SOMERVILLE, MARY F. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. 



731 



from this extended journey October 9, 1871, 

 and busied himself thenceforth with the prepa- 

 ration of a narrative of this journey, and with 

 a history of his own life and times. At his 

 death, the former work was completed, but 

 the latter was not more than half finished. 



Mr. Seward took broad and comprehensive 

 views of all the subjects which came under 

 his consideration; and, though at times he 

 may have generalized from insufficient data, 

 yet his judgments were, in the main, sound 

 and accurate. He had a strongly practical 

 vein, and adapted, in general, his theories to 

 the existing state of affairs with great facility. 



Though a voluminous writer, his essays and 

 state papers have not been fully collected. A 

 collection of his orations, speeches, and ad- 

 dresses, with a biographical memoir, edited 

 by George E. Baker, was published in 1853, in 

 three vols. 8vo, to which a fourth volume was 

 added in 1862. Mr. Seward had previously 

 published a memoir of John Quincy Adams, 

 founded on his oration already mentioned, 

 1849; and a number of volumes of his diplo- 

 matic correspondence were published. He 

 had also contributed several able articles 

 to the "New American Cyclopaedia." His 

 "Travels around the World " have been pub- 

 lished since his death. 



SOMERVILLE, Mrs. MART FAIEFAX, a Brit- 

 ish authoress and physicist, born at Jedburgh, 

 Scotland, December 26, 1780 ; died at Naples, 

 November 29, 1872. She was the daughter of 

 Sir William George Fairfax, a naval officer of 

 considerable reputation, who commanded the 

 Venerable, in the action of Camperdown, and 

 was afterward knighted, and advanced to the 

 rank of Vice- Admiral of the Red. Mary, his 

 daughter, was educated at a school in Mussel- 

 burgh, near Edinburgh. In 1804 she married 

 Samuel Greig, captain and commissioner in 

 the Russian Navy, who took great pleasure in 

 initiating her into the mysteries of mathemat- 

 ics and general science, for which she had a 

 decided taste. In 1806 Captain Greig died; 

 and in 1812 his widow, who had previously 

 removed to Edinburgh, married William. Som- 

 erville, M. D., of that city, subsequently In- 

 spector of the Army Medical Board, and Phy- 

 sician to the Royal Hospital, Chelsea. Mrs. 

 Somerville first became known to the scien- 

 tific world by some experiments on the mag- 

 netic influence of the violet rays of the solar 

 spectrum. Her scientific attainments soon 

 procured for her the acquaintance of Lord 

 Brougham, at whose suggestion she undertook 

 to produce for the Library of Useful Knowl- 

 edge a summary of the u Mecanique Celeste" 

 of Laplace, under the title of "Mechanism of 

 the Heavens." The work, however, was too 

 voluminous for its original purpose, and was 

 published in an independent form in 1831, with 

 a dedication to Lord Brougham, and at once 

 achieved for its authoress a high place among 

 the cultivators of physical science. It was fol- 

 lowed, in 1834, by her treatise "On the Con- 



nection of the Physical Sciences," dedicated 

 to the Queen. This work passed through nine 

 editions in English, and was translated into 

 Italian, and published at Florence, in 1861. In 

 1848 she published her " Physical Geography," 

 a history of the earth in its whole material 

 organization, and of animal and vegetable life. 

 A fourth edition of this, thoroughly revised, 

 was issued in 1858, besides an Italian transla- 

 tion, of which there have been two editions. 

 Her last work, " On Molecular and Microscopic 

 Science," with 180 illustrations, and a Glossa- 

 rial Index, was published in London, 1869, when 

 she had reached the advanced age of eighty -nine 

 years. At the time of her death she was en- 

 gaged in the preparation of her autobiography. 

 In 1834 Mrs. Somerville was elected a mem- 

 ber of "The Learned and Scientific Society" 

 of Geneva; in 1835 was made an honorary 

 member of the Royal Astronomical Society of 

 London, and in the same year received from 

 Sir Robert Peel a warrant on the civil list pen- 

 sion fund for 300 per annum. In May, 1869, 

 she was presented by the Royal Geographical 

 Society of London with the Patron's, or Vic- 

 toria Medal, for her eminent services to physi- 

 cal science. 



SOUTH CAROLINA. The most important 

 feature in the history of South Carolina for the 

 past year is that which relates to her financial 

 condition and public credit. When the Legis- 

 lature met in November, 1871, the affairs of the 

 Treasury were in the utmost confusion, and 

 there was great uncertainty regarding the 

 amount and character of the liabilities of the 

 State. The finances were managed by a Finan- 

 cial Board, consisting of the Governor, Trea- 

 surer, and Attorney-General, and charges were 

 freely made that the bonds of the State had been 

 issued without authority of law, and the pro- 

 ceeds in part appropriated for illegal uses. 

 There were other charges of recklessness and 

 extravagance in every department of the gov- 

 ernment, but nothing was done to bring these 

 to proof. On the 31st of October the State 

 Treasurer had reported the total debt at $17,- 

 557,000. The Comptroller-General, in submit- 

 ting the statement of the accounts of the vari- 

 ous disbursing officers, with such other infor- 

 mation as he could gather concerning the 

 financial condition of the State, expressed his 

 regret that the reports were not more satis- 

 factory, and that he was unable, " under the 

 present embarrassed condition of our finances, 

 to make some recommendations looking to 

 improvement in the future." " Without re- 

 flecting upon any one," he said, "I beg leave 

 to say that I am both disappointed and sur- 

 prised at the enormous amount of our funded 

 debt, and venture to make one suggestion, 

 that in the future we live within our income, 

 the State having lost its credit by extravagant 

 practices, just as a private individual would lose 

 his by the adoption of a similar course." 



The bulk of the work of a session of the 

 Legislature, lasting from the latter part of 



