Hyatt.] 560 L April 18, 



led in respect to systematic work both in this country and in Eu- 

 rope, founding, what he has called, the Bairdian school of syste- 

 matists. 



When he entered the vortex of national life at Washington the 

 minds of leading men were filled with plans for making the vast 

 western possessions of the United States available for settlement. 

 Exploration and the publication of the resources of the different 

 parts of the country and the building of railroads were the obvi- 

 ous means for the attainment of this object. Professor Baird had 

 the penetration to see that the opportunity of science lay in estab- 

 lishing a claim to usefulness in connection with these efforts for 

 the enlargement of the nation. It was in large measure due to his 

 delicate management and untiring zeal, that collectors were em- 

 ployed upon every expedition sent out by the government, whether 

 to the west or to foreign countries. After the return of these ex- 

 peditions the publication of the results was urged and secured, and 

 at last it came to be recognized, that researches in geology, palse- 

 ontology, botany and zoology and their publication were necessary 

 adjuncts of a complete exploration or survey. 



To these expeditions, and to his unwearying sympathy, constant 

 helpfulness and advice, we can trace the education of an army of 

 collectors and scientific men who have since done noble service for 

 science. He gave his influence and the benefit of his greater ex- 

 perience to the men who founded the different geological surveys, 

 and was thus more or less intimately connected with their early 

 history. 



In 1879 Congress was induced to recognize the need of collecting 

 and publishing descriptions of the aboriginal monuments and re- 

 mains of the United States, and made the first annual appropria- 

 tion of $20,000 for that purpose. This grant was given directly to 

 the Smithsonian, and Professor Baird, who was then Secretary, 

 appointed Major Powell to be director of the new department. 

 Thus the Ethnological Bureau was founded and its first four re- 

 ports by Major Powell, volumes of hundreds of pages, profusely 

 illustrated, have already appeared. 



After his appointment to the Smithsonian, that institution began 

 to support a Museum, and his collections and those gathered under 

 his superintendence were all it possessed until 1857, when the re- 

 gents finally agreed to receive the collections of the Wilkes' expe- 

 dition then stored in the patent office. Congress granted a small 



