Publication InformationRome April 10 1854

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Dear Baird

The enclosed letter which as you see is without address, you will please give to Mr Gilliss. It refers to a picture of my poor little namesake for Mrs Gilliss, the sending of which I do not wish to have made know to her abruptly, & for that reason I desire the letter communicating the fact to be handed to Mr G. when she is not present

I wrote you on the 21' of March since which no change has occurred in our plans. We intend to leave in about two weeks for such quarters of the globe as the wind shall set for, most likely the parts of the North, in regard that Auster and Africus, and other meridional breezes, do most usually blow at that season. A letter from a friend expresses sorrow about some feud between you & Aggasiz, whereon I remarked, that I did not see how anybody quarrel with you, such is my opinion of your meekness. I hope 'tis a fable, & in any case am prepared to absolve you & condemn Aggasiz, both unheard, so write me no exculpation of yourself,

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or inculpation of your enemy. Only let me know whether I am right in suspecting, that a certain person--Gilliss will, guess whom I refer to- had a hand in it, for the sake of doing you a mischief. Well! 'tis a wicked world. The sheep are in small proportion to the goats. If it wasn't for me and you & Gilliss and our wives, and two or three more, they'd all be burnt like Sodom and Gomorrah, bad luck to them. Well, well, we can do our duty, and spare some supererogatory virtues for them, poor sinners. Why don't you answer my letters of Jan'y 14? Too bad for you, wasn't it? The fact is I am too learned

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I will forget myself, & come down to the common level hereafter. I shall be glad to hear the issue of the Smithsonian investigation, but I don't think anything will come of it. I hope the crystal palace you speak of will be adopted, & that it will be made large enough for everything. Above all, the plan ought to be such as to admit of indefinite extension But is the mall healthy? Won't there be malaria there?

Yours trulyG P Marsh

Prof. S. F. Baird

References in this letter:

James Melville Gilliss (1811-1865) was both a naval officer and astronomer. He was responsible for proposing and supervising the building of Naval Observatory in Washington, DC (1842-1844). In 1846 he was assigned to the U.S. Coast Survey and spent several years in Chile conducting astronomical observations. The Gilliss family, based in Washington, became close friends of the Marshes and the Bairds.

Names given to two winds: Auster is the name of the south wind and Africus is the sirocco, or southwest wind.

Swiss born zoologist and geologist, Louis Agassiz (1807-1873) emigrated to the U.S. in 1846 to join the faculty at Harvard where he became a leading figure in American science. He a member of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian and initially supported Baird but later disparaged his scientific accomplishments and, in 1863, attempted to block Baird's election to the National Academy of Sciences.

Two of the biblical "Cities of the Plain," Sodom and Gomorrah were destroyed by heavenly fire because of their wickedness.