144 



CARPENTER, WILLIAM B. 



interference of the Emperor William, provided 

 the settlement did not yield the principle he 

 upheld requiring substantial settlement or ef- 

 fective jurisdiction as a condition of recogniz- 

 ing claims to a sovereignty or protectorate. 

 He refused to admit that, if the prior arrival 

 of the Spanish vessels was to be construed as 

 effecting a title to possession, the other islands 

 were affected by the result, and gave out that 

 Germany would not recognize any claims based 

 upon the contiguity of the islands to Spanish 

 possessions or on the right of discovery, the 

 Papal grant, or other historical grounds. 



The Emperor William and King Alfonso each 

 addressed a letter to the Pope, asking him to 

 consent to act as mediator. He signified his 

 willingness on Sept. 26. Pope Leo was grati- 

 fied, because he has considered it one of his 

 duties to act as a mediator between princes, 

 and between princes and their people. Ac- 

 cording to the numerous precedents, both par- 

 ties are required to submit the evidence and 

 documents relating to their claims, which are 

 discussed in a special congregation of the car- 

 dinals, and their conclusions are submitted to 

 the Pope for his final decision. 



In a note dated Oct. 1, Prince Bismarck 

 argues against Spain's historical pretensions, 

 and denies that Germany in 1875 disclaimed 

 the intention of ever acquiring colonies. On 

 the 13th of October the Spanish Government 

 forwarded a dispatch definitely accepting the 

 mediation of the Pope, who formally accepted 

 the task on Oct. 21. 



The United States Government addressed a 

 note to the Spanish Government after the ref- 

 erence to the Pope was agreed upon, intimating 

 that if the sovereignty of Spain over the islands 

 was recognized, it expected that the American 

 Protestant missions would be respected, and 

 complete freedom of religion allowed. The 

 German and Spanish Governments came to an 

 agreement by which Germany recognized a pri- 

 or occupation of Yap and waived all claims to 

 the islands, with reservations as to the Marshall 

 and Gilbert Islands. The matter was laid before 

 the Pope, subject to this understanding. His 

 office was thus confined to recording the decis- 

 ion already agreed upon on the main question. 



CARPENTER, WILLIAM BENJAMIN, an Eng- 

 lish biologist, born in Exeter, Oct. 29, 1813; 

 died in London, Nov. 10, 1885. His father, 

 the Rev. Dr. Lant Carpenter, was an eminent 

 Unitarian minister and a writer on theological 

 subjects, who removed to Bristol in 1817", and 

 the son's earlier life became identified with 

 that city. Beginning study under his father's 

 personal direction, he developed a special 

 taste and aptitude for physics and chemistry, 

 and in the choice of a profession expressed 

 a preference for that of civil engineer. But 

 no suitable opportunity offering in that di- 

 direction, he entered upon the study of medi- 

 cine in 1828 under Dr. J. B. Estlin, a brother- 

 in-law of Dr. Pritchard, the ethnologist, at- 

 tending also the lectures at the Bristol Medical 



School. His studies were interrupted in the 

 winter of 1832 by a visit to the West Indies in 

 company with his tutor, but were resumed on 

 his return to Bristol; and he continued them 

 in 1834 at University College and Middlesex 

 Hospital, London, and afterward in the Uni- 

 versity of Edinburgh, where he received the 

 degree of M. D. in 1839. In the mean time he 

 had been appointed Lecturer on Medical Juris- 

 prudence in the Bristol Medical School, where 

 he continued engaged also in the practice of 

 medicine till 1844, when he became Fullerian 

 Professor of Physiology in the Royal Institu- 

 tion. In 1844 he was made a Fellow of the 

 Royal Society ; in the next year, a lecturer in the 

 London Hospital ; in 1847. a lecturer on geolo- 

 gy in the British Museum, one of the exami- 

 ners of the London University, and editor of 

 the " British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical 

 Review " ; in 1849, Professor of Medical Juris- 

 prudence at University College; and in 1852, 

 Principal of University Hall. 



Dr. Carpenter began the researches with 

 which his name is associated, and the publica- 

 tion of results upon them, while still quite young. 

 Among his earliest contributions was a paper 

 "On the Voluntary and Instinctive Actions of 

 Living Beings." Before he was twenty-five 

 years old he had published articles on "Vege- 

 table Physiology " and " The Physiology of the 

 Spinal Marrow," and a review of that part of 

 W he well's " History of the Inductive Sciences " 

 which relates to physiology. On taking his 

 degree in 1839, he published a thesis " On the 

 Physiological Inferences to be deduced from 

 the Structure of the Nervous System of Inver- 

 tebrated Animals," and for it he gained a gold 

 medal. He selected the functions of the nerv- 

 ous system as the special branch in which he 

 would engage. In a review of Noble's " Physi- 

 ology of the Brain " he exposed the unscientific 

 character of the claims of phrenology, extended 

 the idea of reflex nervous function to the cen- 

 ters of sensation and ideation, and enunciated 

 the fundamental notions of u consensual " and 

 of ideo- u motor " action with such effect that 

 the author of the book gave up the chief hy- 

 potheses which he had endeavored to enforce. 

 In " Mesmerism, Spiritualism, etc., Historically 

 and Scientifically Considered," he classified the 

 phenomena which these titles cover, and others 

 related to them, under their proper heads, and 

 endeavored to explain them as produced u by 

 the automatic action of the mind under the 

 influence of suggestion, the will being in abey- 

 ance." 



His appointment in 1856 as Registrar of the 

 University of London, securing him a compe- 

 tent support without the drudgery of teaching 

 and lecturing, gave him liberty to follow the 

 bent of his own genius in independent investi- 

 gation. In this year he published " The Micro- 

 scope and its Revelations," a work that was 

 invaluable to the students of his day, and still 

 presents an admirable exposition of the princi- 

 ples on which the instrument depends. He 



