SPENCER F. BAIRD. 727 



Of the practical results of this great national enteri)rise it is unnec- 

 essary to speak. A dozen varieties of our best food-fishes have been 

 disseminated throughout the inland waters and the sea-board of our 

 country in increasing quantifies; aansported in the form of the youug 

 fry or in that of fertilized eggs to other hatching stations ; and while 

 an accurate estimate is, perhaps, at present not easily attainable, it will 

 hardly be held an exaggeration to say that these productions are to be 

 numbered by thousands of millions. Of these, many millions (by a 

 most praiseworthy public courtesy) have been distributed to foreign 

 countries — to Australia, to Brazil, to Canada, to England, to France, 

 to Germany, to Mexico, to The Netherlands, to Scotland, and to Switz- 

 erland. 



In the great International Fisheries Exhibition at Berlin in 1880 our 

 national commission was authorized by Congress to participate. Pro- 

 fessor Baird appointed as his deputy to personally superintend this 

 mov'ement Professor Goode, the present Fish Commissioner, under 

 whose energetic direction, in a remarkably short space of time, the 

 marvellous American exhibit was organized, transported, and installed, 

 to the wonder and admiration of every visitor. The head of the Amer- 

 ican Commission was hailed by the President of the German Fisheries 

 Association as the "chief tish-culturist in the world," and to him was 

 awarded for the most complete and imposing display of all the details 

 and accessories of his scientific art the unique first-honor prize of the 

 exhibition, the gift of the Emperor of Germany. 



But time fails to permit more than a passing glance at other fields of 

 activity no less important in which Professor Baird employed his re- 

 markable powers of executive management. The Smithsonian Insti- 

 tution from its inception had given great encouragement to ex- 

 plorations, and its director had zealously labored to enlist, as far as 

 practicable, the various expeditions undertaken by the Government, 

 in the extension of scientific research. These eftbrts were liber- 

 ally responded to by the Executive Departments, and trained ex- 

 perimentalists and observers were given every facility for physical, 

 physiographical, and biological investigations at distant points. The 

 Institution thus became almost the Government superintendent of 

 scientific expeditions. In all that i)ertained to ethnology and natural 

 history Professor Baird became, of course, the leading spirit, and the 

 various circulars of direction and inquiry issued by him show with 

 what range and thoroughness he supervised this wide department, 

 while the resulting memoirs and valuable niuseum accessions attest as 

 their fruits the practical wisdom oftiie measures and methods adopted. 



Congress having made provision for the representation by the Gov- 

 ernment in the National Centennial Exhibition to be held at Phila- 

 delphia, the President of the United States reiiuested the Executive 

 Departments, together with the Smithsonian Institution, to co-operate 

 in a collection illustrative of our progress and resources. In his report 



