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Matthew Fontaine Maury Quotes

There is a river in the ocean. In the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. Its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm. The Gulf of Mexico is its

There is a river in the ocean. In the severest droughts it never fails, and in the mightiest floods it never overflows. Its banks and its bottom are of cold water, while its current is of warm. The Gulf of Mexico is its fountain, and its mouth is in the Arctic Sea. It is the Gulf Stream.

Matthew Fontaine Maury
Ocean, Science, Sea
Matthew Fontaine Maury (1855). “The Physical Geography of the Sea”, p.25

The rules of scientific investigation always require us, when we enter the domains of conjecture, to adopt that hypothesis by which the greatest number of known facts and phenomena may be reconciled.

Matthew Fontaine Maury
Science, Numbers, May
Matthew Fontaine Maury (1858). “The Physical Geography of the Sea”, p.147

Every physical fact, every expression of nature, every feature of the earth, the work of any and all of those agents which make the face of the world what it is, and as we see it, is interesting and instructive. Until we get hold of a group of physical facts, we do not know what practical bearings they may have, though right-minded men know that they contain many precious jewels, which science, or the expert hand of philosophy will not fail top bring out, polished, and bright, and beautifully adapted to man's purposes.

Matthew Fontaine Maury
Nature, Philosophy, Hard Work

It is a custom often practiced by seafaring people to throw a bottle overboard, with a paper, stating the time and place at which it is done. In the absence of other information as to currents, that afforded by these mute little navigators is of great value.

Matthew Fontaine Maury
Time, Science, People
Matthew Fontaine Maury (1858). “Explanations and Sailing Directions to Accompany the Wind and Current Charts”, p.91

Could the waters of the Atlantic be drawn off, so as to expose to view this great sea-gash, which separates continents, and extends from the Arctic to the Antarctic, it would present a scene the most rugged, grand, and imposing. The very ribs of the solid earth, with the foundations of the sea, would be brought to light, and we should have presented to us at one view the empty cradle of the ocean.

Matthew Fontaine Maury
Ocean, Views, Should Have
Matthew Fontaine Maury, United States Naval Observatory (1858). “Explanations and sailing directions to accompany the Wind and current charts: approved by Captain D. N. Ingraham, chief of the Bureau of ordnance and hydrography, and pub. by authority of Hon. Isaac Toucey, secretary of the Navy”, p.167

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