The next letter, from a distinguished French scientist and relative, must have been even more gratifying to Maury's feelings:—
To Mr. M. F. Maury.
[Translation,]
| At Toulouse, Paris, Dec. 25th, 1864. |
| My dear and honoured Sir, |
Permit me to address you from Paris, where the care of my affairs has momentarily called me, my very sincere thanks on the subject of your immortal work. That work bears in the whole world a merited reputation, and I am proud, I avow it to you, to bear a name similar to yours. I regret not understanding the English language, so as to be able to study, in a profound manner, the physical geography of the globe, especially in the new point of view in which you have presented it. It is a real discovery, and your modesty should not allow that the publicity of your work should be restricted. You should, my dear and honoured relative, since you are so kind as to authorise me to give you a title which honours me, translate into the most popular languages of Europe, your nautical studies, the magnificent work which you have published in English science, has no frontiers, and its language should be understood throughout the world, because it is proper that all beings here below should aid each other mutually. Whatever might be the individual value of our life, is it not so short and fragile already, that we should seek with care the occasions of being useful to our fellow men? Your rare merit permits you to render great services to humanity. That surface liquid which covers three-fourths of our planet had been considered by the feebleness of our organs as a mass, awful and inert, where reigned an eternal solitude, such as that which, we believe, to exist in space. You have, sir, carried a shining light into the eternal shades, and there in the depths of the abyss you have rendered to the God of our fathers an homage which, for me at least, is worth all that which men may come every day to deposit at His feet. You have some imitators, and the furrow that you have traced gives emulation to even the incredulous.
