VI PUBLICATIONS OF SPENCER F. BAIRD. 



July 5, 1850, he accepted the positiou of Assistant Secretary of the 

 Smithsonian Institution, and October 3, at the age of twenty-seven 

 years, he entered upon his life work in connection with that foundation — 

 "tlie increase and diffusion of useful knowledge among uien."* 



His work as an officer of the Institution will be discussed more fully 

 below. It was constant and arduous, but did not prevent the publica- 

 tion of many original memoirs, among the most elaborate of which are 

 the Catalogue of North American Serpents (1853) ; the " Birds of :North 

 America" (1858); the "Mammals of Is'^orth America" (1859); the "Re- 

 view of North American Birds" (18G4-'GG) ; the "Geographical Distribu- 

 tion of North American Birds (18(15); the History of North American 

 Birds, in connection with Thomas M. Brewer and Eobert Ridgway 

 (1874), and the preparation of numerous oflicial reports. From 1870 to 

 1878 he was scientific editor of the periodicals pubMshed by Harper 

 Brothers, of New York, and the author of their yearly cyclopedia of 

 science, entitled " The Annual Record of Science and Industry." In 1871 

 he was apjiointed by President Grant to the position of United States 

 Commissioner of Fish and Fisheries, an unsalaried office, to the duties 

 of which he has for eleven years devoted a large portion of his time. 

 In 1876 he served as one of the Government Board of Commissioners to 

 the International Exhibition at Philadelphia, and was also a member of 

 the international jury. In 1877 he was present, as advisory counsel, at 

 the session of the Halifax Fishery Commission. 



In May, 1878, after the death of Professor Henry, he was, by the unan- 

 imous vote of the Regents, elected Secretary of the Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution. 



II. 



Professor Baird, in 1856, received the degree of Doctor of Physical 

 Science from Dickinson College, and in 1875 that of Doctor of Laws 

 from Columbian University. He was, in 1878, awarded the silver medal 

 of the Acclimatization Society of Melbourne; in 1879 the gold medal 

 of the Societe d'' Acclimatation of France, and in 1880 the Erster Ehren- 

 preiz of the Internationale Fisclierei Aufisiellunf/ at Berlin, the gift of 

 the Emperor of Germany. In 1875 he received from the King of Nor- 

 way and Sweden the decoration of " Knight of the Royal Norwegian 

 Order of St. Olaf." He was one of the early members of the National 

 Academy of Sciences, and ever since the organization has been a mem- 

 ber of its council. In 1850 and 1851 he served as permanent secretary 

 of the American Association for the Advancement of Science, and since 

 1878 has been one of the trustees of the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Wash- 

 ington. He has been president of the Cosmos Club, and for many 

 years a trustee of Columbian University. Among his honorary rela- 

 tions to numerous scientific societies of the United States and other 

 countries are included those of foreign membership in the Linnaean 



" The motto of the Smithsonian Institution and of its founder, James Smithson. 



