94- Mary Somerville. 



it was now, on going with Somerville to see the 

 Edinburgh Museum, that I recognised the fossil 

 plants I had seen in the coal limestone on the 

 sands at the Links of Burntisland. Ultimately 

 Geology became a favourite pursuit of ours, but 

 then minerals were the objects of our joint study. 

 Mineralogy had been much cultivated on the Con- 

 tinent by this time, especially in Germany. It had 

 been established as a science by Werther, who was 

 educated at an institution near the silver mines of 

 Friburg, where he afterwards lectured on the pro- 

 perties of crystals, and had many pupils. In one 

 of our tours on the Continent, Somerville and I 

 went to see these silver mines and bought some 

 specimens for our cabinet. The French took up 

 the subject with great zeal, and the Abbe* Haiiy's 

 work became a standard book on the science. 

 Cabinets of minerals had been established in the 

 principal cities of Great Britain, professors were 

 appointed in the Universities, and collections of 

 minerals were not uncommon in private houses. 

 While quite a girl, I went with my parents to visit 

 the Fergusons of Kaith, near Kirkcaldy, and there I 

 saw a magnificent collection of minerals, made by 

 their son while abroad. It contained gems of great 

 value and crystallized specimens of precious and 

 other metals, which surprised and interested me; 



