4 02 THE POPULAR SCIENCE MONTHLY. 



the pen-name of Harry Bluff, attracted attention and approval. 

 Anions the points discussed in them — most of which were brought 

 up for the first time — were the adoption of steam as a motive 

 1 tower; great-circle sailing ; the establishment of navy -yards and 

 forts at Memphis and Pensacola ; the use of blank charts on board 

 public cruisers ; the Gulf Stream and its causes ; the connection 

 of terrestrial magnetism with the circulation of the atmosphere ; 

 and a ship-canal from the Illinois River to Lake Michigan. The 

 papers gave their author fame, and secured respect for his opinions 

 on naval questions. He was placed in charge of the Depot of 

 Charts and Instruments at Washington, an office which was de- 

 veloped into the Naval Observatory and Hydrographical Depart- 

 ment. " No man," said Senator John Bell, " could have been found 

 in the country better fitted than Maury for this difficult duty ; and 

 he worked with the zeal and energy that were expected of him." 



One of Maury's first enterprises in this office was the compila- 

 tion of his wind and current charts and sailing directions. He 

 had already, as sailing-master of the Falmouth, in 1831, observed 

 the want of trustworthy information concerning the winds and 

 currents encountered by mariners. He then resolved, if he ever 

 had opportunity, to compile such, information from the store of 

 old log-books in the Hydrographical Bureau of the Naval Depart- 

 ment. This he now did, and his charts and sailing directions were 

 furnished to the masters of vessels bound for foreign ports, who 

 in turn supplied the results of their own observations. The most 

 favorable reports came in of the value of the work, and it was 

 illustrated by some then really wonderful incidents. 



The fact was demonstrated in American and English jour- 

 nals that, by the mere shortening of voyages they made possible, 

 these charts effected a very great saving in the expense of com- 

 merce between distant ports. Testimony was repeatedly borne to 

 their value in the annual reports of the Navy Department and of 

 congressional committees. Secretary Dobbin reported, in 1855, 

 that other maritime nations, appreciating the value of this plan 

 of investigation, had united in a common system of observations 

 for its further prosecution ; and that it was suggested by Lieuten- 

 ant Maury that the same system of meteorological research, " if 

 extended to the land, would afford for the agricultural interests 

 of the country, and for science too, results quite as important as 

 those which commerce and navigation have already received from 

 it." "While analyzing and tabulating these " millions of observa- 

 tions," Maury wrote his Physical Geography of the Sea, which 

 took rank at once as a masterly as well as a charming work. In 

 the preface to it the author attributed such success as he had 

 achieved to the observance of the rule "to keep the mind un- 

 biased by theories and speculations ; never to have any wish that 



