242 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



remember on one occasion a mineralogist, who had been 

 much interested in the subject of artificial building stones, 

 was at our house together with another gentleman, not 

 a scientific man, but who to some extent followed scien- 

 tific progress. This latter gentleman asked a question 

 about some very recent discovery, to which the specialist 

 replied that he was not sufficiently acquainted with the 

 subject to give the desired information. My father 

 turned the question away, as far as it was addressed to 

 himself, with some evasive answer. After the guests had 

 departed, my mother said, 'Why didn't you tell Mr. 

 So-and-So what he wanted to know? You knew all about 

 that,' and my father replied, 'Yes, I know I did, but I 

 thought that - , being a specialist, would be morti- 

 fied if I gave the answer to the question when he was 

 unprepared to do so.' This, perhaps, is an illustration, 

 not only of the way in which my father kept up with 

 matters which did not come in his own department, but 

 also of his thoughtfulness and generous courtesy and con- 

 sideration. His work on the Iconographic Encyclopedia 

 had also tended to lead his mind in directions which 

 would cover a wide field. 



"In 1869, being in the neighborhood of Philadelphia, 

 he went down to Long Branch on a visit to his sister, who 

 had a cottage there. In the train he found Mr. George 

 W. Childs, who was also on his way to Long Branch. 

 After some little conversation, Mr. Childs asked him to 

 contribute a scientific column, or, to speak more exactly, 

 about half a column, each week to the Philadelphia 

 'Ledger,' giving items of scientific interest. My father, 

 who was modest as to his literary abilities, as in every- 

 thing else, felt so sure of his inability to write popular 

 paragraphs agreeably that he was inclined at first to 



