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 YOUNG serve the transit of Venus. Prof. Young has published in the scientific journals numerous papers, chiefly on spectroscopy and solar phys- ics. He is distinguished also as the only as- tronomer who has yet obtained a photographic record of a prominence when the sun has not been eclipsed, for his work in the classification of prominences, in the study of the connection between prominences, spots, and faculsB, and generally for the skill with which he has ap- plied spectroscopic analysis to solar phenomena. YOUNG, Edward, an English poet, born at Up- ham, near Winchester, in 1684, died April 12, 1765. He was educated at Winchester school and Oxford university, and received in 1708 a law fellowship at All Souls' college. In 1714 he took the degree of LL. B., and in 1719 that of D. C. L., but did not practise law. He first published a poem entitled " An Epistle to the Right Honorable the Lord Lansdowne " (1713), but became ashamed of its fulsome adulation and suppressed it. Ho next issued two long poems, "The Last Day" (1713) and "The Force of Religion " (1714), which were suc- ceeded by a " Poem on the Death of Queen Anne " (1714). In 1719 he produced at Drury Lane his tragedy of " Busiris," and in 1721 " The Revenge," which is still occasionally performed. In l725-'8 appeared his satires, under the general title of "The Love of Fame, the Universal Passion," which brought him 3,000 and higher repute. In 1727 he took orders, and became one of the king's chaplains ; and thinking dramatic authorship incongruous with his clerical standing, he withdrew his new tragedy, " The Brothers," which was on the eve of being produced on the stage. In 1730 he received the rectory of Welwyn in Hertfordshire, and in 1731 married Lady Eliza- beth Lee, daughter of the earl of Lichfield. The death of his wife in 1741, with several con- temporaneous afflictions, gave rise to Young's most celebrated poetical work, the " Night Thoughts " (London, 1742-'6). From 1761 till his death he was clerk of the closet to the princess dowager of Wales. Collective edi- tions of his works appeared in 1741 and 1757, and a revision in four volumes in 1762, to which two volumes were added after his death by Isaac Reed (1767). YOUNG, Thomas, an English physicist, born of Quaker parents at Milverton, Somersetshire, June 13, 1773, died in London, May 10, 1829. He was able to read fluently at the age of two, learned surveying at eight, studied at school, besides the classical and modern languages, Hebrew, Persian, and Arabic, and in order to construct a microscope mastered the differen- tial calculus. After seven years spent in pri- vate study, he studied medicine in London, Edinburgh, and Gottingen, and in February, 1797, returned to England. To qualify him- self for membership in the college of phy- sicians, he entered Emmanuel college, Cam- bridge, as a matter of form, and graduated in 1799. In 1801 he was appointed professor of YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSO. natural philosophy at the royal institution ; but he was not a popular lecturer, and in 1803 he resigned. In 1802 he published a "Sylla- bus of a Course of Lectures on Natural and Experimental Philosophy," containing the an- nouncement of the discovery of the law of in- terference of light, which contributed largely to the establishment of the undulatory theory. (See LIGHT, vol. x., pp. 436 and 442.) In 1808 he became a fellow of the college of physi- cians, in 1810 was elected one of the physicians of St. George's hospital, and in 1818 was ap- pointed secretary of the board of longitude, on the dissolution of which he became sole conductor of the " Nautical Almanac." From 1802 till his death he was foreign secretary of the royal society, and during the latter years of his life was a member of the advisory sci- entific committee of the admiralty. Dr. Young also engaged in the study of Egyptian hiero- glyphics, and held several controversies with Champollion. His conclusions were published in the article "Egypt" in the supplement to the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" in 1819, and show that he first determined that the wings on the Rosetta stone contain the name of Ptol- emy, and that the characters are phonetic. His other works include "A Course of Lectures on Natural Philosophy and the Mechanical Arts" (2 vols. 4to, 1807; new ed. by Prof. Kelland, 2 vols. royal 8vo, 1845); "A System of Practical Nosology, with an Introduction to Medical Literature" (1813); "A Practical and Historical Treatise on Consumptive Dis- eases" (1815); "Elementary Illustrations of the Celestial Mechanics of Laplace" (1821); and " Rudiments of an Egyptian Dictionary " (1830). His miscellaneous works have been collected by Dean Peacock and John Leitch (4 vols. 8vo, London, 1855), by the former of whom his life was written (8vo, 1855). YOUNG MEN'S CHRISTIAN ASSOCIATIONS. Or- ganizations of Christian young men existed in Great Britain and Ireland more than 200 years ago, and extended into Germany and Switzer- land ; and in 1710 Cotton Mather addressed kindred societies in New England, under the title of " Young Men Associated." There were similar associations in some German cities be- tween 1834 and 1842, and a larger movement in 1849, from which originated the German associations of the present day. The modern English-speaking associations began in a meet- ing of clerks in a London mercantile house in 1844, organized by George Williams, one of the clerks, which grew into the first young men's Christian association. It was soon imi- tated in different cities of Great Britain ; and in December, 1851, an association after the London model was formed in Montreal, and shortly after one was formed in Boston. As- sociations multiplied rapidly throughout the United States, until their growth was retarded by the civil war of 1861-'5. In 1866 a new period of growth began, and there are now (1876) in the United States and Canada about