Annals of medical history . o man who died in the nineteenth cen-tury is this remark truer than of ThomasYoung, who may be styled, without exag-geration, the most learned, profound, vari-ously accompHshed scholar and man ofscience that has appeared in our age—per-haps, in any age. Thomas Young was born at Milverton, inSomersetshire, on June 13, 1773. He was theeldest of ten children. For the greater partof the first seven years of his life he Hvcdwith his maternal grandfather. Accordingto his own account, he could read withconsiderable fluency at the age of two, andunder the instructions of hi
Annals of medical history . o man who died in the nineteenth cen-tury is this remark truer than of ThomasYoung, who may be styled, without exag-geration, the most learned, profound, vari-ously accompHshed scholar and man ofscience that has appeared in our age—per-haps, in any age. Thomas Young was born at Milverton, inSomersetshire, on June 13, 1773. He was theeldest of ten children. For the greater partof the first seven years of his life he Hvcdwith his maternal grandfather. Accordingto his own account, he could read withconsiderable fluency at the age of two, andunder the instructions of his aunt and avilhigc schoolmistress, he read twicethrough the Bible and also Watts hymns,before he attained the age of four. When not quite seven years of age he went to a board-ing school, where it appears he learned moreby independent effort than under the guid-ance of the master. After leaving thisschool he lived at home for six months; butfrequently visited a neighbor, a land sur-veyor, at whose house he amused himself. Thomas Young (1773-1829) with philosophical instruments and scien-tific books. When nearly nine he went toanother school at Compton, where he re-mained for four years, and read severalGreek and Latin authors as well as theelements of natural philosophy from bookslent him by the assistant master whoappears to have been a mechanical genius;and he gave Young lessons in turning,drawing, bookbinding and the grindingand preparation of colors. Before leaving theschool at the age of thirteen, Young hadread six chapters of the Hebrew Bible. The time is too limited for me to detailall with which this extraordinary boy wasinterested. He constructed a microscope;read Priestleys Obscr\ations on Air,which introduced him to the subject oi 264 Annals of Medical History chemistry. He learned a little French whichenabled him to gain an elementary knowl-edge of Itahan. While at home he pursuedthe study of Hebrew, and devoted hisenergies to turning and telescope
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