1802. JET. 29.] PROFESSOR YOUNG. 241 



The first afternoon lecture was given by Dr. Young, 

 on Wednesday, January 20, 1802, and the first evening 

 lecture on Friday, January 22. 



At the commencement he gave an introductory view 

 of the nature and objects of the Eoyal Institution and 

 of the particular plan of the lectures. Afterwards he 

 proceeded to the subject of mechanics with the doctrine 

 of motion. 



In the introductory lecture, when dwelling on the 

 objects of the Koyal Institution and the dissemination 

 of elementary knowledge, he said : 



Those who possess the genuine spirit of scientific in- 

 vestigation, and who have tasted the pure satisfaction 

 arising from an advancement in intellectual acquirements, 

 are content to proceed in their researches without inquiring 

 at every step what they gain by their newly-discovered 

 lights, and to what practical purposes they are applicable ; 

 they receive a sufficient gratification from the enlargement 

 of their views of the constitution of the universe, and ex- 

 perience in the immediate pursuit of knowledge that 

 pleasure which others wish to obtain more circuitously by 

 its means. And it is one of the principal advantages of a 

 liberal education that it creates a susceptibility of an en- 

 joyment so elegant and so rational. 



On the subject of the education of females at the 

 Eoyal Institution he said : 



The many leisure hours which are at the command of 

 females in the superior orders of society may surely be ap- 

 propriated with greater satisfaction to the improvement of 

 the mind, and to the acquisition of knowledge, than to such 

 amusements as are only designed for facilitating the insipid 

 consumption of superfluous time. 



The Royal Institution may in some degree supply the 



