Mary Somerville to Faraday   1 February 1859

Florence 1st February 1859

My dear Dr. Faraday

I cannot tell you how much I have been delighted and gratified by your letter¹, and by your kind acceptance of my book². I should not have dared to send it to you from any merit it may have in itself, but I have no other way of offering the tribute of my most sincere and heartfelt admiration of your transcendent discoveries of the laws and deep mysteries of nature.

I fear from what you say that I may have expressed myself ambiguously with regard to your views of gravitation³. I certainly did not mean to do so, for on the contrary, they convey to my mind the most perfect conviction, and I only hope you may live to complete what Newton began, by the discovery of that one comprehensive power of which gravity and all the correlative and convertible forces are but parts. Mean while I wish you success in your research for time in magnetism which there can be no doubt you will accomplish having already so beautifully connected magnetism with light whose velocity is known. I fear I tax your health too severely; subjects so abstruse as you are accustomed to consider must fatigue even your mind which makes occasional repose necessary, so I wish you would come here & amuse yourself for a little, we should be indeed delighted to see you, and there are many things that would interest you.

Many thanks for the volume of your papers and researches⁴ which you intend to send to me it will be a very precious gift - Mr Somerville⁵ and my daughters⁶ desire to be kindly remembered to you and be assured that I am ever

with sincere friendship yours | Mary Somerville