Carpenter, WILLIAM BENJAMIN

Carpenter, WILLIAM BENJAMIN, biologist, Mary's eldest brother, was born at Exeter, 29th October 1813. He was educated at Bristol, passed some time in the West Indies with the family doctor, then studied medicine at Bristol, London (1833), and Edinburgh (1835-39). His graduation thesis (1839) on the nervous system of invertebrate animals led up to his Principles of General and Comparative Physiology (1838), one of the earliest works giving a general view of the science of life. Removing to London in 1844, he was appointed Fullerian professor of physiology at the Royal Institution, lecturer or professor at the London Hospital and University College (1849), examiner at the university of London, and its registrar (1856). He also edited (1847-52) the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, and a Popular Cyclopaedia of Science (1843). On his retirement in 1879 he received the distinction of C.B. His death, 19th November 1885, resulted from burns caused by the upsetting of a spirit-lamp. While vice-president of the Royal Society he persuaded it to apply to government for aid in investigations in marine zoology. Three voyages were made to the North Atlantic and Mediterranean by Carpenter and his colleagues. The Challenger expedition was a result which sprang from these expeditions. Carpenter made valuable researches on the Foraminifera; on the Eozoön Canadense; on feather-stars and crinoids; on the relation between mind and brain, and unconscious cerebration. His deep-sea explorations led him to advocate the doctrine of vertical ocean circulation sustained by opposition of temperature only, independent and distinct from the horizontal currents produced by winds. He received medals from the Royal and Geological Societies, was LL.D. of Edinburgh, and corresponding member of the Institute of France (1873). Carpenter's other chief contributions to the science of physiology, &c. are Principles of Human Physiology (9th ed. 1882); Principles of Mental Physiology; Animal Physiology; Manual of Physiology; Zoology and Instincts of Animals; Microscope and its Revelations (5th ed. 1875); The Foraminifera; Use of Alcoholic Liquors (1851); Physiology of Temperance (1870); Mesmerism and Spiritualism (1877); Nature and Man (with memoir by J. E. Carpenter, 1888). Two sons, W. Lant Carpenter and Dr P. Herbert Carpenter, have followed in his footsteps.