SEVENTY YEARS OF AGE. 131 



right in his conclusion, though I do not accord with his pre- 

 mises, as I do not think that the Trinity or the Deity of Christ 

 find any support in the Bible. But I think that much of the 

 Calvmistic system and the doctrine of eternal punishment are 

 clearly formularized, and can only be set aside by an appeal 

 to general principles involving an abandonment of doctrinal 

 inspiration. 



On his return to London, Dr. Carpenter resumed his 

 usual occupations. But it was not without an effort. The 

 excitement of his American tour had involved a great drain 

 on his strength, though it had given him acceptable change 

 of thought, and a really invaluable mental refreshment. 

 Composition became more and more difficult ; he shrank 

 from taking pen in hand ; the labour of revising the short- 

 hand-writers' reports of his lectures on " Human Auto- 

 matism " loomed portentously before him so that he could 

 hardly face it, and in fact it was never completed. He 

 felt age creeping upon him, though he struggled against it. 

 When the seventieth birthday came round in the autumn 

 of 1883, he wrote to his brother Russell : — 



It was very pleasant to me to receive on Monday morning 

 such a chorus of affectionate greetings on the attainment of my 

 three score and ten years. Your remark about David's lamen- 

 tation having special reference to the want of spectacles and 

 dentistry was very apposite, these being now great aids in 

 making life worth living. But I suppose that there were no 

 small-print books or newspapers in those days that now 

 specially need the artificial help. I wonder whether David was 

 subject to rheumatism ; he ought not to have been, in the dry, 

 warm climate of Palestine ; but it is this that just now makes 

 me most uneasy respecting my future, as the damp weather 

 we are at present experiencing has made me more painluUy 

 conscious of creaking joints. 



Yet no one who witnessed his burst of energy the next 

 spring would have thought his strength declining. On the 



