March 9, 1883.1 



SCIENCE. 



125 



have stood the test of thirty j'ears without any 

 necessity for modifieatiou. In all this work 

 Professor Baird and Professor Henrj' worked 

 in harmony ; and Professor Baird, since his 

 succession to the seci-etaryship, has carried 

 forward the same general S5'stem. 



The growth of the museum has been verj- 

 largely' due to the scientific explorations which 

 have been organized hy the Smithsonian insti- 

 tution. The first grant ever made b}' the in- 

 stitution for scientific exploration and research 

 was in 1848, to S. F. Baird, for the explora- 

 tion of the bone-caves and the local natural 

 historj' of south-eastern Pennsylvania. The 

 direction of these explorations came at once 

 under the duties of the assistant seeretarj-, 

 and remained throughout under his imme- 

 diate care. In his reports to the secretary, 

 published j-ear b^- j'ear in the annual reports 

 of the institution, will be found the only sys- 

 tematic record of government explorations 

 which has ever been prepared. The policj' of 

 the institution has, as is well known, alwaj^s 

 been to do such work as no other institution 

 was able or willing to undertake. From 1850 

 to 1860 several extensive government expedi- 

 tions were sent to the western territories ; and 

 it became the dut}- of Professor Baird to enlist 

 the sympathies of the commanders of these 

 expeditious in the objects of the institution, to 

 supply- them with all the appliances for collect- 

 ing, as well as the instructions for their use. 

 In most cases, also, he organized the natural- 

 history parties, nominated the collectors, em- 

 ployed and supervised the artists in the prepa- 

 ration of plates, and in man^^ instances edited 

 the zoological portions of the reports. The 

 fitting-out of such expeditions was onl3- a small 

 part of the work. From the beginning until now 

 there have been thousands of private collectors 

 who have derived their materials, their litera- 

 ture, and, to a considerable extent, their en- 

 thusiasm, from the Smithsonian institution. 

 The Smithsonian ' instructions to collectors,' 

 which has passed through several large edi- 

 tions, and many specific circulars of a similar 

 character, were prepared by Professor Baird 

 in connection with this department of his work. 



In addition to this, the assistant secretarj- 

 had from the outset the charge of certain 

 departments of the routine work of the 'insti- 

 tution. The system of international exchanges, 

 for instance, which had been one of the leading 

 objects of the Smithsonian institution, was 

 organized hy him in its main details. Already, 

 in connection with his private enterprises, he 

 had developed a somewhat extensive sj'stem of 

 exchanges with European and American corre- 

 spondents ; and the methods thus developed 

 were expanded for the wider needs of the insti- 

 tution. His first task, after entering upon his 

 duties, was to distribute the second volume of 

 the ' Smithsonian contributions to knowledge ; ' 

 and his hand va&y be seen in all the subsequent 

 operations of this department ; for the active 

 oversight which he gave to the collecting 

 and distributing work of the institution has 

 not prevented him from continuous literary* 

 work. The extent of his contributions to 

 science and scientific literature will be more 

 readily seen after the publication of a bibliog- 

 raphy of his writings, which is now in press, 

 and will soon be issued as one of the bul- 

 letins of the national museum. The list of 

 his works is complete up to the end of the 

 year 1882, and contains 1,063 titles. Of this 

 number, 775 are brief notices and critical 

 reviews contributed to the Annual record of 

 science and industry while it was under his 

 editorial charge, 31 are reports relating to the 

 work of the Smithsonian institution, 7 are 

 reports as commissioner of fisheries, 25 are 

 schedules and circulars officially issued, and 

 25 are volumes or papers edited. Out of the 

 remaining 200, the majoritj' are original con- 

 tributions to scientific literature. Among the 

 most elaborate of his original memoirs are the 

 Catalogue of North-American serpents (1853) , 

 the Mammals of North America (1854), the 

 Birds of North America (1858), the Review 

 of North-American birds (1864-66), the Dis- 

 tribution and migrations of North-American 

 birds (1865), and a Histoiy of North- American 

 birds, in connection with Thomas M. Brewer 

 and Robert Ridgway (1874). From 1870 to 

 1878 he was scientific editor of the periodicals 



