THE YOUNG PROFESSOR 169 
On the 13th of July, Mrs. Churchill, Professor Baird 
and wife, and some others, left Carlisle, and the former 
party travelled to Westport, New York, on a visit to 
Mr. and Mrs. Guy Hunter, who were connections of the 
Churchills. From here the Professor made an excursion 
into the Adirondack country, visiting the Adirondack 
Iron Works and climbing Mt. Marcy. He notes in the 
Journal: “Reached top at 5 p. M. Great view for hun- 
dreds of miles all around. Nothing but mountains. Could 
see Burlington, Lake Champlain and steamboats, twenty 
lakes, no settlements. Made fire, pitched tents, and saw 
sunset, and passed the night on the mountain. Second 
time ever done. Bitterly and severely cold.” On return- 
ing to Westport August 4th, he found his wife had gone 
on to Burlington with Colonel Churchill and her mother, 
where he followed her the next day. After this he spent 
much time in collecting trips, visited Au Sable Chasm, 
rummaged the libraries of the College and Mr. Marsh, saw 
the Zadock Thompson collection and visited Windsor, the 
former home of the Hunter family. On the 23rd they 
reached Boston, where the Marshes had preceded them, 
Mr. Marsh having a Phi Beta Kappa oration to deliver. 
Here he met many old friends and for the first time 
Professor Louis Agassiz, who was at Doctor A. A. Gould’s 
house, where he called. The next two mornings were 
spent with Agassiz, and he made the acquaintance of 
Desor, Rufus Choate, Jeffries Wyman, Dr. John Warren 
and others of the Cambridge group of scientific men. 
On the 2nd of September he reached Carlisle and on the 
15th College opened and his work began. 
The method of instruction, by actual field excursions, 
which Baird employed in his classes of zoology and botany, 
was new in America, and an original innovation with him. 
