The New International Encyclopædia/Orton, Edward

OR'TON, (1829-99). An American educator and geologist. He was born in Deposit, N. Y., graduated at Hamilton College in 1848, and studied at Lane Theological Seminary, at the Lawrence Scientific School, Harvard, and at Andover Theological Seminary. He taught successively at the State Normal School, Albany, N. Y., at the Chester (N. Y.) Academy, and at Antioch College, of which he was also president in 1872-73. He was first president of the Ohio Agricultural and Mechanical College (now Ohio State University) (1873-81), and was professor of geology there from 1873 to 1899. He was an assistant State geologist (1869-82), was State geologist (1882-99), served for a time on the geological surveys of the United States, of Kentucky, and of Kansas, and was president of the Geological Society of America (1896), and of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (1898-99). He was essentially an economic geologist, and specialized in the study of oil and gas, developing several well-known theories, notably the &lsquo;anticlinal theory,&rsquo; and becoming widely known as an authority on the nature and geological occurrence of these products. He wrote portions of vols. i., ii., and iii. of the Reports of the Ohio Geological Survey, and a large part of vols. v., vi., and vii., besides numerous papers in the geological magazines and papers on petroleum, gas, and asphalt in the Kentucky Geological Reports (1891), and in the Report of the United States Geological Survey (1887).