FOREWORD 



I believe that the most instructive form of reading is 

 biography. In the story of a man's Hfe one can see in 

 quick review the struggle that man went through to 

 attain or to fail to attain his heart's desire. 



For the professional man, life stories of his colleagues 

 and predecessors focus down to the particular problems 

 of the profession. This is essentially the case with the 

 story of a man like Maury. As a naval officer, Maury's 

 work will always remain outstanding. He was one of 

 our pioneer investigators of the geography of the sea 

 and the physics of the air. And at the same time he 

 never lost sight of the intrinsic needs of his Service. 



Since travel in the present age has become so common 

 Maury may be looked upon as one of our great bene- 

 factors. His professional work turned out to be of 

 happily wide application, not only for the seafaring man, 

 but for the flier. 



As an inspirational character Maury was also a note- 

 worthy American. His life was marked by that per- 

 sistent industry peculiar to the successful research 

 worker. There is little indication that he ever saw 

 ahead of him immediate reward of any great size. 

 But his toil was ever directly applied for the adventure 

 of discovering something new or different in the maritime 

 fields in which he worked. 



Because I am soon to start on my own expedition 

 towards the South Pole I am particularly interested in 

 a letter Maury wrote under date of August 20, 1860, 



