[From THE AMERICAN JOURNAL OF ScIENCE, FourTH Series, Vou. VII, 
pp. 403-428, June, 1899. ] , 
OTHNIEL CHARLES MARSH. 

Amone 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 Vertebrate 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 
Vertebrates. Nevertheless, his energy and attainments in other 
directions were sufficient to have made for him a permanent 
record. 7 
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 
Vertebrate 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 
