他们一开始是朋友和互相崇拜者,甚至互相用对方的名字来命名化石种类,1868年还愉快地在一起工作了一个星期。后来,两人的关系出了问题——谁也搞不清出了什么问题——到了第二年,他们之间已经成为一种敌对关系;那种关系在随后的30年里发展为强烈的仇恨。可以有把握地说,自然科学领域里再也找不出另外两个人比他们更互相鄙视对方的了。
Marsh, the elder of the two by eight years, was a retiring and bookish fellow, with a trim beardand dapper manner, who spent little time in the field and was seldom very good at findingthings when he was there. On a visit to the famous dinosaur fields of Como Bluff, Wyoming, hefailed to notice the bones that were, in the words of one historian, "lying everywhere like logs."
马什比对方大8岁。他是个离群索居的书呆子,衣冠楚楚,留着整齐的胡子,极少去野外工作,去了也很不善于发现东西。有一次他去怀俄明州参观著名的科摩崖恐龙地带,却没有注意到——用一位历史学家的话来说——恐龙骨头简直“像木头那样满地都是”。
But he had the means to buy almost anything he wanted. Although he came from a modestbackground—his father was a farmer in upstate New York—his uncle was the supremely rich andextraordinarily indulgent financier George Peabody. When Marsh showed an interest in naturalhistory, Peabody had a museum built for him at Yale and provided funds sufficient for Marshto fill it with almost whatever took his fancy.
但是,他有的是钱,差不多可以想买什么就买什么。虽然他来自一个不大富裕的家庭——他的父亲是纽约州北部的一名农场主——但他的叔叔却是那位富得冒油、极其宽容的金融家乔治·皮博迪。当马什流露出对自然史感兴趣的时候,皮博迪为他在耶鲁大学盖了个博物馆,并给了他足够的资金来装满他看得中的差不多任何东西。