JOHN WALLACE BAIRD. 471 



JOHN WALLACE BAIRD (1869-1919). 



Fellow in Class II, Section 3, 1916. 



In the untimely death of John Wallace Baird American science and 

 particularly his science, psychology, have suffered a grievous loss. 

 Born at Motherwell, Ontario, May 21, 1869, of Scottish parents, 

 Baird early learned the virtues and rewards of self-reliance, devotion 

 to duty, cooperation and loyalty. 



He was one of twelve children, all of whom lived to celebrate the 

 fiftieth anniversary of the marriage of their father and mother. 

 Charles Baird, the father, was an industrious and successful Canadian 

 farmer of sterling worth in home, church and state. The mother, 

 Agnes Browning, possessed exceptional patience and wisdom and rare 

 skill as singer of old ballads and narrator of family and neighborhood 

 traditions. 



Undoubtedly our colleague's essential education was gained at home. 

 His formal education began in the "little red school house" and ended 

 in the university. His undergraduate work in the University of 

 Toronto was interrupted by years of school teaching, which enabled 

 him to pay his own way. After graduating from the university in 

 1897, he devoted himself almost uninterruptedly to the study of 

 psychology, first in his own university and subsequently in Leipzig. 

 For two years he was a fellow in psychology at the University of 

 Wisconsin and for one year at Cornell, where in 1902 he was granted 

 the degree of doctor of philosophy. Thereupon he was appointed 

 assistant in psychology at Cornell. After one year, this appointment 

 was followed by that of research assistant in psychology, Carnegie 

 Institution of Washington. At the end of his year's work as Carnegie 

 research assistant, Baird accepted his first major academic appoint- 

 ment, that of instructor in psychology, Johns Hopkins University. 

 This was followed after two years' service by appointment to an as- 

 sistant professorship in psychology in the University of Illinois. In 

 1910, at the end of his fourth year in Illinois, he accepted an assistant 

 professorship in psychology at Clark University, where, in 1913, he 

 was given the status of professor of psychology. 



Ever a serious minded and diligent student, Baird, at first alter- 



