HE RESORTS TO THE PEN 27 



during the last part of his recent tour of sea duty. He 

 did not expect to receive much direct profit from such a 

 nautical book, but hoped that it might be of a collateral 

 advantage to him in making his name known to the Navy 

 Department and to his brother officers. As it was the 

 first nautical work of science ever to come from the pen 

 of an American naval officer, he expected to base a claim 

 for promotion on the merits of the book, and had hopes of 

 being made a lieutenant of ten years' rank with the ac- 

 companying back pay amounting to $4,000 or $5,000. 



These plans of Maury's did not fully materialize. 

 President Jackson was of the opinion that the young 

 author deserved promotion for his scientific work and 

 reimbursement for the money which he had expended in 

 its publication, but the Secretary of the Navy, Mahlon 

 Dickerson, did not carry out the President's wishes. 

 The book itself, however, was a great success on its 

 appearance early in the year 1836, under the title of "A 

 New Theoretical and Practical Treatise on Navigation". 

 The publishers, E. C. and J. Biddle of Philadelphia, soon 

 had the pleasure of printing a long list of favorable 

 opinions of the work from professors and distinguished 

 officers in the navy, among which the commendation of 

 Nathaniel Bowditch gave Maury the greatest satisfac- 

 tion. His book very quickly took the place of Bow- 

 ditch's "Practical Navigator" as a textbook for junior 

 officers in the navy, and when the Naval Academy was 

 established at Annapolis it was used for several years as 

 the basis of the instruction given to midshipmen in 

 navigation. In the title page appeared the significant 

 words, "Cur Non?" (Why not?), the motto adopted by 

 Lafayette when he espoused the cause of the American 

 colonies; this was in effect Maury's answer to any query 



