8o SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



Wilkes. 28 One of the consequences may be noted. 

 Couthouy, who was rather in advance of his time as to 

 methods of study, and an artist of ability, made many 

 extremely fine colored drawings of living mollusks, full 

 notes of their habits, location, etc., so far as observed, 

 and preserved the specimens in jars of alcohol. These 

 were identified by numbers in his notes and the same 

 number stamped on tinfoil was placed in the jar, so that 

 the connection between the notes and the specimens 

 should be preserved. Unfortunately the tinfoil contained 

 some lead as an impurity, and this, gradually oxidizing, 

 whitened the specimens in the jars. This was observed 

 by the reverend custodian, who traced the evil to its 

 source, and with the best intentions removed the slips 

 of tinfoil without replacing them by any other means of 

 identification. The slips were carefully preserved in 

 another glass jar. 



This operation destroyed all means of correlation 

 between notes and specimens, and when Couthouy 

 returned he was so horrified at the destruction of his 

 careful work that he abandoned in disgust his project 

 of making a report on the collections. Years afterward 

 when the material had been transferred to the National 

 Museum, this biographer was shown the jar containing 

 the hundreds of rejected tinfoil slips, and the story related 

 to him by Professor Baird himself. 



In the report which was finally made on the shells 

 by Dr. A. A. Gould, with the aid of Couthouy's notes 

 and drawings, the inevitable result followed; namely, 

 that the value of the work as a contribution to geograph- 



27 This was in 1841, under the direction of the National Institute. 

 In 1842 a competent staff was appointed, but a little too late for 

 complete safety of the collections. 



