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Spencer Baird of the Smithsonian. E. F. RIVINIUS and E. M. YOUSSEF. Smithsonian Institution Press, Washington, DC, 1992. xii, 228 pp. + plates. $29.95.
Spencer Fullerton Baird (1823-1887) served as assistant secretary and then secretary of the Smithsonian, as head of the U.S. Fish Commission, and in numerous other central administrative capacities. These facts suggest that studying his career can tell us much about American science and its setting, yet he is one of the architects of American science who have not yet received much attention. Dean Allard began to look at Baird in a 1978 book documenting his role with the Fish Commission but did not proceed to a full biographical study. Fortunately, Rivinius and Youssef have begun that work. They have used the rich collections at the Smithsonian Archives, as well as their own familiarity with the Smithsonian and its history, to produce a valuable introduction to this important figure. They describe and analyze the man as well as his administrative work, painting Baird as human and fallible in some respects even while he seemed superhuman in others.
Baird began his naturalist career as a socially well-placed boy in rural Carlisle, Pennsylvania. There he loved observing...