Watson's death, in 1793, and held the office till his own death in 1840. Carlisle became a fellow of the Royal Society in 1800, and in 1804 delivered the Croonian lecture on 'Muscular Motion,' following it by another on the 'Muscles of Fishes' in 1806. He contributed other papers on biological subjects to the Philosophical and Linnean 'Transactions,' the 'Philosophical Magazine,' &c. Carlisle was long a member of the council of the College of Surgeons (from 1815) and an examiner (from April 1825), holding these appointments till death. In 1820 and in 1826 he delivered the Hunterian oration at the college, and on other occasions lectured on anatomy and surgery; he also considerably added to the library and museum. He was resident of the college in 1829 and 1839. He gained admission as a student to the Royal Academy while still young, and wrote an essay in the 'Artist' on the 'Connection between Anatomy and the Fine Arts,' in which he expressed the opinion that minute knowledge of anatomy was not necessary to the historical painter and sculptor. In 1808 the social connection which he had cultivate led to his obtaining the professorship of anatomy at the Academy, notwithstanding Charles Bell's candidature. This post he held for sixteen years. He was surgeon-extraordinary to the prince recent, and was knighted on the prince's accession. He took great interest in Westminster Hospital, and was largely instrumental in raising funds for the new building. He died on 2 Nov. 1840, at his house in Langham Place, aged 72.
Carlisle was neither a brilliant anatomist nor physiologist, but was a fairly good surgeon. His introduction of the thin-bladed, straight-edged amputating knife, in place of the old clumsy crooked one, and his use of the simple carpenter's saw make his name chiefly worthy of note. He was handsome and good-humoured, but very vain and crotchety, and in his later years somewhat slovenly and negligent of his duties.
In 1800, in conjunction with W. Nicholson, Carlisle engaged in important researches on voltaic electricity, and is credited by Nicholson with first observing the decomposition of water by the electric current (Journal of Natural Philosophy, iv. July 1800, 179-87), and with several ingenious experiments and observations.
Among Carlisle's miscellaneous publications may be mentioned: 'An Essay on the Disorders of Old Age, and on the Means of prolonging Human Life,' 1817, 2nd edit. 1818; 'Alleged Discovery of the Use of the Spleen,' 1829; 'Lecture on Cholera,' 1832; 'Practical Observations on the Preservation of Health and the Prevention of Diseases,' 1838; 'Physiological Observations upon Glandular Structures,' 1834. A list of his scientific papers is given in the Royal Society's Catalogue of Scientific Papers, i. 1867.
[Pettigrew's Medical Portrait Gallery, 1840, vol. ii.; Gent. Mag. December 1840, ii. 660; Georgian Era, ii. 1833, p. 688; J. F. Clarke's Autobiographical Recollections of the Medical Profession, 1874, 283-94.]
CARLISLE, Earls and Countesses of (1629–1684). [See Hay and Howard.]
CARLISLE, NICHOLAS (1771–1847), antiquary, was born at York in January or February 1771, and was half-brother of Sir Anthony Carlisle [q. v.] Having entered the naval service 01 the East India Company, he amassed considerable property as purser, with which he generously assisted his brother at the commencement of the latter's professional career. He must have retired early, for in September 1806 he became a candidate for the office of secretary to the Society of Antiquaries, to which he was elected in the following January, his principal opponent being Dr. Dibdin. 'He never,' says his biographer in the 'Gentleman's Magazine,' 'did more for the Society of Antiquaries than was absolutely necessary,' but having installed himself in the society's apartments in Somerset House, devoted his time to the execution of a series of laborious and in their day useful compilations. Between 1808 and 1813 he produced topographical dictionaries of England, Ireland, Wales, and Scotland. In 1818 he published 'A Concise Description of the Endowed Grammar Schools of England and Wales,' a work of considerable value, the materials for which he had collected by issuing circulars. His 'Collections for a History of the Ancient Family of Carlisle' appeared in 1822, and a similar work on the family of Bland in 1826. In 1828 he wrote <An Historical Account of Charitable Commissions,' and in 1837 printed privately a memoir of Wyon, the engraver to the mint, with an appendix on the controversies between him and Pistrucci. He indexed the first thirty volumes of the 'Archæologia' and the first fourteen reports of the charity commissioners, and was for a time a commissioner himself. 'His long-continued but unsuccessful attempts to establish professorships of the English language in various continental universities' procured him several foreign orders, and led him to compile (1839) 'An Account of Foreign Orders of Knighthood.' Having been appointed a gentleman of the priyy chamber, he wrote on the history of that body. In
