438 SPENCER FULLERTON BAIRD 
From a Biographical Memoir by J. S. Billings read before 
the National Academy of Sciences, April 17, 1889. 
“The two men who have exerted the strongest influ- 
ence upon natural history studies in this country are Louis 
Agassiz and Professor Baird. In many respects they were 
very unlike; circumstances gave them widely different 
fields, and they worked on different plans and by different 
methods. They began their public career in this country 
almost together; but Agassiz was already famous, as the 
result of seventeen years’ work, while Baird was an almost 
unknown youth. Agassiz was a born teacher, a fascinating 
lecturer, gifted with eloquence which won its way every- 
where; Baird could only speak freely in the presence of 
a few, and for the most part taught only by the pen and 
by example. Each of them created a great museum in 
spite of many obstacles, the first winning the means 
largely from private contributions, which were a tribute 
to his eloquence; the second gaining his end more indi- 
rectly, through his connection with the Smithsonian Insti- 
tution and the Government. Each of them gathered 
around him young men who were stimulated and encour- 
aged by his example, who followed his methods, have 
continued his work, and have taught others, so that there 
are now observers and workers almost everywhere. The 
first made great use of the microscope and of embryology; 
the second very little, for he had to use the material 
available. The first had a vivid imagination which led 
him to frame many theories and hypotheses to be verified 
or disproved by future investigation and research; the 
second classified the facts before him, but theorized very 
little. Professor Baird’s career as an original investigator 
