PUBLICATIONS OF SPENCER F. BAIRD. IX 



vious years, and to make in summer extended collecting expeditions : 

 To the Adirondacks in 1847 ; to Ohio in 1848, to collect, in company with 

 Dr. Kirtlaud, from the original localities of the types, the fishes de- 

 scribed by him in his work on the fishes of Ohio ; to the mountains 

 of Virginia in 1849 ; and to Lake Champlain and Lake Ontario in 

 1850. 



When in 1850, upon the urgent recommendation of the late George 

 P. Marsh, he was elected an officer of the Smithsonian Institution, he 

 brought with him to Washington methods of work, developed in his 

 personal experience, which became at once the methods of the establish- 

 ment, and are still employed in many of its departments. 



There may be noted in the career of Professor Baird several distinct 

 phases of activity, namely, (1) a period of twenty-six years, 1843-1869, 

 occupied in laborious investigation and voluminous publication upon the 

 vertebrate fauna of North America ; (2) forty years of continuous con- 

 tribution to scientific literature, of which at least ten were devoted to 

 scientific editorship ; (3) five years, 1845-1850, devoted to educational 

 work ; forty years, 1842-1883, devoted to the encouragement and promo- 

 tion of scientific enterprises, and the development of new workers among 

 the young men with whom he was brought into contact ; (5) thirty-three 

 years, 1850-1883, devoted to administrative work as an officer of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and in charge of the scientific collections of 

 the government — twenty-eight as principal executive officer and fls'e as 

 Secretary and responsible head ; (6) twelve years as head of the Fish 

 Commission, a philanthropic labor for the increase of the food-supplj' 

 of the world, and incidentally in promoting the interests of biological 

 and physical investigation of the waters. 



VI. 



The extent of Professor Baird's contributions to science and scien- 

 tific literature may be at least partially comprehended by an examina- 

 tion of the succeeding page§ of the present work. The list of his 

 writings is complete to the end of the year 1882, and contains 1,063 

 titles. Of this number 775 are brief notices and critical reviews con- 

 tributed to the "Annual Eecord of Science and Industry," while under 

 his editorial charge, 31 are reports relating to the work of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution, 7 are reports upon the American fisheries, 25 are 

 schedules and circulars officially issued, and 25 are volumes or pa])ers 

 edited. Out of the remaining 200 the majority are formal contributions 

 to scientific literature. 



It seems scarcely necessary to remark that most of the official reports 

 above referred to, as well as many of the brief articles in the Annual 

 Eecord, contain important original matter. 



