WORK IN EUROPE 
9 
Smithsonian Institution. A considerable portion of my “ Record ” 
of this period has, for this reason, been devoted to Loew, and it 
remains for me to pay a tribute of heartfelt gratitude and admi¬ 
ration to Baird , to whose encouragement, support, and example 
I owe a considerable share of my success. I have often thought 
that if I were asked to name the man who, in my opinion, was 
morally nearest to perfection , I should unhesitatingly name Spencer 
F. Baird (1823-1887). I was therefore glad to find in the volume 
of the History of the First Half Century of the Smithsonian Insti¬ 
tution (Washington, 1897) a biography of Baird (p. 157-200) by 
G. B. Goode, which proves that the very exalted opinion I had of 
him was fully shared by many distinguished men who were nearest 
to him. In this work (p. 157) he is characterized as follows: — 
“ He was one of those rare men, perhaps more frequently met 
with in the New World than elsewhere, who give the impression of 
being able to succeed in whatever they undertake. Although he 
chose to be a naturalist, and of necessity became an administrator, 
no one who knew him could doubt that he would have been equally 
eminent as a lawyer, physician, mechanic, historian, business man, 
soldier, or statesman.” 
The secret of Baird’s influence lay in the immediate effect of his 
character upon those who came in contact with him ; in his force of 
will, his rare simplicity and directness of manner, combined with 
the utmost kindliness and evident rectitude of purpose, to which 
were added an extraordinary executive capacity and the tact of 
selecting proper men for the work he intended for them. 1 
Ill WORK IN EUROPE (PRINCIPALLY IN HEIDELBERG) 
SINCE 1877 
For my European residence I selected Heidelberg, where I made 
up my mind to spend the rest of my life. As I had left all my 
entomological collections in the United States, I made the acquisi¬ 
tion of the remains of Professor Zeller’s collection of European 
Diptera. Celebrated as a specialist in Microlepidoptera, Zeller had 
1 An excellent obituary notice of Professor Baird was published in the New York 
Nation, 1887, No. 1170. 
