The Count has moreover a black servant who speaks these languages, having been bought by the Count during his long residence in the East, and is now treated like one of the family. I obtained much information which will be useful in my next edition of the Physical Geography.... Your affectionate mother, MARY SOMERVILLE. [After my mother's death, our old friend Count Miniscalchi made a beautiful and touching "eloge" on her at a meeting of the Royal Italian Geographical Society, to a numerous audience assembled in the great hall of the Collegio Romano at Rome. My mother was an honorary member of this Society, besides which the first gold medal granted by them was voted by acclamation to her. Her Recollections continue as follows:--] * * * * * From Cola we went to Turin, where I became personally acquainted with Baron Plana, Director of the Observatory. He had married a niece of the illustrious mathematician La Grange, who proved the stability of the solar system. Plana, himself, was a very great analyst; his volume on the Lunar Perturbations is a work of enormous labour. He gave me a copy of it and of all his works; for I continued to have friendly intercourse with him as long as he lived. As soon as he heard of our arrival, he came to take us out to drive. I never shall forget the beauty of the Alps, and the broad valley of the Po and Dora, deeply covered with snow, and sparkling in bright sunshine. Another day the Baron took us to a church, from the cupola of which a very long pendulum was swinging, that we might see the rotation of the earth visibly proved by its action on the pendulum, according to M. Foucault's experiment. He devoted his time to get us established, and we found a handsome apartment in Casa Cavour, and became acquainted with both the brothers to whom it belonged. Count Camillo Cavour, then Minister of the Interior, was the only great statesman Italy ever produced in modern times. His premature death is deplorably felt at the present day. He was a real genius, and the most masterly act of his administration was that of sending an army to act in concert with the French and English in the Crimean war. By it he at once gave Italy the rank of an independent European power, which was the first step towards Italian unity. He was delightful and cheerful in society, and extremely beloved by his family and friends. * * * * *