MATTHEW FONTAINE MAURY, one of the greatest scientific investigators of America, was born in Spottsylvania County, Virginia, January 14th, 1806. He was educated for the United States naval service, and after serving his apprenticeship at sea was stationed at Washington for a number of years as superintendent of the Hydrographical Office and National Observatory (1844–61). During this period he practically invented the science of Meteorology. He says in one of his letters that his first idea of the laws governing the circulation of air and water was given him by the passage in Ecclesiastes, “All the rivers run into the sea, yet the sea is not full,” etc. The modern signal-service system grew out of his work, and his investigation of the bed of the Atlantic Ocean made it possible to lay the Atlantic Cable successfully. His most noted work, “Physical Geography of the Sea,” was published in 1855. It sustained, and perhaps increased, his already great reputation for discoveries, which had brought him honor from the principal governments and learned societies of the world. At the beginning of the Civil War he “went with his State” and became a Commodore in the Confederate navy. After the close of the war he spent several years in Mexico and Europe, returning to become professor of Physics in the Virginia Military Institute at Lexington, where he died February 1st, 1873.