In less than a year her work, to which she gave the name of _The Mechanism of the Heavens_, was ready for the press. But it was far more than a translation and epitome, as originally intended by its projector, Lord Brougham; for, in addition to the views of Laplace, it contained the independent opinions of the translator respecting the propositions of the illustrious French savant. No sooner was the work published than Mrs. Somerville found herself famous. She had, as Sir John Herschel expressed it, "written for posterity," and her book placed her at once among the leading scientific writers and thinkers of the day. She was elected an honorary member of the Royal Astronomical Society at the same time as Caroline Herschel, they being the first two women thus honored. Her bust, by Chantry, was placed in the great hall of the Royal Society, and she was made a member of many other scientific societies in Europe and America. In recognition of her services to science she was granted by the government a pension of L200 a year--a sum which was shortly afterward increased to L300. In addition to all this, Mrs. Somerville had the satisfaction of learning that her work was so highly esteemed by Dr. Whewell, the great master of Trinity, that it was, chiefly on his recommendation, introduced as a textbook in the University of Cambridge and prescribed as "an essential work to those students who aspire to the highest places in the examinations." What Mme. du Chatelet had done for Newton, Mrs. Somerville did for Laplace. Among other books from the pen of this highly gifted woman is her _Connection of the Physical Sciences_ and a work entitled _Physical Geography_, which, together with the _Mechanism of the Heavens_, was the object of the "profound admiration" of Humboldt. Then there is a number of very abstruse monographs on mathematical subjects, one of which is a treatise of two hundred and forty-six pages _On Curves and Surfaces of Higher Orders_, which, she tells us, she "wrote _con amore_ to fill up her morning hours while spending the winter in Southern Italy." Her last work was a treatise _On Molecular and Microscopic Science_ embodying the most recondite investigations on the subject. This book, begun after she had passed her eightieth birthday, occupied her for many years and was not ready for publication until she was close upon her ninetieth year. Her last occupations, continued until the day of her death at the advanced age of ninety-two, were the reading of a book on _Quaternions_ and the review and completion of a volume _On the Theory of Differences_.