36 THE WORLD'S WORKERS. 



for his step-son, Woronzow Greig, Mr. Somerville 

 recommended his wife to take advantage of the 

 opportunity, and renew her acquaintance with Greek ; 

 and Mrs. Somerville, acting on the hint, read "Homer" 

 for an hour every morning before breakfast. Then 

 it was discovered that the Greek master understood 

 botany, so, once more following her husband's advice, 

 the lady devoted an hour every morning to that 

 science, " though she was nursing a baby at the time." 

 Not many mothers with small babies would have 

 ventured to attempt so much. 



Mineralogy was the next subject mastered by 

 this wonderful woman ; and this the husband and 

 wife took up together with the greatest interest. 

 Whilst on a tour which they made on the Continent, 

 they went to see some silver mines, and the specimens 

 of minerals there obtained reminded Mrs. Somerville 

 that she had some time before seen at a friend's house 

 a magnificent collection of precious and curious 

 metals. She told her husband of this, and he pro- 

 posed that they should work together and make a 

 collection. A view of the fossils preserved in the 

 Edinburgh Museum then recalled the fossil plants 

 brought from the coal mines to the small pier at 

 Burntisland, and ultimately geology was mastered. 

 Thus, little by little, the store of knowledge 

 grew. 



After all this study and industry, it would have 

 been thought that Mrs. Somerville would have been 



