134' EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 



shown tliat some of the propositions dwelt upon were, in point of fact, 

 never maintained by Dr. Young ; and it was chiefl^^ by his hiter re- 

 searches that the erroneous inii)ressions at first entertained, respecting 

 the points to whicli they relate, had been corrected and their true na- 

 ture established. 



In 1821 Champollion denied altogether the existence of an alphabetic 

 element among the hieroglyphics ; but in the following year he 

 adopted the whole of Young's principles, and applied them with one 

 modification only. The analogy of certain marks in the Chinese hiero- 

 glyphics to signify proper names, the principle that the phonetic power 

 of the symbol is derived from the initial letter or syllable of the name 

 of the object which it represents in the Egyptian language, are among 

 the chief of those which he borrows without acknowledgment, or claims 

 without regard to their prior announcement by Young. " It would be 

 difficult," says Dr. Peacock, " to point out in the history of literature a 

 more flagrant example of disingenuous suppression of the real facts 

 bearing on an imi^ortaut discovery." — Translatoe. 



MISCELLANEOUS WORKS OF DR. YOUNG. 



The limits i)rescribed do not permit me even to quote the mere titles 

 of all the numerous writings which Dr. Young published. Nevertheless 

 the public reading of so rich a catalogue would certainly have sufficed 

 to establish the celebrity of our colleague. Who would not imagine, in 

 fact, that he had before him the register of the labors of several acade- 

 mies, and not those of a single individual, on hearing, for instance, the 

 following list of titles : 



Memoir ou the Establislimeuts where Iron is wrought. 



Essays on Music aud Painting. 



Remarks on the Habits of Spiders aud the Theory of Fabrioius. 



Ou the Stability of the Arches of Bridges. 



Ou the Atmosphere of the Moon. 



Description of a new Species of Opercularia. 



Mathematical Theory of Epicycloidal Curves. 



Restoration aud Translation of different Greek luscriptious. 



On the Means of Strengthening the Construction of Ships of the Liuo. 



Ou the Plav of the Heart aud of the Arteries in the Phenomena of Circulation. 



Theory of Tides. 



Ou the Diseases of the Chest. 



On the Friction of the Axes of Machines. 



On the Yellow Fever. 



Ou the Calculfttiou of Eclijises. 



Essays ou Grammar, «S:c.* 



CHARACTER OF YOUNG — HIS POSITION AS A PHYSICIAN — HIS ENGAGE- 

 MENT ON THE NAUTICAL ALMANAC — HIS DEATH. 



Labors so numerous and varied seem as if they must have required 

 the laborious and retired life of that class of men of science, which, to 

 say the truth, is beginning to disappear, who from their earliest youth 

 separate themselves from their companions to shut themselves up com- 

 pletely in their studies. Thomas Young was, on the contrary, what is 

 usually called a man of the world. He constantly frequented the best 

 society in London. The graces of his wit, the elegance of his manners, 

 were amply sufficient to make him remarkable. But when we figure to 

 ourselves those numerous assemblies in which fifty different subjects in 



* This list, it should bo borne in mind, is intended by the author merely as a speci- 

 men of the vast catalogue which might be made of Young's writings ; the reader will 

 find ample details as to his innumerable productions iu Peacock's Life. — Translator. 



