EULOGY ON THOMAS YOUNG. 143 



naries of the age. It is from France (and Young took pleasure in him- 

 self proclaiming it) that the tirst sign of this tardy reparation showed 

 itself. I will add that, at an epoch considerably before the doctrine of in- 

 terferences had made converts either in England or on the Continent, 

 Young found within his own family circle one who comjirehended it, 

 and whose assent to it might well console him for the neglect of the 

 public. The distinguished jierson whom I here point out to the notice 

 of the physicists of Europe will excuse me if I.comj)lete diis indiscre- 

 tion by stating the circumstances. In the year 1810 I made a tour Id 

 England with my scientific friend, M. Gay-Lussac. Fresnel had just 

 then entered on his scientific career in the most brilliant manner by the 

 publication of his memoir on diffraction. This work, which, in our opin- 

 ion, contained a capital experiment irreconcilable with the Kewtoniap 

 theory of light, became naturally the first subject of our discussion with 

 Dr. Young. We were astonished at the numerous qualifications which 

 he put upon our praises of it, until at length he stated to us that the very 

 experiment which we so much commended had been published, so long 

 since as 1807, in his treatise on Natural Philosophy. This assertion did 

 not seem to us well founded. It caused a long and minute discussion, 

 Mrs. Young was present, without appearing to take any part in the con- 

 versation ; but we imagined that the weak fear of being designated by 

 the ridiculous sobriquet of has-hJeu rendered the ladies of England very 

 reserved in the presence of foreigners, and our want of discernment did 

 not strike us till the moment when Mrs. Young quickly quitted her place; 

 we then began to attempt excuses to her husband, until we saw her re- 

 enter the room carrying under her arm a large quarto volume. This 

 was the first volume of the Natural Philosophy. She placed it on the 

 table, and without saying a word opened it at page 787, and pointed with 

 her finger to a diagram in which the curvilinear route of the diffracted 

 bands, on which the discussion turned, was theoretically established. 



I trust I shall be pardoned these little details. Too numerous exam- 

 ples may almost have habituated the j)ublic to consider destitution, in- 

 justice, i^ersecution, and misery as the natural wages of those who devote 

 their vigils to the development of the human mind. Let us not, then, 

 forget to point out the exceptions whenever they present themselves. 

 If we wish that youth should give itself up with ardor to intellectual 

 labors, let us show them that the glory attached to great discoveries 

 allies itself, sometimes at least, with some degree of tranquillity and 

 hapi)iness. Let us even withdraw, if it be possible, from the history of 

 science so many pages which tarnish its glory. Let us try to persuade 

 ourselves that in the dungeons of the inquisitors a friendly voice had 

 caused Galileo to hear some of the delightful expressions which posterity 

 has kept sacred for his memory; that behind the thick walls of the 

 Bastile, Freret might yet have learned from the world of science the 

 glorious rank which it had reserved for him among the men of erudition, 

 whom France honors; that before going to die in a hospital, Borelli 

 had found sometimes in the city of Home a shelter against the inclem- 

 ency of the atmosphere, and a little straw on which to lay his head ; 

 and, lastly, that the great Kepler had not experienced the sufferings of 

 hunger. 



Note by the Author. — The journals having done me the honor to 

 mention sometimes the numerous testimonies of good-will and friend- 

 shiji which Lord Brougham had shown me in 1831, as well in Scotland 

 as in Paris, a word or two of explanation here seems indispensable. 

 The eloge of Dr. Young was read at a public sitting of the Academy of 

 Sciences, November 20, 1832. At this period I had never had any per- 



