866 The American Naturalist. [October, 
SCIENTIFIC NEWS. 
Dr. G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of the Smithsonian 
Insticution and Director of the National Museum, died in Washington, 
Sept. 6th. 
Dr. Goode was born in New Albany, Ind., February 13, 1851. As 
a boy he developed a fondness for natural history. In time he pre- 
pared for college and entered Wesleyan University, Middletown, Conn., 
where he graduated in 1870. During his college career he devoted 
himself assiduously to the study of natural history, to which his tastes 
inclined, rather than to classical studies. He took an active part in 
assembling and arranging collections that culminated in the museum 
now preserved in the Orange Judd Hall. It was while so engaged 
that he met Prof. Baird at Eastport, Me., and at once became associ- 
ated as a volunteer in the work of the United States Fish Commission. 
The acquaintance thus formed with Prof. Baird continued until the 
death of Mr. Baird and had very much to do with Dr. Goode’s subse- 
quent career. 
During the winter of 1872~’73 he made his first trip to the West 
Indies, and collected fish, which he exchanged with the Smithsonian 
Institution, and on his return, at the invitation of Prof. Baird, he de- 
voted a part of his time to the institution. In 1873 he joined perman- 
ently the staff of the Smithsonian Institution, and has since continued 
in its service, becoming Assistant Secretary in 1887. 
Meanwhile, he took an active part in the preparation of the exhibit 
of the Smithsonian Institution at the Centennial Exhibition at Phila- 
delphia in 1876, and owing to the illness of Prof. Baird, the charge of 
that work devolved largely on him during the continuance of the fair. 
At the end of the exhibition the care of the collections that were then 
given to the United States government was mainly assigned to him, 
and to him more than any one else is due the present condition of the 
National Museum. 
His volunteer connection with the United States Fish Commission 
meanwhile continued, and it was through his relation there that he ac- 
quired the well earned reputation of being the leading authority on 
the fishes and fisheries in the United States. It was this that led, in 
1880, to his appointment to the charge of the fisheries division of the 
tenth census. On the death of Prof. Baird, although the entire care of 
the Museum fell upon him, Dr. Goode was made Fish Commissioner, 
