Page:A Life of Matthew Fontaine Maury.pdf/333

Rh has ever contributed more to the practical welfare of mankind. This is not strange, for he devoted his life to the advancement and improvement of his race, and, forgetting self, worked for the good of humanity.

"History will place his name and character in the same rank with Newton and Humboldt, for the field of his researches was no less extensive than theirs, and the benefits conferred upon the world have been as great.

"I doubt whether we yet fully realise the greatness of the work which he accomplished, and the fame which he achieved. His simple and unostentatious and laborious life was only rendered conspicuous by its results. His triumphs were the mastery of the laws of matter, and were bloodless and noiseless, but they were more beneficial, and not less glorious, than the victories of war.

"There is not a ship that moves on the ocean, there is not an article of commerce used by civilised men, which does not tell the story of his labours and his genius, and throughout civilisation, and especially throughout the maritime world, he is rightly regarded as one of the greatest benefactors.

"Others have perfected the systems which his genius originated, and have to a great extent reaped the fruits of his discoveries; but the world will, sooner or later, accord to him the debt of gratitude and the need of praise which are his due

"The crowning honour of Commander Maury's life was that, a devotee to science, he was a faithful servant of the living God, and a fearless searcher after truth; he was an humble and earnest soldier and follower of Christ.

"He has been an honour to Virginia, an honour to America, and an honour to civilisation, and in gratefully recognising this we do but honour ourselves."

The road from Lexington to the then nearest railway-station passed through a beautiful gorge in the Blue Ridge Mountains known as the Goshen Pass. When the bereaved family were moving to their future home in Richmond, bearing the remains of their dead with them for interment at that place, this pass was decorated with flowers by loving unknown hands, in response to the touching request made before his death, "When you carry me through the Goshen Pass, let it be in the