6 



SCIENCE. 



[N. S. Vol. XI. No. 262. 



better because of their having intermingled 

 with his. 



Thomas C. Mendenhall. 

 WoECESTEE Polytechnic Institute. 



EDWARD ORTON, GEOLOGIST* 

 It was in the autumn of 1869, just thirty 

 years ago, that I first met Dr. Orton. In 

 that year the Second Geological Survey of 

 the State was inaugurated under the direct- 

 orship of the late Professor Newberry ; 

 Governor Hayes named Dr. Orton as one 

 of the two principal assistants for which 

 the law made provision ; and it was my 

 own privilege to be accepted, at the same 

 time, as a volunteer aid. In the arrange- 

 ment of duties Dr. Orton took charge of 

 work in the southwest quarter of the State, 

 and Dr. Newberry gave chief attention to 

 the northeast quarter. Being assigned to 

 Newberry's corps, I had no opportunity to 

 meet Dr. Orton until late in the season, 

 when I had the good fortune to be bidden 

 to attend a conference of the chiefs at 

 Columbus. While on the journey from 

 Cleveland, Newberry prepared me for the 

 meeting by sketching the quality and char- 

 acter of his colleague — a man without guile, 

 direct in his conversation, and absolutely 

 transparent as to motive. The simplicity 

 of manner which would impress me at the 

 start was not of manner merely, but was a 

 fundamental trait coordinate with, and not 

 contradicted by the wisdom which made 

 him a man of affairs. His sensitive con- 

 science making him peculiarly careful to 

 adhere to the facts of observation, he was 

 cautious and conservative in all his geologic 

 work. 



Newberry's description naturally made a 

 strong impression, and in the conference 

 that followed it is probable that I gave as 

 much attention to the man as to the sub- 

 jects of discussion. Certain it is, that the 



* Read at a Memorial Meeting, Columbus, Ohio, 

 November 26, 1899. 



geologic themes have vanished from my 

 memory, while the picture of the man re- 

 mains. In later years, as we met from 

 time to time, as I listened to his voice in 

 public address or read the papers that em- 

 anated from his pen, I was able to add 

 here and there a detail which Newberry's 

 sketch had failed to delineate, but no line 

 of it was ever erased, and Orton has re- 

 mained for me one of the safest and most 

 open-minded of investigators and the sim- 

 plest, kindliest, and most lovable of men. 



To what extent considerations of histor- 

 ical fitness may have determined the ar- 

 rangement of to-day's exercises I do not 

 know, but certainly there was peculiar 

 propriety in giving first place to Orton's 

 work as an educator. During the first half 

 of his period of intellectual activity educa- 

 tion was the primary theme, and it was 

 only in later years that geology assumed 

 prominence. We are told that his first 

 geologic observation was undertaken with 

 the distinct purpose of increasing his effi- 

 ciency as a teacher of geology, and in his 

 early acquaintance with rocks and fossils 

 his point of view was educational. Inter- 

 est in geologic studies for their own sake 

 was a matter of development, and many 

 years elapsed before it assumed control in 

 the determination of his fields of activity. 

 This peculiarity of his introduction to the 

 science in which he finally achieved dis- 

 tinction had much to do with the quality 

 of his scientific work and scientific writings. 



It determined, in the first place, that he 

 should not specialize at the beginning of his 

 career. In geology, as in medicine, there 

 are general practitioners, broadly versed in 

 the principles and particulars of the science, 

 who are prepared to undertake and conduct 

 investigations of great variety ; and there 

 are specialists, each devoted to some minor 

 branch of the general subject, in which he 

 works intensely and exhaustively. The 

 specialist, restricting his attention thus to 



