78 KEPOKT OF THE SECRETARY. 



investigation lessened, and wbo accordingly used his best endeavors 

 to promote the researches of his fellow naturalists in every part of 

 the world. 



4. That his kindly disposition, equable temper, singleness of aim, and 

 unsullied purity of motive, along with his facile mastery of attairs, 

 greatly endeared him to his subordinates, secured to him the confidence 

 and trust of those whose inllueuce he sought for the advancement of 

 the interests he had at heart, and won the high regard and warm af- 

 fection of those who, like the members of this Board, were ofidcially and 

 intimately associated with him, 



5. That, without intruding into the domain of private sorrow, the 

 Eegents of the Institution would respectfully offer to the family of their 

 late Secretary the assurance of their profound sympathy. 



G. That the Regents invite the near associate of the late Secretary, 

 Professor Goode, to prepare a memorial of the life and services of Pro- 

 fessor Baird for publication in the ensuing annual report of the Insti- 

 tution. 



The address made by Maj. J. W. Powell, an old and personal friend 

 of the late Secretary, at the memorial meeting held by the scientific 

 societies of Washington January 11, 1888, contained so just and elo- 

 quent a tribute to Professor Baird's memory, that I feel inclined to 

 quote from it a few words which, it seems to me, will characterize the 

 large purpose and attainment of his life, and its relation to others, bet- 

 ter than any of my own : 



"Baird was one of the learned men of the world. He knew the birds 

 of the air; he knew the beasts of the forei^ts and the prairies, and the 

 reptiles that crawl through desert sands or slimy marshes ; he knew 

 the fishes that scale mountain torrents, that bask in quiet lakes, or that 

 journey from zone to zone through the deep waters of the sea. The 

 treasures of the land did not satisfy the desires of Baird ; he must also 

 have the treasures of the sea, and so he organized a fish commission, 

 with its great laboratories and vessels of research. 



" The Fish Commission was an agency of research ; but it was more ; 

 he made it an agency by which science is ap[)lied to the relief of the 

 wants of mankind — by which a cheap, nutritious, healthful, and luxuri- 

 ous food is to be given to the millions of men. 



"In the research thus organized the materials for the work of other 

 scientific men were gathered. He incited the men personally to under- 

 take and continuously prosecute their investigations. He enlisted the 

 men himself; he trained them himself; he himself furnished them with 

 the materials and instruments of research, and, best of all, was their 

 guide and great exem[)lar. Thus it was that the three institutions 

 over which he presided — the Smithsonian Institution, the National 

 Museum, and the Fish Commission — were woven into one great organi- 

 zation, a university of instruction in the methods of scientific research, 

 including in its scoi)e the entire field of biology and anthropology. 



" In his work with his assistants, he scrupulously provided that every 

 one should receive the meed of honor due for successful research, and 

 treated all with generosity. Many an investijiation begun by himself, 

 was turned over to assistants when he found that valuable conclusions 

 could be reached ; and these assistants, who were his warm friends, his 

 younger brothers, reaped the reward ; and he had more joy over every 

 young man's success than over the triumphs and honors lieaped upon 

 himself from every quarter of the globe. He was the sympaihetic coun- 



