364 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY, 



the laws of mortality. He wrote a great number of papers on many- 

 subjects in the Quarterly Review and in the Encyclopedia Botanica, 

 As the undulatory theory of light gradually made its way, being forti- 

 fied in a remarkable manner by the discoveries of Fresnel, the French 

 physicist, there grew up an increasing recognition of the claims of 

 Dr. Young in regard to the subject. Of his distinguished merits and 

 their ultimate recognition, Dr. Peacock remarks : 



" On the 6th of August, 1827, he was elected one of the eight for- 

 eign associates of the Academy of Sciences, at Paris, in the place of 

 Volta. The other competitors named were the great astronomers 

 Bessel and Olbers ; Kobert Brown, the botanist ; Soemmering, the 

 anatomist; Blumenbach, the naturalist; Leoj^old von Buch, the geol- 

 ogist ; Dalton, the chemist; and Plana, the mathematician. This is 

 the greatest honor that can be conferred on a man of science. 



" The propriety of the selection which was made by the Institute 

 of France, of Wollaston, Davy, and Young, as the most eminent repre- 

 sentatives of English science in that age, was disputed by very few of 

 their contemporaries who w^ere capable of forming a correct opinion. 



'* The lapse of a quarter of a century, since the grave — within the 

 brief space of six months — closed upon the labors of these three emi- 

 nent philosophers, has somewhat changed the order in which they 

 were classed by their contemporaries. If Young held the lowest place 

 in the order of precedence then, he unquestionably occupies the high- 

 est now. The most brilliant achievements of Davy, whether consid- 

 ered singly or collectively, are probably surpassed in importance by 

 the discovery and demonstration of the interference of light ; but 

 while the first received the pi'ompt and unhesitating acknowledgment 

 of the scientific world, and at once secured for their author the honors 

 and rewards which were due to his merits, the second, eA^en after 

 emerging from a long period of misrepresentation and neglect, had to 

 make its way, step by step, as it were, and with various and fluctuating 

 fortunes, against the opposition of adverse and long-established theo- 

 ries, supported by the authority of the two greatest men known to 

 the scientific history of the past and present age." 



In the summer of 1827 Dr. Young's health began to decline, and 

 in 1829 he sufiered from repeated attacks of asthma, accompanied with 

 great oppression and weakness. lie sank gradually, and expired with- 

 out a struggle, May 10, 1829, aged fifty-six. His disease proved to be 

 an ossification of the aorta, which must have been in progress for many 

 years. Every appearance indicated an advance of age not brought on 

 by the natural course of time, but probably by unwearied and inces- 

 sant labor of the mind from the earliest days of infancy. We have 

 barely touched upon some of the points of the life of Dr. Young, and, 

 to those who care to pursue it further, we can recommend his admi- 

 rable biography by Dr. Peacock, published by Murray, of London. 



