1886.] on Thomas Young, 561 



cared notMng, it is said, about rhyme. At Jena he found Biitmer, 

 who, at the age of eighty- three, was about to begin the publication of 

 a general dictionary of all existing languages. He visited Dresden, 

 the Saxon Switzerland, and the mines of Freiberg. Here he made 

 the acquaintance of the celebrated Werner. From Freiberg he went 

 to Berlin, where he dined twice with the English Ambassador, Lord 

 Elgin, and once with Dr. Brown, a Welsh physician, in great favour 

 with the King. Over the monotonous sandy flat that lies between the 

 two cities, he journeyed from Berlin to Hamburg. Detained here for 

 a time by adverse winds, he was treated with great hospitality. 



One word in conclusion regarding the German schools of learning. 

 Germany is now united and strong, her sons are learned, and her 

 prowess is proved. But the units from which her blended vigour has 

 sprung ought not to be forgotten. These were the little principalities 

 and powers of which she was formerly composed. Each of them 

 asserted its individuality and independence by the establishment of a 

 local University, and all over Germany, in consequence, such institu- 

 tions are sown broadcast. In these nurseries of mind and body, not 

 only Bismarck and von Moltke, but numbers of the rank and file of the 

 German army found nutriment and discipline ; so that though, as long 

 as her principalities remained separate, Germany as a whole was weak, 

 the individual action of those small states so educated German men 

 as to make them what we now find them to be. 



Two epochs of Young's career as a medical student have been 

 now referred to — his residence in Edinburgh, and his residence at 

 Gottingen. Immediately after his return to England he became a 

 fellow-commoner of Emanuel College, Cambridge. When the master 

 of the college introduced him to those who were to be his tutors, he 

 jocularly said, " I have brought you a pupil qualified to read lectures 

 to his tutors." On one occasion, in the Combination Eoom, Dr. Parr 

 made some dogmatic observation on a point of scholarship. " Bentley, 

 sir," said Young promptly and firmly, " was of a different opinion." 

 " A smart young man that," said Parr when Young quitted tlie room. 

 His lack of humour, and want of knowledge of popular literature, 

 sometimes made him a butt at the dinner-table, but he bore the 

 banter with perfect good humour. The materials for Young's life at 

 Cambridge are very scanty; but there is one brisk and energetic 

 letter, published by Dean Peacock, written by a man who was by no 

 means partial to Young. " Young," he said, " was beforehand with 

 the world in perceiving the defects of English mathematicians. He 

 looked down upon the science, and would not cultivate the acquaint- 

 ance of any of our philosophers. He seemed never to have heard the 

 names of the poets and literary characters of the last century, and 

 hardly ever spoke of English literature." According to Peacock's 

 correspondent, there was about Young no pretence or assumption of 

 superiority. " He spoke upon the most difficult subjects as if he took 

 it for granted that all understood the matter as well as himself. But 



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