Forbes, SIR JOHN

Forbes, SIR JOHN, physician, was born about the close of 1787, at Cuttlebrae, Banffshire. After studying at Aberdeen and Edinburgh he entered the navy in 1807 as assistant-surgeon; in 1817 he took the degree of M.D. at Edinburgh; and after practising as a physician at Penzance and at Chichester he went in 1840 to London, where he speedily made a large practice. He was knighted in 1853 by the Queen, to whose household he held the appointment of physician in ordinary. He was F.R.S. and D.C.L. of Oxford, as well as member of numerous foreign societies. Conjointly with Drs Tweedie and Conolly he was the editor of the Cyclopædia of Practical Medicine (4 vols. 1832–35). In 1836 he founded the British and Foreign Medical Review, which he carried on for twelve years. To him in a great measure belongs the merit of having introduced the use of the stethoscope in England, and of having successfully directed the attention of British practitioners to the art and practice of physical diagnosis. He died 13th November 1861.