320 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



a matter of course, all unique and the best specimens of a Govern- 

 ment collection must go to Government, and (although I have no 

 recollection of saying so to Heermann) the Secretary of War is very 

 decided in insisting that all collections belong to Government which 

 have been collected by a salaried officer at its expense; yet there is 

 never any difficulty afterwards in getting duplicates for a scientific 



object. Have you heard of the terrible muss he kicked up because 



took the duplicates of his western collections (made with Whipple) 

 to France without permission from him? An agreement was made 

 between him and Williamson before the attention of the Secretary 

 had been drawn to the subject, and was binding; Heermann having 

 given his share of the duplicates to the Academy which was allowable 

 and even still more proper, as Government expects and authorizes 

 the distribution of duplicates among scientific institutions. There- 

 fore, as I said before, you would be perfectly at liberty to send such 

 specimens as you can spare to Paris. Of course, you would not send 

 your uniques. 



I shall send to Mr. Dumeril quite a number of species, especially 

 of serpents, and hope to do more hereafter. I fully recognize the 

 propriety of depositing types of a species in typical collections, but 

 I would not send an American species to Paris or London, if I had 

 but one to spare and if the Academy wanted it. ... 



Yours truly, 



S. F. BAIRD. 



From Major E. B. Hunt 20 to Spencer F. Baird. 



IRVING HOUSE, Tarrytown, July 18, 1854. 

 MY DEAR BAIRD: 



I have longed to write you a word of friendly condolence and cheer 

 since hearing from Mr. Ackermann that he saw you sending Mrs. 

 Baird to Carlisle, he thought, as a weak and health-hunting invalid. 



20 Edward B. Hunt, Major U. S. A., born June 15, 1822; died 

 1863. A distinguished officer, a pioneer in the designing of submarine 

 vessels of war and in utilizing compressed air as a source of power. 

 His wife was Helen Hunt (afterward Jackson), the author of " Ramona" 

 and other well-known works. 



