CHAPTER VIII 

 His Treatment by the "Retiring Board" 



It must not be supposed that Maury spent only hal- 

 cyon days during his long period of service at the Naval 

 Observatory. When it is remembered that his contacts 

 with men were extremely numerous, and that the oppor- 

 tunities for unpleasant controversy were almost without 

 number in view of the fact that he was such an ardent 

 advocate of whatever question he took up, whether it 

 was scientific, economic, or political, it is truly remark- 

 able that there were so few who became hostile to him. 

 But strange as it may seem, those who as a class were 

 most unfriendly to Maury and least sympathetic toward 

 his work were a considerable number of his brother 

 officers in the navy. As a consequence, in the year 1855, 

 a board of naval officers inflicted upon him painful 

 mental sufferings and placed him in a humiliating 

 position, at the very time when his name was being 

 acclaimed by the scientists and many of the rulers of 

 foreign countries. 



The occasion for the display of this enmity against 

 Maury was the passing of the Act of Congress of Febru- 

 ary 28, 1855, to ''promote the efficiency of the navy". 

 To carry out this law, the President assembled a board of 

 naval officers consisting of five captains, five com- 

 manders, and five lieutenants, to ''make a careful exami- 

 nation" of the personnel of the navy and report those 

 found "incapable of performing promptly and efficiently 

 all their duty both ashore and afloat". Those so re- 

 ported were to be either dropped from the rolls of the 



107 



