This volume, from an officer of our Navy, and a Virginian, strongly
commends itself to notice. The works at present used by our navy and
general marine, though in many respects not devoid of merit, have
always struck us as faulty in two particulars. They aim at comprising
a great multiplicity of details, many of which relate to matters only
remotely bearing upon the main objects of the treatise—and they are
deficient in that clearness of arrangement, without which, the
numerous facts and formulæ composing the body of such works are little
else than a mass of confusion. The extraction of the really useful
rules and principles from the multifarious matters with which they are
thus encumbered, is a task for which seamen are little likely to have
either time or inclination, and it is therefore not surprising that
our highly intelligent navy exhibits so many instances of imperfect
knowledge upon points which are elementary and fundamental in the
science of navigation.
We think that Mr. Maury has, to a considerable degree, avoided the
errors referred to; and while his work comprises a sufficient and even
copious statement of the rules and facts important to be known in the
direction of a ship, he has succeeded, by a judicious arrangement of
particulars and by clearly wrought numerical examples, in presenting
them in a disembarrassed and very intelligible form. With great
propriety he has rejected many statements and rules which in the
progress of nautical science have fallen into disuse, and in his
selection of methods of computation, has, in general, kept in view
those modern improvements in this branch of practical mathematics in
which simplicity and accuracy are most happily combined. Much
attention to numerical correctness seems to pervade the work. Its
style is concise without being obscure. The diagrams are selected with
taste, and the engraving and typography, especially that of the
tables, are worthy of the highest praise.
Such, we think, are the merits of the work before us—merits which, it
must be admitted, are of the first importance in a book designed for a
practical manual. To attain them required the exercise of a
discriminating judgment, guided by a thorough acquaintance with all
the points in nautical science which are of interest to seamen.
There are particulars in the work which we think objectionable, but
they are of minor importance, and would probably be regarded as
scarcely deserving criticism.
The spirit of literary improvement has been awakened among the
officers of our gallant navy. We are pleased to see that science also
is gaining votaries from its ranks. Hitherto how little have they
improved the golden opportunities of knowledge which their distant
voyages held forth, and how little have they enjoyed the rich banquet
which nature spreads for them in every clime they visit! But the time
is coming when, imbued with a taste for science and a spirit of
research, they will become ardent explorers of the regions in which
{455} they sojourn. Freighted with the knowledge which observation
only can impart, and enriched with collections of objects precious to
the student of nature, their return after the perils of a distant
voyage will then be doubly joyful. The enthusiast in science will
anxiously await their coming, and add his cordial welcome to the warm
greetings of relatives and friends.