XXVI] 



DR. W. B. CARPENTER 



43 



Dawson, the geologist, Eozoon Canadense^ and he was sup- 

 ported in his view by Dr. Carpenter, to whom he sent the 

 finest procurable specimens. By making sections in various 

 directions, and by the knowledge he possessed of the minute 

 structure of living and fossil Foraminifers, he arrived at his 

 conclusions ; while other observers declared that this sup- 

 posed primitive organism was entirely of mineral origin, 

 and that all the apparent details of organic structure were 

 deceptive. Dr. Carpenter showed me these specimens, and 

 pointed out the details of structure on which he relied, but 

 having no knowledge of the actual structures with which 

 he compared them, I could myself see nothing sufficiently 

 definite to settle such an important question. The discussion 

 went on very fiercely for years, but the general opinion now 

 is that all the appearances are due to forms of crystallization 

 in these very ancient metamorphic rocks. Dr. Carpenter 

 was also at work on the anatomy and physiology of the 

 Crinoidea or sea-lilies, on which he published some important 

 papers, and these, too, he would dilate upon and explain, 

 though not much to my enlightenment. 



We often walked across the Regent's Park into town 

 together, and we were very friendly, though never really 

 intimate ; and a few years later we entered on a rather acute 

 controversy upon mesmerism and clairvoyance, to which I 

 shall refer later on. 



Among the more prominent naturalists, one of my chief 

 friends, and the one whose society I most enjoyed, was 

 Professor St. George Mivart, who for some years lived not 

 far from us in London. He was a rather singular compound 

 mentally, inasmuch as he was a sincere but thoroughly liberal 

 Catholic, and an anti-Darwinian evolutionist. But his 

 friendly geniality, his refined manners, his interesting conver- 

 sation and fund of anecdote of the most varied kind, rendered 

 him a charming companion. His most intimate friends seemed 

 to be priests, one or two of whom were almost always among 

 the guests, and often the only ones, when I dined with him. 

 And they, too, were excellent company, full of humour and 



