58 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



and after his short introductory address President 

 Quetelet proposed that the conference pass a vote of 

 thanks to Maury and record their gratitude for the 

 "enHghtened zeal and earnestness" he had displayed in 

 the important and useful work which formed the subject 

 of their deliberations. This, of course, was unanimously 

 passed. The discussions went on daily with the greatest 

 harmony, until the close of the conference on September 

 8. The results were the adoption of an abstract log for 

 the use of the men-of-war of all nations and also one for 

 all merchantmen to use in the system of cooperative 

 observations. Full explanatory notes for the keeping 

 of these logs in such a way as to cover all the phenomena 

 of the ocean were agreed upon, and the hope was ex- 

 pressed that these abstract logs might enjoy in time of 

 war the same immunity that was accorded to vessels 

 engaged in discovery or other scientific research. 



The Brussels Conference was an unqualified success, 

 and Maury was very enthusiastic over the new chapter 

 of Marine Meteorology which was about to be opened in 

 the volume of Nature. "Rarely before", he wrote 

 somewhat later, "has there been such a sublime spectacle 

 presented to the scientific world : all nations agreeing to 

 unite and cooperate in carrying out one system of philo- 

 sophical research with regard to the sea. Though they 

 may be enemies in all else, here they are to be friends. 

 Every ship that navigates the high seas, with these 

 charts and blank abstract logs on board, may henceforth 

 be regarded as a floating observatory, a temple of 



science 



" 1 



Soon after the conference, Prussia, Spain, Sardinia, 



1 From "Introduction", p. xiii, to Maury's Physical Geography of the Sea, 

 1855. 



