MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY.

Please print in your column a sketch of the life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.—Gordon Dyer, Chesterfield county, Va.

Matthew Fontaine Maury was born in Spotsylvania county, Va., Jan. 14, 1806. His parents were Richard and Diana Minor Maury. After graduation from Warpath Academy in Tennessee, he entered the United States navy, with the rank of midshipman.

During a voyage around the world on the “Vincennes” he began a treatise on navigation, long used as a textbook in the navy. He was made lieutenant in 1836. In a stagecoach accident in Ohio, in 1839, his leg was severely injured, so that he was obliged to quit active sea service. He became superintendent of the charts and instruments depot at Washington, which became the hydrographic office. When this office was merged with the national observatory in 1844, Maury became the head of the enlarged institution. That same year he published his views on the gulf stream, ocean currents, and great circle sailing. His “Wind and Current Charts” have been of immense benefit to navigation. Some years later he published “Physical Geography of the Sea,” a book of fascinating interest, which has been translated into many languages. Maury rose to the rank of commander. He helped to convince the country of the need for a naval academy and a weather bureau. He was the first to suggest the connection of the eastern and western hemispheres by cable. Cyrus W Field followed the lines indicated by Maury when he laid the cable. During the war between the states Maury Lave his services to the Confederacy, establishing a submarine battery service at Richmond for the protection of the James river. He went to Europe to purchase and fit out armed cruisers. He invented a method for planting and testing torpedo mines, but the end of the war came before the value of the discovery could be realized. Maury then went to Mexico, where he became a member of the cabinet of the Emperor Maximilian. He was on a mission to Europe when Maximilian was overthrown. The great scientist returned to the United States, and spent the last few years of his life at the Virginia Military Institute, as professor of physics. He died at Lexington Feb 1, 1873. Besides those already mentioned, his published works include Scraps From the Lucky Bag,” “Letters on the Amazon and the Atlantic Slopes of South America” and “Lanes for Steamers Crossing the Atlantic.”