672 Professor Tyndall [Jan. 22, 



This appears at first sight somewhat paradoxical ; but, on the other 

 hand, we are to consider the resistance of the clay or tallow as a 

 uniformly retarding force, and it will be obvious, that the motion, 

 which it can destroy in a short time, must be less than that which 

 requires a longer time for its destruction. Thus also when the 

 resistance, opposed by any body to a force tending to break it, is to 

 be overcome, the space through which it may be bent before it breaks 

 being given, as well as the force exerted at every point of that space, 

 the power of any body to break it is proportional to the energy of its 

 motion, or to its weight multiplied by the square of its velocity." 



Young's essay on the Cohesion of Fluids, is to be ranked amongst 

 the most important and difficult of his labours. It embraced his 

 views and treatment of the subject of capillary attraction. But as 

 this topic is to be treated here next week by a spirit kindred to that 

 of Young himself, * I may be excused for saying nothing more about 

 it. The essay drew Young into a controversy with the illustrious 

 La Place, in which the Englishman exhibited that scimitar-like 

 sharpness of pen which more than once had drawn him into con- 

 troversy. 



Young resigned his post at the Eoyal Institution because of the 

 conviction that his devotion to work alien to his profession would be 

 sure to injure his prospects as a physician. In the summer of 1802 

 he visited Paris, and at one of the meetings of the Academy was intro- 

 duced to the First Consul. In March 1803, he became M.B. of Cam- 

 bridge — six years after entering the University — while five years more 

 had to elapse before he was able to take the degree of M.D. In June 

 1804, he married Miss Eliza Maxwell, the daughter of J. P. Maxwell, 

 Esq., of Trippendence, near Farnborough, in Kent. 



As regards medical practice. Young was probably too cool and 

 cautious in the examination of his data, and trusted too little to the 

 lancet and the calomel invoked in the vigorous practice of his time, to 

 be a popular physician. After a somewhat strenuous contest he was 

 appointed Physician to St. George's Hospital, and the appointment 

 was a strong proof of the esteem in which he was held. His lectures, 

 however, were not so well attended as those of his colleagues, for he 

 lacked the warmth and pliancy which usually commend a lecturer 

 to young men. Young's medical works, embodying the results of 

 great labour and research, were received with high consideration and 

 esteem. 



By the force of his sarcasm and the glamour of his rhetoric, 

 Brougham had succeeded in inflicting a serious, if not irreparable 

 wound, on the science of his country. After Young's crushing reply, 

 which produced no effect whatever upon the public, the author of that 

 reply was practically forgotten as a factor in the advancement of 

 physical optics. But Science has always before her the stimulus 



* Sir WiUiam Tliomsou. 



