404 Memoir of Dr. Thomas Young. 



even his own person to prove the correctness of his system. 

 The first time that he mounted a horse, in company with 

 the grandson of Mr. Barclay, the riding-master who ac- 

 companied them leaped over an elevated barrier. Young 

 wished to follow him, but was driven over the horse's head 

 ten feet. He got up without a word — made a second trial 

 — was again dismounted — but did not pass this time the 

 head of the animal. On the third trial the young student 

 succeeded in accomplishing what had been done before 

 him. This practice would not have been mentioned, had 

 it not been engaged in, first at Edinburgh, then at Gottin- 

 gen, and carried much farther than one would be apt to 

 believe. 



In one of these two cities he vied successfully with a 

 distinguished rope-dancer ; in the other, and always in con- 

 sequence of a challenge, he acquired an extraordinary facility 

 in the art of vaulting on a horse ; and was remarked, even 

 among skilful equestrians, whose striking feats attracted 

 nightly crowds to the circle of Franconi. Thus, those who 

 are pleased with contrasts, might represent on the one side 

 Newton — the timid Newton — riding in a carriage, with his 

 arms extended and grasping the coach doors, from the 

 fear of falling with which he was impressed ; and, on the 

 other hand, his illustrious competitor galloping erect on 

 two horses, with all the assurance of a professional riding- 

 master. 



In England, a physician, if he wishes to retain the con- 

 fidence of the public, should abstain from every kind of 

 scientific or literary work which is foreign to the practice 

 of medicine. Young gave up to this prejudice for a long 

 time ; his papers appeared anonymously. This veil, how- 

 ever, was very transparent ; two contiguous letters of a 

 Latin motto, in a regular order, formed the signature to 

 each memoir, but Young communicated the three Latin 

 words to all his friends, both national and foreign, without 

 advising them to keep the information secret. But fur- 

 ther : who could be ignorant that the illustrious author 

 of the Theory of Interferences was the foreign secretary of 

 the Royal Society of London ; that he gave, in the theatre 

 of the Royal Institution, a general Course of Mathematical 

 Physics ; that, in connexion with Sir Humphry Davy, he 



