Ch. XIV Miscellaneous Memoirs on Thomas Young (scientist)

“We propose... to call the attention of our readers to some of the more remarkable Memoirs, or Philosophical Essays, of Dr. Young, which have not elsewhere been noticed; selecting those which are distinguished... or which are otherwise calculated to show the extraordinary capacity which he possessed of solving the most difficult problems in the applications of mathematics to natural philosophy, by processes apparently the most inadequate to the purpose. He never confined himself to the beaten track of a systematic investigation. We find in his writings no symmetrical formula or analytical refinements. There is no seeking after generalities, when the particular question which he has in hand does not require them; whilst every expedient is freely resorted to, however irregular and unusual, if it serves the purpose which he has in view. Important and difficult steps are passed over as manifest, terms are neglected as insignificant, analogies take the place of proofs, and we are surprised to find ourselves at the end of an investigation, even within the limits of space which would commonly be deemed hardly sufficient to master the difficulties which meet us at the beginning. But his rare sagacity hardly ever deserts him; and though he has occasionally been led to hasty and premature conclusions, or committed mistakes in numerical calculations, from the brevity and rapidity of his processes, yet nothing can be more surprising than the general soundness of his views of mechanical principles and their applications, and the correctness both of his philosophical and numerical results.”

“A Memoir on Hydraulics, printed in the Philosophical Transactions for 1808, was introductory to another in the same Collection for the following year, on the Functions of the Heart and Arteries. The connection between these subjects was considered by him... sufficiently close to give them both a professional character, and thus to exempt them from the restriction which he had imposed upon the class of publications which alone should be allowed to appear under his own name. ...Few persons can be found ...with a union of acquirements so remote from each other as to be able to prosecute an inquiry of this nature, or to judge of the correctness of the conclusions to which it leads; but as such it was exactly suited to Dr. Young, who delighted in questions so obscure and difficult, where his various knowledge and bold spirit of speculation had full room for their exercise.”