Death of a Great Biologist.

Te Aroha News, Volume III, Issue 134, 26 December 1885, Page 3

Death of a Great Biologist.

Db. William Benjamin Carpenter perhaps the foremost; physiologist of Great Britain, and eminent in scientific and psychologic research, 'has died in London at the age of seventy-two. He was the son of Dr. Lant Carpenter of Bristol, was educated there, at University College, London, and at' the University of Edinburgh, where he was graduated as a physician in 1839. After four years' practice he removed to London to devote himself to literary and scientific work, and was in 1843 appointed Examiner of Physiology and Comparative Anatomy in the University of London and Professor of Medical Jurisprudence in University College. In 1856 he was made Registrar of the University. His works on " Principles of General and Comparative Physiology, " "Principles of Human Physiology" and " Principles of MentalPhysiology"coverthe whole range of biological science. He was a man of original thought, and first developed many noteworthy philosophic discoveries in his line of work, as the mutual relations of the vital and physical forces'; the doctrine -that the truly vital operations of 'the animal are performed by the agency of untransformed cells ; the organic structure of the shells of mollusca ; crustacea and echinodermata ; the application of Yon Baeur'a law of development from the general to the special, to the interpretation of the succession of organic forms presented in geologic time ; the relation between the two methods oi reproduction, by germination and by several union ; the application of the doctrin of reflex action to the nervous system of irivertebrata, especially articulated animals ; and the functional relations of the sensory ganglia to the spinal cord on the one hand and the cerebral hemisperes on the other. He wrote admirably on "The Microscope— lts Revelations and Uses," on the "Foraminifera," and on a great number of subjects in scientific and literary periodicals. He took a principal part in the Government's deep-sea explorations in 1868-69-70, and his reports on submarine life and on ocean currents and temperature are amongst the most valuable of their class. He wrote in 1849 the prize essay' on r the subject oj "Alcoholic Liquors)" which is an authority on the subject today and much prized by the advocates of , total abstinence. His researches into ' the physical basis of mind have been notable of late years, and he was a prominent member -of the London Society of Psychical Research. He has always been an opponent of Spiritualism as a gross delusion, beginning its discussion on that ground as long ago as 1853 ; he found all phenomena explained by physiological causes ; how much his later studies have modified this view we do not know. Dr. Carpenter was a companion of the Bath, a Fellow , of, } the Royal Society, the Lihneean Society, arid the Geological Society^ • and a member of the , Institu.te> . ; of Franbe, and had ( received rn^ny other distinctions.' He came to his death wtiile/yet in, full mental .vigor,, and ; a physical healtn- not greatly impaired by age, ' from 'the effe.ct;sr -of" a terrible burn 5 caused by the upsetting.of a lamp ( while.he was taking a vapor bath'for rheumatism. -j-? " SjDringfieid Repub'UpanV I '^b'vember 11.

I 'To TH« PUBjCiia.— l, the do this I day make tKe f olloWihg^tateffient, in hopes that 'others who have* goriesthroujjh^a similar* afflic- | tion* ,ma.yk profit, *tliei;ebyi:— rJ?or* m,any» months have.,l bgen Biok : jad bad thaj; life, was a. burden.' 'The* mental depression- and physical prostration ,wer6 something that cannot lie' described. 1 Dqotorsand^ patent, medioines I ftave,jbried jwithout any relief, but getting worse all the time. -As a forlorn hope.jx!alj r ed ! on, Dr te .Speor, Palmereton Buildings; 1 Queen-sweet., He examined me, aiid r,wilih,out asfcingQ.a -{auesypn^, .ga'ye, ."merfeveyy, Bymptojn.l had.. SaiaKefWQuld tfeafcme, .Frpm, tnelnrsc teasppontuVorhis medicine Ifelt relief, , knd ''havfef been robnstantly 'getting Ijetter'ever ►sWoe.ijfa^Orids, papinpj; .The, above,, statement I mage iblioitauonrand I amNyilliri'g" to verify we aanie, •beftfre a'J.P.'—Respeotfully yours, Ri Adamson, .Oharlotte-street, Eden sTerraoe. > " -^r

fAI mttlb gm:.of two^and one-half years burned her finger for the first' time the oihera ay/;Sh^lflC6d'Herfn^r-b\iQhot aiid suddenly JUtevr, it b.ack,,exblaim: o, £ little* boy; eat in^a front-.rosV<;i?eat ,ajb>& stneatre ittst,.beaideJ;he i Fret^ch.horn-Dlayer p]af#d la^oi >«tidtheblbdd^rudlle^^.and l dWn his feq.e and n,eqfc»,. ;l^]faffljftili{3p!&}1 t > icried the boy ; see the music run .up and > f In-a spefech at KilmarnqQfcjthe other day*, Lord Roseberj; told^-igoo^^torjr ?tysVMft >liisMpst, Jhe.had been fsd frj;tohM™ H ishe wonld dream, leas by night, " fßut I -<jap't help;:thjnkibg," lier;^father^ ♦f For, you ;kno#,» she added pathetically,, '.' I can't make my mind sit down." ]W , A 3yea.-6ld "pet bf( the' house;" some, months ago los.t his baby t brother, and hjas missed him, very, much eyer since j^ he was tlold when, thechildl djted,iti had gone to, heaven. Recently ,^heti death was again Covering over tfte same household the, toll 9( wing conversation to,ok place:, phild— Grandmama, you're going to heavep, aiip't Qrandmama—Yes, dear, I hope.so. Child-Well, then, Grandma, when vou^'gef there you'll send home Georgie,/ won't you? Raymond is the name of a bright fiveyouth who is noted for his strong analytical turn of mind. One day he had transgressed the domestic laws in his experience of. spirit, and had exhausted the patience of his mother. " Now, Raymond," she said :,/* I am going to chaßtise^ you ; bring me the slippers at once." The young man, who had been put througt this form of exercise before, started toward the place where the innocent slippers were resting. Suddenly he stopped, and, turning* to bis mother, in a plaintive sort of way, said : " Mamma, why do you say slippers when ,I've only got one place to whip?" This 'was too much for the mother, and the youner philosopher escaped punishment on this occasion.