we see that he is their companion and friend. They have all been happily busy in making a paper fire-balloon, sixteen feet in diameter, and thirty feet high. A large company were invited to see it mount." Jane and her father were close throughout their lives. He lived with her and her husband after their marriage. When Jane's father died in 1817, she received a substantial legacy that enabled Alexander Marcet to give up his medical practice and devote himself to chemistry full-time. Alexander in his turn understood and supported his wife's need for intellectual engagement and productive work. "Conversations" After helping to read the proofs of one of her husband's books, Marcet decided to write her own. She produced expository books on chemistry, botany, religion and economics under the general title "Conversations". In her prefaces, Marcet addresses whether such knowledge is suitable for women, arguing against objections and stating that public opinion supports her view. The first was written in 1805, though not issued until 1819, as Conversations on Natural Philosophy. It covered the basics of scientific knowledge of the time: physics, mechanics, astronomy, the properties of fluids, air and optics. It set a common format for her works: a dialogue between two pupils, Caroline and Emily (or Emilie), and their teacher, Mrs. Bryant (Mrs. B). Caroline, the younger, asks flippant questions that still move the dialogue along, while Emily is more controlled and reflective. Mrs. Bryant is a maternal mentoring figure, who leads them to question and examine their ideas. Both the scientific content and the discursive process of sharing scientific knowledge were important to Marcet's readers. Marcet's next book, Conversations on Chemistry, Intended More Especially for the Female Sex appeared anonymously in 1805, and became her best known work. In summarizing and popularising the work of Humphry Davy, whose lectures she attended, it was one of the first elementary science textbooks. It came with Marcet's drawings of chemical apparatus and stressed the need for experiment and for theoretical rigour. Jane Marcet was not explicitly identified as the author until the 12th edition of 1832. The book went into 16 editions in England, where it was an early inspiration for the young Michael Faraday. It was widely plagiarised in America, appearing there in at least 23 editions. Marcet in her Conversations on Political Economy (1816) also popularised the arguments of such political economists as Adam Smith, Malthus, and