COMMITTEES ON BEHALF OF THE GOVERNMENT 219 



At the time this new instrument was under consideration, the 

 Bureau of Internal Revenue, which was organized the preceding 

 year, was employing Tralles' hydrometer, which, as is well 

 known, is a special form of Gay Lussac's hydrometer. It was not 

 entirely satisfactory, as the committee pointed out, for the 

 reason that the scale was not easily read, and because it was 

 difficult to make the proper allowance for capillary attraction. 

 The committee, which reported on January 7, 1864, recom- 

 mended in favor of the adoption of Saxton's alcoholometer by 

 the Government on the ground that it was more portable than 

 Tralles', less easily broken, and less difficult to read, although the 

 opinion was expressed that it would be reliable only in careful 

 hands. 



COMMITTEE ON WIND AND CURRENT CHARTS AND SAILING 



DIRECTIONS. 1863 



This committee was the fifth among those appointed in 1863. 

 The explanatory note regarding it contained in the Annual of 

 the Academy for the year is as follows : " Appointed May 25th, 

 1863, at the request of the Navy Department, conveyed through 

 Rear- Admiral C. H. Davis, May 230!, 1863, asking for an investi- 

 gation and report on the subject of discontinuing the publication, 

 in the present form, of the Wind and Current Charts and Sailing 

 Directions." 



The history of these publications, the circumstances that 

 brought them to the attention of the Academy, the character of 

 the committee that passed on them, and the verdict of science 

 regarding them are all matters of more than ordinary interest. 



They were devised by Matthew Fontaine Maury, whose 

 singular career may be summarized for the benefit of those not 

 already acquainted with it. Maury who was a Virginian by 

 birth, entered the Navy in 1825 and a few years .later was 

 detailed to join the United States Exploring Expedition. As an 

 officer of the ship Vincennes, he circumnavigated the globe. In 

 1836 he reached the grade of lieutenant and became astronomer 

 to the expedition. Three years later he met with an accident 



