Excerpt from Nature and Man: Essays Scientific and Philosophical

Tiie Essays contained in this volume represent chiefly the later phases Of their writer's thoughts on the problems concerned with the interpretation Of nature and man. Some of the conclusions which they embody he believed to be of high importance in the guidance of life; they were the result of long Observation and reflection, and in some cases differed widely from the ideas which his early educa tion and his first studies had led him to adopt. It is the aim Of this sketch to indicate some Of the processes which contributed to this change, and to present, as briefly as possible, the connection between Dr. Carpenter's widely varied work and the personality from which his many Sided energy flowed out. The long list Of writings which bear his name exhibits an extraordinary range Of labour; and the historians Of different branches of science will come upon the traces Of his activity in fields that are rarely cultivated by the same hand. It is not now desired to estimate the precise value of his numerous contributions to knowledge, but rather to Show what were the hidden pur poses and guiding aims Of his life, what were the gifts of mind and heart which he brought to their fulfilment, and how these took outward shape and form.

William Benjamin Carpenter was born at Exeter, on October 29, 1813. His father, Dr. Lant Carpenter, was then one of the pastors Of George's Meeting; but the removal of the family from Exeter to Bristol, in 1817, when William was only in his fourth year, made the latter city the true home Of his early life. It was there that the Rev. Dr. Carpenter's labours, which were to leave SO deep an impress on all his children, bore their ripest fruit. Schools were created in connection with the congregation Of Lewin's Mead; he took a prominent share in the founda tion Of the Literary and Philosophical Institution he was an ardent promoter Of Catholic Emancipation and Reform. This was, indeed, only the outer fringe Of his home activities. TO the work of his ministry he added the long and patient toil of the student, and the ceaseless diligence of the teacher. And the qualities which shone conspicuously through all these phases of his energy, his strong affections, his deep religious earnestness, his commanding sense of duty, his eager zeal for the public good, and especially for education, appeared in one after another Of his family. William was his fourth child, and eldest son. Hardly less did the boy owe to his mother, a woman Of unusual endowments Of mind and heart, who fully Shared the austere and high View of life characteristic of her Puritan ancestry. With few advantages Of education, her native abilities had been, nevertheless, carefully cultivated; She had a vigorous and independent mind, which Often made it a pleasure for the trained scientific investigator to ask her Opinion of his most advanced speculations and in the wisdom of her judgment, springing from the clear insight Of a pure and tender heart, her children found again and again in their perplexities a secure repose.

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