HIS WIND AND CURRENT CHARTS 57 



greatly indebted for very generous support in furthering 

 his ambitious project, he set to work through diplomatic 

 representatives of foreign countries at Washington to 

 interest as many meteorologists as possible in the 

 convening of an international meteorological conference. 

 The United States also was asked to cooperate, through 

 letters which Maury sent to the various Cabinet Mem- 

 bers, heads of the Coast Survey, the Bureau of Engineers, 

 and the Smithsonian Institute, and other scientists. 

 Paris was at first considered to be a suitable place for 

 the meeting; but eventually Brussels was chosen, and 

 the following nations accepted the invitation to send 

 representatives: Belgium, Denmark, France, Great 

 Britain, Netherlands, Norway, Portugal, Russia, 

 Sweden, and the United States. 



Maury, as the representative of the United States, 

 sailed from New York on July 23, 1853, by way of Eng- 

 land. Upon landing at Liverpool, he was invited to 

 address the merchants in the City Hall on the subject 

 of the uniform plan of observation at sea, and the 

 following month he spoke to the underwriters and ship- 

 owners of London at Lloyd's on the same subject. 

 These speeches produced a more cordial cooperation on 

 the part of the British government which had previously 

 been rather lukewarm in its attitude toward the under- 

 taking. 



The conference was convened at the residence of the 

 Minister of the Interior in Brussels on August 23, 1853, 

 and Jacques Adolphe Lambert Quetelet, Director of the 

 Royal Observatory of Belgium, was made its president. 

 Maury was requested to direct the proceedings of the 

 conference, but he declined the honor. He was then asked 

 by the president to state the purposes of the meeting. 



