Books with author Matthew Fontaine Maury

Matthew Fontaine Maury (January 14, 1806 – February 1, 1873) was an American astronomer, United States Navy officer, historian, oceanographer, meteorologist, cartographer, author, geologist, and educator. He was nicknamed "Pathfinder of the Seas" and "Father of Modern Oceanography and Naval Meteorology" and later, "Scientist of the Seas" for his extensive works in his books, especially The Physical Geography of the Sea (1855), the first such extensive and comprehensive book on oceanography to be published. Maury made many important new contributions to charting winds and ocean currents, including ocean lanes for passing ships at sea. In 1825, at 19, Maury obtained, through US Representative Sam Houston, a midshipman's warrant in the United States Navy. As a midshipman on board the frigate USS Brandywine, he almost immediately began to study the seas and record methods of navigation. When a leg injury left him unfit for sea duty, Maury devoted his time to the study of navigation, meteorology, winds, and currents. He became Superintendent of the United States Naval Observatory and head of the Depot of Charts and Instruments. There, Maury studied thousands of ships' logs and charts. He published the Wind and Current Chart of the North Atlantic Ocean, which showed sailors how to use the ocean's currents and winds to their advantage, drastically reducing the length of ocean voyages. Maury's uniform system of recording oceanographic data was adopted by navies and merchant marines around the world and was used to develop charts for all the major trade routes

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

A classic of American 19th-century scientific literature and one of the foundation books in the science of oceanography, The Physical Geography of the Sea first appeared in 1855 and is now regarded as the first textbook of modern oceanography. The system introduced by the author of recording the oceanographic data of naval vessels and merchant marine shops was adopted worldwide, and his book remains ever-vital to undergraduate and graduate students, as well as to readers interested in the history of science. 14 figures. 18 tables. 10 black-and-white plates.

The Physical Geography of theS ea is a new department of human knowledge. It has resulted from that beautiful and admirable system of physical research, in which all the maritime nations have agreed to unite ;and for the furtherance of which bureaux have been established, especially inH olland, England, France, and the United States. Consequently, research has become very active in this field; it is diligent, too ;and in proportion to that activity and that diligence has been the advancement of our knowledge concerning the PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY OF THE SEA AND ITS METEOROLOGY. It may be doubted whether progress in any department of science has been more rapid than it has been in this. The first treatise upon this subject appeared in America six years ago. Since then such has been the richness of the harvest of facts gathered, that the work has undergone frequent amendments and improvements ;indeed, within that time it has been almost entirely re-written thrice. This re-writing was necessary because it is a main motive with the author to have the work keep pace with the science itself. The consequence has been, that each re-cast has really made a new work of it. The present edition is not only greatly enlarged above its predecessors, but it is believed to be greatly enriched and improved also. It may even be doubted whether in the variety, extent, and value of the information now for the first time presented touching the sea and air, this edition is not so far in advance of former editions as really to make this a new work. Vliere error has been found in previous editions, it has been corrected in this, where further research has confirmed opinions that in tliem were ventured as such, the confirmation is here given. The present edition contains a number of chapters entirely new and not to be found in any of its predecessors.(Typographical errors above are due to OCR software and don't occur in the book.)About the Publisher

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work. This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

The eighth and last American edition republished here, The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its Meteorology, was kept in print without revision for the longest time. The revision that produced it was, moreover, more extensive than any earlier one. Seven chapters are changed only slightly from the "entirely new edition, with addenda" of 1859, which contained 389 pages as compared to 474 in the eighth edition. One chapter "The Submarine Telegraph of the Atlantic" is omitted. Three chapters are new, Chapter 4 combines two short chapters in the preceding edition. Chapters 15 and 16 are a result of the division of another long chapter. The remaining chapters were extensively rewritten and new material was added to them. Most of the figures are new. No edition of this book is systematically organized. It began as a collection of papers. Many popularly held conceptions of the motions of the atmosphere and the sea and ideas about weather and climate are presented. These notions and others, few of which were original with Maury but most of which were obsolete or gravely questioned in his day, have lived on in the underworld of science: in popular literature and school textbooks.

This vintage book contains Matthew Fontaine Maury’s 1874 treatise, “The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its Meteorology”. It is a fascinating and insightful monograph that explores the contemporary knowledge and understanding of the oceans. Highly recommended for those with an interest in the development of scientific knowledge in this area, “The Physical Geography of the Sea, and Its Meteorology” would make for a worthy addition to collections of allied literature. Contents include: “The Sea and the Atmosphere”, “The Gulf Stream”, “Influence of the Gulf Stream upon Climate and Commerce”, “The Atmosphere”, “Rains and Rivers”, “Red Frogs and Sea Breezes”, “The Easting of the Trade-Winds, The Crossing at the Calm Belts, and the Magnetism of the Atmosphere”, etcetera. Many antiquarian texts such as this, particularly those dating back to the 1900s and before, are increasingly hard to come by and expensive. It is with this in mind that we are republishing this book now in an affordable, modern, high quality edition. It comes complete with a specially commissioned new biography of the author.