EDITOR'S TABLE. 



765 



such harmless trifles, but, in the name 

 of science, let them not find admittance 

 into that venerable repository which 

 contains the works of Newton and 

 Boyle. . . . The making of an hy- 

 pothesis is not the discovery of a truth. 

 It is a mere sporting with the subject ; 

 it is a sham-fight which may amuse in 

 the moment of idleness and relaxation, 

 but will neither gain victories over pre- 

 judice and error, nor extend the em- 

 pire of science. A mere theory is in 

 truth destitute of merit of every kind, 

 except that of a warm and misguided 

 imagination." Dr. Young's theory 

 " teaches no truth, reconciles no con- 

 tradictions, arranges no anomalous 

 facts, suggests no new experiments, 

 and leads to no new inquiries. It has 

 not even the pitiful merit of affording 

 an agreeable play to the fancy. It is 

 infinitely more useless, and less ingen- 

 ious, than the Indian theory of the 

 elephant and tortoise. It may be 

 ranked in the same class with that 

 stupid invention of metaphysical the- 

 ology. . . . We cannot conclude our 

 review of these articles without en- 

 treating for a moment the attention 

 of that illustrious body which has ad- 

 mitted of late years so many paltry 

 and unsubstantial papers into its trans- 

 actions. . . . We implore the coun- 

 cil, if they will deign to cast their 

 eyes upon our humble page, to prevent 

 a degradation of the institution which 

 has so long held the first rank among 

 scientific bodies." 



For the second time Dr. Young was 

 selected by the Royal Society to give 

 the Bakerian lecture, and he again 

 chose for its subject "Experiments and 

 Calculations relative to Physical Op- 

 tics," and again the Edinburgh Review 

 came down upon him as follows : " The 

 paper which stands first is another Ba- 

 kerian lecture, containing more fan- 

 cies, more blunders, more unfounded 

 hypotheses, more gratuitous fictions, 

 all upon the same field on which New- 

 ton trode, and all from the fertile yet 



fruitless brain of the same eternal Dr. 

 Young." The reviewer thus winds up 

 the controversy: "We now dismiss, for 

 the present, the feeble lucubrations of 

 this author, in which we have searched 

 without success for some traces of 

 learning, acuteness, and ingenuity, that 

 might compensate his evident defi- 

 ciency in the powers of solid thinking, 

 calm and patient investigation, and 

 successful development of the laws of 

 Nature, by steady and modest observa- 

 tion of her operations. We came to 

 the examination with no other preju- 

 dice than the very allowable prepos- 

 session against vague hypothesis, by 

 which all true lovers of science have 

 for above a century and a half been 

 swayed. We pursued it, both on the 

 present and on a former occasion, with- 

 out any feelings except those of regret 

 at the abuse of that time and oppor- 

 tunity which no greater share of tal- 

 ents than Dr. Young's are sufficient to 

 render fruitful by mere diligence and 

 moderation. From us, however, he 

 cannot claim any portion of respect, 

 until he shall alter his mode of pro- 

 ceeding, or change the subject of his 

 lucubrations; and we feel ourselves 

 more particularly called upon to ex- 

 press our disapprobation, because, as 

 distinction has been unwarily bestowed 

 on his labors by the most illustrious 

 of scientific bodies, it is the more ne- 

 cessary that a free protest should be 

 recorded before the more hmmble tri- 

 bunals of literature." 



The reader will perceive that this 

 strain is not unfamiliar. Young was 

 denounced as Darwin is now de- 

 nounced, professedly in the interest 

 of science ; but the pretext was as 

 false then as it is now. In the former 

 case the animus of the assault was 

 mere personal spite: Brougham's in- 

 ordinate vanity having been wounded 

 by some very moderate criticisms of 

 Dr. Young upon his mathematical 

 works. But a man who did not un- 

 derstand the subject, appealing to a 



