OBITUARY NOTICES. 
485 
condition of the proposed site for the new naval observatory 
at Washington, and upon their favorable decision depended 
in great part the acceptance of the property. While on this 
duty Dr. Kidder also suggested several changes in the Ameri¬ 
can naval rations, based upon a study of their physiological 
value. Subsequent to his resignation from the navy, he was 
called upon to investigate the purity of the air in the Hall 
of Representatives at the Capitol and its approaches, and in 
the lecture hall of the National Museum, in both instances 
securing practical results of great benefit. 
As before mentioned, Dr. Kidder was on special service with 
the United States Fish Commission during the summers of 
1875 and 1879, and in the latter year he made an interesting 
series of experiments on the animal heat of fishes. He was de¬ 
tailed to the Albatross in 1882 as a naval surgeon, but after 
holding that position for only a few months his active connec¬ 
tion with the navy ceased, and he was appointed a civilian as¬ 
sistant on the Fish Commission. This change was determined 
mainly by the recent death of his father, of whose estate he t 
was an administrator, and by his desire for occupation that 
would retain him near his family. His specific duties were 
those of physicist and chemist, but as the trusted adviser of 
Professor Baird, who had the highest regard for his ability 
and judgment, he contributed in many ways to the general 
welfare of the Commission. In the building of the marine 
station at Wood’s Holl, Mass., begun in 1883, he took a deep 
personal interest, placing at the service of Professor Baird an 
adjoining piece of land which he had acquired for that pur¬ 
pose. A physical laboratory, suitably equipped for fishery 
investigations, was established at that place, and another of 
the same character in the Smithsonian Institution at Wash¬ 
ington, Dr. Kidder’s time being divided between the two. 
His work related chiefly to water temperatures, densities, 
and analyses, to the purchase and testing of all physical ap¬ 
paratus, to experiments upon the preservation of fresh fish, 
and to such other kindred subjects as came within the prov¬ 
ince of the Fish Commission. His unwillingness to publish 
