448 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



and functions of the various species were an instruction 

 also in refinement of mind. Nothing unclean could 

 approach him. One main charm of spring's approach 

 was that then would begin our weekly rambles in field, 

 meadow, wood, where Baird introduced us to his inti- 

 mates. About some of these especially snakes most of 

 us had indiscriminate superstitions. Occasionally he 

 would capture some pretty and harmless snakes, and show 

 us with pencillings their difference from the poisonous ones. 

 He even persuaded the bolder among us to handle them. 

 He kept a small barrel of these pretty reptiles in his house, 

 and his little daughter used to play with them." 



From a Manuscript Note of G. Brown Goode. 



. There is no name which occupies a more 

 honorable place in the annals of American science than 

 that of Spencer Fullerton Baird. His personal contribu- 

 tions to systematic biology were of vast extent. His 

 influence in inspiring and training men for work as natu- 

 ralists was very great. As an organizer working at a most 

 fortunate time, by knowing how to utilize extraordinary 

 opportunities he has left his impress forever fixed upon 

 the scientific and educational institutions of the United 

 States, especially those under government control. 



He was one of those rare men, perhaps more frequently 

 met with in the New World than elsewhere, who impress 

 everyone with the idea of power to succeed in whatever 

 they undertake. Although he chose to be a naturalist, 

 and because of necessity 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. 



