Votes. lxxiii 
the reviewer says ; “‘ The latter (Mrs. Somerville) we are obliged to confess, 
is Scotch by her birth, though we are very happy to claim her as one of the 
brightest ornaments of England.” — Quarterly Review, Vol. li. p. 68. 
NOTE J. p. Wiii. 
The following extracts from a few of the letters received by Dr. Bowditch, 
on the publication of the first and other volumes of his La Place, will be 
read with interest. 
From Sir John Herschel, March 8th, 1830. 
“Tt is very gratifying to me to commence a scientific intercourse, which 
I have long desired, with the congratulations which the accomplishment of 
so great a work naturally calls for ; and I trust, that its reception by the 
public will be such (of which indeed there can be little doubt) as to encourage 
you to proceed to the publication of the succeeding volumes, and that you will 
be favored with health, strength, and leisure to enable you to complete the 
whole of this gigantic task in the masterly manner in which you have com- 
menced it. It is a work, indeed, of which your nation may well be proud, 
as demonstrating, that the spirit of energy and enterprise which forms the 
distinguishing feature of its character, is carried into the regions of science ; 
and every expectation of future success may be justified from such be- 
ginnings.”’ 
From Charles Babbage, Esq., Aug. 5th, 1832. 
“Tt is a proud circumstance for America, that she has preceded her 
parent country in such an undertaking ; and we in England must be content, 
that our language is made the vehicle of the sublimest portion of human 
knowledge, and be grateful to you for rendering it more accessible.” 
Dr. Bowditch also received letters from Professor Airy, Francis Baily, Esq., 
the Bishop of Cloyne, (Brinkley,) and other persons of scientific eminence in 
various parts of Great Britain, testifying, in the warmest terms, their great 
satisfaction at the masterly manner in which the work was executed, and 
their high sense of the valuable service rendered by Dr. Bowditch, in giving 
to England and America his Translation and Commentary in the common 
language of the two countries. 
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