Personal Recollections, from Early Life to Old Age, of Mary Somerville
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ta J. JS WOBKS BY MRS. SOMERVILLE. THE MECHANISM OF THE HEAVENS. 8vo. 1831. THE CONNECTION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES. 9th Edition. Post 8vo. 1858. PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 6^ Edition. Post 8vo. 1870. MOLECULAR AND MICROSCOPIC SCIENCE. 2 vola. Post 8vo. 1869. PERSONAL RECOLLECTIONS, Jrom arlj life to to OF MARY SOMERVILLE. WITH SELECTIONS FROM HER CORRESPONDENCE. BY HER DAUGHTER, MARTHA SOMERVILLE. BOSTON: ROBERTS BROTHERS. 1874. CONTENTS. CHAPTEE I. PAGB INTRODUCTION* PARENTAGE LIFE IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST CENTURY EARLY EDUCATION SCHOOL 1 CHAPTER II. FREEDOM RELIGIOUS EDUCATION JEDBURGH . 24 CHAPTER III. EDINBURGH YOUTHFUL STUDIES AND AMUSEMENTS POLITICS THE THEATRES OF THE TIME . 41 CHAPTER IV. EDINBURGH SUPPER PARTIES TOUR IN THE HIGHLANDS MUTINY IN THE FLEET BATTLE OF CAMPERDOWN 61 CHAPTER V. FIRST MARRIAGE (1804) WIDOWHOOD STUDIES SECOND MAR- 73 CHAPTER VI. SOMERVILLE FAMILY DR. SOMERVILLE's CHARACTER LETTERS JOURNEY TO THE LAKES DEATH OF SIR WILLIAM FAIRFAX REMINISCENCES OF SIR WALTER SCOTT 83 iv Contents. CHAPTEE VII. PAGH LIFE IN HANOVER SQUARE VISIT TO FRANCE ARAGO CUVIER ROME . 104 CHAPTER VIII. EDUCATION OF DAUGHTERS DR. WOLLASTON DR. YOUNG THE HERSCHELS 127 CHAPTER IX. SOCIETY IN LONDON CORONATION OF GEORGE IV. LETTER TO DR. SOMERVILLE 140 CHAPTER X. DEATH OF MARGARET SDMERVILLE LETTER FROM MRS. SOMER- VILLE TO THE REV. DR. SOMERVILLE LIFE AT CHELSEA THE NAPIERS MARIA EDGEWORTH TOUR IN GERMANY . 152 CHAPTER XI. LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM WRITES " MECHANISM OF THE HEAVENS" ANECDOTE OF THE ROMAN IMPROVISATRICE LETTERS FROM SIR JOHN HERSCHEL AND PROFESSOR WHEWELL ELECTED HON. MEMBER OF THE ROYAL ASTRONOMICAL SOCIETY NOTICE IN THE ACADEMIE DBS SCIENCES, AND LETTER FROM M. BIOT PENSION LETTER FROM SIR ROBERT PEEL BEGINS TO WRITE ON THE CONNECTION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES VISIT TO CAMBRIDGE LETTERS FROM PROFESSOR SEDGWICK AND LAPLACE . 161 CHAPTER XII. PARIS ARAGO, LAFAYETTE, MM. BOUVARD, POTSSON, LACKOIX, &C., MARQUISE DE LAPLACE, DUPIN, F. COOPER LEGITIMISTE SOCIETY MAJENDIE VISIT BARON LOUIS LETTER FROM LAFAYETTE . 183 Contents CHAPTER XIII. PAGK RETURN TO ENGLAND LETTER FROM HALLAM TREATISE ON THE FORM AND ROTATION OF THE EARTH AND PLANETS SECOND EDITION OF "THE CONNEXION OF THE PHYSICAL SCIENCES" LETTERS FROM MARIA EDGEWORTH, MISS BERRY, LORD BROUGHAM, MRS. MARCET, ADMIRAL SMYTH DOUBLE STARS ECLIPSE OF DOUBLE STARS LETTER FROM ADMIRAL SMYTH SIR WILLIAM HERSCHEL NEBULA LETTER FROM LORD ROSSE LETTER FROM SIR JOHN HEKSCHEL SIR JAMES SOUTIl's OBSERVATORY- MR. JOHN MURRAY MISS BERRY LORD DUDLEY MR. BOWDITCH AND OTHER DISTINGUISHED AMERICANS MRS. BROWNING WASHINGTON LETTER FROM THE REV. DR. TUCKERMAN SIR WILLIAM FAIRFAX ATTACKED BY HIGHWAYMBN 198 CHAPTER XIV. ROME, NAPLES, AND COMO BADEN WINTER AT FLORENCE- SIENA LETTER FROM LORD BROUGHAM MR MOUNTSTEWART ELPHINSTONE LIFE AT ROME CAMPAGNA CATTLE . 230 CHAPTEK XV. ALBANO POPULAR SINGING LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMERVJLLE GIBSON PERUGIA COMET OF 1843 SUMMER AT VENICE LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE AND MISS JOANNA BAILL1E ELECTED ASSOCIATE OF THE COLLEGE OF RE.SURGENT1 AND R. 1. ACADEMY OF SCIENCE AT AREZZO 243 CHAPTER XVI. PUBLISHES "PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY" LETTER FROM HUMBOLDT CHRISTMAS AT COLLINGWOOD LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE FARADAY LETTER FROM FARADAY KEITH JOHNSTON'S MAPS WINTER AT MUNICH SALZBURG LAKE OF GARDA MINTSCALCHI POEM BY CATERINA BUENZONI LETTER FROM BRENZONI LETTER FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE ELOGE BY MINISCALCHI WINTER AT TURIN BARON PLANA CAMILLO CAVOUR COLLINE NEAR TURIN GENOA TERESA DOVIA FLORENCE MISS F. P. COKBE VIVISECTION EXCURSIONS IK vi Contents. PAGE THE NEIGHBOURHOOD CHOLERA MISERICORDIA PIO NONO IN TUSCANY COMET TUSCAN REVOLUTION WAR IN LOM- BARDY ENTRY OF VICTOR EMMANUEL INTO FLORENCE LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMERVILLE MY FATHER'S DEATH LETTER FROM MISS COBBE . 286 CHAPTER XVII. SPEZIA GENOA BEGINS MOLECULAR ANT) MICROSCOPIC SCIENCE TURIN SPEZIA BRITISH FLEET LETTERS FROM MRS. SOMER- VTLLE GARIBALDI SEVERE ILLNESS FLORENCE MY BROTHER'S DEATH NAPLES ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS J. s. MILL CHANGE IN PUBLIC OPINION ON WOMEN'S EDUCATION- EIGHTY -NINTH YEAR DESCRIBES HER OWN CHARACTER THOUGHTS ON A FUTURE LIFE PROGRESS IN KNOWLEDGE OF GEOGRAPHY VICTORIA MEDAL MEDAL FROM ROYAL ITALIAN GEOGRAPHICAL SOCIETY LETTER FROM MENEBREA ROME, CAPITAL OF ITALY AURORA BOREALIS . 329 CHAPTER XVIII. ECLIPSE VISITS OF SCIENTIFIC MEN LIFE AT NAPLES DARWIN'S BOOKS REMARKS ON CIVILIZATION FINE AURORA BOREALIS DEATH OF HERSCHEL- SUMMER AT SORRENTO BILL FOR PROTECTION OF ANIMALS NINETY-SECOND YEAR LETTER FROM PROFESSOR SEDGWICK GRAND ERUPTION OF VESUVIUS LAST SUMMER AT SORRENTO, PLANTS FOUND THERE CON- CLUSION . , 354 PEESONAL EECOLLECTIONS MAEY SOMERVILLE CHAPTER I. INTRODUCTION PARENTAGE LIFE IN SCOTLAND IN THE LAST CENTURY KARLY EDUCATION SCHOOL. THE life of a woman entirely devoted to her family duties and to scientific pursuits affords little scope for a biography. There are in it neither stirring events nor deeds to record and as brilliant ; my Mother was strongly averse to gossip, and to revelations of private life or of intimate correspondence, nothing of the kind will be found in the following pages. It has been only after very great hesitation, and on the recommendation of valued friends, who think that some account of so remarkable and beautiful a character cannot fail to interest the public, that I have resolved to publish some detached Recollec- tions of past times, noted down by my mother during the last years of her life, together with a few letters from eminent men and women, referring almost exclusively to her scientific works. A still smaller number of her own letters have been added, either as illustrating her 2 Mary Somcrville. opinions on events she witnessed, or else as affording some slight idea of her simple and loving disposition. Few thoughtful minds will read without emotion my mother's own account of the wonderful energy and in- domitable perseverance by which, in her ardent thirst for knowledge, she overcame obstacles apparently insur- mountable, at a time when women were well-nigh totally education the almost intuitive in debarred from ; and way which she entered upon studies of which she had scarcely heard the names, living, as she did, among persons to whom they were utterly unknown, and who disapproved of her devotion to pursuits so different from those of ordinary young girls at the end of the last century, especially in Scotland, which was far more old-fashioned and primitive than England. Nor is her simple account of her early days without interest, when, as a lonely child, she wandered by the seashore, and on the links of Burntisland, collecting shells flowers cold at her and ; or spent the clear, nights window, watching the starlit heavens, whose mj-steries she was destined one day to penetrate in all their pro- found and sublime laws, making clear to others that knowledge which she herself had acquired, at the cost of so hard a struggle. It was not only in her childhood and youth that my mother's studies encountered disapproval. Not till she became a widow, had she perfect freedom to pursue them. The first person indeed the only one in her early days who encouraged her passion for learning was her uncle by marriage, afterwards her father-in-law, the Rev. Dr. Somerville, minister of Jedburgh, a man very much in advance of his century in liberality of thought on all subjects. He was one of the first to discern her rare Introduction. 3 her as she deserved while qualities, and valued ; through life she retained the most grateful affection for him, and confided to him many doubts and difficulties on subjects of the highest importance. Nothing can be more erroneous than the statement, repeated in several obituary notices of my mother, that Mr. Greig (her first husband) aided her in her mathematical and other pur- suits. Nearly the contrary was the case. Mr. Greig took no interest in science or literature, and possessed in full the prejudice against learned women which was common at that time. Only on her marriage with my father, my mother at last met with one who entirely sympathised with her, and warmly entered into all her ideas, encouraging her zeal for study to the utnost, and affording her every facility for it in his power. His love and admiration for her were unbounded; he frankly and willingly acknowledged her superiority to himself, and many of our friends can bear witness to the honest pride and gratification which he always testified in the fame and honours she attained. No one can escape sorrow, and my mother, in the course of her long life, had her full share, but she bore it with that deep feeling of trust in the great goodness of God which formed so marked a feature in her cha- racter. She had a buoyant and hopeful spirit, and though her affections were very strong, and she felt keenly, it was ever her nature to turn from the shadows to ail that is bright and beautiful in mortal life. She had much to make life pleasant in the great honours universally her she found far in the de- bestowed upon ; but more voted affection of friends, to say nothing of those whose happy lot it has been to live in close and loving inter- course with so noble and gentle a spirit. B 2 4 Mary Somerville. She met with unbounded kindness from men of science of all countries, and most profound was her gratitude to them. Modest and unpretending to excess, nothing could be more generous than the unfeigned delight she shewed in recognising the genius and discoveries of others; ever jealous of their fame, and never of her own. It is not uncommon to see persons who hold in youth opinions in advance of the age in which they live, but who at a certain period seem to crystallise, and lose the faculty of ideas and theories comprehending and accepting new ; thus remaining at last as far behind, as they were once in advance of public opinion.