76 MEMORIAL SKETCH. 







regarded as the spontaneous unconscious action of the brain, 

 that produces the miracles of intellect which we regard as 

 natural inspiration. Although this power is a gift, the possession 

 of which is not at our command, partaking of the nature of an 

 instinct, which no culture can produce any more than it can 

 raise a crop of corn where the seed has not been sown, it may 

 be developed and strengthened by appropriate discipline. In 

 proportion to our love of the true, the beautiful, and the 

 good, it gains in efiicient and harmonious activity. The more 

 intimately we commune with the highest ideals of artistic and 

 moral excellence, the more thorough will be our appreciation of 

 whatever is noble and elevating. The more faithfully we devote 

 ourselves to the pursuit of truth, free from all selfish aims and 

 conscious prejudices, the more consummate will be our mental 

 force, and the richer in fruitful results. A foundation is thus 

 laid in the original constitution of man for the advancement 

 not only of the individual but of the race, until, in a higher 

 phase of existence, the laborious and uncertain deductions of 

 the intellect may be superseded by the clear vision of intuitive 

 insight. 



London, however, was not the only place where Dr. 

 Carpenter was able to receive congenial visitors. In 1855, 

 he had spent a brief September holiday in the Isle of 

 Arran, in the Clyde, with results that had a determining 

 influence upon his scientific inquiries. While dredging in 

 Lamlash Bay, he came across numerous specimens of the 

 beautiful rosy Feather-Star {Comatula rosacea), and its 

 larval stages, which resemble the stalked form of Penta- 

 crinus. When the British Association met that year in 

 Glasgow, this " rediscovery " (as he called it) of the Penta- 

 crinoid larva excited great interest among his Natural 

 History friends. "Professor Kolliker," * he wrote, "is 

 " quite delighted, and seems much inclined to accompany 

 " me to Lamlash for the purpose of working out the 

 "matter fully." The result was that Dr. Carpenter took 



* The distinguished anatomist of Wiirzburg. 



