212 THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



of cxecntion to sacli an extent tliat Arago says of liim in the biography before 

 cited: "Of all known instruments, including even the Scotcli bagpipe, it 

 seems certain that there were but two on whicli he could not perform." His 

 brilliant discoveries in physics are well known. In 1818, the illustrious author 

 of the doctrine of intcy/crences of light, having been nominated secretary of the 

 bureau of longitudes, and charged with the superintendeixce of the Nautical 

 Almanac, turned his attention to astronomy, and abandoned almost entirely the 

 ]tractice of medicine. As a physiciiui his services had never been in any great 

 request. He was suspected of being too learned, and, in truth, "notwithstand- 

 ing his knowledge, or, perhaps, even by reason of its vast extent, he was wholly 

 deficient in confidence at the bedside of the sick.'-* 



In a notice of the Nautical Ahnanac, I have menticmed the vexations which 

 he incurred as astronomer, and I shall not here- return to the subject. 



Dr. Young died May 10, 1829 ; nineteen days, consequently, before his former 

 colleague, Sir Humphre}' Davy. 



. VIII. — The ixtroductort lecture oe dr. young. 



We shall here consider Dr. Young only as regards his connection with the 

 Royal Institution. This connection Avas of no long continuance. His first 

 lecture was given January 20, 1802, and he retired after having filled the pro- 

 fessorship two years. If we are to believe the author of his life in the Biogra- 

 23hie UnivcrscUe of the brothers J\Iichaud, he had not l)een popular. He was 

 reproached with being too laconic, Avith not giving sufficient development to his 

 explanatiims, with want of clearness. But the learned world owes to h.is con- 

 nection with the Institution a work of the highest order, which appeared in 1807, 

 mider the title of "J. Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophij and the Mcclinn- 

 kul Arts,^' by Thomas Young, M. D., &c. ; 2 vols, quarto, comprising together 

 1,570 pages and 58 platcs.t 



The first lecture, which serves as an inti-oduction to the course, possesses so 

 high an interest that we deem it due to our readers to place it, at least in part, 

 before their eyes ; there is always something to be gained b^^ knowing and 

 reflecting on the ideas of a man of genius : 



" It is to be presumed that the greater part of those who honor with their 

 attendance the amphitheatre of the Royal Institution, already know the nature 

 of the objects which its founders and promoters have been endeavoring to attain ; 

 3'et it would seem b}^ no means superfluous that I should define with accuracy 

 my own views of the utility which is likely to be derived from it and the most 

 eftectual means of accomplishing its purposes, in order that we may discover 

 more easily the best route to be pursued in our common progress through the 

 regions of science, and that those who are desirous of accompanying me may 

 know precisel}^ what path we mean to follow, and what departments will more 

 particularly arrest our attention. * * * The primary and peculiar oV)ject 

 of the Institution is to apply to domestic convenience the improvements which 

 have been made in science, and to introduce into general practice such mechan- 

 ical inventions as are of decided utility. But, while it is chiefly engaged in 

 this pursuit, it extends its views, in some measure, to the promotion of tlie same 

 ends which pertain to the special province of other literary societies ; and it is 

 the more impossible that these objects should be wholly excluded, as it is upon 



"^ Biography by Arago. — " No study," said Dr. Young, " is so complicated as that of medi- 

 cine, it surpasses the bounds of liumau intellifjcnce. Physicians who proceed without 

 attempting to comprehend what is before theui, often see as far as those who place reliance 

 in hasty generalizations, based upon observations in rt^gard to which all analogy is iu 

 default."" 



\ Youug had published, at the commencement of 1802, a progranmie of the lectures 

 which he proposed to deliver at the Royal Institution, under the title of "^ SylluOus of 

 Lectures on Natural and Experimental Fhilosophy,'^ in a quarto volume of 193 pages. 



