Philip Herbert Carpenter (6 February 1852 – 21 October 1891), FRS, British naturalist and

crinoid Crinoids are marine invertebrates that make up the class Crinoidea. Crinoids that remain attached to the sea floor by a stalk in their adult form are commonly called sea lilies, while the unstalked forms, called feather stars or comatulids, are ...

authority, was the fourth son of

William Benjamin Carpenter William Benjamin Carpenter CB FRS (29 October 1813 – 19 November 1885) was an English physician, invertebrate zoologist, and physiologist. He was instrumental in the early stages of the unified University of London. Life Carpenter was bor ...

Education and research

Carpenter was educated at

University College School University College School, also known as UCS, is a private day school in Frognal, Hampstead, London, England. The school was founded in 1830 by University College London and inherited many of that institution's progressive and secular views. ...

, then at

University College In a number of countries, a university college is a college institution that provides tertiary education but does not have full or independent university status. A university college is often part of a larger university. The precise usage varies f ...

, and afterwards became a Scholar of

Trinity College Trinity College may refer to: Australia * Trinity Anglican College, an Anglican coeducational primary and secondary school in , New South Wales * Trinity Catholic College, Auburn, a coeducational school in the inner-western suburbs of Sydney, New ...

, Cambridge, where he graduated in 1874. He was a member of the scientific staff of the deep-sea exploring expeditions of H.M.S. ''Lightning'' (1868) and ''Porcupine'' (1869–1870). In 1875, he was appointed assistant

naturalist Natural history is a domain of inquiry involving organisms, including animals, fungi, and plants, in their natural environment, leaning more towards observational than experimental methods of study. A person who studies natural history is cal ...

to H.M.S. ''Valorous'' accompanying Admiral Sir

George Strong Nares Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares (24 April 1831 – 15 January 1915) was a Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. He commanded the ''Challenger'' Expedition, and the British Arctic Expedition. He was highly thought of as a leader an ...

's Arctic expedition to

Disko Island Disko Island (, ) is a large island in Baffin Bay, off the west coast of Greenland. It has an area of ,Davis Strait The Davis Strait (Danish language, Danish: ''Davisstrædet'') is a southern arm of the Arctic Ocean that lies north of the Labrador Sea. It lies between mid-western Greenland and Baffin Island in Nunavut, Canada. To the north is Baffin Bay. The ...

and the North Atlantic.

Career

After the 1872–1876

HMS Challenger Eight ships of the Royal Navy have been named HMS ''Challenger'', most famously the fifth, the survey vessel that carried the ''Challenger'' expedition from 1872 to 1876. * The first was a 16-gun brig-sloop launched in 1806 that the French ca ...

expedition had returned, he was asked in January 1878 by Sir Wyville Thomson to describe the free-swimming Crinoids that had been collected. Carpenter was an expert on the

morphology Morphology, from the Greek and meaning "study of shape", may refer to: Disciplines *Morphology (archaeology), study of the shapes or forms of artifacts *Morphology (astronomy), study of the shape of astronomical objects such as nebulae, galaxies, ...

of the

echinoderm An echinoderm () is any animal of the phylum Echinodermata (), which includes starfish, brittle stars, sea urchins, sand dollars and sea cucumbers, as well as the sessile sea lilies or "stone lilies". While bilaterally symmetrical as ...

s, especially the crinoids, both contemporary and

fossil A fossil (from Classical Latin , ) is any preserved remains, impression, or trace of any once-living thing from a past geological age. Examples include bones, shells, exoskeletons, stone imprints of animals or microbes, objects preserve ...

. In 1883, he was awarded the Lyell Fund by the

Geological Society of London The Geological Society of London, known commonly as the Geological Society, is a learned society based in the United Kingdom. It is the oldest national geological society in the world and the largest in Europe, with more than 12,000 Fellows. Fe ...

in recognition of the scientific value of his work, and in 1885 was elected a

Fellow of the Royal Society Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the Fellows of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...

.''Nature: A Weekly Illustrated Journal of Science'', Issue of 29 October 1891, pp. 628–629.

Publications

Carpenter published a large number of papers on Echinoderm and especially Crinoid morphology, in the Royal, Linnean, Geological, and Zoological Societies of London, the ''Quarterly Journal of Microscopical Science'', the ''Annals and Magazine of Natural History'', ''Zoologischer Anzeiger'', and many other journals. He jointly authored the ''Catalogue of the Blastoidea in the British Museum'' with Mr. R. Etheridge, jun. *1882. On the Relations of ''Hybocrinus'', ''Baerocrinus'', and ''Hybocystites'', Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc. vol. xxxviii. (No. 151), pp. 298–312, pi. xi. *1886. Note on the Structure of ''Crotalocrinus'', Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 5, vol. xviii. pp. 397–406. *1887. Notes on Echinoderm Morphology, No. 11; on the Development of the Apical Plates in ''Amphiura squamata'', Quart. Journ. Micr. Sci. vol. xxviii. pp. 303–317. *1889. Report on the Comatulae of the Mergui Archipelago, etc., Journ. Linn. Soc. London (Zool.), vol. xxi. pp. 304–316, pis. xxvi. and xxvii. *1890. Preliminary Report on the Crinoidea obtained in the Port Phillip Biological Survey, Proc. Roy. Soc. Victoria, new series, vol. ii. pp. 135–136. *1890. On certain points in the Anatomical Nomenclature of Echinoderms, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, vol. vi. pp. 1–23. *1891. Some publications on American Carboniferous Echinoderms, Ann. Mag. Nat. Hist. ser. 6, vol. viii. pp. 94–100. *1891. On certain points in the Morphology of the Cystidea, Journ. Linn. Soc. London (Zool.), vol. xxiv. pp. 1–52, pi. i. Abstract in Rep. Brit. Assoc. for 1890, p. 821; and in GEOL. MAG. Dec. III. Vol. VIH. p. 135, March 1891. *1891. Notes on some Arctic Comatulae, Journ. Linn. Soc. London (Zool.), vol. xxiv. pp. 53–63, pi. ii. *1891. Notes on some Crinoids from the Neighbourhood of Madeira, op. et torn. tit. pp. 64–69. He also contributed an account of the Echinoderms to Cassell's ''Natural History'' (1883), and was the chief contributor for the section on the same group in

Nicholson Nicholson may refer to: People *Nicholson (name), a surname, and a list of people with the name Places Australia * Nicholson, Victoria * Nicholson, Queensland * Nicholson County, New South Wales * Nicholson River (disambiguation) * Nicholson Ro ...

and Lydekker's ''A Manual of Palaeontology'' (1889).

Personal life

On 19 April 1879, he married Caroline Emma Hale, daughter of Edward Hale, an assistant master at Eton, by whom he had five sons. Carpenter died at Eton College where he was Science Master in 1891 after self-administrating

chloroform Chloroform, or trichloromethane (often abbreviated as TCM), is an organochloride with the formula and a common solvent. It is a volatile, colorless, sweet-smelling, dense liquid produced on a large scale as a precursor to refrigerants and po ...

during a bout of temporary insanity caused by chronic insomnia.

References

Attribution * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Carpenter, Philip Herbert 1852 births 1891 deaths British naturalists Fellows of the Royal Society People educated at University College School Alumni of University College London Alumni of Trinity College, Cambridge Drug-related suicides in England