3-047-131 - The Print Collector/Heritage Images

The late Mrs. Somerville, 1872. Engraving of a painting by Mr. R. Swinton. 'This accomplished and venerable old lady...has been known as a profound student and writer of treatises upon the physical and mathematical sciences...her name became...widely known by her "Connection of the Physical Sciences," a work...which has been called "a true 'Cosmos" in the nature of its design and in the multitude of materials collected and condensed into the history which it affords of the physical phenomena of the universe. This she followed up with her "Physical Geography," which...comprises the history of the earth in its whole material organisation. These two works...have been translated into several foreign languages; and their author's services to geographical science were recognised in 1869 by the award of the Victoria medal of the Royal Geographical Society...Her scientific labours...gave to Mrs. Somerville's name a high reputation, eminently merited...The Royal Society, and the Astronomical and Geographical Societies, bestowed their honours upon her, so far as their rules and usages allowed in the case of a lady. The pension of £300 a year given to her under Sir Robert Peel's administration was fully sanctioned by the...scientific community'. From "Illustrated London News", 1872.