164 Tliirhj-Sf'cuiid Animal Mccfliig 



Society places this tablet in appreciation of his inestimable ser- 

 vices to ichthyology, pisciculture and the fisheries. 1932.'" 



President : It gives me pleasure to present to you ^Ir. E. W. 

 Blatchford, who has been selected to deliver one of the addresses 

 on this occasion. 



Memorial Address at the unveiling of the Tablet erected to 

 the memory of Professor Spencer Fullerton Baird, by E. ^Y. 

 Blatchford, LL. D. Woods Hole, Mass., July 22, 1903. 



Mr. President, and Members of the United States Commission 



of Fish and Fisheries, and of the American Fisheries Society,. 



Faculty and Students of the Marine Biological Laboratory . 



Ladies and Gentlemen : It is three years since I had the 

 honor of urging upon the American Fisheries Society, in re- 

 sponse to resolutions presented by Dr. Smith, the erection of a 

 monument to the memory of Professor Baird, and the appropri- 

 ateness that such memorial should be located here, the scene of 

 much of his most successful and distinguished scientific labor. 

 The proposition met with an enthusiastic response, both from 

 your society and afterwards from the United States Connnis- 

 sion, which promptly assigned this most eligible point. A com- 

 mittee in charge of the work was appointed by the society with 

 Dr. Hugh M. Smith as chairman. Under his thoughtfid and 

 efficient direction the plans were perfected, a granite boukler of 

 worthy dimensions was found on the adjacent island of Xonna- 

 messet, was brought and placed in position, and a commemora- 

 tive tablet of Ijronze was designed and executed. To unveil this 

 tablet do we meet here at this hour. Your committee would ex- 

 press their regret that the prosecution of important scientific in- 

 vestigations by the Government in the western Pacific Ocean 

 prevents the presence with us of our honored chairman. Dr. 

 Smith. He sends me his regrets that he cannot unite with us on 

 this day, which was, on his suggestion, postponed a year that we 

 might have with us the members of the Amcn-ican Fisheries So- 

 ciety. 



It is dui' to this audience, as it is to myself, that 1 state that 

 a friendship with Professor Baird of some thirty years was the 

 argument that induced me to take part in these exercises. The 

 time allotted will admit of but a slight sketch of some of this 



