70 
PHILOSOPHICAL SOCIETY OP WASHINGTON. 
iiomic biology for which this organization has furnished material 
and means. No more emphatic object-lesson of the vital relations 
existing betw^een research, as such, and the promotion of the ma¬ 
terial interests of mankind has ever been furnished to the so-called 
“ practical man ” than that afforded by the w’ork of the United 
States Fish Commission as directed by Professor Baird. 
Whether germane to the subject of scientific research or not, the 
most narrow specialist can hardly grudge an allusion to the grandeur 
of the methods by which the food supply of a nation was provided, 
hundreds of rivers stocked with fish, and the very depths of ocean 
were repopulated. Typically American we may call them in their 
audacity and their success. The Fishery boards of foreign countries, 
first quietly indifferent, then loudly incredulous, in due time became 
interested inquirers and enthusiastic followers. In a few years we 
may fairly expect to see the food supply of the entire civilized 
world materially increased, with all the benefits which that implies, 
and this result will in the main be owing to the unremunerated 
and devoted exertions of Spencer F. Baird. 
