OBITUARY NOTICES. 
425 
He was elected a member of the American Association for 
the Advancement of Science at its twenty-eighth annual 
meeting, in August, 1880, and at the meeting of August, 
1881, was made a fellow of that society. The only paper he 
contributed to the proceedings of this Society was on “A 
Probable Cause of the Shrinkage of the Earth’s Crust.” 
On leaving the Patent Office he was engaged by Professor 
Henry to edit his researches on “ Sound ” and “ Illuminating 
Materials ” for the reports of the Light House Board, and in 
1878 was appointed by Henry as an assistant in the Smith¬ 
sonian Institution, a position which he continued to hold 
for seventeen years, until his death. 
On the death of Professor Spencer F. Baird, Secretary of 
the Smithsonian Institution and United States Commissioner 
of Fisheries, August 19, 1887, the Washington Philosophical 
Society, as the senior of the Washington scientific societies 
and the one with which Professor Baird had been most closely 
connected, took initial steps in arranging for a joint meeting 
to commemorate his life and services. To Mr. Taylor was 
assigned the theme of “ Professor Baird as an Administrator,” 
and on account of an intimate knowledge of his great work 
in the Smithsonian he was eminently fitted to discharge the 
duty assigned him. His eulogy of Professor Baird was pub¬ 
lished in the bulletin of the Philosophical Society, vol. X, 
1888; also in the Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections. 
He was president of the District of Columbia Alumni As¬ 
sociation of the University of Pennsylvania, and presided at 
its annual banquets. 
During the life of Professor Henry no formal office existed 
as “ editor ” of the Smithsonian publications. Every article 
submitted for publication was carefully examined by Pro¬ 
fessor Henry himself, all doubtful points discussed with the 
authors, and every line closely scrutinized in the proof-sheets, 
independent of, and in addition to, the examination made 
by his assistants. Mr. Taylor’s distinctive labors as “ editor ” 
commenced with Professor Baird’s accession to the secretary¬ 
ship. 
