338 Mary Somerville. 



weather ; and in a very dangerous squall my daugh- 

 ters were caught in, coming from Amalfi to Sorrento. 

 The "Frolic" had only just arrived at Spezia, when 

 we heard of the sudden death of my dear son, Oct., 

 1865. 



[This event, which took from my mother's last years 

 one of her chief delights, she bore with her usual 

 calm courage, looking forward confidently to a reunion 

 at no distant date with one who had been the most 

 dutiful of sons and beloved of friends. She never per- 

 mitted herself, in writing her Eecollections, to refer to 

 her feelings under these great sorrows. 



Some time after this, my widowed daughter-in-law 

 spent a few months with us. On her return to London, 

 I sent the manuscript of the " Molecular and Micro- 

 scopic Science " with her for publication. In writing 

 this book I made a great mistake, and repent it. 

 Mathematics are the natural bent of my mind. If 

 I had devoted myself exclusively to that study, I 

 might probably have written something useful, as a 

 new era had begun in that science. Although I got 

 " Chales on the Higher Geometry," it could be but 

 a secondary object while I was engaged in writing 

 a popular book. Subsequently, it became a source 

 of deep interest and occupation to me. 



