288 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



Nova Scotia were made for the purpose of investigating the geol- 

 ogy of that peninsula and of adding to his specimens. In 1855, 

 with his intimate friend and classmate Park, he explored the 

 famous Coal-Measure section at South Joggins, where he found 

 the remains of a unique extinct animal, Eosaurus, the description 

 of which was not published until seven years later. This important 

 discovery eventually changed the course of his scientific career, 

 these two vertebrae serving as the basis of his future work in verte- 

 brate paleontology. 



The summer preceding his entrance to college was employed 

 in field work in New Hampshire, Vermont, and New York, 

 most of the time in company with his lifelong friend Van Name; 

 the autumn of 1856 saw him a freshman at Yale. After his bril- 

 liant career at the academy, where he had been the acknowledged 

 leader in all society matters and class affairs, it was to be expected 

 that he would meet with disappointment in his new surroundings. 

 Some of his college instructors were apparently less able men than 

 those under whom he had been studying, and failed to arouse the 

 enthusiasm and earnestness inspired by his Andover professors. 

 He was also exhausted by the intense work of the three preceding 

 years and suffered a natural reaction; his scholarship therefore 

 fell below the remarkably high standard previously maintained. 

 Socially, too, he soon discovered a marked difference between the 

 position of leading senior at Andover and that of freshman at 

 Yale. He suffered some humiliations, but the experiences were 

 doubtless beneficial, for his extraordinary success at Andover had 

 perhaps given him too exalted an opinion of himself. 



In July, 1857, his uncle and benefactor, Mr. George Peabody 

 of London, visited him for the first time at New Haven, and ex- 

 hibited a keen interest in his scientific pursuits. This first visit 

 doubtless laid the foundation for Mr. Peabody's subsequent liber- 

 ality to Yale in bestowing the fund which finally resulted in the 

 present Peabody Museum. 



While in college, Marsh gave much of his leisure to the study 

 of the natural history of various parts of Connecticut, and his 

 vacations were often spent in examining the geology and paleon- 



