310 LEADING AMERICAN MEN OF SCIENCE 



controversy and the struggle for priority to mar his happiness 

 and hinder his work. His fossils were priceless in his eyes, and he 

 guarded them with extremest care. A man of less enthusiasm or 

 of more liberal mind might have turned over certain subjects to 

 able assistants; Marsh's failure in this respect caused in several 

 cases a rupture of friendly relations. If his nature had been more 

 conciliatory if he had really cared more for peace these troubles 

 might have been avoided. He had one or two unfortunate experi- 

 ences with visitors; hence was somewhat suspicious and disposed 

 to think that strangers were trying to overreach him. On the other 

 hand, he was a man of kindly nature, extremely jolly, and very 

 fond of a joke even though it were directed against himself. He 

 was generous, also, in the sense that if anyone made a special effort 

 in his behalf he would in turn go out of his way to assist the one 

 who had aided him. Marsh's peculiarities were many, some of 

 them being so marked as to give his enemies an opportunity to 

 speak ill of him, which sometimes resulted in grave injustice. 



His foibles and failings, however, sink into insignificance when 

 compared with the many rare qualities that made his life success- 

 ful. To a notable degree, he possessed the faculty of making 

 even minor things seem worth while; he lent to his surroundings 

 a strength and dignity that were almost unique. Since his death, 

 the grievances of most of those who worked under him have been 

 forgotten in admiration for his achievements. He had but few 

 close friends in America, yet his relations with men of science in 

 England were of the friendliest sort; however, Huxley's recorded 

 estimate of him, that he was "a wonderfully good fellow, full of 

 fun and stories of his western adventures," will find hearty indorse- 

 ment in many minds, at home as well as abroad. Marsh was a 

 keen judge of men, could instantly select the one that he felt would 

 be of most use to him, and was seldom at fault in his estimate of 

 character. He was efficient and shrewd, and an aggressive leader. 

 The quiet humor displayed in parts of the diary to which refer- 

 ence has been made constituted one of his most prominent charac- 

 teristics. 



The last years of his life were shadowed by adversity, yet to the 



