Othniel Charles Marsh. 411 



was being carried on, and some time each year was spent in 

 reconnaissance for new fields of labor. 



The right wing of the Peabody Museum was completed in 

 1875, the means having been furnished by Mr. George 

 Peabody largely through the influence of his nephew, Profes- 

 sor Marsh. It was to his uncle, also, that Marsh was indebted 

 for his educational advantages and for his private fortune. 

 The old Yale Cabinet had long been outgrown. The rooms 

 became so crowded that for years there was only space for a 

 chalk line dividing the different departments. The collections 

 which had been accumulating during so many previous years 

 found a commodious home in the new museum, and work 

 was resumed with great activity under more favorable condi- 

 tions than heretofore. Huxley's visit in the following year 

 was a further stimulus to higher work, as is clearly evinced 

 in the celebrated Nashville address mentioned elsewhere. 



The National Government had not altogether neglected its 

 opportunities for scientific research in the West during this 

 period, though the results in the way of substantial collections 

 were far inferior to those Marsh had obtained. For some time 

 previous to 1878, there were four separate surveys, two under 

 the Engineer Department of the Army and two others, exten- 

 sions of private expeditions, under the Department of the 

 Interior. In the reorganization ordered by Congress in 1878, 

 Marsh, as acting President of the National Academy of Sci- 

 ences, was the chief instrument in effecting a consolidation and 

 in defining the relations of the present United States Geologi- 

 cal Survey with the general Government and with the United 

 States National Museum. The wisdom of this change was at 

 once apparent, and the Survey is now often considered one of 

 the most economical, best managed, and productive depart- 

 ments of the Government. 



After repeated solicitation and with promises of material aid 

 in the way of publication and collections, Marsh, in 1882, 

 accepted the appointment of Vertebrate Paleontologist to the 

 United States Geological Survey. This position he held to the 

 time of his death, although the field work for the survey was 

 terminated in 1892. His connection with the Survey gave him 

 increased facilities for publication and for prosecuting explora- 



