Memoir of Dr. Thomas Young. 243 



menades, the quadrant re-placed the paper kite. In the 

 evening, by way of relaxation, the engineer apprentice cal- 

 culated the heights measured in the morning. 



From the age of nine to his 14th year, Young lived at 

 Compton, in Dorsetshire, with a Mr. Thomson, whose 

 memory was always dear to him. During these five years 

 all the boarders were exclusively occupied, as is the custom 

 in English schools, with a minute study of the Greek and 

 Latin writers. Young was always at the head of his class ; 

 and, yet at the same time he learned French, Italian, Hebrew, 

 Persian and Arabic ; the French and Italian he learned in 

 order to satisfy the curiosity of a companion who had in 

 his possession several works printed at Paris, of which he 

 wished to know the contents ; the Hebrew, to read the 

 Bible in the original ; the Persian and Arabic with a view 

 of deciding this question raised during a conversation at 

 dinner, Are the differences between the Oriental languages 

 as marked as between those of Europe 1 



I feel the necessity of observing, that I write from 

 authentic documents, before adding, that during the time 

 he made such extraordinary progress in the languages, he 

 acquired, in his walks around Compton, a lively passion for 

 botany; that, deprived of the means of magnifying, which 

 naturalists make use of, when they wish to examine the 

 most delicate parts of plants, he undertook himself to con- 

 struct a microscope without any other guide than a descrip- 

 tion of this instrument given by Benjamin Martin ; that in 

 order to arrive at this difficult result, it was necessary to 

 acquire, previously, much dexterity in the art of turning ; 

 that the algebraical formulae of the optician presenting 

 symbols of which he had no idea (symbols of fluxions), he 

 was much perplexed for a while ; but, that unwilling to re- 

 nounce his desire of magnifying the pistils and stamens, 

 he found it more simple to learn the differential calculus 

 in order to understand the unfortunate formulae, than to 

 send to the neighbouring town to purchase a microscope. 

 The brilliant activity of Young made him pass the bounds of 

 human strength. At 14 years, his health was greatly changed. 

 Different symptoms threatened disease of the lungs, but these 

 threatening symptoms yielded to the prescriptions of the 

 art, and to the great care his parents took of him. 



It is common with our transmarine neighbours, for a rich 

 B 2 



