THE RETROSPECT OF THE YEAR. 145 



Since the last annual meeting the names of two of the 

 ost distinguished 

 taken from the roll. 



most distinguished members of the Institute have been 



SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD, secretary of the Smithso- 

 nian Institution, director of the National Museum and chief 

 officer of the U. S. Fish Commission, died at Wood's 

 Holl, Mass., on Friday afternoon, Aug. 19, 1887. He was 

 born in Reading, Pa., Feb. 3, 1823 ; a graduate of Dick- 

 inson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1840, and in 1846 its pro- 

 fessor of Natural History. In 1850 he was elected assistant 

 secretary of the Smithsonian Institution, a position he held 

 continuously until 1878 when, upon the death of Professor 

 Henry, he was made secretary of the Institution. On the 

 establishment of the U. S. Fish Commission in 1871 he was 

 placed at its head. He was also the government commis- 

 sioner of the Centennial Exhibition at Philadelphia in 1876. 

 For many years Professor Baird had labored for the es- 

 tablishment of a great national museum in Washington, 

 and he took advantage of the Centennial Exhibition to se- 

 cure such an amount of material for the museum as to lead 

 Congress to make an appropriation for a building for the 

 museum and relieve the Smithsonian Institution from its 

 support. 



His large contributions to science brought him medals 

 from foreign governments, and honorary memberships in 

 various scientific societies. The connection of his name 

 with thirty-three new genera and species of animals at- 

 tests the high appreciation in which he was held by his 

 fellow-workers in zoology, while his writings, embodying 

 the results of his long labors, have given him high rank 

 in scientific literature. 



Professor Baird was chosen a corresponding member of 

 the Institute, Nov. 30, 1859. 



