I am very anxious to talk to you. I will give you a hint on what. It strikes me that at some future time, (it might be even within 3 or 4 years, or it might be many years hence), my head may be made by you subservient to some of your purposes & plans. If so, if ever I could be worthy or capable of being used by you, my head will be yours. And it is on this that I wish to speak most seriously to you. You have always been a kind and real & most invaluable friend to me; & I would that I could in any way repay it, though I scarcely dare so exalt myself as to hope however humbly, that I can ever be intellectually worthy to attempt serving you.
Yours most sincerely
A.A. Lovelace
You must stay some days with us. Now don’t contradict me.
After Babbage visited she was fired up with ambition. In the following letter Ada details the direction she wanted to take. Grieg always encouragied her.
To Woronzow Greig
Friday [15 January 1841]
Ockham
My Dear Mr Greig. I am very much obliged by your letter received yesterday morning, & anticipate with much pleasure the rest of the promised Series. I have so much, on many subjects, that I should like to tell you, and so little time to tell any of it, that I am puzzled. I have now had 10 days of good hard mathematical work, & have at this moment beside me papers from Mr De Morgan (in reply to some of mine) that require both studying & answering. I am going on most excellently with my studies; but this you know is but the beginning. . . I consider it now as being, if I may so speak, my Profession. . .
You are right: I ought to do something; – to write something. But not at present. It would be a thousand pities if I were to attempt anything . . . for long to come.– You think I have powers; and you are right. But I know myself well; and I know that whatever powers I may have now, I shall have tenfold those powers at 40, with the measures I am taking. Therefore my maxim is – Wait and Work! –
I will confess to you, (for you will not attribute it to a vain, empty self sufficient conceit), that I have on my mind most strongly the impression that Heaven has allotted me some peculiar intellectual-moral mission to perform. . . there are missions for the few; these are missions to make better known to the many laws & the glory of God; and blessed are those who fulfil faithfully such missions, who fulfil them, not for self glory & aggrandizement, but for the glory of Him who is so darkly known as yet in the world, & for the love of those many whose greatest blessing it is (tho’ they may yet appreciate it not), to know Him a little less imperfectly!
Now to such a possible mission, I will be true & faithful (to the best of my ability) until the last pulse shall have closed for me the present law of connection between the spiritual and the physical . . .
Well! You will see, from the foregoing, that I have a great & vast scheme! It becomes every year, every month, every week, more definite & less vague in form; and with this gradually increasing distinctness, grows the force of my will & determination. –
I am now happier than ever in my life before. I have never been happy, even in the ordinary earthly sense of that term, until just lately . . . What a long letter I have written! – Believe me ever,
Yours most sincerely
A.A.L.
De Morgan filled his letters to Ada with mathematical metaphors. He described algebraic equations “sowing their wild oats” before settling down. Ada picked up that approach and wrote “I am often reminded of certain sprites & fairies one reads of, who are at one’s elbows in one shape now, & the next minute in a form most dissimilar; and uncommonly deceptive, troublesome & tantalizing are the mathematical sprites & fairies sometimes; like the types I have found for them in the world of Fiction.” As much as Ada talked about her imagination, she was never really satisfied that she understood “anything until she could see how the matter in question was first thought of and arrived. Looking at basic principles and assumptions was her key to understanding.”
Ada analyzed her unique scientific skills, shaping them into a scientific trinity. Her approach was and is for many people even today considered heretical. It moved effortlessly between imagination (she called this intuition), reason, and her unique ability to integrate these skills by working and concentrating on the issues. Her goal was “to leave for mankind in my footsteps a little of that brightness from Beyond.”
To Charles Babbage
Monday, 22 February [1841]
Ockham Park
My Dear Mr Babbage. ..
I have been at work very strenuously since I saw you, & quite as successfully as heretofore. I am now studying attentively the Finite Differences . . . And in this I have more particular interest, because I know it bears directly on some of your business. – Altogether I am going on well, & just as we might have anticipated. –
I think I am more determined than ever in my future plans; and I have quite made up my mind that nothing must be suffered to interfere with them. – I intend to make such arrangements in Town as will secure me a couple of hours daily (with very few exceptions), for my studies.
I think much of the possible (I believe I may say the probable) future connexion between us; and it is an anticipation I increasingly like to dwell on. I think great good may be the result to both of us; and I suspect that the idea, (which by the bye is one that I believe I have long entertained, in a vague and crude form), was one of those happy instincts which do occur to one sometimes so unaccountably & fortunately. At least, in my opinion, the results may ultimately prove it such. Believe me,
Yours most sincerely
A.Ada Lovelace
She concentrated so much on her work, that she found that she was never so happy in her life. She wrote her mother about her grand scientific dreams and the latest scientific developments. She filled her letters with humor. Then, as often happens to people who walk confidently on a path, there is an unexpected and major diversion. Lady Byron considered now was the time to alert Ada to the “facts.” Lady Byron revealed that not only had Lord Byron committed incest, but Medora was not her cousin but her half-sister. The letter with this bombshell, Ada’s 9-11, was written most likely on 25 February. It was probably burned. Ada wrote her husband that it was no surprise; she had long suspected it “but a most strange & dreadful history!” She tried to continue her mathematical studies, but the subject of her letters became focused on the Medora melodrama.
Poetical Science
There are many examples of the power of imagination in promoting scientific discovery.
1. Can you think of some discoveries where an imaginative explanation was based on intuition and followed up by careful reason and analysis?
2. In your personal life are there examples where your intuition led you to a correct, and at other times, an incorrect conclusion?
3. Ada was diverted from her scientific work by an emotional event. Given Ada’s attitude towards science, how do you think she might handle the “facts” her mother revealed to her?
10
I Have a Duty to Perform, Avis-Phoenix, Will-o’-the-Wisps
[1841]
The letter Ada received from her mother no doubt accused Lord Byron of having had an incestuous relationship with his half-sister, Augusta Leigh, and of being Elizabeth Medora’s father. Whether true or not, Lady Byron was successful in focusing attention on Byron’s so-called “depravity,” which colors people’s perception of Byron even today. Whenever I mention to anyone that I am writing this book, the first question I am usually asked is: “Did Lord Byron commit incest with his sister Augusta (really his half-sister)? Was he (Elizabeth) Medora’s father?” We do not know. Byron never gave any indication, other than the mocking letter to Lady Melbourne, that Medora was his child. When he sent gifts for Augusta’s children, he did not specify Medora in any way. In contrast, he did seek custody of his illegitimate daughter, Allegra, and specified gifts for Ada. It is doubtful that he would not specify gifts for Medora if he believed he was her father.
Lady Byron’s timing also evokes suspicion. She most
likely was aware of the incest rumors circulating among the aristocracy before she married Lord Byron. However, when she was having trouble controlling Byron’s obnoxious behavior during the month before Ada was born, she appealed to Augusta to come to London to help. If indeed she was suspicious of Byron’s relationship with Augusta, it did not make sense for her to invite Augusta to help her.
A few months later when Lady Byron decided she wanted a separation, the evidence she used was based on remembered, or reconstructed, memories that she fit into the perception that Lord Byron committed incest. She picked out data to support her view, and cast out as irrelevant what did not fit. Lady Byron was very eager to believe Caroline Lamb’s allegations that Byron had committed incest with his half-sister. Like a computer, and many categorical thinkers, Lady Byron could not handle information that she could not fit into a category. Her goal was separation, and whatever helped her reach her goal she justified.
At the time of these letters, in 1841, everything was going well in Ada’s life. Lady Byron knew Ada would be in Paris in six weeks, yet she could not wait to tell her daughter in privacy of Byron’s sin, after keeping this “great secret” for twenty-five years. At the very least it appeared that Lady Byron’s motive was to be on center stage. Whatever the motive, the effect was that she diverted Ada from her activities just as she diverted attention from Byron’s accomplishments--his poetry--and turned the focus of attention to his vulnerability, his relationship to his half-sister.
Although Ada did not mention her mother’s revelation to anyone (with the exception of William), that information affected all of her correspondence at this time. Ada re-evaluated what it meant to be her father’s daughter. How would she deal with her father’s “misused genius,” his “depravity,” and her mother’s innocence? She felt her characteristics were more philosophical and that she had “the Power of Foresight, & a certain principle of Hope.” Just as Ada looked into her past and her heritage, she also transformed and integrated the characteristics she had inherited from each of her parents and started to shape her destiny. At first she kept herself busy with all her activities, even enlisting Babbage’s aid in a musical event. Then, in early April, Ada went to join her mother in Paris. William was supposed to go with her, but a bout of influenza delayed his passage.
Ada at this time very gingerly questioned the allegation by asking her mother how she could be sure when Augusta was a married woman at the time. How could her mother suspect anything so monstrous? Although at this time she accepted the validity of her mother’s allegation that Medora was Lord Byron’s daughter, William did not. Many years later, after the deaths of Ada and Lady Byron, William stated that he never believed that Medora was Lord Byron’s daughter. At this time, however, William was a very dutiful son-in-law, and it is highly unlikely that he shared that impression with Lady Byron.
Ada wrote that she would try to compensate for her father’s misused genius. She tried to change the subject and discussed Dr Lamarck’s evolutionary theories, which were at great variance to those of Babbage’s friend, Charles Darwin, who at this time was busily working on his Origin of the Species.
Another theory that she questioned was Mesmerism. Elliotson, a Mesmerist, expanded the theories of F. A. Mesmer (1733-1815), who used animal magnetism to induce a hypnotic effect. Elliotson founded the Phrenological Society of London and established a journal in 1844, which ran to thirteen volumes.
In the spring of 1841, before she went off to Paris, she tried to fill her time with differential calculus, which she called the “King” of her many activities: going to the opera every night, harp lessons every day for a few hours, and riding on horseback. In addition she was organizing a benefit concert for a young musician and asked Babbage for his help.
To Charles Babbage
[February, or March 1841]
. . . A Welsh Boy named John Thomas, who played the Welsh Harp with talent, & appeared to possess great musical powers, was placed in Septr at the Royal Academy, by Lady Lovelace & some friends, who contributed sufficient by private subscription to keep him there a year. His parents are of the poorest class, & unable to assist further than by clothing him. – To give him anything of an education which could be permanently useful; he ought to remain at the Academy for at least 3 years, & it is proposed to have a public Concert for his benefit in the beginning of March, at the Opera-House Concert Rooms, under the patronage of 8 ladies. . .
To Charles Babbage
Monday Night, 5 April 1841
St James’ Square
My Dear Mr Babbage. Tomorrow morning sees me off in the Boulogne Boat, long before you will receive this note. – All is going on well here, & Lord L recovering now rapidly. I leave him in charge of his Sisters, & expect him to follow me before long. –
Now as to the Concert; it is finally arranged. I believe that it will take place at Mrs David Barclay’s house, 8 Belgrave Square on Weddy the 12th May.
From a hotel at Place Vendôme she wrote William. She did not allow herself to be totally overwhelmed by Lady Byron’s scenario and followed up Babbage’s suggestion to visit his friend Arago, who was head of the observatory. Everyday concerns were also on her mind as she wrote that she needed a comb from her hairdresser, Isadore.
The strange relationship between Lady Byron and Medora is a result of marriage settlement between Lord and Lady Byron. Part of what Lord Byron left to Augusta was tied up until Lady Byron died. Augusta did not get the money directly. Augusta wanted to help Medora, so she established a £3000 trust fund for Marie, Medora’s illegitimate daughter, most likely from funds in the control of Lady Byron. My understanding is that Medora was trying to obtain the deed that was the legal acknowledgment of the trust fund so that she could borrow money against the deed.
When Ada returned to London in May, she was at first filled with hope that she could resume all her activities. She encouraged William in his political career. Some of William’s friends thought he did not live up to his political potential, even though he was the Lord Lieutenant of Surrey. Ada resumed her social activities and mathematical studies, but she also had bouts of illness. I have chosen not to speculate at this time on the exact nature of Ada’s illnesses. Some biographers have done that and have been wide of the mark. Physicians on the faculties of the University of California at San Francisco and Yale University have looked at these letters and stated that it is impossible to diagnose a patient you cannot examine who described an illness in terminology meaning one thing in the nineteenth century and another thing today. Whatever her illness was, in these letters she mentioned for the first time using laudanum, an opium derivative widely used at the time for various illnesses
In June she mentions the use of laudanum after she met Dr James Phillips Kay, a physician and educational reformer. He is credited with establishing the British school system for which he was later knighted. He was totally captivated by Ada. She reported to William that Dr Kay gave her laudanum because “she was a sick bird.” Perhaps she would become an “Avis-Phoenix, and rise from the dead.” She started her ascent in August when all the Lovelaces went off to Ashley Combe in Somerset. Ada took her mathematics papers with her and resumed her mathematical correspondence with De Morgan.
To Charles Babbage
Tuesday night [Undated]
10 St James’ Square
My Dear Mr Babbage. What say you to taking a Stall for the Italian Opera on Thursdy.
Miss King, Dr Kay, & I are going, & I want a fourth. If you agree, would you like to give away the two German Stalls for that night, to any friends of yours to whom it would be a treat.
You never come & see me now, or take any notice of me. You see I am growing quite huffy. –
The reason I could not meet you on Thursdy last, was in consequence of a sudden arrangement about some Mesmerism, which it was important for me to attend to; & I could not without great inconvenience let you know. –
But you must dine here on Thursdy. That I insist on. – And pray do not
quite forget me, for I think there seems some danger of it.
Yours most sincerely
A. Ada Lovelace
Ada complained that the diversion of Paris had disrupted her studies and she was determined to get back to them. She was worried about taking up De Morgan’s time, yet she was frustrated at learning by correspondence and thought it might be better if they met in person.
In a series of letters Ada hypothesized a geometry of the “fourth dimension.” Several popular books today deal with this subject: Rudy Rucker’s The Fourth Dimension, Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and Philip Davis’s Descartes’ Dream. Also Ada mentioned Bernoulli numbers, which are explained later when Ada suggested to Babbage that they be used in her description of the Analytical Engine. De Morgan earned money as a consultant to the insurance industry which used Bernoulli numbers to assess risk.
The remains of Ada’s correspondence to Augustus De Morgan are generally scattered, skewed, and undated; when they are dated, the dates are often incorrect. For example, Ada sent two letters to De Morgan Sunday 6 July, and the other Monday 6 July; both appear from their contents to have been written in 1841.
A constant theme in Ada’s letters to De Morgan was the concern that she was taking up his time needlessly. She asked him whether he received the pheasants and whether he would like to come to visit. All her intense mathematical activity and correspondence with De Morgan prompted her to speculate. Many of her speculations, from extending geometry to other dimensions to her description of the nature of a function, have turned out to be correct.
Ada, the Enchantress of Numbers:Poetical Science Page 8