SKETCH OF W. B. CARPENTER. 543 



sufficient account of its cause, it is invading a province of thought to 

 which it has no claim, and not unreasonably provokes the hostility of 

 those who ought to be its best friends. For while the deep-seated in- 

 stincts of humanity, and the profoundest researches of philosophy, alike 

 point to mind as the one and only source of power, it is the high pre- 

 rogative of science to demonstrate the unity of the power which is 

 operating through the limitless extent and variety of the universe, and 

 to trace its continuity through the vast series of ages that have been 

 occupied in its evolution." In harmony with these views, he has main- 

 tained the genetic unity of all organic beings, and has had no difiiculty 

 in insisting that evolution is compatible with theism, and in fact gives 

 a stimulus to the religious emotions. 



Dr. Carpenter retired from the registrarship of London University 

 in May, 1879, on a pension, and was chosen a member of the senate of 

 the institution. Among the most important incidents of his career as 

 registrar is mentioned the fact that he secured for the study of natural 

 science the recognition it has enjoyed at the university, and the im- 

 portant place it has always held in the examinations. Shortly after 

 his retirement a movement was instituted, with Earl Granville, Sir 

 John Lubbock, and Dr. "William Smith at its head, to procure a por- 

 trait of him to be presented to the university, as a memorial of his 

 labors in its behalf. 



Arduously as Dr. Carpenter was engaged in scientific research, he 

 found time to make himself useful and appreciated in public and 

 social life. He took pleasure in making science intelligible to the 

 public, and for this purpose accepted a part in the management of the 

 Gilchrist trust for popular lectures, and delivered lectures in the Gil- 

 christ and Swiney courses. His articles on the zoetrope and other 

 similar toys, in the "Intellectual Observer," are commended for their 

 clearness, and the same quality of style contributed very largely to 

 make his physiological treatises popular. He took the highest interest 

 in social questions, and was always glad to throw the light of scientific 

 knowledge upon them. He was quick to perceive the evils of indul- 

 gence in intoxicating liquors, became an advocate of total abstinence, 

 and lectured on temperance, while he afterward concluded that there 

 was a legitimate use for wine. Upon Dr. Ray Lankester, who knew 

 him from his own boyhood, "he always produced the most vivid 

 impression of a man of indomitable energy, who had accepted as the 

 highest duty and keenest delight of his life the promotion, whether by 

 advocacy or by research, of true knowledge." " No man of science," 

 Dr. Lankester says in another notice of him, " could witness without 

 respect and sympathy the ardent devotion of the veteran naturalist to 

 the cause of scientific progress, and the earnest simplicity of his char- 

 acter." Whatever he said when his researches were the subject of 

 conversation "was admirable, and his willingness to meet fairly an 

 antagonist was no less indicative of the true, single-hearted man of 



