Page:Encyclopedia of Virginia Biography volume 3.djvu/99

 Rh countries and medals were struck in his honor. He was elected in 1856, president of the National Institute, and suggested all the principles of the modern weather bureau. He instituted a system of deep sea soundings, and showed that the bottom of the sea between Newfoundland and Ireland was a plateau admirably adapted for a telegraphic cable. He suggested the character of the cable to be employed and pointed out to Cyrus W. Field how it should be laid. He was promoted commander in 1855. On the outbreak of the civil war he resigned his commission, and returned to Virginia. Immediately he received flattering calls to the service of Russia and France which he declined. He was commissioned by Mr. Davis chief of the "seacoasts, harbor and river defences" of the south, and invented an electric torpedo and protected Richmond by mining the James river. He was sent by the Confederate government to England, where he continued his experiments in torpedo defense and purchased and outfitted cruisers for the Confederacy. After the war he removed to Mexico, and, as a member of Maximilian's cabinet, visited Europe on a special mission. Soon after, Maximilian went to his death, but Maury succeeded in conferring a permanent blessing on Mexico—the cultivation of the cinchona tree, whose bark is so useful in fevers. While in England, he taught the use of torpedoes and torpedo boats, and prepared a series of geographical books for the schools, and wrote a book on astronomy. In 1868 the degree of LL. D. was conferred upon him by the University of Cambridge. In this year he returned to Virginia to accept the position of professor of metereology in Virginia Military Institute, having declined the superintendency of the National Observatory at Paris. He was made a member of all the principal scientific societies of Europe. He died at Lexington, Virginia, February 1, 1873, and his remains were carried through Goshen Pass to their interment place in Richmond.

Maury, Dabney Herndon, born in Fredericksburg, Virginia, May 21, 1822, a descendant of the French Huguenot settlers of earlv Virginia, connected with some of the best families of that state; he was a nephew of Matthew Fontaine Maury, the great scientist, to whom he was indebted for his early education; he entered the University of Virginia, in 1839, remained for one year; he used to tell with great interest of the way in which he came to leave the profession of the law and devote himself to military affairs; he was asked by the professor whether ignorance of the law was an excuse for crime, to which he promptly replied, "Certainly, sir", and upon being advised of the error of his answer determined that he would have nothing to do with any profession where such an iniquity prevailed; he graduated from the West Point Military Academy, in 1846, and, immediately was sent to Mexico; was wounded at the battle of Cerro Gordo, and made first lieutenant; upon his return to Fredericksburg he was presented with a sword by admiring friends: from 1847 to 1850 he was assistant professor of history and ethics at West Point, and was assistant professor of infantry tactics for the following two years; he was on the frontier at Texas at the outbreak of the civil war, and resigned to cast in his lot with the Confederacy; he was made adjutant-general of the Confederacy