Italy (1845); History of the Albigenses, Waldenses, and Vaudois.
BAIRD, Spencer Fullerton (1823-87). An American naturalist. He was born at Reading, Pa., February 3, 1823, of English and German parentage, and died at Woods Hole, Mass., August 10, 1887. He graduated from Dickinson College, Carlisle, Pa., in 1840, and in 1842 studied at the College of Physicians and Surgeons in New York City. During these earlier years he had formed valuable and influential acquaintanceships with Audubon and Agassiz, and other leaders of American zoölogy, in much of whose work he was a collaborator. In 1845 he was elected professor of the natural sciences in Dickinson College, but continued his original work. He became assistant secretary of the Smithsonian Institution in 1850, and entered upon his life-work. This was the period of an extensive exploration of the western half of the United States, and Baird had charge of the energetic efforts made under the direction of the Smithsonian Institution to carry on a scientific investigation coincident with the geographical exploration of that region, and of the formulation and publication of the results in the reports of the Pacific Railway surveys and elsewhere. He also stimulated private research and the deposit of objects in the care of the Smithsonian, thus laying the foundation of the National Museum, which was organized (1857) and developed by him. Upon the death of Joseph Henry in 1878, he became secretary of the Smithsonian, and still farther advanced its work and collections in the direction of zoölogy and American archæology. Meanwhile he had been urging the need of the investigation and conservation of the fishes and fisheries of the United States, and through his action Congress created in 1874 the Commission of Fish and Fisheries, appointing Professor Baird its first commissioner, an office which he retained until his death, and wherein he organized the entire science and practice of fish culture (q.v.) in the United States, and made it a model that has been widely copied in other countries.
In the dual relation which he sustained to two great branches of public scientific work, increased by his constant editing and writing for the press, Baird exerted an influence more extensive and stimulative than was exercised by any man of his time. He trained a large number of men who have reached great usefulness and fame in various departments of scientific and economic natural history, and is affectionately remembered by a great circle of students for his helpful kindness and encouragement. A complete bibliography of the titles of his works and papers to 1882 was compiled by G. Brown Goode and published as Bulletin No. 20 of the United States National Museum (Washington, 1883). It contains 1063 titles, to which the product of five more years is to be added. He edited the Smithsonian Reports from 1878, and several Reports of the United States Commission of Fish and Fisheries, to which he also contributed many special papers. Among the more important of his publications are: Catalogue of North American Reptiles (1853); Birds of America (with Cassin, 1860); Mammals of North America (1859); History of American Birds (with Brewer and Ridgway, 1874-84).
BAIREUTH, bi'roit. See Bayreuth.
BAISCH, bish, Hermann (1846-94). A Ger-
man landscape-painter, born at Dresden. He
studied at the Stuttgart Art School, and in 1868
went to Paris, where he was much influenced by
the works of Dupré and Rousseau. In 1869 he
became a pupil of Lier at Munich. Soon he made
himself known for his landscapes, chiefly of the
region about Munich. They are distinguished
by careful observation, and subtlety of atmos-
pheric effects. In 1880 he was appointed pro-
fessor of landscape painting in the art school at
Karlsruhe. His most prominent works are:
"Mill by Moonlight" (Stuttgart Gallery);
"Dutch Canal Landscape" (Dresden Gallery);
"At the Watering-Trough" (Hanover Museum);
and "Ebb-Tide near Dordrecht" (Berlin National
Gallery).
BAIT, bit. See Beit.
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BAITER, bi'ter, Johann Georg (1801-77). A German philologist, born at Zürich. He studied at Munich, Göttingen, and Königsberg, was for some time professor in the University of Zürich, and from 1849 to 1865 rector of the Zürich Gynmasium. With Orelli and Winckelmann, he prepared a collective edition of the works of Plato (1839-42); with Sauppe one of the speeches of Lycurgus (1839-50); and he contributed the Annales (1858) to the second edition of Orelli's recension of Tacitus. He also published an edition of the Fabellæ Iambicæ of Babrius, then recently discovered (with Orelli, 1845), and edited the philosophical writings of Cicero for the Tauchnitz edition of the complete works of that author (1860-69).
BAIT'-FISHING. The second great subdivision of angling, which is again divisible into fresh-water fishing and salt-water fishing. For bait-fishing a stiff rod is required, varying in length and strength, as must the line, with the size and nature of the fish. In fresh-water fishing, the bait generally is sunk by attaching a split shot, or other lead sinker, about a foot above the hook, and a cork or quill float is attached to the line at a point which will allow it to float upon the surface of the water when the bait is at the desired depth. The bait varies, almost as much as does the fly in casting; for trout those commonly employed are worms, grasshoppers and minnows; for bass, minnows, the helgramite or dobson, crawfish, small frogs, grasshoppers, and crickets. For sea-fishing of the ordinary nature, where the fish are not expected to weigh more than two pounds, a stout rod 8 or 10 feet long, with 100 yards of No. 12 Cuttyhunk and a strong single gut-leader three feet long, a small float and 2-0 hooks, with shrimp or shedder crab bait, will be found effective. From the 2-pound bluefish up to the giant tarpon, which is occasionally yet caught by 'still-fishing,' bait-fishing passes through a wide variety.
Bait-casting is a variety of bait-fishing in which the sinker and float are discarded: as
