THE WAVE THEORY. 279 



Young himself, 1 I may be excused for saying nothing 

 more about it. The essay drew Young into a con- 

 troversy with the illustrious Laplace, in which the 

 Englishman exhibited that scimitar-like sharpness of 

 pen which more than once had drawn him into con- 

 troversy. 



Young resigned his post at the Eoyal Institution, 

 believing that devotion to work alien to his profession 

 would be sure to injure his prospects as a physician. 

 In the summer of 1802 he visited Paris, and at one 

 of the meetings of the Academy was introduced to the 

 First Consul. In March 1803, he became M.B. of Cam- 

 bridge six years after entering the University while 

 five years more had to elapse before he was able to take 

 the degree of M.D. In June 1804, he married Miss 

 Eliza Maxwell, the daughter of J. P. Maxwell, Esq., of 

 Trippendence, near Farnborough, in Kent. 



As regards medical practice, Young, to be a popular 

 physician, was probably too cool and cautious in the 

 examination of his data, and trusted too little to the 

 lancet and the calomel invoked in the vigorous prac- 

 tice of his time. After a somewhat strenuous contest 

 he was appointed Physician to St. George's Hospital. 

 The appointment was a strong proof of the esteem 

 in which he was held. His lectures, however, were not 

 so well attended as those of his colleagues, for he lacked 

 the warmth and pliancy which usually commend a 

 lecturer to young men. Young's medical works, em- 

 bodying the results of great labour and research, were 

 received with high consideration and esteem. 



By the force of his sarcasm and the glamour of his 

 rhetoric, Brougham had succeeded in inflicting a serious, 

 if not an irreparable, wound on the science of his 



1 Sir William Thomson. 



