In her last days, she was not idle. She had known the pleasures of science, and been thrilled as she heard her illustrious brother detail the steps by which he had made his discoveries,—had actually stood by the great philosopher as he fixed his delighted and reverent eye on the stupendous wonders of the firmament so thickly and Divinely studded with worlds, and seen him lay the deep and broad foundations of his imperishable fame; and had been stimulated to seek like noble rewards, by a diligent and irreproachable use of her own fine natural talents. As a woman of intellectual height and strength, and with a field of inexhaustible material over which to expatiate, she laboured with corresponding success; laid open the secrets of nature, and explained her deeper mysteries; enlarged the domain of knowledge; awakened the spirit of inquiry; breathed fresh life into philosophy, and gave to the world the promise of ever-accumulating truth. Her favourite study we hesitate not to place first. No science “so perfectly illustrates the gradual growth and development of human genius, as Astronomy: the movement of the mind has been constantly onward; its highest energies have ever been called into requisition; and there never has been a time when Astronomy did not present problems, not only equal to all that man could do, but passing beyond the limits of his greatest intellectual vigour; and hence in all ages and countries, the absolute strength of human genius may be measured by its reach to unfold the mysteries of the stars.”