126 



SCIENCE. 



[Vol. I., No. 5. 



published b3'' Harper & Brothers, and also edited 

 their yearlj' cj'clopaedia of science entitled the 

 Annual record of science and industry. 



Some idea of the scope of Professor Baird's 

 work appears from the fact, that, of the total 

 number of papers enumerated in the forthcom- 

 ing bibliographical list, 73 relate to mammals, 

 80 to birds, 43 to reptiles, 431 to fishes, 61 to 

 invertebrates (chiefly in the form of reviews) , 

 16 to j)lants, 88 to geographical distribution, 

 46 to geology, mineralogj-, and paleontologj', 

 45 to anthropology, 31 to industry- and art, 109 

 to exploration and travel. While the number 

 of new species described does not necessarily 

 afford any clew to the value of the work ac- 

 complished , it ma}' be referred to as an indi- 

 cation of the pioneer work it was necessarjr to 

 do, even in so prominent a group as that of 

 the vertebrates. Among mammals there ma}' 

 be noted 49 ; birds, 70 ; reptiles, 186 ; fishes, 

 56. Fortj'-nine of two hundred and twent}', or 

 nearl}' one-fourth of the mammals discussed in 

 the Mammals of North America, were then de- 

 scribed for the first time. 



In 1871 Professor Baird was appointed bj^ 

 President Grant to the position of U. S. com- 

 missioner of fish and fisheries, — an unsalaried 

 office, to the duties of which, for eleven years, 

 he has devoted a large portion of his time. 

 The literary product may be seen in the seven 

 volumes of reports, and two of bulletins, issued 

 b}' the commission ; but the scientific results 

 in research, and the economic results in stimu- 

 lating a great industrj', are difficult to measure. 

 There has been a systematic investigation of 

 the waters of the United States, and the bio- 

 logical and physical problems which thej^ jire- 

 sent ; an examination of the methods of fish- 

 eries, past and present, and the statistics of 

 production and commerce of fishery ijroducts ; 

 and an introduction and multiplication of useful 

 food-fishes throughout the countrj', especially 

 in waters under the jurisdiction of the general 

 government, or those common to several states. 

 The commission is an admirable illustration of 

 the application to practical purposes of sound 

 .science. 



The value set upon Pi'ofessor Baird's sci- 



entific attainments is indicated by the various 

 positions of trust to which he has been called, 

 and the recognition which he has received from 

 learned bodies. In 1850 and 1851 he served 

 as permanent secretary' of the American asso- 

 ciation for the advancement of science. In 

 1876 he served as one of the Government 

 board of commissioners to the international 

 exhibition at Philadelphia, and was also a 

 member of the international jurj'. In 1877 he 

 was present as advisory counsel at the sessions 

 of the Halifax fisherj' commission, and, since 

 1878, has been one of the trustees of the Cor- 

 coran gallery of art in Washington ; he has been 

 p)resident of the Cosmos club, and for many 

 years a trustee of Columbian universitj'. In 

 1856 he received the degree of doctor of phj^si- 

 cal science from Dickinson college, and in 1875 

 that of doctor of laws from Columbian uni- 

 versitj'. He was, in 1878, awarded the silver 

 medal of the Acclimatization societj' of Mel- 

 bourne ; in 1879, the gold medal of the Soci^te 

 d'acclimatation of France ; and, in 1880, the 

 'erster ehrenpreis' of the Internationale fischerei 

 ausstellung at Berlin, the gift of the emperor of 

 Germany. In 1875 he received from the king of 

 Norway and Sweden the decoration of ' knight 

 of the ro3'al Norwegian order of St. Olaf.' 



He was one of the earliest members of 

 the National academy of sciences, and has 

 for many years been a member of its coun- 

 cil. Besides honorarj^ relationship to many 

 scientific societies in the United States, he 

 holds a foreign membership in the Linnaean 

 society and the Zoological societj' of London, 

 and a corresponding membership in the K.-k. 

 zoologisch-botanische gesellschaft (Vienna), 

 the Sociedad de geographia (Lisbon), the 

 New-Zealand institute, the Koninklijke natuur- 

 kundige vereeniging in Nederlandsch-Indie 

 (Batavia) , the Magyar tudomanyos akademia 

 (Budapest) , the Soci6t6 nationale des sciences 

 naturelles (Cherbourg) , the Academia Leopol- 

 dino-Carolina naturae curiosorum (Jena), the 

 Naturforschende gesellschaft (Halle) , the Na- 

 turhistorische gesellschaft (Nuremberg), the 

 Geographical society of Quebec, the Deutsche 

 fischerei verein (Berlin) . 



