xii INTRODUCTION. 



involve also a study of the laws which regulate the atmosphere, 

 and a careful investigation of all its phenomena. 



Another beautiful feature in this system is, that it costs noth- 

 insf additional. The instruments that these observations at sea 

 call for -are such as are already in use on board of every well-con- 

 ditioned ship, and the observations that are- required are precisely 

 those which are necessary for her safe and proper navigation. 



As great as is the value attached to what has been accomplish- 

 ed by these researches in the way of shortening passages and less ■ 

 ening the dangers of the sea, a good of higher value is, in the 

 opinion of many seamen, yet to come out of the moral, the educa- 

 tional influence which they are calculated to exert upon the sea- 

 faring community of the world. A very clever English ship-mas- 

 ter, speaking recently of the advantages of educational influences 

 among those who intend to follow the sea, remarks : 



" To the cultivated lad there is a new world spread out when 

 he enters on his first voyage. As his education has fitted, so will 

 he perceive, year by year, that his profession makes him acquaint- 

 ed with things new and instructive. His intelligence will enable 

 him to appreciate the contrasts of each country in its general as- 

 pect, manners, and productions, and in modes of navigation adapt- 

 ed to the character of coast, climate, and rivers. He will dwell 

 with interest on the phases of the ocean, the storm, the calm, and 

 the breeze, and will look for traces of the laws which regulate 

 them. All this will induce a serious earnestness in his work, and 

 teach him to view lightly those irksome and often offensive duties 

 incident to the beginner."^ 



And that these researches do have such an effect many noble- 

 hearted mariners have testified. Captain Phinney, of the Ameri- 

 can ship Gertrude, writing from Callao, January, 1855, thus ex- 

 presses himself: 



" Having to proceed from this to the Chincha Islands and re- 

 main three months, I avail myself of the present opportunity to 

 forward to you abstracts of my two passages over your southern 



* "The Log of a Merchant Officer : viewed with reference to the Education 

 of young Officers and the Youth of the Merchant Service. By Robert Methren, 

 commander in the Peninsular and Oriental Company, and author of the ' Narrative 

 of the Blenheim Hurricane of 1851.'" London: John Weale, 59 High Holbom; 

 Smith, Elder & Co., Cornhill ; Ackerman & Co., Strand. 1854. 



