 1859 he left London, and went to live with his only son (his wife having died some years before) at Whitchurch, near Reading, where he died, 13 Nov. 1861. In private life, while professing, as it is said (Med. Times and Gaz.), too little perhaps of the Christian faith, Forbes was a man to be both loved and honoured, and few men in the present century have done more to promote the cause of sound medical literature. Besides the works already mentioned the two following may be noticed:
- ‘A Physician's Holiday, or a Month in Switzerland in the Summer of 1848.’
- ‘Sight-seeing in Germany and the Tyrol in the Autumn of 1855.’
[Obituary notice in the Lancet; Med. Times and Gazette; Edinb. Med. Journal; Brit. Med. Journal (and also 5 Aug. 1876, p. 174); Brit. and For. Med.-Chir. Rev. by E. A. Parkes, reprinted in a separate form, 1862; article by Forbes in the last vol. of the Brit. and For. Med. Rev.; personal knowledge and recollection.]
FORBES, JOHN HAY, Lord Medwyn (1776–1854), Scotch judge, second son of Sir William Forbes, bart. [q. v.], was born at Edinburgh in 1776. He was admitted advocate in 1799, was for some time sheriff-depute of the county of Perth, and was made lord of session in January 1825, when he assumed the courtesy title of Lord Medwyn, from his estate in Perthshire. In December 1830 he was made a lord of justiciary. He resigned that appointment in May 1849, altogether retired from the bench in October 1852, and died at Edinburgh, 25 July 1854. He edited a new edition of ‘Thoughts concerning Man's Condition and Duties in this Life, and his Hopes in the World to come, by Alexander [Forbes (1678–1762) [q. v.], fourth], Lord [Forbes of] Pitsligo,’ with a life of the author, 1835, 4th ed. Edinburgh, 1854. He was an attached episcopalian, and did much to promote the interests of his church in the Scottish capital. Forbes married Louisa, daughter of Sir Alexander Cumming Gordon of Altyre, Elgin, and by her had, with other children, a son, Alexander Penrose, bishop of Brechin [q. v.]
[Gent. Mag. September 1854, p. 300; Anderson's Scottish Nation, ii. 232; Kay's Edinburgh Portraits, ii. 99.]
FORBES, PATRICK (1564–1635), of Corse, bishop of Aberdeen, eldest son of William Forbes of Corse and Elizabeth Strachan, was born in 1564. After attending the high school of Stirling he studied at the universities of Glasgow and St. Andrews, under his kinsman Andrew Melville. He accompanied Melville in his flight to England in 1584, and visited Oxford and Cambridge. Returning to St. Andrews he prosecuted his theological studies, and was offered a divinity chair, but this he declined in deference to his father's wishes. In 1589 he married Lucretia, daughter of David Spens of Wormiston in Fifeshire. James Melville tells us that he brought about this marriage of ‘good, godly, and kind Patrick Forbes of Corse.’ Forbes had lived in close intimacy with both the Melvilles from his boyhood. After his marriage he went to Montrose, and resided there till his father's death in 1598, when he removed to Corse. Besides attending to his estates, he continued his theological studies, and diligently expounded the scriptures to his own family and dependents. The bishop and clergy earnestly solicited him
