

THE 



AMERICAN JOURNAL OF SCIENCE 



[FOURTH SERIES. ] 



OTHNIEL CHARLES MARSH. 



Among the leading men of science in America, Professor 

 Marsh was unquestionably one of the best known, and had one 

 of the strongest personalities. The world-wide reputation he 

 enjoyed, however, is not altogether attributable to the particu- 

 lar department of research in which he stood without a peer, 

 for, added to his attainments in Yertebrate Paleontology, he 

 possessed an unusual number of mental qualifications in other 

 lines, as well as marked personal characteristics which made 

 him known and felt where his science could never reach. His 

 fame will undoubtedly rest on his work among the Fossil 

 Yertebrates. Nevertheless, his energy and attainments in other 

 directions were sufficient to have made for him a permanent 

 record. 



The nearness of the perspective at the present time renders 

 it difficult properly to individualize and accord the true rank 

 to the many important discoveries Marsh has made. He 

 brought forth in such rapid succession so many astonishing- 

 things that the unexpected became the rule. The science of 

 Yertebrate Paleontology could not assimilate new material so 

 fast, and it will be years before the true significance and bear- 

 ing of much that he has done will be understood. The con- 

 stant-stream of vertebrate riches which, from 1868 to 1899, 

 flowed into the Yale University Museum from the Rocky 

 Mountain region had a similar bewildering effect on Marsh, for 



Am. Jour. Sci.— Fourth Series, Yol. VII, No. 42.— June, 1899. 

 27 



