173 Tliirtij-SecoiHl Anitual Meeting 



oil August 1!», 1887. ''Of all the tributes to his character none 

 was more eloquent than one at the funeral sei-vices, which were 

 held in the Fish Commission building. The simple burial ser- 

 vice had been read^ when the clergyman recited these words 

 from the Sermon on the Mount : '"Blessed are the merciful, for 

 they shall obtain mercy. Blessed are the pure in heart, for. they 

 shall see God. Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be 

 called the children of God." 



President : The next address will be delivered by Prof. Will- 

 iam C. Brooks of Johns Hopkins University, a warm personal 

 friend of Prof. Baird during his last years. 



Prof. Brooks said: Mr. President, and Members of the 

 American Fisheries Society: I thank you for this opportunity 

 to speak of the work of that great scientific investigatoi-, Spencer 

 Fullerton Baird. The subject is a most inspiring one, but I 

 know I shall have your sympathy when I say that it is also an 

 overwhelming one. The field of Prof. Baird's productive activ- 

 ity was so wide and so diversified that no one can venture to 

 present it or try to present it in a comprehensive view, and even 

 if abandoning that attempt we pick out some one of all Prof. 

 Baird's services to science and to his country and to the world, 

 we find then that anyone who will adequately treat one of these 

 subordinate divisions of Prof. Baird's work, must give to it long 

 preparation, and must also give to it peculiar fitness and train- 

 ing for the work. 



One must Ije an ornitliologist, and an ichthyologist, and an 

 explorer of the deep sea, and lie must have in his mind the whole 

 history of these departments of biological science, if he is to 

 speak of the contributions to these varied aspects of natural 

 knowledge which we owe to his earnestness and industry and 

 scientific insight. 



One must search the records of the Smitlisonian before lie 

 can venture to speak of the results of his long service to this in- 

 stitution as its secretary, and one must know its later historv, in 

 order to understand the permanent influence of his administra- 

 tion. 



One must know how the collections wliich he l)rouglit to- 

 gether overflowed its crowded cellars and dimly light(.'d corri- 

 dors, until he laid the foundation of the National Museum, au'l 



