I had sent a copy of the "Mechanism of the Heavens" to M. Poisson soon after it was published, and I had received a letter from him dated 30th May, 1832, advising me to complete the work by writing a volume on the form and rotation of the earth and planets. Being again strongly advised to do so while in Paris, I now began the work, and, in consequence, I was led into a correspondence with Mr. Ivory, who had written on the subject, and also with Mr. Francis Baily, on the density and compression of the earth. My work was extensive, for it comprised the analytical attraction of spheroids, the form and rotation of the earth, the tides of the ocean and atmosphere, and small undulations.
When this was finished, I had nothing to do, and as I preferred analysis to all other subjects, I wrote a work of 246 pages on curves and surfaces of the second and higher orders. While writing this, con amore, a new edition of the "Physical Sciences" was much needed, so I put on high pressure and worked at both. Had these two manuscripts been published at that time, they might have been of use; I do not remember why they were laid aside, and forgotten till I found them years afterwards among my papers. Long after the time I am writing about, while at Naples, I amused myself by repairing the time-worn parts of these manuscripts, and was surprised to find that in my eighty-ninth year I still retained facility in the "Calculus."
The second edition of the "Physical Sciences" was dedicated to my dear friend, Sir John Herschel. It went through nine editions, and has been translated into German and Italian. The book went through various editions in the United States, to the honour, but not to the profit, of the author. However, the publisher obligingly sent me a copy. I must say that profit was never an object with me: I wrote because it was impossible for me to be idle.
I had the honour of presenting a copy of my book to the Duchess of Kent at a private audience. The Duchess and Princess Victoria were alone, and received me very graciously, and conversed for half an hour with me. As I mentioned before, I saw the young Princess crowned: youthful, almost child-like as she was, she went through the imposing ceremony with all the dignity of a Queen.
A few letters from some of my mother's friends, written at this period, may prove of interest. They are chiefly written to thank her for copies of the Preliminary Dissertation or of the "Physical Sciences." One from Lord Brougham concerns my mother's estimate of the scientific merit of Dr. Young, for whom she had the sincerest admiration, considering him one of the first philosophers and discoverers of the age.
FROM MISS EDGEWORTH TO MRS. SOMERVILLE.
Edgworthtown, May 31st, 1832.
There is one satisfaction at least in giving knowledge to the ignorant, to those who know their ignorance at least, that they are grateful and humble. You should have my grateful and humble thanks long ago for the favour—the honour—you did me by sending me that Preliminary Dissertation, in which there is so much knowledge, but that I really wished to read it over and over again at some intervals of time, and to have the pleasure of seeing my sister Harriet read it, before I should write to you. She has come to us, and has just been enjoying it, as I knew she would. For my part, I was long in the state of the boa constrictor after a full meal—and I am but just recovering the powers of motion. My mind was so distended by the magnitude, the immensity, of what you put into it! I am afraid that if you had been aware how ignorant I was you would not have sent me this dissertation, because you would have felt that you were throwing away much that I could not understand, and that could be better bestowed on scientific friends capable of judging of what they admire. I can only assure you that you have given me a great deal of pleasure; that you have enlarged my conception of the sublimity of the universe, beyond any ideas I had ever before been enabled to form.
The great simplicity of your manner of writing, I may say of your mind, which appears in your writing, particularly suits the scientific sublime—which would be destroyed by what is commonly called fine writing. You trust sufficiently to the natural interest of your subject, to the importance of the facts, the beauty of the whole, and the adaptation of the means to the ends, in every part of the immense whole. This reliance upon your reader's feeling along with you, was to me very gratifying. The ornaments of eloquence dressing out a sublime subject are just so many proofs either of bad taste in the orator, or of distrust and contempt of the taste of those whom he is trying thus to captivate.