96 MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY 



ducing Maury, Bishop Otey, his old teacher and friend, 

 referred to him as a distinguished fellow-citizen, whose 

 labors in the cause of science have crowned his name 

 with honor throughout the world and made him, in a 

 manner, the property of all the nations, for the winds 

 of Heaven and the waves of the sea had been made 

 tributary by him to increasing the facilities of trade to 

 every land and on every sea where commerce spreads her 

 sails. 



Maury's address, which is quoted in its entirety as an 

 example of his oratorical power, was as follows: "Ladies 

 and Gentlemen: This greeting and the terms in which 

 my old preceptor and early friend has brought me into 

 this presence fill me with emotions difficult to utter. 

 I thank you for your goodness. 



"Physical geography makes the whole world kin. Of 

 all the departments in the domains of physical science, 

 it is the most Christianizing. Astronomy is grand and 

 sublime; but astronomy overpowers with its infinities, 

 overwhelms with its immensities. Physical geography 

 charms with its wonders, and delights with the benignity 

 of its economy. Astronomy ignores the existence of 

 man; physical geography confesses that existence, and 

 is based on the Biblical doctrine that the earth was made 

 for man. Upon no other theory can it be studied; upon 

 no other theory can its phenomena be reconciled. The 

 astronomer computes an ephemeris for his comets; pre- 

 dicts their return; tells the masses of the planets, and 

 measures by figures the distance of the stars. But 

 whether stars, planets, or comets be peopled or not is in 

 his arguments, theories, and calculations of no conse- 

 quence whatever. He regards the light and heat of the 

 sun as emanations — forces to guide the planets in their 



