THE AMERICAN , 



MONTHLY V...*..^^-^XL_ 



MICROSCOPICAL JOURNAL. 



Vol. IX. JANUARY, 1888. No. 1. 



Memorial to Spencer Fullertou Baird, LL. D. 



By CHAS. W. smiley. 



WASHINGTON, D. C. 



On\\'ednesdav evening. January 1 1 . iSSS, a meeting was held in the lecture- 

 room of Columbian University. Washington. D. C, in commemoration of the 

 life and services to science of the late Professor Baird. Secretary of the Smith- 

 sonian Institution. Director of the National ]Museum. and United States Com- 

 missioner of Fish and Fisheries. The exercises \vere under the auspices of 

 the Philosophical Society of Washington in conjunction Avith the Anthropo- 

 logical Society, the Biological Society, the Chemical Society, and the Micro- 

 scopical Society. 



The opening address was by Garrick jSIallery, President of the Philosophical 

 Society. The address upon Professor Baird as administrator was by William 

 B. Taylor, of the Smithsonian Institution. The address upon Professor Baird 

 in science was by William H. Dall. President of the Biological Society. The 

 address upon the personal characteristics of Professor Baird was by JohnW. 

 Powell, President of the Anthropological Society. Professor Baird was much 

 interested in all the above-named societies. 



The addresses will soon be published ii: full. It is hoped that a biography 

 may be prepared by one who appreciated him as no other could. Many public 

 prints record the im2:)ortant events of his life. Congress is apparently about 

 to provide for a bronze statue similar to that of Henry in the Smithsonian 

 grounds. The writer may, perhaps, be permitted to contribute a few personal 

 reminiscences indicative of the character of the man. 



If one quality was more prominent in his life than others it was his kind- 

 ness. He had as kind words for messenger bovs as for Senators. He never 

 showed that he felt superior to anybody, and he always appeared to prize the 

 friendship and cordiality of those whom everybody knew to be his inferiors. 

 What often surprised me was that he would spend valuable time in entertain- 

 ing those who had no such claims upon him. Some book, picture, specimen, 

 letter, or incident was generally handv to furnish him a text for charming con- 

 versation. Some came at length to feel, alter his health began to fail, that 

 they ought not to let him use his time thus, for he surely would atone for it 

 in over-work ; and so, not compelled bv business to confer w ith him for sev- 

 eral days, when one endeavored to lessen the multitude of interviews he was 

 holding, the Professor noticed the absences, and playfully rallied the absentee 

 upon his omissions, as if the former, and not the latter, had been the loser 

 thereby. Whoever came into his friendship came to stay, and he never de- 

 serted any in adversity, even when they became troublesome to him. 



I never saw him at all angry, and, upon catechising one of his most con- 

 stant attendants upon this point, the most I could learn was that on one occa- 



