46 TV//: WORLD'S WORKERS. 



ready to stop and tell them kindly and gently what 

 they wanted to know, and then go back to her work. 



This power which Mrs. Somerville possessed of 

 working without being disturbed by what was going 

 on around her was all the more remarkable because 

 of the abstruse character of her work. For a long 

 time astronomers had had a theory that ages and ages 

 ago the whole solar system was composed of a sort of 

 nebulous gas, and that the planets were simply 

 portions of this gas which had shot off, as it were, 

 and were now revolving round the largest portion 

 the sun. 



Laplace's work in astronomy had been to prove 

 that this theory was true ; he had worked it out by 

 algebra in a way which no one could disprove. Yet, 

 as he had written only for people who understood 

 the subject, he had not troubled to simplify matters 

 at all, and had not given any diagrams or figures. 

 In trying to give the unlearned an idea of the theory, 

 Mrs. Somerville had to work out his problems over 

 again, and explain clearly subjects which in them- 

 selves were not at all clear. That she could do this, 

 and at the same time teach little girls grammar and 

 arithmetic, is almost incredible. 



A very amusing instance of her marvellous power 

 of withdrawing herself from the outside world whilst 

 working is given by one of the little girls in question. 

 One day when Mrs. Somerville was living in Rome, 

 she went to hear a celebrated poetess declaim some 



