Spencer Fullerton Baird - a Biography by William Healey Dall
Spencer Fullerton Baird - a Biography including selections from his correspondence with Audubon, Agassiz, Dana, and others by William Healey Dall, A. M., D. SC. with nineteen illustrations [vignette] Philadelphia; London, J. B. Lippincott Company, 1915 [“published April”]; pp. xvi + 462,19 unnumbered plates. ($3.50.)
The book of the above title is of more than ordinary interest to western bird students. Baird was intimately identified with the scientific operations of the Pacific Railroad Surveys and with the publication of the results of those operations. The wealth of biographical detail collected by Dr. Dall concerning Professor Baird thus provides a great number of facts relative to the early history of ornithology in our western states.
The book contains many letters written by the notable naturalists of the times, and many interesting side-lights are thereby thrown upon the relationships and characters of these men. Baird himself was evidently the inspiring genius of his oeriod. Practically every important achievement in the field of vertebrate zoology seemed to have been either initiated by him or prominently fostered by him.
We owe a very great deal to Dr. Dall for his expenditure of labor in making available a full account of Baird's life and activities. This is the one biography of recent publication that has appealed to the reviewer as most emphatically worth reading. The present-day naturalist, young and old alike, cannot fail to get inspiration as well as enjoyment out of it.
