466 PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



spherical trigonometry on the round shot in the quarterdeck 

 racks, to enable himself to master problems, while pacing to 

 and fro, passing and repassing the shot racks on his watch." 

 With an old Spanish work on navigation, he pursued the double 

 object of studying the Spanish language and adding to his 

 stock of nautical information. His first voyage was to Eng- 

 land, in the Brandywine, which conveyed General Lafayette 

 home to France; his next was in the Vincennes, round the 

 world. On this voyage he constructed a set of lunar tables 

 and prepared himself for examination. 



During his next cruise of four years on the Falmouth, Dol- 

 phin, and Potomac, beginning in 1831, Maury conceived the 

 idea of his current and wind charts ; observed and began to 

 study the curious phenomenon of the low barometer off Cape 

 Horn, concerning which he wrote his first scientific paper for 

 the American Journal of Science ; and began to prepare for the 

 press a work on navigation, for which he had been several 

 years collecting the material. It was published in 1835, was 

 favourably noticed in England, and was used as a text-book in 

 the United States Navy. Immediately after his return home 

 on the Potomac, in 1834, he married Miss Ann Herndon, to 

 whom he had been engaged since he was last on shore. 



Maury next received an appointment as astronomer and 

 hydrographer on the South Sea Exploring Expedition, which 

 was to go out under Commodore Catesby Jones, and, prepara- 

 tory to it, practised in the use of the telescope, transit instru- 

 ment, and theodolite; but, Captain Wilkes succeeding to the 

 command, he resigned, in order to permit the new commander 

 to select his own associates. He was then assigned the duty of 

 making surveys of Southern harbours. While travelling on 

 leave of absence from this work, his leg was broken by the 

 overturning of a stagecoach, whereby he was disabled from ac- 

 tive service for several years. The misfortune is regarded by 

 his biographer as having been a " blessing in disguise " ; for it 

 caused his mind to turn more intently to the scientific side of 

 his work, and thus contributed indirectly to the fruitfulness of 

 thought by which his after-life was distinguished. 



A series of articles on naval reform and kindred subjects, 

 entitled Scraps from the Lucky-Bag, published by Maury under 

 the pen-name of Harry Bluff, attracted attention and approval. 

 Among the points discussed in them most of which were 



