peculiar character of his mind than to the discipline to which it was subjected.

We find from his journals that he studied mathematical, much in the same manner as other, books. The six books of Euclid were begun on such a day, and were finished on another; and we hear no more of them. Algebra, trigonometry, fluxions, were treated in a similar manner. The Principia of Newton must have presented to a student thus prepared greater difficulties than to the contemporaries of its author, to nearly all of whom it was a sealed book: however, he not only read it deliberately through, but we find in his journals remarks on some of the leading propositions contained in it, which show that he had very sufficiently understood, not merely their general purport, but also the full force of the demonstrations. A retentive memory and great clearness and precision of thought would appear to have superseded in his case the necessity of a more progressive training. In other respects the effects of this irregular intrusion into the inmost recesses of philosophy were such as might have been anticipated: he never felt the necessity nor appreciated the value of those formal processes of proof which other minds require.

CHAPTER II.

MEDICAL EDUCATION: LONDON.

IN the autumn of 1792, Young took lodgings in Westminster for the purpose of prosecuting his medical and anatomical studies, and became an attendant at the lectures of Dr. Baillie, Mr. Cruikshanks, and subsequently of John Hunter, in the Hunterian School of Anatomy. The choice of his profession was greatly influenced by the wishes of his uncle Dr. Brocklesby, who had already undertaken the charge of his education, and had given him reason to expect the reversion of such a portion of his fortune as would secure him a moderate independence. He had access, also, through the same kind relative, to the most distinguished literary circles in the metropolis, including Mr. Burke, Mr. Windham, Mr. Frederick North (afterwards Lord Guildford), Sir Joshua Reynolds, Dr. Lawrence, Sir George Baker, Dr. Vincent, and others; as well as the leading members of the profession which he had chosen.

His manners, at this period of his life, are described, by one who knew him well, as very quiet and pleasing ; like those of the more cultivated members of the society to which he still outwardly adhered, though he had already abandoned many of the peculiar tenets by which they are distinguished. His conversation, on classical and scientific subjects, showed a confidence and precision which were far beyond his years; whilst his ignorance

of popular literature and of the habits of thinking of his equals in age and station, was in striking contrast with the range and accuracy of his other acquirements.

It was in conformity with the advice of Mr. Burke, with whom his uncle lived in habits of great intimacy, and who, on that account, had taken a more than common interest in the conduct of his studies, that he had undertaken the systematic study of the philosophical and other works of Cicero; the model on which, according to the testimony of one of his friends, that distinguished writer and statesman had laboured to form his own character, in eloquence, in policy, in ethics and in philosophy. This task he completed with his usual diligence, as the critical and other observations entered in his journals sufficiently testify. He was in the habit of copying, in his common-place book, the most striking passages which he met with in his perusal both of classical and modern authors; and in the selection which he has made from the works of this great expositor of the opinions of the ancient world, it is not difficult to discover indications of the prevalent disposition of his own mind and character :-a moral tone of very unusual strictness and purity, with great firmness of purpose and reliance upon his own powers, such as we find sketched in a passage which he has quoted as peculiarly expressive of his own aims in the formation of his habits and the conduct of his studies. "For my part, judges," says Cicero, "I think the man, if any such there be, who possessed that strength of mind, that constitutional tendency to temperance and virtue, which would lead him to avoid all enervating indulgences, and to complete the whole career of life in the midst of labours of the body and efforts of the mind; whom neither tranquillity nor

LIFE.

D

relaxation, nor the flattering attentions of his equals in age and station, nor public games, nor banquets would delight; who would regard nothing in life as desirable which was not united with dignity and virtue;—such a man I regard as being, in my judgment, furnished and adorned with some special gifts of the gods."

In the autumn of 1793, he entered himself as a pupil at St. Bartholomew's Hospital, and devoted himself systematically to the preparatory studies of his future profession. Amongst other lectures which he attended -in addition to those which have been mentioned before-were those of Sir Alexander Crichton and also of Dr. Latham, on the Practice of Physic; on Midwifery, by Doctors Clark and Osborn; and on Botany, by Sir J. E. Smith. Mr. Wilson, the eminent anatomist, the father of Dr. Young's successor at St. George's Hospital, was the demonstrator of Anatomy. He took ample notes of the lectures which he attended. Occasionally they are written in Latin; and Greek quotations and phrases are not unfrequently introduced. It may be presumed, that before the beginning of the lecture, he sometimes amused himself with mathematical calculations and demonstrations, as many such appear among his notes. His Prælectiones Anatomica open with a notice of an introductory discourse by Dr. Baillie, which is thus characterised:-Introductio generalis præcipuè historica et monitoria, satis elegans, laude non indigna. Then

a

Ego, si quis, judices, hoc robore animi, atque hâc indole virtutis ac continentiæ fuit, ut respueret omnes voluptates, omnemque vitæ suæ cursum in labore corporis atque in animi contentione conficeret: quem non quies, non remissio, non æqualium studia, non ludi, non convivia delectarent: nihil in vitâ expetendum putaret, nisi quod esset cum laude et cum dignitate conjunctum : hunc, meâ sententiâ, divinis quibusdam bonis instructum atque ornatum puto. Pro M. Cælio.

follows a demonstration by Mr. Wilson, on the muscles of the back, with references to numbers in Winslow's book, which mark out the course of inquiry to be pursued by the student on his return from the lecture."

The medical and anatomical books which he read, in conjunction with his hospital duties and lectures, were few in number, including, amongst some others, those of Winslow, Albini, Cheselden, Monro the elder, Harvey, and Haller. He still continued to reserve, from his other studies, no small portion of his time to complete his knowledge of the philosophical and historical writers of antiquity. We also find numerous extracts in his journals from nearly all the minor Latin poets; with several sketches of monographs on various departments of entomology and natural history, some of which were communicated to the Gentleman's Magazine."

In the course of his professional studies and dissections, his attention had been called to the anatomical structure of the eye, considered as an instrument of vision. It is known to be composed of a succession of curved refracting substances, of various densities and powers, which form upon the retina an inverted image of the objects of vision. If the adjustment of this machinery be imperfect or deranged, the picture thus formed, as well as the impression of sight which it produces, is defective likewise. Thus, in long-sighted persons, the focus of the rays which the eye collects, from objects at the ordinary distance of clear vision,

3

Quoted from Mr. Pettigrew's very pleasing sketch of Dr. Young's Life, which he published in the Medical Portrait Gallery.

b His first appearance, as an author, was a Note on Gum Laudanum, with a verbal criticism on Longinus, signed with his initials, inserted in the Monthly Review for 1791. The criticism was admitted by Dr. Charles Burney (with whom he frequently corresponded on questions of Greek literature) to be perfectly correct. Works, vol. ii. p. 439.