SPENCER F. BAIKD. 723 



the freight expeuses assumed by the Institution, cim scarcely be too 

 highly appreciated. In the early promotion of this beneticent scheme, 

 Professor Baird became an energetic agent and sympathetic coadjutor 

 of the Smithsonian Secretary. The remarkable developmentof thisserv- 

 ice may be sufficiently indicated by a glance at the amount of material 

 Iransmitted through this Institution, on each tenth year for thirty years, 

 showing something like a geometrical ratio of increase. The total weight 

 of books, pamphlets, and charts distributed in 1855 was about 6 tons; in 

 18fi5, about tons; in 1875, about 20 tons; and in 1S85, about 85 tons. 

 With the rapid growth of the exchange operatiojis, the active and com- 

 prehensive faculties of Professor Baird seemed but to find a better field 

 of exercise. 



At the same time, the accumulating collections of the Museum— in- 

 creased iu 1858 by the transfer from the Patent Office to the Smithson- 

 ian Building of the interesting contributions from the earlier national 

 exploring expeditions — demanded a large share of attention for their 

 proper arrangement, exposition, and superintendence.* To say that 

 this important work of organization was zealously and judiciously car- 

 ried out, is to characterize but imperfectly the directive skill and energy 

 of the Museum curator. 



Of Professor Baird's work in original biologic research, of his contri- 

 butions to various scientific journals and society proceedings, of his 

 English translation of the popular '' Icouographic Encyclopimdia," of his 

 editorship ot the '"Annual Record of Science and Industry" for eight 

 years, and of his other publications, it is not proposed here to speak. 

 This aspect of his intellectual life will be discussed by one in every re- 

 spect far more competent to a just and discriminating presentation of 

 the theme. The present remarks will be confined to a cursory review of 

 Professor Baird's varied administrative work. 



For a number of years a notable decline in the productiveness of our 

 extended fisheries had been with anxiety observed; the annual yield of 

 this important element of our food supplj^ having in many cases fallen 

 ofl one-half of its amount a quarter of a century earlier. So serious a 

 diminution and consequent enhancement of cost of subsistence was be- 

 coming a menacing problem. Were our leading food fishes undergoing 

 a process of slow but certain extinction "? Several of the States (espe- 

 cially those of New England) appointed commissions of inquiry into the 

 causes and remedies of the threatening evil but with little result. 



In the stern competitive struggle that from the dawn of terrestrial 

 pahieontogeny has been ordained by nature as the feudal tenure of all 

 existence, and from which service man himself is not exempted, the 

 feebleness of early youth in the individuals of every race would speedily 



*This accession of the Government deposit of ethnological and natural history spec- 

 imens was estimated l>y Professor Baird, iu his report for 1H5H, ascomprisiuj^not more 

 thau a fourth of the material already in the Smithsonian Museum or a tifthof the ag- 

 gregate amount. 



