Page:The Pathfinder of the Seas.djvu/98



Maury's investigations of the winds and currents of the sea led him into researches connected with all the phenomena of the ocean, the results of which were so extensive and so valuable as to win for him the right to be called the first great oceanographer of the world.

At the beginning of his work at the Depot of Charts and Instruments, he uncovered in the old log books facts relating to the Gulf Stream, which led him to certain interesting conclusions concerning this great ocean current that had not been previously recognized. In July, 1843 he gave an address before the President, the Corps Diplomatique, and important government officials on "The Gulf Stream and Its Causes", which was reread with certain variations before several different learned societies during the following year. He continued to write such scientific papers on topics bearing on oceanography, while he was engaged in astronomical work and the preparation of his wind and current charts, and these papers, after being delivered before scientific societies, were published by him in the astronomical and meteorological publications of his office. Of particular note were those which appeared in the different editions of his "Sailing Directions" under such titles as "The Influence of the Gulf Stream on the Trade of Charleston", "The Currents of the Sea", "On the Saltness of the Sea", "On the General Circulation of the Atmosphere", "Red Fogs and Sea Dust", "On the Probable Relation between Magnetism and the Circulation of the