Professor Othniel Charles Marsh

Abstract

JUST within a period of two years the United States has lost two of its most distinguished palæontologists, Cope having passed away on April 12, 1897, while the death of Marsh is announced to have taken place on the 18th of March of the present year. The two names have been associated (not always, unfortunately, in the most amicable manner) in connection with the marvellous discoveries of strange and gigantic creatures which have rendered the last five-and-twenty years unique in the history of palæontology; and it may be regarded as certain that none of their successors, however able they may be, will ever attain the world-wide celebrity accorded to these distinguished workers. For as Owen and Huxley are the two English biologists whose names have become household words, so Marsh and Cope are the popular representatives of Trans-Atlantic palæontological investigation.