Later he proceeded to the University of Edinburgh where, in 1823, he founded the Plinian Society for the study of natural history, and was its first president.
Baird set himself resolutely to make them Christians and, in the eyes of many at the time, "useful" members of society as a result.
[verification needed] One way that Baird attempted to disrupt the Romany travellers' lives was by persuading their tribal elders to give up their children to Christian families, where they would be separated from their parents, boarded and enrolled in a local school, as part of his continued efforts to replace the traditional Romany way of life with Christian religious mores and lifestyles.
[1] The work was done in connection with a society formed in Edinburgh for the 'Reformation of the Gipsies in Scotland,' and it met with a considerable amount of success.
Baird wrote the 'Scottish Gipsies' Advocate,' Edinburgh 1839, and contributed an 'Account of the Parish of Yetholm' to the 'New Statistical Account of Scotland.'