EARLY LIFE AND STUDIES. 259 



of handsome daughters appear to have been wary of 

 the students, having reason ' to fear a traitor in every 

 young man.' He made at Gottingen the acquaintance 

 of many famous professors of Heyne, Lichtenberg, 

 Bluinenbach, and others. He records a joke practised 

 on the professor of geology which had serious conse- 

 quences. The students were rather bored by the pro- 

 fessor's compelling them to go with him to collect 

 ' petrifactions ; ' and the young rogues, says Young, ' in 

 revenge, spent a whole winter in counterfeiting speci- 

 mens and buried them in a hill which the good man 

 meant to explore, and imposed them upon him as the 

 most wonderful lusus naturce. 9 Peacock adds the 

 remark that the unhappy victim of this roguery ' died 

 of mortification when the imposition was made known 

 to him. 



Before taking his degree, it is customary for the 

 student in German Universities to hand in a dissertation 

 written by himself. This is circulated among the 

 Professors and is followed by a public disputation. On 

 July 16, Young did battle in the Auditorium, the sub- 

 ject chosen for discussion being the human voice. He 

 acquitted himself creditably, was complimented by 

 those present, and received his degree as doctor of 

 physic, surgery, and midwifery. In the thesis chosen 

 for discussion, Young broke ground in those studies on 

 sound which, for intrinsic merit, and suggesting as they 

 did his subsequent studies on light, will remain for 

 ever famous in the history of science. During a pause 

 in the lectures he visited the Hartz Mountains, making 

 himself acquainted with the scene of Goethe's Walpur- 

 gisnacht on the summit of the Brocken. Wedgwood 

 and Leslie accompanied him on this tour. The curious 

 fossils dug up by the young men in the Unicorn's Cave 

 at Schwarzfeld excited curiosity and wonder, but no- 



