CHAPTER XVI 

 His Posthumous Reputation 



Immediately after Maury's death there was a veritable 

 flood of eulogies of the character and services of the great 

 scientist. They were by no means confined to the 

 colleges, legislators, and newspapers of Virginia; but the 

 scientific journals throughout the world made known in 

 unmistakable terms the high estimation in which he 

 was held. For example, the British journal Nature of 

 March 20, 1873, declared that Maury was the first to 

 show how meteorology could be raised to the dignity of a 

 science, and that he was essentially a practical man in the 

 highest sense of the term. "He will certainly", it added, 

 "and deservedly, occupy a niche in the temple of fame 

 as a benefactor of humanity and a promoter of scientific 

 knowledge, to which not many men ever attain". It 

 is difiicult to resist the temptation to quote other extracts 

 from the dozens of highly commendatory appraisals of 

 Maury's achievements and character, which appeared 

 soon after his death. But such is unnecessary, if this 

 biography has with a reasonable degree of success given 

 an understandable account of his work and revealed 

 through the assistance of his letters the sterling character 

 of the man. 



After this flood of eulogy had subsided, a period of 

 some fifteen years followed during which Maury's name 

 was wrapped in comparative forgetfulness. Then, there 

 appeared in 1888 the "Life of Maury" by his daughter 

 Diana Fontaine Maury Corbin, and the reviews of that 

 volume once again brought his name into the literary 



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