THE YOUNG PROFESSOR 169 



On the I3th of July, Mrs. Churchill, Professor Baird 

 and wife, and some others, left Carlisle, and the former 

 party travelled to Westport, New York, on a visit to 

 Mr. and Mrs. Guy Hunter, who were connections of the 

 Churchills. From here the Professor made an excursion 

 into the Adirondack country, visiting the Adirondack 

 Iron Works and climbing Mt. Marcy. He notes in the 

 Journal: "Reached top at 5 P. M. Great view for hun- 

 dreds of miles all around. Nothing but mountains. Could 

 see Burlington, Lake Champlain and steamboats, twenty 

 lakes, no settlements. Made fire, pitched tents, and saw 

 sunset, and passed the night on the mountain. Second 

 time ever done. Bitterly and severely cold." On return- 

 ing to Westport August 4th, he found his wife had gone 

 on to Burlington with Colonel Churchill and her mother, 

 where he followed her the next day. After this he spent 

 much time in collecting trips, visited Au Sable Chasm, 

 rummaged the libraries of the College and Mr. Marsh, saw 

 the Zadock Thompson collection and visited Windsor, the 

 former home of the Hunter family. On the 23rd they 

 reached Boston, where the Marshes had preceded them, 

 Mr. Marsh having a Phi Beta Kappa oration to deliver. 



Here he met many old friends and for the first time 

 Professor Louis Agassiz, who was at Doctor A. A. Gould's 

 house, where he called. The next two mornings were 

 spent with Agassiz, and he made the acquaintance of 

 Desor, Rufus Choate, Jeffries Wyman, Dr. John Warren 

 and others of the Cambridge group of scientific men. 

 On the 2nd of September he reached Carlisle and on the 

 1 5th College opened and his work began. 



The method of instruction, by actual field excursions, 

 which Baird employed in his classes of zoology and botany, 

 was new in America, and an original innovation with him. 



