82 REPORT OF THE SECRETARY. 



and Held researcU was in 1848 to Spencer F. Baird, of Carlisle, for the 

 exploration of the bone caves and the local natural history of south- 

 eastern Pennsylvania. 



"From the start the department of explorations was under his 

 charge, and in his reports to the Secretary, published year by year in 

 the annual report of the Institution, may be found the only systematic 

 record of Government explorations which has ever been prepared. 



"The decade beginning with ]850 was a period of great activity in 

 exploration. Our frontier was being rapidly extended toward the 

 West, but in the territory between the Mississippi and the Pacific coast 

 were immense stretches of country practically unknown, Numerous 

 Government expeditious were sent forth, and immense collections in 

 every department of natural history were gathered and sent to Wash- 

 ington to be studied and reported upon. The Smithsonian Institution 

 had been designated by law the custodian of these collections, and 

 within the walls of its buildings assembled the naturalists by whose 

 exertions these collections had been brought together. Professor Baird 

 was surrounded by conditions most congenial and stimulating, for he 

 found full scope for his administrative skill in the work of arranging 

 the scientific outfits for these exi)editions, i)reparing instructions for 

 the explorers, and above all in inspiring them with enthusiasm for the 

 work. To him also fell in large part the task of receiving the collec- 

 tions, arranging for the necessary investigations, and the collation and 

 publication of their results. The natural history portions of the re- 

 ports of the Mexican boundary survey, the Pacific Railroad surveys, the 

 expeditious of Ives, Emory, Stansbury. and others, were under his su- 

 l)ervision, as well as, in considerable degree, the natural history collec- 

 tions of the Wilkes exploring expedition, which were still uude^ inves- 

 tigation, 



"The period of the civil war was one of comparative quiet, but much 

 was accomplished by Baird and his pupils, and two of liis most impor- 

 tant memoirs, viz, Review of North American Birds and The Distribu- 

 tion and Migrations of North American Birds, were published. During 

 this decade, too, continued the summer expeditious usually extending 

 over three months, which were becoming yearly more and more exclu- 

 sively devote<:l to the investigation of marine life, and whicii ultimately 

 led to the organization of the Fish Commission in 1871. During the 

 latter part of this decade the early impressions of his work in connec- 

 tion with the I(50uograi)hic Encyclopiedia began to revive, and a new 

 interest was shown by Professor Baird in the popularization of scien- 

 tific subjects. At the solicitation of Mr, George W. Childs, in 18G7 he 

 began to devote a column to scientific intelligence in the Philadelphia 

 Public Ledger, ami about 1870 he became the scientific editor of the 

 periodicals published by the llarper Brothers, of New York. His con- 

 nection with this firm continued until 1878, and in addition to the weekly 

 and monthly issues there resulted eight aniuuil volumes of the Annual 



