September 24, 1915] 



SCIENCE 



427 



of letters reproduced in the memoir passing 

 between Baird and Louis Agassiz, James D. 

 Dana, George P. Marsh and Joseph Henry. 



The early interest which Baird manifested in. 

 fishes increased with age and ultimately was 

 responsible for the genesis and organization of 

 the federal fishery service with which his name 

 is ineffaceably associated. In 1848 specimens 

 of the fishes from his collection were sent to 

 Louis Agassiz, and arrangements had been 

 made for a joint work on American fishes; 

 this, however, owing to Agassiz's more pressing 

 projects, never materialized and, after a few 

 years, was abandoned by mutual consent. In 

 1854 we find Baird spending a summer vaca- 

 tion on the New Jersey coast and making there 

 a collection of fishes which served as a basis 

 for a noteworthy report. As early as 1863 

 Baird visited Woods Hole, Mass., and was im- 

 pressed with the richness of the local marine 

 fauna, and during the next few years he be- 

 came greatly interested in the fisheries of the 

 Atlantic coast and realized the need for a com- 

 prehensive investigation of the causes under- 

 lying the reported decrease of certain fishes. 

 A comparison between conditions found in 

 southern ISTew England waters in 1863 and 

 during a visit in 1870 strengthened his desire 

 for authoritative investigation which would 

 supplement the inquiries that had been under- 

 taken by the various states. The psycholog- 

 ical time having arrived; Baird having sub- 

 mitted a plan to Congress ; the American Fish 

 Culture Association having espoused the idea 

 of federal aid to the fisheries; and state and 

 national legislators, the general public and the 

 fishery interests being in accord, Congress in 

 February, 1871, passed a joint resolution dravm 

 up by Professor Baird and Senator George F. 

 Edmunds which made provision for a com- 

 missioner of fish and fisheries and for investi- 

 gations to be conducted under his direction. 

 President Grant did the obvious thing in ap- 

 pointing Baird to the newly created office, and 

 there were thus imposed on an already busy 

 man additional duties and responsibilities 

 which yearly became more onerous and press- 

 ing and ultimately claimed a large proportion 

 of his attention and time. 



In 1871 Woods Hole became the headquarters 

 of the commission, and then and there were 

 laid the foundations of the first permanent 

 marine laboratory in America. While the in- 

 vestigations were still in their incipiency, 

 Baird formed the plan of inviting zoological 

 students to visit Woods Hole to avail them- 

 selves of the large amount of material daily 

 brought in that did not bear directly on the 

 work of the commission, and he arranged for 

 table and other facilities and cheap board. 

 Thereafter Baird regularly spent his summers 

 on the New England coast directing the local 

 investigations while administering the busi- 

 ness affairs of an organization that yearly ac- 

 quired new functions and extended its activ- 

 ities into new regions. Woods Hole was the 

 scene of his principal activities as it was the 

 spot of his warmest regard. It was there that, 

 advised and aided by men like George Brown 

 Goode, Jerome H. Kidder, Theodore Gill, 

 Eichard Eathbun, Z. L. Tanner, H. C. Chester, 

 A. E. Verrill, Alpheus Hyatt, W. G. Farlow, 

 John A. Eyder and Sydney Smith, he planned 

 and inaugurated those noteworthy biological, 

 fishery and fish-cultural operations which soon 

 brought the United States into the forefront 

 of the nations in all such matters. 



Long-continued overwork, more particularly 

 that imposed by his unsalaried services as fish 

 commissioner, began to tell on Professor 

 Baird's strength, and in 1885 his cares were 

 aggravated by unscrupulous newspaper attacks 

 on the activities and personnel of various scien- 

 tific bureaus of the government, including the 

 fish commission. In July, 1886, after consulta- 

 tion with Dr. Weir Mitchell and Dr. William 

 Osier, he went to Woods Hole, and remained 

 there until late October. Fully aware of his 

 physical condition, he presented his case to the 

 board of regents at the 1887 meeting, and 

 made arrangements for the election of his suc- 

 cessor as secretary of the Smithsonian Institu- 

 tion. In July, 1887, he again went to Woods 

 Hole ; and there, " the scene of his hardest 

 labors and most striking economic successes," 

 the place that typified that governmental bu- 

 reau in which he took such pride and which 



