The Three Secretaries 157 



SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 



I. 



NO name occupies a more honorable place in the annals 

 of American science than that of Professor Baird, His 

 personal contributions to systematic biology were of great 

 extent. His influence in inspiring and training men to enter 

 the field of natural history was very potent. As an organ- 

 izer, working at a most fortunate time, he knew how to 

 utilize his extraordinary opportunities, and he has left his im- 

 press forever fixed upon the scientific and educational institu- 

 tions of the United States, more especially upon those under 

 government control. 



He was one of those rare men, perhaps more frequently 

 met with in the New World than elsewhere, who give the 

 impression of being able to succeed in whatever they under- 

 take. Although he chose to be a naturalist, and of necessity 

 became an administrator, no one who knew him could doubt 

 that he would have been equally eminent as a lawyer, physi- 

 cian, mechanic, historian, business man, soldier, or statesman. 



II. 



It is always interesting to search for the sources of intellec- 

 tual force and capacity, especially so in this country, where 

 the races of the Old World have mingled with such rapidity 

 and in such volume as to develop very remarkable phases in 

 the problem of heredity. 



For an inquiry of this kind there is excellent material in 

 the case of Professor Baird, for though he gave little atten- 

 II* 



