The Three Secretaries 181 



As a result of this work, a large number of men were 

 trained as collectors and observers ; among them not a few 

 who have since become eminent in various departments of 

 science : Gill, Hayden, Girard, Kennicott, Dall, Bannister, 

 Culbertson, Stimpson, Ridgway, Rathbun, Bean, Ryder, 

 True, and Gushing. The list might be extended for many 

 lines. Among the older men who were thus associated with 

 him were Meek, Cooper, Kennedy, Suckley, Gibbs, New 1 

 berry, Parry, Powell all names familiar in the history of 

 American exploration. 



Many army officers detailed for this same work became 

 enthusiastic naturalists, and sent in important collections and 

 notes. Some of these men subsequently became famous as 

 military leaders. I have seen a manuscript on the " Moun- 

 tain Sheep," written by General George H. Thomas and pre- 

 pared for the press by Professor Baird. General Winfield 

 Scott and General George B. McClellan both made collec- 

 tions of reptiles in the West, the genus Scotophis and the 

 species Pituophis McClellanii commemorating their names ; 

 and among other monuments to men also known as military 

 heroes are the species named for McCall, Van Vliet, Graham, 

 Couch, Fremont, and Emory. 



Even more striking was the enthusiasm of the officers of 

 the Hudson Bay Company in the far North, and with all 

 these men an active personal relationship was maintained. 



" Collections and correspondence," writes Dall, "poured in 

 upon Professor Baird in extraordinary quantity. Not alone 

 was the shedding of its horn by the antelope on the Western 

 plains, or the nesting of the canvasback among Alaskan 

 marshes, the theme of eager letter writing. The ladies of 

 his household might often have been seen among the shops, 

 seeking novels for the army officer at some isolated post, a 

 necktie for a Northern voyager, or the dress goods for a 



