544 PROCEEDINGS OF THE WASHINGTON MEETING 



This change of belief cost him not only loss of status as a Presbyterian 

 minister, but the alienation of friends, and there followed a period of such 

 unhappy rejnembrance that he afterward shrank from the mention of it, 

 even to the mem Iters of his family. It is to the credit of advancing civil- 

 ization that here at the end of the nineteenth century our community 

 finds difficulty in realizing how hard was the temporal way of the apos- 

 tate even at the century's middle. 



On leaving the Presbyterian ministry Orton accepted secular teaching 

 as an occupation, but adhered to religious teaching as a duty. Living 

 in communities where there were few Unitarians, he was not connected 

 with a church organization, but he often addressed audiences on relig- 

 ious and ethical topics, and during his connection with the State Univer- 

 sity he frequently gave a Sunday lecture for the benefit of such students 

 as were not connected with the Columbus churches. This practice and 

 the spirit which actuated it doubtless helped to keep him in touch with 

 the community and contributed to the high esteem and confidence with 

 which he was regarded. It is proper to add that, while his belief in the 

 fundamental doctrines of Christianity survived the perils sometimes 

 attributed to scientific training, his science suffered nothing from theo- 

 logic bias. His writings ascribe the phenomena of nature to natural 

 causes, and his hypotheses seek verification by appeal to visible and 

 tangible facts. 



Of his work as an educator it is not necessary that I attempt to speak, 

 because it has already been treated by the abler pen of Doctor Menden- 

 hall,* who was for years his associate. It contributed to his success as 

 a geologist chiefly by making him master of the art of presentation alike 

 from the platform or through the printed page. 



Orton's interest in geology was not developed until early manhood. 

 His first work appears to have consisted of observation and collection 

 carried on as an aid to teaching, and it was not until his forty-first year 

 that he made contribution to the literature of the science. In the year 

 1869 the Second Geological Survey of Ohio was organized, with John S. 

 Newberry as State Geologist and Edward Orton and E. B. Andrews as 

 Assistant Geologists. Orton was at that time professor of natural 

 sciences in Antioch College and did not relinquish his college work. 

 The southwest quarter of the state, called the third district, was assigned 

 him as his field of survey, and an assistant was given him. After a few 

 seasons of active field-work, in which the areal geology was completed 



* Edward Orton, educator. By T. ('. .Mcndcnhall. Address read at Columbus, Ohio, November 

 20, ami printed by the Ohio State University in a memorial volume. Printed also in Science, vol. 

 11, 1900, pp. 6-11. A biographic memoir by I. C White is published in the American Geologisl 

 (vol. xxv, 1900, pp. 197-210), and one l>y .). J. Stevenson in the Journal of Geology (vol. viii, 1900, 

 pp. 205-213). 



