Othniel Charles Marsh. 407 



In 1877, lie was the recipient of the first Bigsby Medal 

 awarded by the Geological Society of London, in recognition 

 of his important labors on the Vertebrate Paleontology of the 

 western territories of the United States. In 1898, the highly 

 valued Cnvier Prize was given him by the French Academy, 

 as one of the most able continuators of the science of which 

 Cnvier had laid the foundations. 



Prominent among the various societies of which lie was a 

 member may be mentioned : 



The National Academy of Sciences ; Institute of France ; 

 Royal Academy of Sciences, Brussels ; Royal Bavarian 

 Academy of Sciences, Munich ; Royal Academy of Sciences, 

 Bologna ; Royal Danish Academy of Sciences, Copenhagen ; 

 Royal Irish Academy; Geological Society of London; Geo- 

 logical Society of Germany ; American Philosophical Society; 

 Academy of Natural Sciences, Philadelphia ; Zoological 

 Society of London ; Societe Imperiale des Naturalistes, Mos- 

 cow ; Geological Society of America, etc., etc. 



Few men have contributed more to The American Journal 

 of Science than Professor Marsh. Nearly all his discoveries 

 in science were first announced here, and it is the storehouse 

 of most of his best work. 



The subject of the present sketch was born near Lockport, 

 New York, October 29, 1831. His parents were Caleb and 

 Mary Peabody Marsh, formerly of Danvers (now Peabody), 

 Massachusetts. His early education was obtained in the 

 schools of Lockport and at the Wilson Collegiate Institute, 

 Wilson, New York. A residence in a region rich in minerals 

 and fossils is apt to attract the attention of a youth possessing 

 healthy intelligence, and young Marsh soon shared his vacation 

 time between the normal pursuits of shooting and fishing and 

 the more unusual vocation of collecting minerals and fossils. 

 By the time he was nineteen years old, he had thus acquired 

 the taste for scientific subjects which was destined to grow and 

 dominate the remainder of his life. 



In 1851, he entered Phillips Academy at Andover, Massa- 

 chusetts, and continued his studies there until graduation in 



