PROFESSOR BAIRD AS ADMINISTRATOR. 



By Mr. Wm. B. Taylor, of the Smithfoiiian Institution. 



TVe are met this evening to express in a memorial service our respect 

 for an honored fellow-member of our several societies, lately deceased, 

 and to indulge as well in an interchange of affectionate reminiscence of 

 a departed friend. 



Spencer FuUerton Baird was born at Reading, Pennsylvania, Febru- 

 ary 3, 1823. He was graduated at Dickinson College, in Carlisle, Penn- 

 sylvania, in 1840, at the age of seventeen, and with an original fond- 

 ness for natural history and the study of the out-door world, he spent 

 several years in his favorite pursuits and in collecting animal speci- 

 mens for preservation. In 1845, at the youthful age of twenty-two, he 

 was elected Professor of Natural History in his alma mater — Dickinson 

 College. 



Three years later, in 1848, while still pursuing with ardor the study 

 of nature, he applied for and obtained from the Smithsonian Institution 

 (then recently established) its first modest grant for the promotion of 

 original research. This was t(/ be applied to the exploration of bone 

 caves, and to the development of the local natural history of south- 

 eastern Pennsylvania. The transaction appears to have been the oc- 

 casion of first bringing the young professor to the fiivorable notice of 

 the Smithsonian Director, Professor Henry, and of initiating between 

 the two a mutual respect and friendship that continued throughout 

 their several lives. 



The early history of the Smithsonian Institution was signalized by a 

 long struggle— both in the Board of its Regents and in the halls of Con- 

 gress, between the votaries of literature, and those of science, for the 

 disposal of the Smithson fund. During this period, in 1850, when it 

 was seen that the income of this institution was not to be absorbed in 

 the building up of a great national library. Professor Henry asked of 

 the Regents authority to appoint an Assistant Secretary In the depart- 

 ment of natural history to take charge of the Museum, and to aid in the 

 publication and other interests of the establishment. A resolution 

 authorizing such an appointment being adopted, Henry selected Pro- 

 fessor Baird, of Dickinson College, as the one well fitted for the place. 

 H. Mis. 142 46 721 



