100 Mary Somerville. 



who seemed to be a person of intelligence, for 

 I remember seeing her come from the washing- 

 tub to point out the planet Venus while it was 

 still daylight. 



The return of Halley's comet, in 1835, exactly 

 at the computed time, was a great astronomical 

 event, as it was the first comet of long period 

 clearly proved to belong to our system. I was 

 asked by Mr. John Murray to write an article on 

 the subject for the " Quarterly Review/' After it 

 was published, I received a letter from James Veitch, 

 reproaching me for having mentioned that a peasant 

 in Hungary was the first to see Halley's comet, and 

 for having omitted to say that, " a peasant at Inch- 

 bonny was the first to see the comet of 1811, the 

 greatest that had appeared for a century." I re- 

 gretted, on receiving this letter, that I either had not 

 known, or had forgotten the circumstance. Veitch 

 has been long dead, but I avail myself of this oppor- 

 tunity of making the amende honorable to a man 

 of great mental power and acquirements who had 

 otruggled through difficulties, unaided, as I havo 

 done myself. 



