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Au commencement, Bailey personnifia la faculté de sciences naturelles à lui tout seul – il enseignait la physique, la chimie, la zoologie, la botanique et la géologie – mais, à compter de 1900, son domaine se limita à la biologie et à la géologie.
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Arriving in Fredericton in the summer of 1861, Bailey found his prime duty was to teach, which he did with enthusiasm, skill, and devotion for 46 years. One of his early students, George Robert Parkin, recalled later that "the introduction to Natural Science was like the opening of a new world to me, and it gave me just the intellectual stimulation I needed." Initially, Bailey was a one-man natural science faculty, covering the broad spectrum of physics, chemistry, zoology, botany, and geology, but in 1900 his sphere was reduced to biology and geology. To illustrate his lectures he collected geological and botanical specimens, and added them to the museum cabinets started by his predecessor, James Robb*. He valued museums as educational tools and lamented the attitudes of people who regarded them as "a mere collection of curiosities." His appeals for financial support from the provincial legislature, however, fell on deaf ears.
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