Oxford, and London schools of physiology have been remodelled. Great as were Sharpey's services to physiology, his guidance of the Royal Society during a period when changes were taking place in its administration was no less important, not only to the society itself, but to science in this country. Like every great teacher, Sharpey possessed the power of attaching his pupils by ties of personal affection as well as those of common scientific interests.
Sharpey wrote comparatively little; he preferred to act as editor and referee rather than author. His few papers are of lasting value. They are: 1. ‘De Ventriculi Carcinomate,’ 8vo, Edinburgh, 1823. 2. ‘A Probationary Essay on the Pathology and Treatment of False Joints,’ Edinburgh, 1830. 3. ‘On a Peculiar Motion excited in Fluids of the Surfaces of Certain Animals’ (‘Edinburgh Medical and Surgical Journal,’ 1830, xxxiv. 113). 4. ‘Remarks on a supposed Spontaneous Motion of the Blood’ (‘Edinburgh Journal of Nat. and Geographical Science,’ 1831). 5. ‘An Account of Professor Ehrenberg's Researches on the Infusoria’ (‘Edinburgh Nat. Philosophical Journal,’ 1833, vol. xv.) 6. ‘Account of the Discovery by Purkinje and Valentin of Ciliary Motions in Reptiles and Warm-blooded Animals, with Remarks and Additional Experiments’ (‘Edinburgh Nat. Philosophical Journal,’ 1830, vol. xix.) The information contained in articles 5 and 6 is embodied in his contribution on ‘Cilia’ to Todd and Bowman's ‘Cyclopædia of Anatomy and Physiology,’ published in 1836. Sharpey also wrote the valuable article on ‘Echinodermata’ in this ‘Cyclopædia.’ He edited the fifth, sixth, seventh, and eighth editions of Jones Quain's ‘Elements of Anatomy;’ and contributed important information to Baly's translation of Müller's ‘Physiology,’ 1837 and 1840.
As a memorial of Sharpey's services to University College, an excellent bust by W. H. Thorneycroft was placed in the museum there at the expense of his pupils and friends. There is also a full-length oil painting by John Prescott Knight, R.A. [q. v.], in the council room of University College. The bust is the happier likeness.
[Obituary notices in the Proceedings of the Royal Society, 1880, vol. xxxi. pp. x–xix, and in Nature, 1880, xxi. 567; letters in Paterson's Life of James Syme, Edinburgh, 1874; Arbroath Parish Register, in the office of the registrar-general for Scotland.]
SHARPHAM, EDWARD (fl. 1607), dramatist, third son of Richard Sharpham of 'Colehanger', Devonshire, was admitted a member of the Middle Temple 9 Oct. 1594. He was author of two plays, ‘The Fleire’ and ‘Cupid's Whirligig.’ The former was acted at Blackfriars in 1605–6, and on several other occasions, by the children of the revels after they had lost their right to the name of the queen's revels. Four editions were published respectively in 1607, 1610, 1615, and 1631. The play resembles Marston's ‘Parasitaster.’ ‘Cupid's Whirligig’ was likewise acted at Blackfriars by the children of his majesty's revels in 1607. Four editions were published respectively in 1607, 1611, 1616, 1630). It is prefaced by dedicatory verses to Robert Hayman. The plot is borrowed in part from Boccaccio (Decameron, vii. 6).
Some verses, signed E. S., prefixed to Henry Peacham's ‘Minerva Britanna,’ have been ascribed to Sharpham without much probability; but a sonnet, ‘To my beloved master, John Davies,’ which serves as preface to Davies's ‘Humours Heav'n on Earth,’ is signed Edward Sharphell, and may have been written by Sharpham.
[Baker's Biogr. Dram. i. 649, ii. 146, 241; Fleay's Chronicle of English Drama, ii. 232; Hunter's Chorus Vatum, ii. 218; note from J. Hutchinson, esq., librarian, Middle Temple; Waldron's Continuation of Ben Jonson's Sad Shepherd, p. 145.]
SHARPLES or SHARPLESS, JAMES (1750?–1811), portrait-painter, born about 1750 in England, of a Roman catholic family, was educated in France for the priesthood, but became a painter. From 1779 to 1785 he was an occasional exhibitor of portraits at the Royal Academy, residing in Cambridge. After marriage and the birth of a family he decided to remove to America. On the voyage his ship was taken by the French, and Sharples and his family were detained as prisoners for some months. About 1796 he landed in New York, where he seems to have been known as Sharpless. Sharples usually painted small portraits in profile, mostly executed in pastels. He drew at Philadelphia in 1796 a small profile portrait of George Washington from the life. This he and his wife often copied. A copy by his wife is in the National Portrait Gallery with a similar portrait of Dr. Priestley. Sharples used to travel about the country with his wife and family in a caravan of his own construction and design. He died at New York 6 Feb. 1811, aged about sixty, and was buried in the Roman catholic cemetery there.
