A CATALOGUE OF THE WORKS AND ESSAYS OF THE LATE DR. YOUNG. (Found in his own Hand-Writing, to 1827.)

A

CATALOGUE,

&c.

1. A short Note on Gum Ladanum, with a verbal Criticism on Longinus, signed with his initials, and inserted in the Monthly Review for 1791, seems to have been his first appearance before the Public. The criticism was admitted by Dr. Burney to be correct.

2. In the Gentleman’s Magazine for April 1792, Observations on the Manufacture of Iron: an attempt to remove some objections to Dr. Crawford’s theory of Heat, which had been advanced by Dr. Beddoes.

3. Entomological Remarks; Gentleman’s Magazine, December 1792: on the habits of Spiders; on a passage of Aristotle, with an illustration of the Fabrician System; and a plate of the mouth of an insect.

4. Observations on Vision: Philosophical Transactions, 1793, p. 169, explaining the accommodation of the Eye, from a muscular power in the crystalline lens—a theory not altogether new, but immediately afterwards claimed by John Hunter, as a discovery of his own.

5. Contributions to Hodgkin’s Calligraphia Græca, 4to. London, 1794; including Lear’s Curses in Iambics.

6. Description of an Opercularia. Linnæan Transactions, Vol. III. p. 30. London 1797: read in 1794. The Opercularia, Aspera of Gaertner, called by Persoon, Cryptospermum Youngii, from the name here suggested.

7. Some Notes and an Epigram, in Dalzel’s Collectanea Græca, 8vo. Edinburgh, 1795.

8. De Corporis Humani viribus oonservatricibus, Dissertatio, 8vo. Gottingen, 1796: an Inaugural Dissertation, collected from a multiplicity of authors.

9. Translation of Lichtenstein on the Genus Mantis. Linnæan Transactions, Vol. VI. p. 1.: read in 1797.

10. The Leptologist. British Magazine, 1800: a series of Essays on Grammar, Criticism, Geometry, Paintings, Manners, Riches, Exercises, Medicine, and Music; some of them reprinted afterwards.

11. 12. There is also an account of the French Calendar and Measures, and an Essay on the Morals of the Germans.

13. Experiments and Enquiries respecting Sound and Light. Philosophical Transactions, 1800, p. 106: the vibrations of the air observed by means of smoke; those of strings counted, and their orbits observed with a microscope; their harmonics suppressed at pleasure.

14. A Bakerian Lecture on the Mechanism of the Eye. Philosophical Transactions, 1801, p. 23: describing a new Optometer, and shewing that the eye retains its power of accommodation under water; measuring also the dispersive power of the eye. (Dr. Y. remarks, that he “afterwards found that his own eye lost almost the whole of its power of accommodation soon after fifty, remaining fixed at its greatest focal distance.”)

15. A Letter respecting Sound and Light. Nicholson’s Journal, August 1801, in answer to Professor Robison, of Edinburgh.

16. A Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy; 8vo. London, 1802: presenting a Mathematical Demonstration of the most important Theorems in Mechanics and in Optics; and containing the first publication of the general law of the Interference of Light, which has been considered as the happiest result of all the Author’s efforts. It was not till the year 1827, that the importance of this law could be said to be fully admitted in England: it was in that year that the Council of the Royal Society, adjudged Count Rumford’s Medal to M. Fresnel, for having applied it, with some modifications, to the most intricate phenomena of polarized light.

17. A Bakerian Lecture on the Theory of Light and Colours; Phil. Trans. 1802, p. 12, developing the law of Interference, and entering into all the details of the theory to which it leads; dwelling, at the same time, upon the difficult points, with somewhat more of candour than might have been consistent with his object, had he been anxious to obtain proselytes.

18. An Account of some Cases of the Production of Colours, p. 387, containing a simpler statement of some applications of the same law, intended to exhibit the facts in a more concentrated form.

19. A Reply to Mr. Gough’s Remarks. Nicholson, November 1802, p. 1. This Letter, together with some subsequent Correspondence, relates principally to the coalescence or composition of Sounds, affording an analogy to the interference of Light.

20. Journals of the Royal Institution, 8vo. London, 1802–3. A first volume, and part of a second, were edited, and chiefly written, by Dr. Young.

21. Experiments and Calculations relative to Physical Optics. Phil. Trans. 1804, p. 1. Another Bakerian Lecture, continuing the demonstration and the application of the law of Interference.

22. A Reply to the Animadversions of the Edinburgh Reviewers, 8vo. 1804:—a defence of the Papers printed in the Transactions against two articles supposed to have been written by Mr. Brougham.

23. To an Imperial Review, which was an unsuccessful speculation of some booksellers in 1804, he contributed several medical and some other miscellaneous articles. The works that he reviewed were, Dumas Phisiologie, Darwin’s Temple of Nature, Blackburn on Scarlet Fever, Percival’s Medical Ethics, Fothergill’s Tic Douloureux, Crichton’s Table, Nisbet’s Watering Places, Rowley on Madness, Hutton’s Ozanum, Buchan on Sea-Bathing, Robison’s Astronomy, Winterbottom’s Sierra Leone, Macgregor’s Medical Sketches, Wilson’s Philosophy of Physic, Richerand’s Physiology, and Joyce’s Scientific Dialogues.

24. An Essay on the Cohesion of Fluids. Phil. Trans. 1805, p. 71, containing many of the results which were published as new about a year afterwards, by La Place. The mathematical reasoning, for want of mathematical symbols, was not understood, even by tolerable mathematicians; from a dislike of the affectation of algebraical formality, which he had observed in some foreign authors, he was led into something like an affectation of simplicity, which was equally inconvenient to a scientific reader.

25. A Course of Lectures of Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts; two volumes, 4to. London, 1807. This elaborate work was the result of the unremitting application of five years; two, whilst the Author was engaged in giving the Lectures at the Royal Institution, and three more in compiling the mass of references contained in the second volume, and in incorporating their results, when requisite, with the text of the first. By means of numerous plates, and by indexes of various kinds, he had endeavoured to render the book as convenient for occasional reference, as it was correct for the purposes of methodical study. (The failure of the booksellers who published this work, at the moment of its appearance, so greatly injured its sale at the time, that it did not repay the expenses of the publication; and Dr. Young considered that his labours were first generally appreciated by the Natural Philosophers of the Continent.)

26. Remarks on Looming, or Horizontal Refraction. Nicholson, July 1807, p. 153, supplying some deficiencies in Dr. Wollaston’s Theory, particularly with regard to the occurrence of actual Reflection.

27. A Table of Chances, with remarks on Waves. Nicholson, Oct. 1807, p. 116.

28. A Theory of Covered Ways and Arches. Nicholson, Dec. 1807, p. 24.

29. Remarks on a Pamphlet of Professor Vince. Nicholson, April 1808, p. 304; pointing out the mathematical fallacy of the Professor’s supposed refutation of the hypothesis of Newton respecting the cause of Gravitation.

30. Calculation of the rate of Expansion of a supposed Lunar Atmosphere. Nicholson, June 1808, p. 117.

31. Determination of the Figure of a gravitating Body. Nicholson, June 1808, p. 208.

32. Calculation of the Attraction of a Spheroid. Nicholson, August 1808, p. 273.

33. A Review of Sinclair on Longevity. British Critic.

34. Abstracts and Criticisms in the “Retrospect,” about 1808 and 1809.

35. Hydraulic Investigations. Phil. Trans. 1808, p. 164; principally subservient to an intended Croonian Lecture.

36. A Syllabus of a Course of Lectures on the Elements of the Medical Sciences; 8vo. London, 1809. These Lectures were delivered for two seasons at the Middlesex Hospital. (Dr. Young remarks, that “they were little frequented, on account of the usual miscalculation of the Lecturer, who gave his audience more information in a given time, than it was in their power to follow.”)

37. Computation of the Depression of Mercury in the Barometer. Nich. March 1809, p. 215. Continuation of the Paper on the Cohesion of Fluids, Oct. p. 81.

38. Remarks on the Friction of Wheels, in Buchanan’s Essay on Wheel-work, 8vo. Glasgow, 1809.

39. A Croonian Lecture on the Heart and Arteries. Phil. Trans. 1809, p. 1: attempting to demonstrate, on Mathematical principles, that the larger arteries can have little or no concern in propelling the blood by their active muscular powers.

40. A Numerical Table of Elective Attractions. Phil. Trans. 1809, p. 148: with remarks on the sequences of double decompositions, shewing that if numerical expressions of electric attractions are possible, their effects in double decompositions may be compendiously expressed by tables of sequences only.

41. A Memoria Technica for Elective Attractions, in a few Latin hexameters. Nich. April, 1809.

42. Account of the Pharmacopeia Londinensis, in Cumberland’s London Review, 1810.

43. To the earlier Volumes of the Quarterly Review he contributed a variety of Articles, which frequently, according to the custom of modern times, contained more of original research than of immediate criticism. To Vol. I. La Place, Action Capillaire. Vol. II. Haslam, Pinel, Cox, and Arnold, on Insanity; La Place, Refraction Extraordinaire. Vol. III. Herculanensia; Jones on the Gout; Memoires d’Arcueil. Vol. VI. Cuthbert on the Tides. Vol. VIII. Davy’s Chemical Philosophy. Vol. IX. Blackall on Dropsies. Vol. X. Adelung’s Mithridates; Göthe on Colours. Vol. XI. Malus. Biot. Seebeck and Brewster, on Light; Bancroft on Dying; Davy’s Agricultural Chemistry; Adams on Ectropium. Vol. XIII. Wells on Dew. Vol. XIV. Jamieson and Townsend on Languages; Pym and Fellowes on Yellow Fever, an article printed, but not published in the Work. Vol. XIX. p. 411. Restoration and Translation of the Inscription on the Sphynx.

44. Berzelius on Definite Proportions, from the German, appeared in several successive numbers of the Philosophical Magazine, from January 1813 to April 1814.

45. A Theory of the Tides. Nicholson, July–Aug. 1813.

46. An Introduction to Medical Literature, including a System of Practical Nosology, 8vo. London, 1813: a work of considerable labour, though far less arduous than the “Natural Philosophy.” The Appendix contains an abstract of Berzelius’s Animal Chemistry, from the Swedish. To a second edition, published in 1828, were added the References to later Journals, and an Essay on Palpitations, which first appeared in the fifth Volume of the Medical Transactions of the College of London.

47. Remarks on the Employment of Oblique Riders, and on other Alterations in the construction of Ships. Phil. Trans. 1814, p. 303; the substance of a Report before presented to the Board of Admiralty, relating to Sir Robert Sepping’s Improvements, with some additional illustrations.

48. An Investigation of the Thrust of soft Substances. Hutton’a Mathematical Dictionary, Edition 2, 1815. Article, Pressure.

49. A Practical and Historical Treatise on Consumptive Diseases: 8vo. London, 1815; being a condensed abstract of every thing recorded to have been said or done, with regard to Consumption. Particular circumstances had pressed the publication of this Work within nine months after it had been commenced.

50. In the eighteenth Volume of the Archæologia, London, 1815, appeared some Remarks on Egyptian Papyri, and on the Inscription of Rosetta, annexed to a communication made by Sir William Edward Rouse Boughton, Bart. They contain an interpretation of the principal parts of both the Egyptian Inscriptions on the Pillar found at Rosetta, and consequently a Key to the lost Literature of ancient Egypt; though, for professional reasons, the discovery was made public with as little parade as possible.

51. Extracts of Letters and Papers relating to the Egyptian Inscription of Rosetta, in the Museum Criticum of Cambridge, Part VI. 8vo. 1815; a Correspondence with MM. Silvestre de Sacy, and Akerblad.

52. An Investigation of the Pressure sustained by the fixed supports of flexible Substances. Phil. Mag. Sep. 1813, applied to the Hoops of Casks, and to Dock Gates.

53. An Algebraical Expression of the Values of Lives. Phil. Mag. Jan. 1816, with a Diagram.

54. Account of some Thebaic Manuscripts, written on leather. Legh’s Narrative, 4to. London, 1816.

55. Additional Letters relating to the Inscription of Rosetta; the first addressed to the Archduke John, who had lately been in England; the second to M. Akerblad, Museum Criticum VII. The Letters were printed and distributed in 1816; the Journal was not published till 1821. They announce the Discovery of the relation between the different kinds of Egyptian Letters, or Characters—the basis on which the system of M. Champollion was afterwards erected.

56. Letters of Canova, and two Memoirs of Visconti, translated from the French and Italian. 8vo. London. 1816. A volume of 200 pages, which was completed in twelve days; together with remarks on an error of Delambre, which was afterwards confuted more at large by Mr. Cadell.

57. It was in 1816, that Dr. Young complied, with an application made to him by Mr. M^cVey Napier, to write some articles for a Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, conducted under the superintendence of that gentleman, and completed in 1825.

The Articles which he furnished were: Atwood — Addendum to Annuities — Bathing — G. Beccaria — Bloch — Borda — Boulton — Bramah — Bridge — Brisson — Bryant — Camus — Notes on Carpentry — Cavallo — Cavendish — Chromatics — Cohesion — Condamine — Coulamb — Dolland — Dolomieu — Duhamel — Egypt — Fermat — Fluents — F. Fontana — G. Fontana — J. R. Forster — J. G. A. Forster — Fourcroy — Frisi — Guyton de Morveau — Herculaneum — Hydraulics — Ingehousz — Lagrange — La Lande — Lambert — Languages — Lemmonier — Luc — Malus — Maskelyne — Mason — Mechain — Messier — Orme — Pallas — Pauw — Porson — Preservers of Life — Road-making — Robison — Rush — Steam-Engine — Tennant — Thomson — Count Rumford — Tides — Tooke — Wakefield — Watson — Weights and Measures — Polarization by Arago, translated, with Notes, In all, about sixty-three articles, each marked with two different letters. (These were two consecutive letters of the sentence “Fortunam ex aliis;” the u in fortunam being sometimes printed as a v.)

58. Remarks on some Theorems relating to the Pendulum. Phil. Trans. 1818, p. 95, in a Letter to Captain Kater.

59. Translation of some Greek Inscriptions. Light’s Travels. 4to. London, 1818.

60. Specimen of a Greek Manuscript in the possession of the Earl of Mountmorris, 1819. Archæologia, vol. XIX. This may possibly have been a pawnbroker’s account: another piece nearly resembling it was sent by Mr. Salt to the British Museum.

61. Remarks on the Probabilities of Error in Physical Experiments, and on the Density of the Earth, considered especially with regard to the reduction of Experiments on the Pendulum. Phil. Trans. 1819, p. 70, computing the density of the earth, upon the supposition of the commpression of a homogeneous elastic substance only.

62. Dr. Young edited the Nautical Almanac, from the year 1819, for the remainder of his life.

63. Remarks on Laplace’s latest Computation of the Density and Figure of the Earth. Brando’s Journal, April 1820; determining the Ellipticity, on the supposition of a compressed elastic substance.

64. Dr. Young furnished quarterly, for many years, to Brande’s Philosophical Journal, about twenty pages of Astronomical and Nautical Collections, beginning in 1820; the greater part either original or translated by himself.

65. Appendix to the second edition of Belzoni’s Travels, 4to. London, 1821.

66. Elementary Illustration of the Celestial Mechanics of Laplace, 8vo. London, 1821; with some additions relating to the motions of Waves, and of Sound, and to the cohesion of Fluids. (This volume, and the article “Tides,” in the Supplement to the Encyclopædia Britannica, Dr. Young considered as together containing the most fortunate of the results of his mathematical labours.)

67. An Account of some recent Discoveries in Hieroglyphical Literature and Egyptian Antiquities, including the author’s original Alphabet, as extended by M. Champollion, 8vo. London, 1823; with a translation of some Greek Manuscripts on Papyrus, the most remarkable of which was Mr. Grey’s “Antigraph” of an Egyptian original then lying on his table; the discovery of which singular coincidence was the immediate cause of the publication of the volume.

68. Hieroglyphics, collected by the Egyptian Society, folio. London, 1823—a collection of Plates of Egyptian Antiquities subservient to the study of Hieroglyphical Literature, lithographized at the expense of about fifty subscribers, but not at that time publicly sold. The second number, plates 16 to 40, contains nearly all that was known of the interpretation of the Hieroglyphics, the evidence for each word being exhibited in a comparative Index.

(This work was entirely carried on by Dr. Young; but the subscriptions not being adequate to the expenses, it was afterwards made over to the Royal Society of Literature, he undertaking to continue the supervision as before.)

69. A finite and exact Expression for the Refraction of an Atmosphere nearly resembling that of the Garth. Phil. Trans. 1824, p. 159; a computation derived from an optical hypothesis not exactly agreeing with the probable height of the physical atmosphere, but affording correct results.

70. Remarks on Spohn and Seyffarth. Brande’s Phil. Journal, Oct. 1826, in a Letter addressed to the Baron William Von Humboldt.

71. A Formula for expressing the Decrement of Human Life; in a Letter addressed to Sir Edward Hyde East, Bart. Phil. Trans. 1826, intended to render the interpolation from the best observations more regular: it is followed by a correction of Dr. Price’s mistake, rejecting the periodical payments of annuities.

72. Practical Application of the Doctrine of Chances, as it regards the subdivision of Risks. Brande’s Phil. Journ. Oct. 1826; shewing the Limitations under which Speculations on Probabilities may be conducted with prudence.

73. Remarks on Mr. Peyron’s Account of the Egyptian Papyrus. Brande’s Phil. Journ. Jan. 1827—the great Greek Papyrus of Turin: in which Mr. Grey’s three contracts are cited and explained,—not two of them only, as had been supposed by Mr. Peyron.

The following Articles, of a later date than those contained in the above Catalogue, are known to have been written by Dr. Young.

74. Hieroglyphical Fragments. Brande’s Philosophical Journal, April–June, 1827.—Hieroglyphical Fragments; with some Remarks on English Grammar: in a Letter to Baron William Von Humboldt. Brande’s Phil. Journal, July–September, 1827.—Hieroglyphical Fragments, illustrative of Inscriptions preserved in the British Museum; with some Remarks on M. Champollion’s Opinions: in a Letter to the Cavalier San Quintino. Brande’s Phil. Journal, October–December, 1827.—Hieroglyphical Fragments. Brande’s Phil. Journal, January–March, 1828.

75. A Letter to M. Arago, relating to M. Champollion’s Discoveries: dated, Geneva, July 1828. Inserted in the Classical Journal, No. 75.

76. Comparison of different Tables of Mortality. Brande’s Phil. Journal, December 1828.

77. Letter to Mr. Bailey, April 1829.

78. A Translation of Fresnel’s Elementary View of the Undulatory Theory of Light. In various Numbers of Brande’s Phil. Journal; commenced in January 1827, and concluded in April 1829.

79. Dr. Young left also—Rudiments of an Egyptian Dictionary in the ancient Enchorial Character; containing all the Words of which the Sense has been ascertained. Intended as an Appendix to Mr. Tattam’s Coptic Grammar.

(This Work was under the hands of the Lithographer at the time of his death.)

LONDON:

Printed by J. L. Cox, Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s-Inn Fields.