78 MEMORIAL SKETCH. 



dents as these, however, only heightened the contrast be- 

 tween the island-freedom and the conventions of town life. 

 Through the quaint English of the following words of the 

 late Professor Edouard Claparede, of Geneva, who left be- 

 hind him (in 1859) '^^^ impression of a singularly gentle and 

 lovable nature, breathes a truthful utterance of gratitude: — 



I wish to tell you and your wife my thanks for the kind re- 

 ception I enjoyed in Holy Island. This fortnight on the banks 

 of Lamlash Bay is one of the happiest I ever delighted upon. 

 I often heard of the friendly hospitality of Englishmen, which 

 comes not only from the lips as the French, but from the heart, 

 and shows itself by facts more than by words. I am glad that 

 your kindness gave me occasion of experiencing myself the 

 truth of this reputation. 



From this vacation Dr. Carpenter went home to study 

 the book which was to give so profound an impulse to 

 scientific thought in all directions, "The Origin of Species," 

 by Mr. Darwin. He was well fitted to appreciate its 

 general argument, for the subject of modification by de- 

 scent, and the wide limits of species had been long in his 

 mind. He had, indeed, rejected the theory of the author 

 of the "Vestiges," but it had been on the grounds of de- 

 ficient evidence and physiological error, not from theo- 

 logical prepossession. In an article on Dr. Prichard's two 

 treatises, " The Physical History of Mankind," and "The 

 Natural History of Man," published in 1847, he had 

 reiterated the general doctrine — 



That amongst the different species of plants and animals 

 there is a very wide diversity in regard to their respective 

 capacities for variatioti. In the species which have least capacity 

 for variation we find (as a necessary consequence) the least 

 adaptiveness to external conditions ; ... on the other hand, in 

 those which have most capacity for variation, that capacity 

 manifests itself in the peculiar adaptation which their physical 

 constitution undergoes to circumstances as they change ; and 



