VALUE OF SCIENTIFIC KNOWLEDGE. 35 



examined, and a chart was prepared to show the 

 course of the Gulf Stream at that season of the 

 year. Two revenue cutters were then appointed 

 to proceed to sea in search of the steamer, and 

 Maury was requested to "furnish them with in- 

 structions." 



It will be observed here that the gentleman thus 

 appealed to was at the time engaged in his study at 

 Washington, utterly ignorant of all that had occurred 

 within the previous few weeks on the stormy 

 Atlantic, except through the reports brought thence 

 by ships. These reports furnished him with meagre 

 data to proceed upon : simply that a crippled 

 steamer had been seen in a certain latitude and 

 longitude on a particular day. 



But this information was sufficient for the prac- 

 tical man of science. Proceeding upon the suppo- 

 sition that the steamer had been completely disabled, 

 he drew two lines on the chart to define the limits 

 of her drift. This his previous knowledge of the 

 flow of the Gulf Stream at all seasons of the year 

 enabled him to do. Between these two lines, he 

 said, the steamer, if she could neither steam nor 

 sail after the gale, had drifted. And that she could 

 neither steam nor sail he had good reason to suppose 

 from the account of her brought in by the vessels 

 above mentioned. A certain point was marked on 

 the chart as being the spot where the searching 

 vessels might expect to fall in with the wreck. 



While these preparations were being, made, two 



