SKETCH OF DR. CARPENTER. 749 



Chirurgical Review, on loeing appointed principal of University Hall 

 an institution for the reception of students at University College, simi- 

 lar to the halls at Oxford and Cambridge. By this change he was en- 

 abled to devote more time to scientific pursuits. 



Of these pursuits a very important one was the study of the Aus- 

 tralian and Philippine Foraminifera ; the results of which were given 

 in memoirs to the Royal Society, between 1S56 and 1860. In these 

 papers, says Sir B. Brodie in the address already referred to, Dr. Car- 

 penter " described some remarkable types which were previously quite 

 unknown ; he gave a detailed account of the very complex organiza- 

 tion existing alike in the foregoing and in types previously well known 

 by external configuration ; he demonstrated the entire fallacy of the 

 artificial system of classification hitherto in vogue, the primary divis- 

 ions of which are based on the plan of growth ; he laid the foundation 

 of a natural system, based on those characters, in the internal structure 

 and conformation of the shell, which are most closely related to the 

 physiological conditions of the animal ; and, finally, by the comparison 

 of very large numbers of individuals, he proved the existence of an 

 extremely wide range of variation among the leading types of Fora- 

 minifera, often reassembling under a single species varying forms, 

 which, for want of a sufficiently careful study, had not merely been 

 separated into distinct species, but had been arranged under different 

 genera, families, and even orders." 



Another important series of subjects that engaged Dr. Carpenter's 

 attention about this time was the phenomena of mesmerism, hyp- 

 notism, electro-biology, etc. The result of his investigations will be 

 found in the Quarterly Review for October, 1853. In this paper he 

 endeavors to explain the phenomena by the automatic action of the 

 mind under the influence of suggestion, the will being in abeyance. 

 The same explanation he considers applicable to all the phenomena of 

 spiritualism, with the exception of those which are referable either to 

 trickery or self-deception. 



A detailed account of Dr. Carpenter's contributions to the general 

 body of scientific knowledge would be out of place here. Let it suffice 

 to say that he continued to prosecute with success his researches into 

 the microscopic structures of organisms. In 1856 he published "The 

 Microscope and its Revelations." New editions of his two great works 

 on physiology being again urgently demanded, there was entailed upon 

 him immense labor in reorganizing them and bringing them up to the 

 highest level of that rapidly-advancing science. So great, indeed, has 

 been the toil required to keep the successive editions of the " Human 

 Physiology" (which is at present in its eighth edition) abreast of the 

 times, that the author has of late years been compelled to hand over 

 to others this important duty, while he himself has devoted all his 

 spare time and energy to original investigation in certain departments 

 of zoology. 



