212 THE ROYAL INSTITUTION OF GREAT BRITAIN. 



of execution to sucli an extent tliat Arago says of liirn in tlie biogi'apLy before 

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

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

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

 of the doctrine of interferences of Ufjht, having been nominated secretary of the 

 bureau of longitudes, and charged with the superintendence of tlie Nautical 

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

 practice of medicine. As a physician his services had never been in any great 

 request. He was suspected of being too learned, and, in trath, " 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 Almanac, I have mentioned the vexations which 

 he incuiTcd 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 Humphrey Davy. 



VIII. — The introductory lecture oe dr. young. 



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

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

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

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

 pliie UnivcrscUe of ihe brothers j\Iichaud, he had not been popular. He was 

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

 explanations, with want of clearness. But the learned world owes to his con- 

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

 under the title of ''■A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophu and the Mechan- 

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

 1,570 pages and 58 plates.t 



The lirst lecture, which serves as an introduction 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 by 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 ; 

 yet it would seem by no means superfluous that I should deflne with accuracy 

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

 eflectual 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 precisely what path we mean to follow, and what departments will more 

 particularly arrest our attention. * * * The primary and peculiar object 

 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 m.ore impossible that these objects should be wholly excluded, as it is upon 



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

 cine. It surpasses the bounds of Lumau intellif^ence. Physicians who proceed without 

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

 in hasty generalizations, based upon observations in regard to which all analogy is in 

 default." 



t Yonug bad published, at the commencement of 1802, a programme of the lectures 

 which he proposed to deliver at the Royal Institution, under the title of " A Syllabus of 

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



