FOltSKAL PETER, a celebrated naturalist and oriental traveller, was born in Sweden, in the year 1736. After studying at Gottingen, where he published a dissertation under the title of ' Dubin de Principiia' Philosophim recentioris,' by which he gained some credit, he returned to his native country. In 1759 he wrote his 'Pensdes stir Is Libert6 Chile,' a pamphlet which did not prove agreeable to the ruling powers of Sweden. A fondness for natural history had brought him acquainted with Limo:cue, then at the zenith of his fame, by whom he was favourably recommended to Frederick V., king of Denmark. In 1761 he obtained the title of professor at Copenhagen, and having been distinguished for his acquaintance with oriental languages, he was selected to join Niebuhr and others in an expedition to investi gate Egypt and Arabia. After visiting Marseille, Malta, some of the Greek islands, and Constantinople, ha arrived at Alexandria. For about a year he remained stationary in Cairo and its vicinity ; he afterwards visited Suez, and entering Arabia by Lohoia, he penetrated by way of Beit-el•Fakih and Zebid as far as Mocha ; thence crossing the mountains to Tares and Abb, he eventually and with difficulty reached Jerim, where he died on the 11th of July 1763. In the course of this journey, although robbed and ill-treated by thieves near Alexandria and elsewhere, suffering from constitutional timidity, and often bowed down with sickness, lie investigated with such extraordi nary energy and perseverance the natural productions, especially the plants, of the places ha visited, that although he paver lived to arrange his papers, the accouut of the vegetation of Egypt and Arabia, com piled after the return of his companions to Europe, is a model of the manner in which such investigations should be conducted. From his
friend and companion Niebuhr, to whom the care of editing Porskal's manuscripts was intrusted, we have a Fauna Orientalist under the title of Descriptiones Animalium, Avium, Amphibiormn, Piscium, Ineectorum, Vcrminm, gum in Wu. orient. observavit I'etrus Forskal,' 1775, 4to; and in the same year and form appeared a ' Flora YEgyptiaco-Arabica,' or an account of the plants found in Lower Egypt and Arabia Felix. This latter work is very remarkable AS an illustration of the philosophical mind of Forskal, and is far in advance of the works of a similar kind published by the followers of Lianas's. It is one of the first books in which the relation of vegetation to climate is taken as a great object of consideration, and may iu fact bo quoted as one of the earliest steps made in geographical botany. Wo here find an attempt to show the existence of geographical parallels of vegetation, and the remarkable assertion that, "Given the specimens of plants, you may find the latitude of a country, the elevation of its surface, and the zones of vegetation upon its mountains, from their foot to their highest peaks." The Flora IEgyptiacceArabica ' is to this day the best account wo have of the plants of those countries, and it remains one of the most satisfactory views of the vegetation of any extra-European region. Linnxtei fixed the name of Forskal to his own Caldbeja adhrerens, a worthless Arabian weed, under the title of F. tenaciasima; but wo are assured by a panegyrist of tho great Swedish botanist, that in doing so he intended to compliment rather than satirise the character of his unfortunate countryman.