184 The Smithsonian Institution 



paper in which the germs of all future development were 

 embodied. 



The period of the Civil War was one of comparative quiet, 

 though much was accomplished by Baird and his pupils ; and 

 his two most scholarly memoirs the ''Review of Amer- 

 ican Birds " and the " Distribution and Migrations of North 

 American Birds" were then written. 



During this decade were continued the summer expedi- 

 tions, usually extending through a period of two or three 

 months, which were yearly more and more exclusively de- 

 voted to the investigation of aquatic life, and ultimately led 

 to the organization of the Fish Commission in 1871. 



During this period, too, the tendencies toward interest in 

 the problems of general science growing out of his early 

 connection with the " Iconographic Cyclopaedia" began to 

 revive, and he felt a new interest in the popularization of 

 scientific subjects. 



At the solicitation of Mr. George W. Childs, he took charge 

 in 1867 of the column of scientific intelligence in the Phila- 

 delphia Public Ledger, and about 1870 became the scientific 

 editor of the periodicals published by Harper & Brothers, 

 of New York. His connection with this firm continued until 

 1878, and in addition to his contributions to other periodicals, 

 there resulted eight volumes of the " Annual Record of Sci- 

 ence and Industry." About the time he became Secretary 

 of the Institution these editorial labors were abandoned, but 

 the idea of the annual record was continued in the appendices 

 to the Smithsonian Report until 1888 under the title of 

 " Record of Progress." 



x. 



IN 1871 an entirely new interest was intrusted to his care, 

 when he was appointed by President Grant United States 



