320 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
a matter of course, all unique and the best specimens of a Govern- 
ment collection must go to Government, and (although I have no 
recollection of saying so to Heermann) the Secretary of War is very 
decided in insisting that all collections belong to Government which 
have been collected by a salaried officer at its expense; yet there is 
never any difficulty afterwards in getting duplicates for a scientific 
object. Have you heard of the terrible muss he kicked up because 
took the duplicates of his western collections (made with Whipple) 
to France without permission from him? An agreement was made 
between him and Williamson before the attention of the Secretary 
had been drawn to the subject, and was binding; Heermann having 
given his share of the duplicates to the Academy which was allowable 
and even still more proper, as Government expects and authorizes 
the distribution of duplicates among scientific institutions. There- 
fore, as I said before, you would be perfectly at liberty to send such 
specimens as you can spare to Paris. Of course, you would not send 
your uniques. 
I shall send to Mr. Duméril quite a number of species, especially 
of serpents, and hope to do more hereafter. I fully recognize the 
propriety of depositing types of a species in typical collections, but 
I would not send an American species to Paris or London, if I had 
but one to spare and if the Academy wanted it. 
Yours truly, 
S. F. Bairp. 
From Major E. B. Hunt” to Spencer F. Baird. 
Irvinc House, Tarrytown, July 18, 1854. 
My pear Barrp:— 
I have longed to write you a word of friendly condolence and cheer 
since hearing from Mr. Ackermann that he saw you sending Mrs. 
Baird to Carlisle, he thought, as a weak and health-hunting invalid. 
20 Edward B. Hunt, Major U. S. A., born June 15, 1822; died 
1863. A distinguished officer, a pioneer in the designing of submarine 
vessels of war and in utilizing compressed air as a source of power. 
His wife was Helen Hunt (afterward Jackson), the author of “Ramona” 
and other well-known works. 
