Background
Born Mary Elizabeth Horner in 1808, she was the daughter of Leonard Horner, a professor of geology who taught in England and Germany.
Born Mary Elizabeth Horner in 1808, she was the daughter of Leonard Horner, a professor of geology who taught in England and Germany.
lieutenant is considered likely that she made substantial contributions to her husband"s work, although she did not become as widely known in her own right. Her scientific work included the collection and study of land snails in the Canary Islands in 1854, a similar endeavor to that of Charles Darwin in studying the finches of the Galapagos. Mary"s sister Katherine married Charles Lyell"s younger brother, Henry.
Mary and Charles were scientific partners.
She accompanied him on field trips and assisted him by sketching geological drawings, packing their clothes, equipment and specimens, cataloging their collections, learning Spanish and Swedish in addition to her spoken languages of French and German in order to assist with communications, and acting as a scribe when his eyesight failed in later years. Mary is known to have attended special meetings of the London Geological Society, and it is clear that she had a keen interest and a thorough understanding of geology.
She corresponded in writing with Elizabeth Agassiz about the glacial geology of South America, and was present in her husband"s conversations with Charles Darwin, later assisting him by sourcing barnacles, which he acknowledged with a letter in which he also discussed the geology of Scottish glens.