Othniel Charles Marsh. 7 
In 1877, he 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 Cuvier Prize was given him by the French Academy, 
as one of the most able continuators of the science of which 
Cuvier had laid the foundations. 
Prominent among the various societies of which he 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; Société Impériale des Naturalistes, Mos- 
cow ; Geological Society of America, etc., ete. 
_ Few men have contributed more to Taz AMERICAN JOURNAL 
oF Scrence 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 
