CARPENTER, William Benjamin, Eng lish physiologist and naturalist : b. Exeter, 29 Oct. 1813; d. 19 Nov. 1885. He was the eldest son of Lant Carpenter (q.v.) ; was educated in his father's school at Bristol, and in 1833 en tered University College, London, as a medical student. Two years later he went to Edinburgh University, where he was graduated as M.D. in 1839; and in that year also he produced his first important work, 'The Principles of Gen eral and Comparative Physiology.' In 1844 he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society and also obtained the Fullerian professorship of physiology at the Royal Institution. From 1847 to 1852 he was editor of the British and Foreign Medico-Chirurgical Review, was one of the editors of the Natural History Review, and in 1856 he was appointed registrar of the Univer sity of London, a post which he resigned in 1879. He wrote several well-known works on physiology, one of which has been already re ferred to. Others are 'Principles of Mental
Physiology' (4th ed., 1876) and 'Principles of Human Physiology' (1846, new edition by H. Power 1881). Still other works of his are 'Introduction to the Study of the Foraminif era' (1862) • 'The Microscope and Its Revela tions' (1868; 6th ed., 1881) ; 'The Physiology of Temperance and Total Abstinence' (1853) ; 'Zoology and the Instincts of Animals' (1857) ; 'Mesmerism and Spiritualism' (1877) ; 'Nature and Man' (1888); besides many papers in sci entific journals. He took a leading part in the expeditions sent out by the government in 1868 70 for deep-sea exploration in the north At lantic and contributed largely to the discussion of ocean circulation. He advocated the doc trine of vertical circulation independently of Dr. Lenz of Saint Petersburg, who in 1845 had begun to advance that theory. He was chosen president of the British Association at Brighton in 1872.