BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCH OF DR. CHARLES GIRARD. 



In the preface to Bulletin No. 20 of the IT. S. National Museum, "The 

 Published Writings of Speneer Fullerton Baird," mention was made of 

 the contemplated publication of others in the same series, among them 

 the " Bibliography of Dr. Charles Girard.'' The pressure of other du- 

 ties has delayed the completion of this work, which is now presented as 

 the fifth of the special bibliographies of prominent naturalists. Charles 

 Girard was born in Mulhouse, France, March 9, 1822, and received his 

 education at Neuchatel, Switzerland, where he was the assistant and 

 pui>il of Professor Agassiz, who l)rought him to the United States in 

 184:7, in company with Mr. E. Desor. Dr. Girard remained in Cam- 

 bridge, Massachusetts, as a student and assistant to Agassiz until the 

 fall of 1850, Iwhen he removed to Washington, and engaged in the nat- 

 ural history work of the Smithsonian Institution, where for a number 

 of years he was Professor Baird's i)rincipal assistant, showing marked 

 aptitude for scientific work. The Smithsonian Institution afforded him 

 new opportunities for the pursuit of scientific work, and becoming a 

 naturalized citizen in 1854, he took a medical course at Georgetown 

 College, and was graduated therefrom in 185C. In connection with his 

 medical studies he pursued his scientific researches in the Smithsonian 

 Institution where he remained until 1860, when he decided to visit 

 Paris. Meanwhile the civil war occurred which delayed his return to 

 Washington, behaving accepted a commission to supply the Confederate 

 army with drugs and surgical instruments. In 1863 Dr. Girard made a 

 tour of the Southern States, and in 1865 returned to Paris, entering 

 immediately upon thie practice of medicine, to which he has devoted fif- 

 teen years of his life. He now lives in comparative retirement at Neu- 

 illy sur Seine, near Paris, where he still devotes himself to scientific 

 study. He is a man of letiring habits and great industry. While in 

 America he held high rank among descriptive naturalists. 



His special studies were the herpetology and ichthyology of North 

 America, and in the domain of ichthyology he is particularly well known 

 for his work on the cyprini<l;e of North America and the fauna of the 

 Pacific^ coast. His monograi)h f>f the cottoids is the most elaborate of 

 his scientific writings, although his ichthyology of the Pacific coast, 

 that of the Mexican ])oundary, and his herpetology of the United 

 States Exploring Expedition are niucli more extensive. Several papers 

 upon helminthology, the practice of medicine, the theory of life, the 

 bibliography of science, and kindred subjects were published by him. 



