CHAPTER VI 

 His Physical Geography of the Sea 



Maury's investigations of the winds and currents of 

 the sea led him into researches connected with all the 

 phenomena of the ocean, the results of which were so 

 extensive and so valuable as to win for him the right to 

 be called the first great oceanographer of the world. 



At the beginning of his work at the Depot of Charts 

 and Instruments, he uncovered in the old log books facts 

 relating to the Gulf Stream, which led him to certain 

 interesting conclusions concerning this great ocean cur- 

 rent that had not been previously recognized. In July, 

 1843 he gave an address before the President, the Corps 

 Diplomatique, and important government officials on 

 "The Gulf Stream and Its Causes", which was reread 

 with certain variations before several different learned 

 societies during the following year. He continued to 

 write such scientific papers on topics bearing on 

 oceanography, while he was engaged in astronomical 

 work and the preparation of his wind and current charts, 

 and these papers, after being delivered before scientific 

 societies, were published by him in the astronomical and 

 meteorological publications of his office. Of particular 

 note were those which appeared in the different editions 

 of his "Sailing Directions" under such titles as "The 

 Influence of the Gulf Stream on the Trade of Charles- 

 ton", '*The Currents of the Sea", "On the Saltness of 

 the Sea", "On the General Circulation of the Atmos- 

 phere", "Red Fogs and Sea Dust", "On the Probable 

 Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the 



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