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UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA.
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FROM THE "ANALYSE DE LA NATURE."

AUTHOR'S EDITION

FILSON CLUB PUBLICATIONS No. 10

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

OF

RAFINESQUE

Prepared for the Filson Club and read at its Meeting
Monday, April 2, 1894

BY RICHARD ELLSWORTH CALL, M.A., M.Sc., M.D.

Member of the Filson Club

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY
JOHN P. MORTON AND COMPANY

fo l
1895

CNIVBB8ITT

COPYRIGHTED BY

RICHARD ELLSWORTH CALL
1895

TO THE MEMORY OF

Constantino ^amuef

NATURALIST

PREFACE.

HHHIS memoir had its inception in an attempt to clear
•1 up certain matters connected with the synonymy of
a large and important group of fresh -water mollusks —
the UnionidcB, A number of very remarkable facts con
nected with the personality of its subject were thus
incidentally learned. As the collation of data proceeded
the facts gathered seemed of sufficient importance to
group them for presentation to the literary and scientific
world, in the hope that a better and more intelligent
understanding of this eccentric naturalist might result.
A number of impressions were forced upon my attention
as the work proceeded; among other conclusions reached
was the one that Rafinesque had not been treated always
fairly by his contemporaries. Resulting from this was
the conviction that many naturalists now living have
formed opinions concerning the nature and value of
Rafinesque's work, which appear to me to be quite
erroneous. In the hope that some of these misappre
hensions might- be corrected the task of writing his
life, which is quite a labor of love, was undertaken.

THF.

UHIVEB8ITI

vi Preface.

The Filson Club, an organization devoted primarily
to the collection and preservation of original matter
connected with the history of the State of Kentucky,
has, since it recognizes Rafinesque as the first resident
professor -naturalist within the limits of the State, been
particularly interested in this memoir, and its aid has
been freely extended in the matter of sumptuous publica
tion. The intelligent interest and historical enthusiasm
of Colonel R. T. Durrett, LL. D., the President of the
Club, was early enlisted in the project, partly for the
reasons above given and partly because of personal
interest in the career of a most remarkable man. He
freely offered access to his superb and unrivaled library
of Kentuckiana, without which courtesy much, which
now appears, must long have remained unknown.

During the progress of this work numerous courtesies
have been extended, and by various persons. To these
especial thanks are due. Professor Howard M. Ballou,
of the Louisville Manual Training High School, spent
many days in the various libraries of Boston and Cam
bridge in abstracting and verifying certain bibliographic
matter; to his interest and zeal this portion of the
brochure owes very much indeed; he has also rendered
invaluable aid in proof-reading as the several signatures
came from the press. Doctor G. Brown Goode, Assistant

Preface. vii

Director of the United States National Museum, Doctor
Charles S. Sargent, Director of the Arnold Arboretum
at Jamaica Plains, Mr. C. E. Faxon, of the same institu
tion, Honorable Thomas Meehan, of Philadelphia, and
W. H. Venable, LL. D., of Cincinnati, have all contrib
uted valuable aid. Doctor Goode especially has cour
teously furnished all the references to the rare Specchio
delle Scienze, and has also verified others; he further
has looked over the proofs of part of the bibliographic
portion as they came from the printer, and has made
numerous valuable suggestions. I desire to make especial
mention of the aid afforded by Miss Johanna Peter, of
Lexington, who kindly undertook the laborious task of
a careful search through the Lexington Library, rich
in old Kentucky books and newspaper files, and thus
led to the discovery of many useful items. Mr. Alexander
Griswold kindly photographed the pages for the plate
illustrating the Florula Ludovic iana ; Doctor William
T. Durrett did the same with the page for the plate
from the Fishes of the River Ohio. Mrs. Asa Gray
has courteously allowed the use of the letter to De Can-
dolle, from among the letters left by Doctor Asa Gray,
which is herein reproduced. To Doctor B. L. Robinson,
Curator of the Herbarium at Harvard University, thanks
are due for the opportunity to photograph the portrait

viii Preface.

of Rafinesque, which forms the frontispiece in the
"Analyse de la Nature," and which subserves the same
purpose in this volume. To all these gentlemen and
other helpers most cordial thanks are extended.

Several important items connected with rare books
were searched for and given me by Mr. Sidney M. Ballon,
of Harvard University, for which grateful acknowledg
ment is tendered. The portrait of Rafinesque, from the
Wisconsin Historical Society, was permitted presenta
tion through the generous courtesy of Honorable R. G.
Thwaites, the Secretary. To our publishers especial
acknowledgments are due for the pains taken to secure
perfection in the sumptuous form of publication adopted.
Their work needs no commendation.

To the naturalists of America this brochure is sub
mitted in the hope that it will at least aid in placing
its remarkable subject in his proper place in the histoi^
of natural science in this country. Whether all will
acquiesce in the conclusions reached is really a matter
of very small moment. If there shall result an intelli
gent estimate, favorable or otherwise, of the writings
and botanical or other scientific work of Rafinesque; if
those who have known him only through misinformation
furnished by contemporaries, who, in all cases, were not
wholly disinterested investigators, shall now have oppor-

Preface. ix

tunity to consult his published work, and shall be able,
through it, to approve or condemn his course; if the
tendency to ignore all of his work because some of it
was peculiarly bad shall give way to a more generous
treatment, then, the time required to collect and arrange
the scattered matter which constitutes the bibliographic
portion of this volume, and to present for inspection
the whole course of an active though largely misdirected
life, will be amply repaid. It is not true, notwithstand
ing that the editor of a well-known scientific journal has
but just editorially so declared, that recent identifications
of Rafinesque's species "will be ultimately set aside,
when a more critical spirit prevails among species zoolo
gists"; on the contrary, outside of certain editorial
rooms there prevails that spirit of honor and fairness
which demands that these claims shall be recognized.
The position thus editorially assumed is, in itself, a
complete justification for the expenditure of the time
and means involved in presenting, to men of science,
this resume of the work and life of Rafinesque.

RICHARD ELLSWORTH CALL.

THE FILSON CLUB,

LOUISVILLE, KENTUCKY,
7 JANUARY, 1895.

ANALYSIS.

PAGE

Introductory, i

Birth and Early Life, 3

First Visit to America, 10

Ten Years in Sicily, .... 14

Second Visit to the United States, 19

First Visit to the Falls of the Ohio 23

The Visit to Henderson, 24

From Henderson to the Mississippi, 29

First Visit to Lexington 30

Rafinesque at Transylvania University, 32

First Object Teacher in Kentucky, 42

Rafinesque as a Lecturer, 43

From 1825 to 1840, 49

The Six Per Cent Savings Bank 54

The Death of Rafinesque, . . 55

Disposition of the Property of Rafinesque, 58

The Personal Appearance of Rafinesque, 61

The Portraits of Rafinesque, 67

Rafinesque's Scientific Writings, 73

Scientific Work in Sicily, 74

Scientific Work in Lexington, 88

The Fishes of the Ohio, 90

Rafiuesque's Work in Conchology, 96

xii Analysis.

PAGE

Rafinesque's Work in Botany 103

The Florula Ludoviciana, 104

Other Botanical Work, 107

Archaeologic Work 114

Literary Work from 1825 to 1840, 119

Rafinesque's Literary Style, 122

Rafinesque and Evolution, 126

Medals, Diplomas, and Other Honors, 129

Rafinesque's Name in Nomenclature, 131

Bibliography, 133

Summary of Publications, 207

Bibliographia Incerta, 208

Bibliotheca Rafinesquiana, 209

The Will of Rafiuesque, 215

THE LIFE AND WRITINGS

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

rT"*HE difficulties with which students of science meet,
especially when far removed from the great centers
of scientific learning and culture, are often not appre
ciated at their full value. Familiarity with the work
of others in the same fields is impossible to many;
sympathetic interest on the part of others is unknown;
fruitful methods which result from the successful expe
rience of others are unheard of; means of publication
of facts of value and of especial scientific , importance
on first discovery are entirely wanting. Then, too, it
often happens that communities which are far removed
from the great urban centers have little appreciation
of the life and work of the student of Nature, who is
always open to the suspicion of mental derangement,
or at least of being charitably regarded as " eccentric".
Far more noticeable is this unfavorable feature in a
country yet quite primitive. In such regions the indus-

2 The Life and Writings of

tries and minds of the people are concentrated upon
the single problem of making the unwilling earth yield
an abundant store, or else directed to that other task
of reclaiming a virgin forest and establishing a center
of urban life and activity. Mental and scientific pursuits
under these conditions receive little attention and less
encouragement; in some unexplained manner it often
happens that those who attempt to promote these objects
meet with decided opposition. Such opposition is based
chiefly upon the idea that matters of any sort, to be of
value, must have reference solely to the real present
and find expression in money values. Rare indeed is
it, in these early communities, to find any adequate
conception of the value of the work and time spent
in the collection of plants and animals, of bugs and of
fishes, of fossils and of clams. What matters it that one
should know the life history of a single nocuous insect,
or that he have full knowledge of the ways best to
protect fishes in maintaining their existence in our
streams ? Is not a bug, a bug, and a gar-pike, a gar-pike,
for all that? So say they all! And stranger still, let
such matters become subject for legislative appropria
tions, and those who most directly are concerned stand
in armed neutrality or else in aggressive opposition.
Such is the common fate of propositions connected with

Constantine Samuel Rafinesqtte. 3

the development of natural resources when the State
is asked to aid.

It follows from these considerations that one can not
give a just estimate of the life and work of a man unless
one regards well the times in which he lived, the prevail
ing enthusiasms or their lack, the public knowledge on
matters of this sort, the public appreciation of their
value, and the other conditions of social and educational
environment of which the scholar and student of men,
or of language, or of Nature, is not wholly independent.
The beginnings of scientific life in Kentucky were in
just such surroundings as these pictured, and long
remained unchanged. In such primitive scenes, though
trained in an old and cultured community, the most
active period of a most eventful life was passed; in
estimating its value to us and to the State all these
facts must have weight.

BIRTH AND EARLY LIFE.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque [Schmaltz] was born
in Turkey in Europe, in Galata, a suburb of Constanti
nople, October 22, 1783. He was of French - German
descent, his father being a French merchant of Mar
seilles, while his mother,* though born in Greece, was

*Died at Bordeaux, 1831.

4 The Life and Writings of

of German parentage, from Saxony. The mercantile
enterprises of his father reached to distant lands and
often necessitated his absence from home for long periods
at a time. There would seem to be but little question
but that matters connected with his father's business
ventures and their recital in the home of the lad had
something to do with determining his future bent toward
travel. The family was not a large one; Rafinesque
had one only sister, who became a Mrs. G. Lanthois, of
Bordeaux, whose name was never mentioned by our
author save once, and a younger brother, Anthony
Augustus. From the circumstance that Rafinesque
speaks of this brother as his younger brother some
have inferred that there was an older member of the
group of sons, but if so it nowhere appears in any of
his writings. More of the family is not known. The
younger brother drops out of the record after 1805,
having gone to France from Philadelphia, and thence to
Sicily, and nothing further is known of him. Of the
mother very little is known, but from the fragmentary
items connected with the earlier education of Rafinesque
it would appear that she was a most intelligent woman,
and had great concern for the proper education of
this son. The absence from home of the father natu
rally placed almost the entire care of this phase of the

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 5

boy's home life in his mother's hands, and she seems
to have performed her duty well and conscientiously.
Rafinesque says* that in one of the numerous country
seats about Marseilles he first became conscious of his
existence, and there he received his first education. In
his own words: "It was there among the flowers and
fruits that I began to enjoy life, and I became a Botanist.
Afterwards the first premium I received in a school was
a book on Animals, and I became a Zoologist and Natu
ralist." There are some who profess to see in this state
ment that Rafinesque had too high an appreciation of
his powers, since a young man, or, rather, a mere boy, such
as he then was, could have been neither a botanist nor a
zoologist. Perhaps, however, the just interpretation will
be the one Rafinesque himself intended, namely, that
these books determined his career and that he dated his
interest in scientific matters from that time. In 1793
his father died, a victim to the yellow -fever epidemic
of that year which made such waste of life in Philadel
phia, whither the merchant Rafinesque had gone to
escape the English cruisers. The recollection of this
fact afterward cost the son much trouble in a similar
epidemic which obtained in Philadelphia, after Constan
tine had himself become a resident of that city.

* A Life of Travels and Researches in North America and South Europe,
etc., p. 6.

6 The Life and Writings of

The four years from 1792 to 1796 were passed in
residence with his mother near Leghorn, in Italy, whither
she had gone throngh fear connected with the excesses
of the French Revolution. He had previously been
taken to several other places by his parents, and this
fact, coupled with his later travels, gives the raison d^tre
of the French couplet which graces the title page of his
"Life." It reads:

" Un voyageur des le berce&u,
Je le serais jusqrf au tombeau. . . ."

During his residence in Italy his education was di
rected by private teachers, and geometry, geography,
history, drawing and the English language engaged
his attention. He developed a taste for reading, and
found the greatest pleasure in books of travel, greedily
devouring them all. He declares, probably in hyperbole,
" Before twelve years of age I had read the great Uni
versal history and one thousand volumes of books on
many pleasing or interesting subjects." It was while
he dwelt at Leghorn that he began regular herborizations,
in 1795, and commenced the formation of a herbal.
From what he himself relates it would appear that dur
ing this period he was allowed the fullest liberty and
gave full bent to his whims or wishes, and read and
studied what he pleased. He congratulates himself that

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque, 7

lie had wasted no time on dead languages, "but had
spent it in learning alone and by mere reading ten times
more than is taught in the Schools."

In 1796 Rafinesque was taken to Genoa, and the
journal of this tour constituted his first essay of the
kind. In making mention of this journal he remarks
that he had done the same ever since by notes or journals.
His residence varied for the next few years between
Genoa, Pisa, and Marseilles, during which period his
training was successively in the care of his mother and
grandmother, but was completed by himself. During
these years also he continued his botanical studies and
"read every kind of books, good or bad; but happily I
knew how to distinguish them." To his studies he now
added natural and moral philosophy, chemistry, and
medicine. It is not to be understood, I take it, from
these remarks of Rafinesque about the direction assumed
by his student-work at this time that he means to imply
he had mastered these branches. He was an indefati
gable reader and no doubt read every thing in the way
of books that came to hand, and books on these subjects
were among the number. In a curious and naive way
he tells us about his nature studies in the neighborhood
of Marseilles, where his botanical walks gave him much
pleasure. He appears first of all to have devoted him-

8 The Life and Writings of

self to the study of plants, but also gave much attention
to other branches of natural history. He says:

" I had made to myself a small garden in a wild and remote
place. I began the study of Fishes and Birds, I drew them and
collected Shells and Crabs. Daudin, of Paris, who published then
a natural history of Birds, was my first correspondent among the
learned, and I communicated to him some observations on Birds.
I drew maps, copied those of rare works, and took topographical
surveys; these were my first essays in geography."

In reading Rafinesque's account of a hunting episode
which took place near Leghorn in 1802, one will be
struck with the similarity of his experiences and those
recorded by Charles Darwin, England's great naturalist.*
Rafinesque says: "I began to hunt, but the first bird
I shot was a poor Parus, whose death appeared a cruelty
to me, and I have never been able to become an unfeel
ing hunter." Darwin had the same feeling for animals,
even the very lowest, and never allowed himself to harm
them wilfully or knowingly.

The year 1802 marked, in the spring, the end of
the youthful home life of Rafinesque. There appears
in the record no evidences of interest in matters which
should prove attractive to a boy of his years. Whether
he ever had any fondness for boyish sports and games,

» Vide Life and Letters of Charles Darwin, Vol. I, p. 28, 1887. D. Apple-
ton & Co., New York.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesq^le. 9

whether he had much enjoyment in the association with
other youths, whether these facts had not great influ
ence in determining his attitude toward social events
in after years can all be but matter of conjecture. In
recounting the facts connected with his early life Raf-
inesque omits very many important things which we
should enjoy knowing, but enough is told us to explain
the system or rather the lack of system in his studies.
Perhaps this will explain the apparent want of those
closer habits of application which characterize the best
work of men of science. The record simply discloses
that he essayed every branch of natural science, read
oinnivorously, made copious notes, formed ideas which
were often vague and never afterward matured, and
always had before him the travels and work of the great
men of his own and preceding decades; it appears, too,
that he fondly imagined himself about to become, or
that he had already become, a great traveler. It is
really believed that this period of great mental activity
and developing powers of observation, for such it cer
tainly was, had he been firmly guided by some master
hand, would have given the world one of its greatest
naturalists. But the lack of coordination of powers led
to habits, both of thought and literary effort, that had
a serious influence, in after years, on his life and work.

io The Life and Writings of

FIRST VISIT TO AMERICA.

Rafinesque first came to the United States, in com
pany with his younger brother, Anthony Augustus, in
the spring of 1802, " provided with an adventure and
many letters of introduction". He landed in Philadel
phia April 1 8th. With a mind keenly awake to nat
ural objects it is not surprising that at once he again
began the study of Nature, probably with fresh ardor
born of new surroundings and a novel flora. Scarcely
had he landed in his new home before he began botan
izing, and found a cruciferous plant which had passed
under the name of Draba verna; he considered it new
and bestowed upon it the name of Draba americana.
Whether a formal description of this plant was ever
written by Rafinesque I know not; it is not mentioned
ir Watson's " Bibliographical Index to North American
Botany", which contains many other names formulated
by Rafinesque, so it is to be presumed that he never
presented it in such form. But he remarks of this
species that "the American Botanists would not believe
me; but Decandole has even since made with it the
new Genus Erophilal* This is the emblem of many

* Watson, loc. cit., p. 62, regards both the genus and species of DeCandolle
as synonyms, and retains the name of Draba verna.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. n

discoveries of mine of which ignorance has doubted,
till science has proved that I was right." To us, at
this time, the interesting fact connected with the find
ing of this specimen and supposed new species lies in
the evidence which it affords that Rafinesque was for
ever wedded to his loves, the flowers. Here he was, at
the age of eighteen, in a new land, on fortune bent, in
the midst of strangers who spoke a strange tongue, yet
he at once turned to the woods and fields, a real student
of Nature, and averse to any thing else.

The Philadelphia business relations of Rafinesque
were those which eventually determined his coming to
Kentucky some eighteen years afterward. While in that
city he came into relation with the Cliffords, owners of
the vessel which brought him to America; also here he
met the brothers Tarascon, formerly of Marseilles, whose
names are familiar to all students of early Kentucky
history. At this time Rafinesque was busied with mer
cantile pursuits, occupying a clerkship, but filled all his
leisure with botanizing in the vicinity of Philadelphia.
He declares that during this period he minutely de
scribed all the plants found, a task quite characteristic
of the man! He had already determined upon follow
ing the footsteps of his father, and devoted himself to
mercantile pursuits, prosecuting his Nature studies in

12 The Life and Writings of

hours of leisure, but withal with serious intent. But
now came again the yellow fever, in the summer of
1802, of which Rafinesque writes: "Being much afraid
of this disorder, which had deprived me of a father, I
left the city and took refuge in Germantown; where
I had the good luck to be invited by Col. Forrest, a
Friend of Horticulture, to dwell with him, and travel
with him to collect Plants." This gave him a summer
of travel and botany, for the scourge which he sought
to escape did not disappear until the following October.
A considerable number of excursions about Germantown,
some of which extended into New Jersey and over Kast-
ern Pennsylvania, were made during this period. While
these were nothing more than botanical tramps, such as
the veriest tyro is compelled to take who desires an
acquaintance with the flora of any locality, Rafinesque
dignifies them by the name of "journies"; in this pecul
iarity he shows in a remarkable manner the influence
of his early reading. If not yet such, he surely would
be a veritable Marco Polo or von Humboldt!

During this stay in Philadelphia Rafinesque had
frequent opportunity to visit the botanical gardens of
Marshall and Bartram, the former of which was not
far away at West Chester. Attention will again be
directed to these gardens in connection with a certain

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 13

experience of Rafinesque at Lexington, in Kentucky,
years afterward; the reader will then remember that all
about Marseilles, where Rafinesque had spent much of
his boyhood life, are to be found botanical gardens in
which he must often have been as student and collector.

But the summer spent in plant -hunting and other
scientific work, very congenial to the disposition of
Rafinesque, had unfavorably disposed him toward a
business life. The irksome quiet of the office had
been relieved by a summer with the birds and flowers,
and to his duties he returned with laggard feet. Not
only did he not like the close confinement incident to
a clerkship, but it may even be supposed that the
emoluments of such a position in that early day were
certainly not in excess of those of the present time;
surely in such career those ever present dreams of wide
travel and learned books could never become fact.

In 1804 Rafinesque resigned his position in favor of
his brother, of whom he makes no other mention for
all this time, and became secretary to a gentleman by
the name of Gernon. This position was also abandoned
early in the spring of the following year; the place was
one "of no advantage", and then he could not withstand
the allurements of the forests and fields. His whole
time was now given to the collection of the plants and

14 The Life and Writings of

animals about the city, and also of those of the neigh
boring States. He extended his tours into Maryland,
Virginia, and Delaware, for he had already foreseen that
it was but a question of short time until he should leave
America. He made the most of his opportunities and
gathered large numbers of all things collectible. Thus
passed the period until January, 1805, when both he and
his brother,* "who would follow" him, set sail for Italy.
In May he became a resident of Sicily.

TEN YEARS IN SICILY.

"This lovely Island" was reached after a delightful
voyage, its presence having been foretold "by the ema
nations of orange blossoms, carried far at sea in the
night by the land breeze." Says he, further, "The
mountains were smiling with flowers and verdure, they
invited me to climb over them." He was now twenty-
two years of age, enthusiastic, energetic, habitually care
less both of his person and his methods of study, and
about to enter upon a scientific career of the greatest
moment. Here he began that extensive series of pub
lications, record of which has been attempted in the
accompanying bibliography.

*This brother died at Havre, 1826,

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 15

It is materially unfortunate, to our mind, that Raf-
inesque does not, in his "Life of Travels", enter some
what more into detail respecting his home life in Sicily.
But one will search in vain for a single word on these
topics. There seems to have been abundant reason for
not mentioning these matters, for Rafinesque married,
in 1809, a Sicilian woman by the name of Josephine
Vaccaro, a woman who does not appear to have been
suited to the kind of life the naturalist had marked
out for himself. It is more than probable that this
marriage was never consummated in legal form. In his
will,* from which alone this information is obtained, he
says: "While residing in Sicily I deemed myself law
fully married . . . although the decree of the Council
of Trent forbade our regular marriage." The two infer
ences which may safely be drawn from this statement are,
first, that the Sicilian whom he espoused was a Roman
Catholic in religious faith, and, second, that legal or
religious rites were never solemnized. In 1811 a daugh
ter, Emily, was born to the couple, and in 1814 a son,
Charles Linnaeus. The boy died the following year,
1815. Neither child is mentioned by Rafinesque in all
his writings ; in his will alone we find the first intima
tion of paternity and of parental solicitude. Of the

* Vide Appendix, where this will is given in full.

1 6 The Life and Writings of

daughter no information other than that which is given
in this document has been attainable. The consort of
Rafinesque, on receiving the news of his shipwreck in
1815, " suddenly married Giovanni Pizzalour, a comedian,"
and dissipated the property which Rafinesque had left
in her hands. All that is further known of this woman
is the opinion in which she was held by Rafinesque,
who, in his will, declares her to be "unworthy", and
directs that his executors shall not allow her "a single
cent"; he also directs that no part of his property
should be paid to his daughter Emily "until she leaves
altogether and separates from" her mother.

Emily, influenced no doubt by the theatrical relations
of the new family bonds, became a singer in the Palermo
Theatre. She was the mother of an illegitimate daugh
ter, Henrietta Winston, by one Sir Henry Winston, for
the maintenance of which grand-daughter Rafinesque was
not certain the baronet would provide ; he therefore com
mends her, in his will, to his nephew, Jules Rafinesque.
The last known of Emily was the simple fact of resi
dence in Naples in 1833.

With this period of Rafinesque's career there is little
of direct interest to us. First and all the time he was
a naturalist; though his real concerns here were of a
business character. It would appear, from his account

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 17

of these years, that he was reasonably successful in
business enterprises, for he states that "by trading in
the products of the island" he made his first personal
fortune. It is curious to note that some of his ventures
were along the line of economic botany, for his trade
lay in the manufacture of squills for the European and
American markets. Rafinesque first taught the Sicilians
many things of this sort, thus proving himself, though
unwillingly, another Latinus to this beautiful island. He
became quite familiar with the whole island, and seems
to have devoted himself assiduously to the study of
every form of life within its area. All the ten years
he spent here were full of toil and study. They were,
on the whole, very happily passed, though many of his
business employments were heterogeneous and peculiar.
At one time connected with the United States legation
as secretary or chancellor to Minister Gibbs, at another
the manager of a successful brandy-still for a company of
gentlemen, next a candidate for a State position which
he never obtained, editor of a magazine, naturalist and
collector always, these were the occupations with which
he filled the ten years of Sicilian life. He became per
sonally and by correspondence known to many of the
scientific men of Europe, and with some of them he
had very pleasant relations. Swainson, the English nat-

3

1 8 The Life and Writings of

uralist, was stationed for some time in Sicily, and with
him Rafinesque had the most intimate and cordial coop
eration. They collected and studied and wrote together.
On one occasion, when the vicissitudes of business pre
vented personal attention on the part of Rafinesque,
Swainson supervised the printing, at Messina, of one
of his friend's books, "The Index of Sicilian Ichthy
ology ". During these years, too, the habit of mind
engendered by indiscriminate reading and delving into
every thing natural bore its proper fruit; for a time he
worked at volcanic rocks and eruptions, anon found
recreation and employment in tracing the remains of
ancient settlements, hunted plants, drew and described
them, collected fish, secured large numbers of shells,
assisted Swainson in hunting insects, worked on the
reptiles, and withal kept up a voluminous correspond
ence with other naturalists in France, in America, and
in Italy. In truth these ten years were very busy
ones, an estimate of the work of which is offered in its
proper place. His experiences with the natives of his
chosen home do not appear to have been of the most
pleasant character. In his description of Sicily occurs
almost the only epigrammatic writing I have ever noted
in Rafinesque's works; says he, "she offers ... a fruitful
soil, a delightful climate, excellent productions, perfidious
men, deceitful women,"

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 19

SECOND VISIT TO THE UNITED STATES.

In 1815 Rafinesque left Sicily and Europe forever.
During the later years of his Sicilian residence, affairs,
from a business and literary standpoint, had not pro
gressed satisfactorily; he apparently did not regret the
fact of leaving that famous island. The voyage began
in July and ended in November. Adverse weather con
ditions met the vessel as soon as the Mediterranean was
cleared; the good ship suffered the ordeal of a severe
Atlantic storm, was damaged and compelled to seek a
haven in the Azores. The Island of St. Michael thus
by an accident became an object of botanical interest to
Rafinesque. He collected thereon, observed the volcanic
rocks, drew some of the objects found, and so turned a
seeming misfortune to the best account possible.

The story of the landing of Rafinesque in America
for the second time reads like a romance, and though
there are many who profess to doubt its exact truthful
ness I must confess to the most complete credulity in its
essential correctness. I have so long read and studied
this man, am so familiar with his character, which was
open and honest, have so great an admiration for that
part of his life which was unclouded by mental misfor-

20 The Life and Writings of

tune that I will, I am sure, be pardoned for expressing
thus strongly my belief in the. truth of the story of
shipwreck. It appears to me that the incident is ex
tremely important in weighing certain facts of his after
life.

It was midnight of the second of November, 1815, in
a dense fog, on Race Rock, off Fisher's Island, at the
eastern end of Long Island Sound, that the good ship,
which had brought Rafinesque and his possessions across
the Atlantic in safety, went down. Striking on the
rocks, her keel was entirely torn away, and when a swell
landed her beyond the rocks she rapidly filled and sank.
Down with her went the results of years of toil and of
labor, both mercantile and scientific. To quote the lan
guage of the sufferer:

" I had lost everything, my fortune, my share of the cargo, my
collections and labours for 20 years past, my books, my manu
scripts, my drawings, even my clothes ... all that I possessed
except some scattered funds and the Insurance ordered in Kngland
for one third of the value of my goods."*

I can imagine the condition of this man under these
circumstances. I can see him walking the streets of
New London "in a state of utter despair". Here, in
this misfortune, and resulting from it, began that mental

*Vidc "A Life of Travels", etc., pp. 48, 49.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 21

condition which made his scientific work in later years
subject of the severest criticism. He was still a young
man, it is true, having seen but thirty-two summers, but
those who have studied character will agree that this
misfortune affected him as it might but one in a thou
sand. Of this loss he writes as follows:

"Some hearts of stone have since dared to doubt of these facts
or rejoice at my losses! Yes, I have found men, vile enough to
laugh without shame at my misfortune, instead of condoling with
me ! But I have met also with friends who have deplored my loss,
and helped me in need."

Rafinesque appears never again to have known pros
perous business adventures. He belonged to that large
class of men, from this time, who imagine that the
hand of every other man is against them.

Leaving New London, Rafinesque went to New York,
where, pending the settlement of his insurance claims
in London, he found warm friends. With Dr. Samuel
L. Mitchill, with whom he had enjoyed a correspondence
while yet a resident of Sicily, and to whom he had sent
numerous scientific, chiefly botanical, papers, he found
friendly greeting and a helpful friendship. The neces
sities of making a livelihood led him to accept the
position of private tutor in a wealthy family by the
name of Livingston, residing on the Hudson; therein

22 The Life and Writings of

he taught Italian, drawing, and botany. It is more
than likely that the introduction which Mitchill gave
Rafinesque to New York literary society helped him
to this place. But before spring he resigned this post
because the family desired to spend the winter in the
South. He again became a child of fortune. As soon
as spring had sufficiently advanced he devoted his time
to geology and to the collection of the plants which
grew about New York. The summer following he
went as far north as Saratoga, and spent several weeks
at the series of falls which are so famous in Bast-central
New York. In a similar manner was passed the long
period of the four following years. Then he went to
Philadelphia, on business bent, and again met his old
friend John D. Clifford, known to all students of Ken
tucky history, who was and had been for some time a
resident of Lexington. In him he found a warm and
sympathizing friend, and was persuaded to visit the
West, which then meant Kentucky.

The summer of 1818 finds the monotony of Rafin-
esque's life varied by a journey over the Alleghanies and
down the Ohio, which he descended from Pittsburg in a
flat-boat. He was one of a party of several men, who
traveled by day and rested by night. This must have
suited the taste of Rafinesque, who could thus give the

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 23

greatest possible attention to his loves, the flowers and
the fishes and the mollusks. During his long residence
in Sicily he had done much work on the fishes of the
Mediterranean, and no doubt he found ample opportunity
in the long days of slow movement down the Ohio to
arouse again his intelligent love of these forms.

FIRST VISIT TO THE FALLS OF THE OHIO.

The party with which Rafinesque reached Louisville
found its haven at the Falls. At Shippingport* he
was "received with open arms" by the Messrs. Tarascon,
formerly of Marseilles and next of Philadelphia, who
now operated a large flouring -mill at that place. For
two weeks he remained there, and one who has ever seen
the rich molluscan life of the Falls of the Ohio at low
water might understand what busy weeks these were.
Rafinesque spent the time "studying the fishes and
shells of the river, of which I made a large collection,
drawing them on the spot at the same time. I was sur
prized to find them nearly all new: this rendered my
researches still more important and interesting."

*Shippiugport is now within the corporate limits of the city of Louisville,
at the foot of the Falls of the Ohio.

24 The Life and Writings of

THE VISIT TO HENDERSON.

Extensive botanical and other collections were made
by Rafinesque all the way from Louisville to Henderson ;
the trip being made by day, that he might better study
the plants and fishes and shells. Arrived at Henderson
he sought John J. Audubon, the ornithologist, to whom
he had a note of introduction and with whom he remained
several days. Rafinesque says " some days"; Audubon
himself says "three weeks".

In this connection, perhaps better than in any other,
reference may be made to an episode which Audubon
has recorded of Rafinesque. With some reluctance, in
this place, is the incident again related, not because it
will have harmful effect in judging the work of Rafin
esque, but because it must needs detract much from the
fame of Audubon, whose reputation for strict truthfulness
was never of the best among those who knew him. It
serves to explain some features of the great ornitholo
gist's life and strengthens the unfavorable opinion which
some entertain of him; it serves also to throw light
upon the plain, straight - forward, trusting character of
Rafinesque. When the story is read between the lines
the effect on the reader would appear to be most favorable
to the victim.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 25

Auduboii introduces Rafinesque as the " Kccentric
Naturalist",* the humor of which has so appealed to
very many writers that they have been constrained to
reproduce the episode without much interest in the man
it most affects. Audubon nowhere gives the name of his
victim, but it is understood that the "M. de T." is none
other than Rafinesque. The account runs as follows:

"'What an odd-looking fellow!' said I to myself, as, while walk
ing by the river, I observed a man landing from a boat, with what
I thought a bundle of dried clover on his back. ' How the boatmen
stare at him ! Surely he must be an original ! ' He ascended with
rapid step, and, approaching me, asked if I could point out the house
in which Mr. Audubon resided? 'Why, I am the man,' said I, 'and
will gladly lead you to my dwelling.' The traveller rubbed his
hands together with delight, and drawing a letter from his pocket
handed it to me without any remark. I broke the seal and read
as follows : ' My Dear Audubon — I send you an odd fish, which you
may prove to be undescribed, and hope you will do so in your next
letter. Believe me always your friend, B.'

" With all the simplicity of a woodsman, I asked the bearer
where the odd fish was; when M. de T. . . . smiled, rubbed his
eyes, and with the greatest good humor said, ' I am that odd fish,
I presume, Mr. Audubon.' I felt confounded and blushed, but
contrived to stammer an apology.

"We soon reached the house, when I presented my learned
guest to my family, and was ordering a servant to go to the boat
for M. de T.'s luggage, when he told me he had none but what he
brought on his back. He then loosened the pack of weeds which

*Vide Ornithological Biography, Vol. I, pp. 455-460.
4

26 The Life and Writings of

had first drawn my attention. The ladies were a little surprised,
but I checked their critical glances for the moment. The naturalist
pulled off his shoes, and while engaged in drawing his stockings,
not up, but down, in order to cover the holes about the heels, told
us in the gayest mood imaginable that he had walked a great dis
tance, and had only taken a passage on board the ark, to be put on
this shore, and that he was sorry his apparel had suffered so much
from his late journey. Clean clothes were offered but he would not
accept them, and it was with evident reluctance that he performed
the lavations usual on such occasions before he sat down to dinner.

" He chanced to turn over the drawing of a plant quite new to
him. After inspecting it closely, he shook his head, and told me no
such plant existed in nature: — for M. de T. although a highly
scientific man, was suspicious to a fault, and believed such plants
only to exist as he had himself seen, or such as, having been dis
covered of old, had, according to Father Malebranche's expression,
acquired a ' venerable beard.' I told my guest that the plant was
common in the immediate neighborhood, and that I would show it
to him on the morrow. 'And why to-morrow, Mr. Audubon? L,et
us go now.' We did so ; and on reaching the river I pointed to the
plant. I thought M. de T. had gone mad. He plucked the plants
one after another, danced, hugged me to his arms, and exultingly
told me that he had got, ' Not merely a new species, but a new
genus.'

" When it waxed late, I showed him to the apartment intended
for him during his stay, and endeavored to render him comfortable,
leaving him writing materials in abundance. I was, indeed, heartily
glad to have a naturalist under my roof. We had all retired to rest.
Every person I imagined was in deep slumber, save myself, when
of a sudden I heard a great uproar in the naturalist's room. I got
up, reached the place in a few moments, and opened the door, when,
to my astonishment, I saw my guest running about the room naked,
holding the handle of my favorite violin, the body of which he had

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 27

battered to pieces against the walls in attempting to kill the bats,
which had entered by the open window, probably attracted by the
insects flying around his candle. I stood amazed, but he continued
running around and round, until he was fairly exhausted; when
he begged me to procure one of the animals for him, as he felt
convinced they belonged to a 'new species'. Although I was con
vinced to the contrary, I took up the bow of my demolished Cremona,
and administering a smart tap to each of the bats as it came up,
soon got specimens enough.

" M. de T. remained with us for three weeks and collected multi
tudes of plants, shells, bats, and fishes. . . . We were perfectly
reconciled to his oddities, and finding him a most agreeable and
intelligent companion, hoped that his sojourn might be of long
duration. But one evening, when tea was prepared, and we expected
him to join the family, he was nowhere to be found. His grasses
and other valuables were all removed from his room. The night
was spent in searching for him in the neighborhood. No eccentric
naturalist could be discovered. Whether he had perished in a
swamp, or had been devoured by a bear or gar-fish, or had taken
to his heels, were matters of conjecture; nor was it until some
weeks after, that a letter from him, thanking us for our attention,
assured me of his safety."

That this incident, so charmingly told, is amusing,
its popularity with other writers full well attests, but
it contains certain internal incongruities that lead one
to suspect that it is grossly exaggerated. Particularly
does this impression grow on one who reads carefully
that portion, omitted here, which recounts the famous
bear and cane-brake episode. There could have been
but one purpose in Audubon's mind, and that was to

28 The Life and Writings of

make the hero of the episode as ridiculous as possible.
The story never found its way into print until Rafinesque
had for some years ceased to be a resident of the State,
and even then, in its original form, dared not name him
as the real hero ! But this failure to name Rafinesque
makes the turpitude of Audubon the greater. And add
to this another episode in itself far less harmful than
the bat story, but infinitely more disreputable in its
nature and results, and the reader of Rafinesque has just
cause of complaint. Audubon played upon the credulity
of his guest, who had implicit confidence in him as a
brother naturalist. The host simply lied to Rafiuesque,
and seeing him eagerly accept the proffered bait still
further abused his confidence and did a most unmanly
act, one which has caused great annoyance and loss of
time to succeeding naturalists. Audubon drew figures
of some impossible fish, giving them gaudy coloration
and glowing descriptions, and supplied Rafinesque with
what purported to be notes of fact ; all of these Rafinesque
duly copied into his own note-book. Furthermore, the
host described to his guest impossible limpet-like shells,
said to live in the Ohio, and these were likewise carefully
noted. Later, Rafinesque used these so-called facts as the
bases of new genera and species ; then Audubon employed
the data known only to himself to make Rafinesque ridic-

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 29

ulous.* I have long had a suspicion that Audubon had
taken the whole naturalist world into his confidence, in
many of his bird biographies, and that some of his facts
would sometime result in romances. The more I know
of him and his methods the more I am convinced that
this is true. But, in this case, a guest was made the
innocent victim of misplaced confidence in his host;
and the host in the role of a confidence man never
inspires faith. Men to whom Audubon told the tale,
attempting to justify it as a joke, have used the facts
to the detriment of the fair fame of Rafinesque.f

FROM HENDERSON TO THE MISSISSIPPI.

Rafinesque left Henderson and the home of Audubon
for a journey to the mouth of the Ohio, which point he
reached as the farthest point in all his western travels.
On his way he passed through New Harmony, Indiana,
which was then one of the great scientific centers of the

New World. In that quiet town on the Lower Wabash

»

*Vide Contributions to North American Ichthyology, I, p. 6, 1877. Also,
Rafinesque, by David Starr Jordan, in Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XXIX,
No. II, p. 217, June, 1886.

tThe following are the names ol" fishes bestowed upon the "drawings
communicated by Mr. Audubon " : Perca nigropunctata, Aplocentrus calliops,
Pogostoma leucops, Catostomus anisopturus, Catosfomus niger, Catostomus
fasciolaris, Catostomus (?) megastomus, Pylodictis limosus, Accipenser macros-
tomus, Dinectus truncatus.

30 The Life and Writings of

dwelt Say, and Owen, and Maclure, and LeSeuer, names
all yet held, and deservedly, in the highest honor. He
did not long remain in that retired place, the foundation
principles of which impressed Rafinesque with its Uto
pian character. Much of the return journey from the
mouth of the Ohio was accomplished on foot, "having
found the horse too fatiguing". His destination was
Lexington, but he went by way of Louisville in order
that his collections might be put in the care of his
friends, the Tarascons, and by them transmitted to Pitts-
burg. Rafinesque had not yet knowledge of the fact that
he would become a resident of Kentucky. His only care
was to make as large collections as possible and get
them safely away to Philadelphia.

FIRST VISIT TO LEXINGTON.

It was a roundabout way that carried Rafinesque to
Lexington on his first visit. The towns of Shepherds ville
and Frankfort were visited and several side excursions
taken. At length he reached Lexington and found his
former Philadelphia friend, Clifford. This visit and the
kindness of his reception, together with the opportunities
for study and collecting that seemed to present them
selves, coupled with the persuasions of his friend, deter-

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 31

mined Rafinesque to come to Kentucky, and this he did
after a visit to Philadelphia to "settle my concerns and
withdraw from trade". The chief fact that influenced
him to this decision appears to have been the promise of
Clifford to secure for him an appointment to a professor
ship in Transylvania University. Clifford was himself
an enthusiastic geologist and indefatigable collector; he
had amassed a considerable collection of fossils, and
these helped Rafinesque in reaching a decision. More
over, Clifford looked with great favor on the scientific
work of his guest, and one may well be sure that the
guest appreciated this fact. Already Rafinesque had
been made aware of the hostile feeling that many men
of science entertained toward him, for to some of them
he had shown himself a formidable rival.

The visit to Philadelphia again gave Rafinesque occa
sion to know something of the perfidy of man and
especially, it may be supposed, of Sicilians. He had
intrusted certain of his business adventures to a Sicilian,
who proved false to his trust and bankrupted and
defrauded him of all his earnings. Finally, however, a
start westward was made, business affairs left behind,
goods shipped, and for the third time Rafinesque crossed
the Alleghanies. The journey began in May, 1819, and
ended in the heart of the bluegrass region of Kentucky

32 The Life and Writings of

in middle summer. Rafinesque found the University
in the midst of vacation, and hastened to join Clifford,
who was spending the summer in scientific recreation
in the country.

RAFINESQUE AT TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY.

The institution to which Rafinesque had now come
had a stormy career. It was the outcome of an act of
the legislature of Kentucky which had amalgamated two
earlier and rival schools, the fact having been consum
mated in 1798. The two institutions whose fortunes
were thus joined were the Transylvania Seminary, estab
lished in 1783 by the Virginia Legislature, and the
Kentucky Academy, established by the Presbyterians in
1796. Considerations of economy, on the one hand, and
the evident fact that rivalry such as theirs would only
result in permanent injury to both schools, on the other,
led to the amalgamation. The University was now under
the celebrated Holly regime, its president, the third to
hold the office, being the Reverend Horace Holly, LL. D.

Rafinesque became connected with this school in the
fall of 1819, and at a time when there were internal
dissensions. To this untoward condition must be added
the fact that he was a stranger, of foreign birth and

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 33

with foreign air, and, further, there must be considered
the fact that his chair was new and counted of but
little importance. Those were the days of a classical
education, purely and simply, and there was no interest
in any other roots than those of Latin and Greek origin
or in leaves of other sort than those which had the
cabalistic signs of men who thought and wrote two thou
sand or more years ago. He who could quote freely
and at length from Horace or Juvenal, or could see in
Pindar and Demosthenes meanings of which they them
selves never dreamt, was the educated man.* It mattered
not how little he might know of gravitation or of
dynamics, of bugs or of plants, if only he knew our
ancient Latin friends; his education was then complete.
Amid literary surroundings such as these Rafinesque
now found a home. It would be difficult indeed to find
another degree of literary difference so marked as that
between Rafinesque and his associate professors. They
were, in tastes and pursuits, as unlike as men could be;

*It needs only in support of this statement that attention be called to
the character of the articles which constitute the bulk of the Western Review
and Miscellaneous Magazine, published at Lexington, about this time. Its
pages contain many labored literary articles, and not a few philosophical ones,
in which classical training ran amuck through all the fields of knowledge,
compelling attention to its demands to the exclusion of all else. The political
articles, which appeared from time to time, continually refer to Greece and
to Rome, to Xerxes, to Hannibal, to Epictetus, to Caesar, and to Augustus.

5

34 The Life and Writings of

their intercourse was necessarily a continual contrast
of ideas and theories determined, on the one hand, by
effete philosophical systems, and, on the other, by hasty
generalizations based upon incomplete knowledge of
natural surroundings. It was, in epitome, a renewal
of the long-continued warfare between the classics and
science, without that tempering of zeal and expression
which is so characteristic of real culture or of exact
knowledge. Rafinesque brought to the Kentucky metrop
olis of that day the habits of thought and views of
State polity which were the outgrowth of his foreign
birth and residence. From Sicily to Kentucky was
indeed a great change; little wonder is it that he did
not speedily adapt himself to these new conditions.
Evidently, his real place among his colleagues must be
estimated along other lines than those which found ex
pression through his associates in Transylvania Univer
sity. The beginning of the Kentucky life of Rafinesque
was marked by a signal misfortune. With Clifford he was
planning numerous excursions, one at least of which con
templated a visit to Arkansas, when Clifford succumbed
to a sudden fatal illness. In this blow Rafinesque lost
the only man whom, as I believe, he ever loved. In
vain will you search his published writings for ex
pressions of regard for others, whether men or women;

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 35

the only name mentioned tenderly and with evident
regard is that of Clifford. Of all the men with whom
Rafinesque came in contact Clifford alone seemed to
enter into the life of the naturalist, and the influence
of that association was greater than all the world beside.
The seven years of life at Lexington were very busy
ones for Rafinesque. He made many excursions, some
of which extended into Tennessee, and during which
nearly all the accessible portions of Kentucky were
visited. He made most extensive collections, chiefly in
conchology and botany, though he neglected no branch
of natural science. Numerous papers were written, and
many of them published; at the same time he attended
to the ordinary duties of the class-room. He was the
secretary of the Kentucky Institute, the first scientific
society formed within the State, and one of the first,
if not the first, west of the Alleghanies. Doctor Horace
Holly was the President of the Institute, before which
a number of persons, and Rafinesque most of all, read
scientific papers. Some of these were afterward printed
in the Cincinnati Literary Gazette. The exploration
and mapping of the ancient monuments which are near
Lexington were accomplished during these years. But
the most remarkable work of all was the preparation
of the Ichthyologia Ohiensis, which has caused such

36 The Life and Writings of

criticism from students of American fresh-water fishes.
More will be said of this remarkable book in another
place.

Attention has previously been directed to the Botanic
Gardens with which Rafinesque was acquainted at Mar
seilles, and to those of Bartram and Marshall near Phila
delphia. One of the ambitions of his life was the
foundation of similar gardens at Lexington. To accom
plish this he spent much time and developed a wonder
ful amount of energy. In 1823 ne brought the matter
to the attention of the State legislature, at Frankfort,
with such success that the senate passed the bill to
establish the proposed garden at Lexington; the house
refused its sanction and the bill failed to become law.
Though disheartened by this result Rafinesque did not
wholly despair. He undertook the private solicitation
of funds, the scheme contemplating the formation of
a joint stock company. His friends and others inter
ested in the undertaking succeeded so far as to get the
projected garden incorporated. Ground was purchased
within the village of Lexington;* planting was begun;

*The Kentucky Reporter of the issue of Monday, November 22, 1824, has
editorial mention of the purchase of the land for this garden. The location
was the upper end of Main Street, and comprised ten acres. A Mr. Harper
was the treasurer of the company " on whom the stockholders are expected
to call and pay the 1st and 2d installments on their shares."

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 37

but many who had subscribed failed to meet their obli
gations and the attempt was at last entirely abandoned.
His dreams were never realized. He says of the under
taking, long after its collapse, "I never owned an acre
of ground; this garden would have been my delight:
I had traced the plan of it, with a retreat among the
flowers, a Green-house, Museum and Library; but I had
to forsake it at last, and make again my garden of the
woods and mountains." Nothing of historic importance
grew out of the enterprise; nor could such result have
been expected in this inland village at such an early
day. Aside from Rafinesque there was probably not a
single person in Lexington who knew any thing of the
real nature and cost of these enterprises ; nor did he,
seemingly, remember the existing untoward conditions
under which the enterprise was bound to end in failure.
The scheme could not appeal to the cupidity of those to
whom stock was offered, for every dollar put in it went
in to stay from the very nature of things. Scientific
interest was impossible in men trained to other habits
of thought, nor were the times ripe for the expenditures
of considerable sums of money in a community still
contending with a virgin forest for the very mastery of
the fields themselves. The episode, however, serves a
useful purpose in that it emphasizes the influence on

38 The Life and Writings of

the life of Rafinesque of the surroundings of his boy
hood days.

In connection with the attempt to secure favorable
legislative action in the matter of the Botanic Garden
a serious illness resulting from exposure to a prevailing
epidemic enters into the record in such manner as to
illustrate another side of Rafinesque's life. He says :
"I took the measles then prevailing, and was very sick
on my return to Lexington ; but I recovered in spite of
the Physicians, by taking none of their poisons, anti
mony and opium, while many died in their hands."
Clearly Rafinesque had little regard for the disciples of
^sculapius !

According to the account contained in the "Life of
Travels", with the governing body, or better, perhaps,
the executive head at Transylvania, Rafinesque did
not rnjoy the most pleasant relations. Doctor Horace
Holly, the President, did not look with favor on the
natural sciences, and having himself no especial training
in them was not prepared, perhaps, to appreciate their
importance. Nor were the relations which Rafinesque
sustained toward his associate professors more cordial.
He complains that they intrigued one against another,*

* There does not seem to be sufficient warrant for this statement of Rafiu-
esque. General and ex-Senator George W. Jones, of Dubuque, Iowa, who was a

Constantine Samuet Rafinesqite. $9

and that there was little " subordination among the
students".

It can not be positively stated that the frequent and
long excursions, which Rafinesque made while a professor
at Transylvania University, were allowed to interfere with
his lecture appointments or his other class-room work,
but it would seem incredible that they did not. He was
engrossed in his field-work, surrounded with a flora both
new and beautiful, a circumstance in itself calculated to
appeal strongly to the heart of the naturalist; shells and
fishes totally unknown and often unique furnished addi
tional inducement to relieve the weary monotony of the
class-room. It even may be surmised, with strong degree
of probability, that some of the dissensions of which he
speaks were to be referred to this probable interference
for their origin. But among the causes, whatever else
they may have been, must be considered that of a certain
autocratic bearing and distaste for the opinions of others
which is said to have been quite characteristic of him.

student in Transylvania University, and who was graduated in 1825, writes me
in answer to enquiries on this subject as follows : " I never knew of any dis
agreements between the professors in Transylvania University, but I recollect
how bigotted religionists in Lexington and in Kentucky persecuted President
Holly and drove him from the head of the institution in 1826, then the most
distinguished in the whole world. . . . The university went down and was an
irreparable loss to society and to learning from the moment President [Holly]
left the institution."

40 The Life and Writings of

He was widely read and kept in touch with most of
the work of his day, but he does not seem to have
clearly interpreted all of his authors. In another place
will be found an estimate of his literary style which, as
attested by the very voluminous bibliography published
from Lexington, was none too clear; he delved in every
field of knowledge, and covered in his reading and his
writings almost every field of research. Subjects meteor
ological, geological, botanical, chemical, veterinary, astro
nomical, philological, theological, engaged his attention,
and were all made matter for several memoirs. He
even attempted poetry, sometimes in Latin, or French,
or English. These facts simply attest the work of a
mind devoid of the power of concentration. That these
peculiarities were known to his associate professors is
certain; that this knowledge had some influence in
determining their judgments of him is equally evident.
In 1823 Rafinesque undertook a considerable journey
across Middle Kentucky and into Tennessee, reaching
the Tennessee River. The unsettled character of the
country only prevented him from making the journey
westward to the Mississippi. On the return trip he
visited Mammoth Cave, of which he says, "I spent
one day to survey it, and found it very different from
the printed exagerated accounts, but yet wonderful

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^

enough." Lexington was reached in July, and in August
and September the regions of Eastern Kentucky, as far
as Cumberland Gap and the Falls, to Pine Mountain,
were explored. This journey was the last that Rafinesque
made within the bounds of Kentucky.

While resident at Lexington Rafinesque had perfected
a "patent and Divitial Invention," which, in 1825,
prompted a journey to Washington to take caveats and
patents. This is described in the following language:
"This Invention consisted chiefly in rendering Bank
Stock and Deposits and Savings circulable by divisible
Certificates; which will one day be certainly adopted. . . ."
This has always been the basis of the claim of Rafinesque
that he was the inventor of the coupon system now so
common on bonds and similar instruments. It was on
the return from this journey that he " found how the
President of the University had behaved" in his absence.
He censured that official in no measured terms ; said he :

" I returned to Frankfort and to Lexington, . . . To evince
his hatred against sciences and discoveries, he had broken open my
rooms, given one to the students, and thrown all my effects, books
and collections in a heap in the other. He had also deprived me
of my position as Librarian and my board in the College. I had
to put up with all this to avoid beginning law suits. I took lodgings
in town and carried there all my effects: thus leaving the College
with curses on it and Holly ; who were both reached by them soon
after, since he died next year at sea of the Yellow fever, caught at

6

42 The Life and Writings of

New Orleans, having been driven from Lexington by public opinion :
and the College has been burnt in 1828 with all its contents. But
Clifford's cabinet was saved (like mine) by being removed previously
like mine, and is now partly in Cincinnati and partly in Philadelphia.
This was a lucky escape."*

FIRST OBJECT TEACHER IN KENTUCKY.

During the time that Rafinesque occupied the chair
of modern languages and the natural sciences in Tran
sylvania University, was introduced west of the Allegha-
nies the modern method of object teaching. During
the three winters from 1823 to I8a6, among other duties
he lectured on medical botany to the students in the
medical department, giving his course with " exhibition
of specimens". In this he was far ahead of the teachers
of his time, and introduced a method which now every
where obtains among competent instructors.

* It will probably never be known what led to this action on the part of
President Holly, but it would appear to have some relation to absenteeism on
the part of Rafinesque. It is but just to the memory of the famous Transyl
vania University President to say that always Rafinesque had received cordial
welcome to his home. The following facts appear lo controvert the opinion
Rafinesque had formed of the President; they are quoted from a letter I have
received from an inmate of the Holly household, by permission : " He .
[Rafinesque] was a great admirer of Doctor Holly and came frequently to the
house to talk on subjects of interest to him. He was never an inmate of the
house although his face was a familiar one there. . . . He wrote verses,
English, and Italian, and Latin, I think, and brought them to find an audience
with us. . . ,"

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 43

In still another matter lie appears to have antedated
some more modern observations, as may be gathered
from the following facts:

" He often lectured to the students in College and in a most
entertaining manner to the great delight of his audiences. His
lecture on the ants was peculiarly instructive and interesting, caus
ing many of the students to laugh heartily when he gave us the
history of ants, especially when he described them as having lawyers,
doctors, generals and privates, and of their having great battles and
of.the care by physicians and nurses of the wounded, etc., etc. . . .

" I would now give any reasonable sum to hear him repeat one of
his lectures that I listened to in Transylvania University."*

Skilled indeed mnst have been the mind that could
fix facts like these in such manner that they endured
for seventy years !

RAFINESQUE AS A LECTURER.

Much of the time of Rafinesque in, the University
was employed in teaching the modern languages, in which
he again was the pioneer of the West. Transylvania
University, through him, has thus a remarkably impor
tant place in the history of higher education west of
the Appalachians. But it would appear that the professor
and naturalist, notwithstanding the wide range of his
scientific investigations and the great number of papers

* General Geo. W. Jones, in litt., Aug. 25, 1894.

44 The Life and Writings of

prepared for the press, still had some leisure which he
desired employed. To fill the full measure of his desires
he formed and conducted classes in the modern languages
outside the college walls ; he lectured on scientific sub
jects to the people of Lexington; he gave instruction
in botany to all that desired it. In illustration of the
wide range his activities acquired, the following notices
from various numbers of the Kentucky Reporter pub
lished during 1821 and 1822 may serve:

"TUITION."

" Prof. Rafinesque Teaches the French Italian and Spanish Lan
guages, in the University and gives also private lessons to the ladies
in town."

" He will give private instruction in the University or in town
in the following branches — Elements of useful knowledge, Botany,
Geometry, Map-Drawing etc." {Kentucky Reporter ; January 15, 1821.)

Later, in the spring of the same year, when the plant
lift of the region was about to awaken for the new
botanical year, he thus advertised:

"PROFESSOR RAFINESQUE

Will begin to deliver his Course of Botany as soon as a class shall
be formed : — he invites those who are willing to attend it to apply
to him immediately."

"He continues to give private instruction in the French & Italian
Languages etc. Also in several branches of other knowledge."

Sometimes during this period Rafinesque essayed
the lecture platform. As in his writings, so in his lee-

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^

tures to the public a very wide range was given to his
subjects. He was not often on the lecture platform, but
there are several mentions of lectures in the Kentucky
Reporter for the years 1820 to 1822 that are interesting,
inasmuch as they show us how he occupied some of
the leisure of college life. Among these notices the
following are characteristic of the man :

"TRANSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY.

Professor Rafinesque will deliver a Public Lecture, introductory to
a course of Medical Botany Medical Mineralogy Medical Zoology &c,
in the Chapel of the University, on Wednesday next, 2ist Nov. at
12 o'clock. The Medical Professors, Students etc. are invited to
attend as well as the ladies and gentlemen of Lexington."

"If the weather should prove unfavorable it will be postponed
to the next Saturday at the same hour." (Kentucky Reporter, Novem
ber 19, 1821.)

The next year his public lectures appear to have taken
an entirely different direction. They then seemed to
have been suggested by his studies on the matter which
was finally included in his historical works or works on
ancient nations. The psychological tendency of his
researches is evident from the notices which are here

reproduced :

"A PUBLIC LECTURE."

" On the Human Mind will be delivered (weather permitting)
on the 22iid of April, Monday next, at 12 o'clock in the Chapel of
Transylvania University by Prof. Rafinesque as an Introductory to

UNIVERSITY

46 The Life and Writings of

a course of Lectures on the Natural & Moral History of Man
Kind.

"The Ladies and Gentlemen of L/exington are invited to attend."
(Kentucky Reporter, April 15, 1822.)

The only mention of a lecture accompanied by a fee
for admission is found late in the year 1822, and, like
the last preceding, the address belonged to the realm
of metaphysics. The notice runs as following:

"LECTURES ON PRAENOLOGY."

"Professor Rafinesque will deliver a discourse by request on
Phraenology Craniology & the Analysis of the Human Mind, on
this evening at 7 o'clock in the Medical Room.

"Admission Fifty Cents. Tickets to be had of Mr. McNitt, at
the lecture room & at Mr. De veins." (Kentucky Reporter, December
16, 1822.)

Curiously enough there never occurs any reportorial
or editorial notices of any of these lectures; there is
absolutely no means of ascertaining any thing relative
to their reception by the townspeople. Nor, among the
frequent " letters" to the editor in either criticism or
praise of the various departments of the University, and
such letters were numerous, for these were stormy times
in University matters, have we found a single one which
mentions, to say nothing of being chiefly concerned
with, Rafinesque's work or the department of science
over which he presided. It would appear that he toiled

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 47

along alone, with little of counsel or of help. Unap
preciated he certainly was, his quaint ways and habitual
obliviousness of his surroundings subserving that end.

Rafinesque was a frequent contributor of "open let
ters" and short articles to the Lexington newspapers,
and some of these are quite quaint and interesting.
He always seemed to believe that the general public
felt as much interest in natural history details as he
himself did; perhaps, however, the fact that many rare
and little known forms of animals were brought to his
notice by the curious around him explains an interest
which he thought was general ; in this way, perhaps, his
own interest he came to believe was common to all who
read the newspapers. A single example will serve to
indicate the nature of these newspaper contributions,
none of which are deemed of sufficient importance to
constitute a portion of the bibliography given in this
volume. From several articles the following is selected:

"THREE NOTICES OF NATURAL HISTORY."

"BY PROF. C. S. RAFINESQUE."

" i. The singular & rare animal, lately killed in Ohio county in
this state & described in the last Argus as a jeopard is by no
means the African but the American Kaguar (Felis onca of Linneus)
which is found all over S. America & Mexico. It has sometimes
been seen in Louisiana & the state of Missisipi but had not yet
wandered so far north.

4§ The Life and Writings of

"2. I have lately discovered in the neighborhood of Lexington
the real Scull-cap or Scutellaria laten flora so much extolled in New
York against the bite of mad dogs or hydrophobia. It grows along
the branches of S. Elkhorn near Wm. Bryan's, 5 m. S. W. from
town. I shall be ready to show specimens of it to anybody willing
to know the plant & cultivate it.

"3. If anybody living on the banks of the Ohio Kentucky, or
other streams where the muscle Shells are common wishes to estab
lish a manufacture of Real Pearls I shall be willing to communicate
to them all the different processes needful to the purpose of com
pelling the Muscles to form their Pearls, for a small consideration,
or for a share in the profits. The capital needed for such a man
ufacture is a convenient place & from $50 to $100. The profits
may amount to from $100 to $10,000 in a year, according to the

size of the Pearls produced."

"PR. C. S. RAFINESQUE "

(Kentucky Reporter, September 6, 1820.)

Rafinesque had, in previous years, formed the acquain
tance of President Jefferson, whom he had visited at his
Monticello home. The interest of Jefferson in matters
scientific was well known to Rafinesque, who had often
written him personal letters. Also during these years
in Lexington he frequently wrote open or published
letters to persons of celebrity, among whom were Cuvier,
Banks, De Candolle, Bory, and others. Three of these
letters are preserved in the Kentucky Reporter for the
dates 22d and 29th August and 6th September, 1820.
They are so very characteristic of the man that they
should be useful in undertaking an estimate of his

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RAF1NESQUE TO DECANDOLLE.

[ Reduced one-fourth.]

Constantine Satmiel Rafinesque. 49

mental life. These three are addressed, "To the Hon
orable Thomas Jefferson, Late President of the United
States." The first is an introductory one, of a column
and a half length, " On Alleghawian Records " ; the
second constitutes a "Description of the Alleghawian
Monuments In the neighborhood of Mount Sterling,
Montgomery Co. Kentucky"; the third, a column and
half long, has the following title : " On some Allegawian
Implements etc". The mounds or works are quite fully
described in these letters, as well as their probable uses,
or better, perhaps, the uses which Rafinesque supposed
they had subserved; the same treatment was accorded
the implements.

FROM 182^ TO 1840.

Rafinesque left Lexington and Kentucky in June,
1825, taking with him all his possessions. He left
Transylvania University of his own accord, driven to
desperation by the treatment accorded his collections.
He turned his footsteps eastward; his work west of the
Alleghanies had ended. So far as is known he never
visited again the regions to the west. As first, in 1802,
so now, in 1825, he at last made Philadelphia his home.

It is impossible to follow with very much detail the
last fifteen years of his life. The facts are too little

7

50 The Life and Writings of

known and have, so far as known, too great likeness to
warrant minute statement. He continued his numerous
excursions to the very last, and during these journeys
always explored new regions. These few years sufficed
to take him to nearly all the Middle Atlantic States and
furnished him with very many opportunities to study
the mountain flora of the northern Appalachians. Some
of his larger works were composed in great part during
these last years, and a number of them were published.
From the time he left Transylvania University he ex
perienced considerable difficulty in getting his numerous
papers published; very many of them never would have
seen the light in printed form, were it not that he es
sayed the establishment of one or two literary and scien
tific periodicals. These, like his earlier adventure of
similar nature in Sicily, came to sudden ends, through
failure of subscribers to pay, and through failure of
publishers to print without cash payment. Some liter
ary enterprises, extensive in nature, for which he was
not well equipped either in training or in means, were
projected, and some, like his "Tellus," were to compass
the whole world in their scope. This last ambitious
project was partially consummated, and is represented
by two volumes, printed in Philadelphia, in 1836. The
widest possible range of subjects is included within his

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 51

writings of these years, testifying strongly to his ina
bility to concentrate his mind and work.

The most interesting fact connected with this por
tion of the career of Rafinesqne is his attempted appli
cation of his medical information to the treatment of
consumption. He has commonly been regarded as a
"quack" during this part of his life. However he was
far from such in fact. There is the essential distinction,
first of all, that Rafinesque really believed in his medi
cines and in his treatment. In his will may be found
a paragraph to which attention is directed in this con
nection. For some years he had made and advertised a
medicine, sold in several forms, to which he gave the
name of " Pulmel," and concerning the virtues of which
he wrote a book. His methods, then novel — and Rafin
esque always seemed to be in the lead in novelties —
were not at all unlike those now adopted by respectable
firms for the advertisement of their own nostrums. He
published a number of statements of cures, reliefs, and
similar matters, just as is now done under cover of the
certification of a reputable physician. While it is prob
able his decoctions and pills and powders possessed very
little therapeutic value, it is not quite clear that they were
less valuable than many that now are heralded, world
wide, as possessing virtues and powers that are incredible.

52 The Life and Writings of

It should also be remembered that Rafinesque was driven
by the necessities of a poverty almost unspeakable, in
the midst of a city of plenty, to do some things with
his "Pulmel" which he probably never would have done
under any ordinary circumstances. The determination
to owe no man anything; to secure the publication of his
books; to get and arrange new plants and other nat
ural history objects; to complete the exploration of the
northern Alleghanies, were all - controlling motives with
him. It was not sordid gain that drove him to medical
concoctions, but a sincere desire to get by fair means, in
an honorable way, the opportunity to do good and be of
service to mankind. I believe that Rafinesque did good
as he understood and felt it; that he had a nature sus
ceptible of appreciating kindnesses, and that, in his way
and to the best of his knowledge, he was of a philan
thropic mould.

Of this particular episode in the life of Rafinesque it
would be well, perhaps, to allow him to speak. He says :*

"Having cured myself completely in 1828 of my chronic com
plaint, which was the fatal Phthisis, caused by my disappointments,
fatigues, and the unsteady climate ; which my knowledge in medical
botany enabled me to subdue and effect a radical cure: I entered
into arrangements for establishing a Chemical manufacture of veg
etable remedies against the different kinds of Consumption. This

*Life of Travels, p. 87.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^

succeeded well. I introduced also a new branch of medical knowl
edge and art. I became a Pulmist, who attended only to diseases
of the lungs, as a Dentist attends only to the teeth. Being thus
the first Pulmist, and perhaps the only one here or elsewhere.
This new Profession changed my business for awhile ; yet enabling
me to travel again in search of plants or to spread my practice,
and to put my collections in better order, publishing many pam
phlets, &c.

" In 1829 I gave a public proof of my art, in printing a small
book called the Pulmist or the art to cure the Consumption, and
many hundreds of individuals, whom I have cured or relieved are
another striking proof of the beneficial results of my new practice."*

Rafinesque did not entirely abandon pedagogy when
he left Kentucky. In the winter of 1826-27 he lectured
on physical geography and natural history in the Franklin
Institute, and afterward, during part of 1827, was " Pro~
fessor of Geography and Drawing in the High school of

*This book, the full title of which will be found in the bibliography
accompanying this sketch, was caustically reviewed by the editor of " The
Western Journal of the Medical and Physical' Sciences" Volume III, 1830,
pp. 417, 418, 455. The review is included in a series headed "The Peoples
Doctors," which deals with books of a character similar to that of Rafinesque.
The most remarkable thing connected with the review lies in the fact that
its author, Doctor Daniel Drake, had never seen the volume ! He says, p. 417 :
" We have not had the advantage of seeing the Professor's ' doctor book,'
the title of which is prefixed to this article, but his circular lies before us. . . ."
I have no defense for Rafinesque's foolish book, with the contents of which
I am familiar, but I can not enter too strong a protest against treatment
of this sort, and against reviews by reviewers, who have never seen the
works of which they write. But this method has not been confined to the
doctors, evidently, as a perusal of some of the articles in the "Rafinesquiana"
herewith published will abundantly testify.

54 The Life and Writings of

the same Institution." In September of the same year he
left this post, and so far as known never again entered
a class-room as instructor. Ill health seriously interfered
with all his manifold occupations, but he still kept on
writing, amassing notes, publishing fragmentary articles,
and devoting not a little time to inventions and to his
medical business.

THE Six PER CENT SAVINGS BANK.

Probably the most interesting business adventure of
Rafinesque during these later years was the proposal,
elaboration and establishment of a kind of savings
bank which he called the Divitial Institution and Six
Per Cent Savings Bank. This institution had been a
favorite scheme for quite ten years before final organi
zation. The men who went into the scheme were all
men of small holdings; wealthy people would have
nothing to do with it. It paid stockholders six per
cent, and loaned money at the same interest rate. The
first year of its operation the bank divided a dividend
of nine per cent among the stockholders. How money
could be borrowed at six per cent, loaned at six per
cent, and current expenses be paid, does not appear,
unless, indeed, "the commissions, fines, and casualities ",

Constantine Samuel Rafinesqtte. 55

which he mentions, proved a prolific source of income!
Many similar institutions were proposed and established
at this time in Philadelphia, but Rafinesque lumps them
all together and declares that they were all gambling
institutions. The bank was still in existence at the
death of Rafinesque, but nothing can be learned of its
real history. It is not a little singular that the earliest
and the latest business ventures of Rafinesque alone
appear to have succeeded. All the rest is a record of
continuous failure.

THE DEATH OF RAFINESQUE.

The closing scenes in the life of this man are of the
saddest nature imaginable. He lived in the most abject
poverty on Race Street, Philadelphia, in a garret, sur
rounded by his books, minerals, plants and other loved
natural objects. He shunned the company of others
and had no, or but few, real and tried friends. Scientific
recluse that he was in these days, there were none to care
for him and help him in time of want. His scientific
loves were still strong, and he struggled along in the
unequal battle with fortune in the face of a disease
which had no relief save in death. The end came in
1840, when, alone in his crowded garret, in a poor quarter
of the great city, he died of cancer of the stomach.

56 The Life and Writings of

Language can not adequately portray the emotions
that arise as these words are written. Here was a man
who for years had loved and wooed that coy goddess whom
we call Nature; a man who had the soul to appreciate
both her richness and her profligacy; whose varied for
tunes, both in letters and in means, seem as the details
of a romance; he had at last paid the penalty of being
a part of that same Nature. He died without a word to
cheer him, without a tear shed for him. Rafinesque!
The name had gone to every land where science is cul
tivated. Rafinesque! The name had been bandied about
in jest and contumely by those who should have hailed
him as brother. Rafinesque! Dead! He yet lives and
will live as long as plants shall be studied and classified ;
as long as fishes shall unwittingly fall in the net of the
searcher; as long as the waters of the West shall give
life to mollusks; as long as changing stream or fleeting
cloud or moving star shall bear a message to men.
Long may the name of him who studied them all and
loved them all and understood them all be revered by
those who regard the labors of the pioneer!

Rafinesque had been dead to the world of brightest
minds for some years. The experiences through which
he had passed, which involved some of the saddest that
come to men, had so broken him that there is little

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^

question but that he was not of sound mind during
these latest years. He was not, however, the irrespon
sible madman some would have us believe; rather, his
was monomania, and took the direction of descriptions
of new forms of animal and plant life. But, more than
this, his defect was that peculiar form of monomania
which believed only in himself; which saw in his own
work a value that does not always attach to it; which
made him neglect the work of others, or, if it were
noticed, impelled him to caustic and unwise criticism.

It is related of his burial, that when a few men, what
ever the motive that prompted them may have been,
learned of his death and assembled to give the dead
decent entombment, his landlord refused permission of
burial; he hoped to find a market for the body in a
medical school, and thus obtain the rental Rafinesque
could not pay when living. The body had been locked
in a room adjoining that in which death had come; the
door was forced open in the presence of his last and
faithful friend, Doctor William Mease, and an under
taker by the name of Bringhurst; and what remained
of Rafinesque was let down by ropes into the back
yard and then conveyed to its resting-place.*

*This statement was first published in the Philadelphia Ledger Supple
ment, May 5, 1877. It is reproduced entirely in the American Naturalist,
1877, Vol. XI, pp. 574, 575. Vide " Rafinesquiana " at the end of this volume.

8

58 The Life and Writings of

The unfortunate naturalist lies buried in Ronaldson's
Cemetery, Ninth and Catherine streets, Philadelphia.
In 1 86 1 the place was marked by a plain board slab
on which was painted simply "C. S. R." To-day the
spot where he was buried is unmarked.

DISPOSITION OF THE PROPERTY OF RAFINESQUE.

All that Rafinesque possessed in the world is summed
up as personal property in the items of his will. When
it was learned that he was dead and that his property
would be sold at public auction, there was an unseemly
haste on the part of some persons to get possession of
his treasures, whatever they were. Kight dray loads
of books and natural history collections comprised the
mass of his "estate". They went to the auction rooms
of the city and were publicly sold, in violation of the
provisions of his will, which required private sale. There
is no intimation in the return of the executors that
any attempt was made to comply with its requirements.
His manuscripts on archseologic subjects were bought
by Professor S. S. Haldeman, and eventually found their
way, most of them, into the hands of Brantz Mayer,
of Baltimore, formerly consul for the United States to
Mexico. Thence many finally reached the United States

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. CQ

National Museum at Washington, where some are still
preserved. The National Museum possesses also several
note-books in which are recorded Rafinesque's observa
tions during some of his numerous travels; in addition,
there are an unpublished paper on the fishes of New
York and Pennsylvania, and the manuscript of a pro
posed "Conchologia Ohiensis."

Many of the archseologic manuscripts of Rafinesque
eventually found their way into the hands of Squier
and Davis, the authors of the immortal " Ancient Monu
ments of the Mississippi Valley". Such parts as suited
their purpose these gentlemen employed in its compi
lation. Most of this work of Rafinesque on the ancient
peoples of America seems to have disappeared from
view in Baltimore.

The collections of Rafinesque had suffered much from
neglect and inability properly to care for them. Labels
were lost and misplaced ; indeed most of the mineral and
conchologic materials were entirely without labels, and
were sold for mere trifles. The botanical collections were
badly injured by mice and other vermin, and were in sad
condition; most of the plant collection sold as waste
paper. A few good specimens were secured by Mr. Isaac
Burk, and by him presented to the University of Penn
sylvania, where, it is to be presumed, they still are. A

60 The Life and Writings of

considerable collection of plants, named and studied by
Rafinesque, may be seen in the Jardin des Plantes, in
Paris, where they form a portion of the Herbier Durand.
Mr. William Hembel presented to the Philadelphia Acad
emy of Natural Sciences that portion of the herbarium
of Rafinesque which contained the plants on which were
based the descriptive portions of the Medical Flora.
These descriptions are said to possess very great value
to-day, and it is very agreeable to know that the plants
are still in existence. They, together with other valuable
Buropean and Oriental plants, had been purchased at
the sale of the estate of their owner. A collection of
Annelides, or marine worms, made by Rafinesque, also
found its way into the Philadelphia Academy's collec
tions.* The rest are gone forever; that they really
possessed value is uncertain.

The books which Rafinesque left appear to have been
especially the quest of the greedy purchasers who attended
the sale. Some were sold at private terms, as the will
directs that all should be, but most of them went at
public auction. The return of the executors, appended
to the will, demonstrates that the Medical Flora, pub
lished in two volumes, had certain value. One man, a

* Vide "A Notice of the Origin, Progress, and Present Condition of the
Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia." By W. S. W. Ruschenberger,
M. D., 1852, p. 27.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 61

physician, "took eight copies", another took "a lot".
The books are now much sought after and possess a
certain intrinsic value which did not then seem to be
appreciated. The final settlement of the estate left it
indebted to the administrator in the sum of fourteen
dollars and forty -three cents. Rafinesque appears to
have been despoiled of his rights in nomenclature while
living; he was despoiled of his possessions when dead.

THE PERSONAL APPEARANCE OF RAFINESQUE.

There are living very few persons who have seen
Rafinesque. But since interest always attaches to the
physique of remarkable men, the attempt was made to
obtain descriptive accounts from such as still might be
alive. In this matter there has been a certain measure
of success. The portraits which, accompany this work
will disclose the rest.

The published description of Rafinesque by Audubon*
has long been the only source of information as to his
personality, and is reproduced here because chronologic
ally the first. Audubon writes as follows:

"A long loose coat of yellow nankeen, much the worse of the
many rubs it had got in its time, and stained all over with the juice

* Vide Ornithological Biography, Vol. I, p. 456.

62 The Life and Writings of

of plants, hung loosely about him like a sack. A waistcoat of the
same, with enormous pockets, and buttoned up to the chin, reached
below over a pair of tight pantaloons, the lower part of which were
buttoned down to the ancles. His beard was as long as I have known
my own to be during some of my perigrinations, and his lank black
hair hung loosely over his shoulders. His forehead was so broad
and prominent that any tyro in phrenology would instantly have
pronounced it the residence of a mind of strong power. His words
impressed an assurance of rigid truth, and as he directed the conver
sation to the study of the natural sciences, I listened to him with as
much delight as Telemachus could have listened to Mentor."

In regarding this description it should be remembered
that Rafinesque had reached Henderson after a long and
varied journey down the Ohio. The "ark", in which
he last had voyaged, had not the means of polite toilet
making; soiled clothing and unkempt beard, in a river
village of Kentucky, -in 1818, should have excited neither
comment nor wonder.

A delightful and authentic account of Rafinesque,
not as a rambling collector merely, but as a college pro
fessor, has been furnished me by one whose mother
knew Rafinesque.* The account is given exactly as it
came to the writer. Says this lady:

" There are few persons now living who remember Professor
Rafinesque. My mother, then a girl of ten or twelve years of age,
recalls him distinctly, and describes him, as did all I have ever
heard speak of him, as a most eccentric person ; his extreme ' absent-

* Miss Johanna Peter, of Lexington, in litt.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 63

mindedness ' contributing to his foreign ways to make him pecul
iar. His students were not slow to perceive that he made an
excellent target for their practical jokes, and having but small
esteem in those days for natural science as compared with class
ical attainments, they showed him little respect. His lecture room
was the scene of the most free and easy behavior, made possible
by the total absorption in his subject of the lecturer, who was
always totally oblivious to his surroundings when occupied with his
favorite pursuits. In appearance Professor Rafinesque was small
and slender, with delicate and refined hands and small feet. His
features were good and his eyes handsome and dark, or apparently
so from the long, dark eye-lashes. His hair, which he wore long,
was dark and silky. He went into society while in Lexington and
was a good dancer but had no companions, being totally abstracted,
usually, with his own thoughts and having no conversation, although
he spoke good English, save on his favorite topics of botany, etc.
On these he was an enthusiast. He was a clever draughtsman and
often made sketches of persons in his company. Mrs. Holly, the
wife of the President, took a motherly supervision over this lone,
friendless, little creature, while at Transylvania University, and saw
that he ate his dinner, that the mud of his various expeditions was
removed from his garments, that his, hair was combed and his face
was washed, as often any or all of these particulars would be for
gotten by the oblivious scientist. , . . For my own part I always
felt sorry for poor Rafinesque, because he was a stranger and
because all the young people made jokes at his expense. These
he is said never to have noticed apparently, but I believe a man
of his fine mind must have felt more than he showed. At any
rate he appreciated kindness that was shown him although he
knew none of the arts that make a man popular. He was well
known to my grandmother and to my great-grandfather, Samuel
Meredith, who then lived at this old country place, "Winton,"
where I am writing. Rafinesque often walked here from Lexington,

64 The Life and Writings of

seven miles, in search of specimens which he found in North Elkhorn
creek and to investigate the ancient Indian forts which traverse this
farm."

A second valuable account has been furnished by
General George W. Jones, of Dubuque, Iowa, who was
a student in Transylvania University from 1821 to 1825.
He writes : *

" I recollect the learned Professor Rafinesque perfectly well and
his physiognomy and general appearance are now visible to my
mind's eye. He was in personal stature about the size and appear
ance of my deceased friend, the late John Quincy Adams, but I
think he had a full suit of hair and black eyes. . . . Professor
Rafinesque had a room in College proper, and was a man of
peculiar habits and was very eccentric, but was to me one of the
most interesting men I have ever known."

And again, in a letter replying to questions con
nected with the genuineness of one of the portraits of
Rafinesque, which is published in connection with this
memoir, General Jones writes:

"I do not think that either of the pictures of Professor Rafin
esque f represents him correctly as I remember him when I knew
him as Professor of Natural History in Transylvania University, in
Lexington, Kentucky, from 1821 to July, 1825. The photograph is
certainly a better likeness than the other picture. I never saw him

* Letters dated August 25 and August 30, 1894.

t These were a photograph of the painting of Rafinesque in the Wisconsin
Historical Society, and said to have been made by the celebrated Jouett, and
the portrait of Rafinesque published by the Popular Science Monthly in April,
1892. The Popular Science Monthly portrait appears to have been copied,

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 65

dressed so finely or so fashionably as this photo represents, for he
was an extremely eccentric man in his dress, as well as in his
manners, and was always the object of ridicule by the younger
students of the University. They would fill his room with smoke
from cigars at night when he would leave it. I was always very
intimate in the family of President Holly and know that Professor
Rafinesque was always a favorite in his house and especially with
Mrs. Holly, who was one of the most excellent and charming, intel
ligent ladies that I ever knew."

Still another account, kindly furnished by one who
often saw him and to whose home Rafinesque frequently
came, differs in some minor details from the preceding.
This account says :

"As I recall the old man he was a small, peculiar looking Italian,
with a large, rather bald, head and stooping figure, very scientific,
absorbed in his books and his bugs, his researches and his writings,
a genius with many peculiarities and not much dignity. ... I don't
know where or how he got his meals. His room was in the College
building and was a curiosity, filled with butterflies and bugs and
all sorts of queer things. The students played tricks upon him, and
the young folks were amused by his funny ways. He seemed to
me an amiable gentleman, an innocent, inoffensive sort of man,
hardly appreciated at the time. ..."

A single other account, by a former student at Tran
sylvania University, may prove of use in relation to the

without credit, and with some modifications, from the one published in Pot
ter's American Monthly, Volume VI, 1876. The last mentioned was made from
a painting owned by Doctor William Kent Gilbert, of Philadelphia. This
painting is a reproduction of the portrait of Rafinesque which forms the
frontispiece to the "Analysis of Nature".

9

UNIVERSITY

66 The Life and Writings of

physique and habits of Rafmesque. For it I am in
debted to the courtesy of Judge Belvard J. Peters, of
Mt. Sterling, Kentucky. He says:*

"I was a member of the graduating class of 1825, with Gen'l
G. W. Jones, in the Transylvania University, Kentucky. I remember
Professor Rafinesque, and my recollection is he was a man of low
stature, not more than 5 feet 10 inches in height, strongly built,
and capable of great physical force; his head rather larger than
usual, square shoulders but not stooped, dark grey eyes, and dark
hair. While there was nothing in his countenance inviting to stran
gers, there was absolutely nothing forbidding. His face was far
from being ruddy ; but pale or perhaps wan is the best word, indicat
ing to me that his color was the result of hard study, for he was
a great student. He seemed to me to be careless of his style of
dressing, indeed, his clothes never fitted him and appeared to have
been made for some one else and he got them by accident. I think
he was not a cheerful man. I have no recollection of having ever
seen him enjoy a hearty laugh (as we Kentuckians would say). He
was an eccentric man, doubtless as much so as any account you
have of him represents him to have been. I never heard, and do
not believe, that his relations with Prest. Holly, or any of his
colleagues, were unpleasant. I never knew nor did I ever hear
of any such trouble. Prest. H., as I understood, was a Unitarian
and Professor Bishop was a Scotchman and Presbyterian of the
straightest sect, and but little intercourse [existed] between them.
Prest. Holly was the victim of persecutions of Presbyterian and
Baptist preachers, the first named the most bitter. They never
ceased their war upon him until they forced him to resign in the
Spring of 1827, and he was elected President of the New Orleans
College, and in July, 1827, he took yellow fever, on shipboard, going
from New Orleans to Boston, and died 3ist July, 1827. His body

* In lit., dated September 24, 1894.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 67

was committed to the deep, ' the Scholar's cloak was his winding
sheet, the ocean his grave, and the towering rocks of the Tortugas
his monument.' . . . But to quit this episode and return to the
Professor. I do not remember ever to have heard him lecture. He
was professor of Geology, but I think Botany was his favorite study.
He spent much time in the mountains of Kentucky and in investi
gating the quality of the different soils and their adaptability to
the production of various plants, vegetables, etc."

From these facts it would appear that, for some reason,
Rafinesque had changed his feeling of friendliness into
one of hostility to Doctor Holly, and that this new
condition was not justified. The account Judge Peters
has so kindly furnished helps us to understand the
wonderful physical force which must have been Rafin-
esque's, for he toiled always and without apparent rest.

No ordinary physique could have endured such cease
less activity, performed such arduous journeys, collected
such numbers of natural objects, prepared so many arti
cles for publication, and filled so completely the post of
professor. He most certainly was a man of indomitable
will, of unbounded enthusiasm, of great energy. These
are his virtues. On them we are content to rest his
case.

THE PORTRAITS OF RAFINESQUE.

The portraits of Rafinesque, which we present in this
volume, have an interesting history. The frontispiece
represents the author of the "Analyse de la Nature" as he

68 The Life and Writings of

appeared in Sicily, in 1810, and, therefore, at the age of
twenty-seven years. It is a reproduction of the portrait
of Rafinesque which constitutes the frontispiece of that
volume. On it was based the painting owned by Doctor
William Kent Gilbert, of Philadelphia, which is repro
duced by Chase in his sketch of Rafinesque in Potters
American Monthly, previously mentioned. The portrait
as there presented loses some of its charm and its unique
character. The picture is a very interesting one in that
it so well shows some of the peculiar features thus early
developing in the mental life of the naturalist. The
wide range which his studies and his activities already
had assumed is indicated by the ornamentation of
the plate. Modelling his work after Linnaeus he sought
to establish it on probity and philosophy. They con
stitute the foundation stones of the character which he
hoped to build. The birds of the air, the animals and
plants of the fields, the fishes and mollusks of the
waters, are all included in the illustration as reminders
of the diverse directions in which his energies had been
expended. He was a merchant, and the son of a mer
chant; he had been a traveller; and so, in the offing,
there appears a ship under full sail. A happy conceit
this, if we only pardon the bit of personal vanity which
it implies.

FROM THE PAINTING BY JOUETT IN THE WISCONSIN HISTORICAL SOCIETY'S COLLECTION.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 59

The second portrait of Rafinesque is presented with
some misgivings. There are some differences between
the two that do not appear to be sufficiently well ex
plained by time and harsh experiences. This portrait
is a photograph of an oil painting, on a black -walnut
tablet, now in the possession of the Wisconsin Historical
Society, at Madison, through whose courtesy it is allowed
presentation here. It was purchased as a portrait of
Rafinesque by the late Doctor Lyman C. Draper, some
time secretary of the Society, in one of his numerous
trips through Kentucky, or to Philadelphia, about 1876.
No memoranda accompany the painting other than the
name of Rafinesque and the date of purchase. Both
portraits have been seen by persons who knew Raf
inesque, but opinion on them is very equally divided.
Of the frontispiece there is no doubt whatever; of the
second illustration only the facts above mentioned can
now be given.

RAFINESQUE'S SCIENTIFIC WRITINGS.

Rafinesque's Scientific Writings.

UNDER the most favorable circumstances it often
becomes very difficult properly to estimate the
scientific work of a pioneer in natural science. And
when that work consists largely of papers printed in
scattered magazines, some of which do not possess a dis
tinctively scientific character, the task becomes doubly
difficult. In the case of the work of Rafinesque it is
not only that he published in magazines of this ephem
eral character, but that his work pertains to two conti
nents, which makes the final estimate extremely difficult.
His papers are now rare, notwithstanding the great
liberality with which he distributed them among scien
tific men. He disdained beauty and conventionality,
ignored typographical art, and his larger works, books,
and extended memoirs, were printed mostly in small and
cheap editions, and none of them may be regarded justly
as fair exhibitions of the book-maker's art.

Rafinesque's literary activity began in 1803, when
he published his first paper, a work devoted to notes
on certain birds, which he had seen in Peale's Museum,

74 The Life and Writings of

in Philadelphia, and extends uninterruptedly until 1840,
the year of his death. The number and character of
his papers differ in such marked manner that there
may be recognized, justly, three separate periods, during
each one of which his work had a distinguishing char
acter. The first may be said to comprehend all the
published work of Rafinesque during his Sicilian resi
dence; the second, and also the period of most valu
able literary effort, will include the years of residence
in Lexington; the third, the period of vagaries, will
comprehend the fifteen years of second residence in
Philadelphia. Under these three major classifications,
then, we will attempt an analysis of his scientific
writings.

SCIENTIFIC WORK IN SICILY.

The work of Rafinesque on the fishes of the Medi
terranean Sea, in that portion which borders Sicily, was
the first of its kind to possess any, really scientific,
value. Many new species and genera of fishes were
discovered by him; and the results of considerable of
his ichthyologic work are still held to be valid. This
work was accomplished while Rafinesque was yet a
young man. He had gone to Sicily fired with a love
for every thing natural ; his zeal had been intensified

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 75

by a few years' residence in the United States, during
which period he was associated with onr earliest natu
ralists, who had, at least, that enthusiasm which always
results from work in a virgin field. His new surround
ings were full of incentives to work ; his early training
had disposed him to wide observation; successful busi
ness ventures had provided means for travel and collec
tion; a famous naturalist, Swainson, was with him, to
encourage and to help. Add to these the fact that the
fishes and shells, the plants and the animals of the land
were unknown, or, if known, were not fully understood,
and the extraordinary character of much of Rafinesque's
work will be explained. In the midst of a profligate
Nature he saw, on every hand, subjects for note and
formal memoir. During this period of his scientific life
those discursive habits of thought, which must result
from a training such as he had received, rendered less
exact a pen that otherwise might have done valuable
service in the cause of original human knowledge.

The published work of Rafinesque on the Sicilian
fishes departed widely from the accustomed methods of
study and classification, which had obtained in Kurope,
and especially among the French savants. He made
careful notes, that is as careful as Rafinesque ever made,
of the objects he described, from the fresh and living

76 The Life and Writings of

specimens. The markets and the fishermen furnished
his materials. He borrowed, from the work of others,
information and facts as suited his purposes; he was not
always as careful to give full credit, as is the modern
writer, to the sources of his information. This sub
jected him to severe criticism; yet, be it remembered,
little had previously been learned concerning his field
of work. Cuvier, a great naturalist, but one who was
entitled also to the appellation of u closet naturalist"
more justly, perhaps, than any other man of his day,
finds fault with Rafinesque for divers reasons. The
criticism which he offered is the first severe one that
had occurred in contemporaneous literature. He said
of Rafinesque's "Indice d'1 Ittiologia Siciliana "/

" He has besides entered in his catalogue, without examination,
all the species given by L,acepede and Linnaeus as belonging to the
Mediterranean, which has caused him to reckon several which are
purely imaginary, and this extends even to his genera : thus his
Aodon, taken from L,acepede, is the Rate cephahptere ; his Macro-
rhapus, taken from the same source, is the Centriscus. He has greatly
multiplied the genera, and sometimes on slight grounds; so that,
without reckoning those which are not inhabitants of the Mediter
ranean, there are 139; and yet, notwithstanding his readiness to
make these divisions, he has not done so in circumstances in which
it would be imperatively commanded by the laws of classification.
He leaves, for instance, the anchovy in the herring genus, and the
plaice in that of the sole; while of the single L,innean genus Squalus
he has made sixteen." " These two works are, nevertheless," con-

Constanttne Samuel Rafinesque. 77

tinues Cuvier, "very worthy of attention, on account of some
original ideas, and of the descriptions and figures of the fishes
themselves, which are to be found nowhere else. The author also
has paid attention to the Sicilian names of most of his species."*

Of this work of Rafinesque on the fishes of Sicily,
perhaps no better judge could be found than Swainson
himself, the companion and friend of Rafinesque. He
was familiar both with the objects described, and the
conditions under which they came to the hand of their
nomenclator. Says Swainson, in a defense of the work
of Rafinesque:

"The year 1810 was remarkable in the annals of our science
for the appearance of two important works on the ichthyology of
the Mediterranean; one was by M. Rafinesque Schmaltz, f subse
quently Professor of Natural History in Lexington, U. S. ; the other,
relative chiefly to the fishes of Nice, was from the pen of M. Risso.
The first of these is of much importance ; and from particular
circumstances, will claim more of our attention than would at first
appear necessary. M. Rafinesque's Sicilian works are now become
so very scarce s(the greater part of the unsold copies having been
lost at sea), that few naturalists will have the power of consulting
them. His chief ichthyological work is a synopsis of ' New Genera
and Species of Animals and Plants ' found by the author in Sicily ;

* Quoted by Swainson in L,ardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. I, p. 60,
1838-1839.

t Rafinesque says, in his "Life of Travels", p. 34: "Prudent considerations
had already induced me to add the name of Schmaltz, my mother's name,
to my own and to pass for an American." These considerations are, properly,
to be connected with the Sicilian and French wars of his time.

7 8 The Life and Writings of

and this was followed by a pamphlet entitled ' Indie e d } Ittiologia
Sidliana\ The details of the new views of M. Rafinesque, in regard
to classification, are too long to be inserted in this volume, but they
will be occasionally adverted to. The faults that have been dwelt
upon* in these two works are such as all authors, even M. Cuvier
himself, is not exempt from ; they seem to us, in short, too trivial
for the notice of the historian, and too general to be affixed to any
one author in particular. We freely admit that M. Rafinesque (then
living, as we were, in a remote part of Europe, cut off, by the late
war, from all intercourse with the Continent) was not well informed
upon the current and almost daily discoveries going on there ; and
that some few of his species, then supposed new, were really not so :
but who is exempt from such errors, if errors they are ? or how are
such co-incidents to be prevented, when naturalists, in distant
places, and unknown to each other, are working at the same time
on the same subject? On the other hand, it must not be concealed
that M. Rafinesque anticipated, by nearly ten years, a verj^ large
proportion of the generic and subgeneric distinctions subsequently
taken up in the Regne Animal, in the first edition of which it is
clear that its learned author was totally unacquainted with the works
above mentioned, or that he was unconsciously repeating, under new
names, a considerable number of the genera and subgenera long
before established in the volumes of Professor Rafinesque. It would
have been well had these unintentional errors been rectified in the
second edition, or in the general ichthyological work of MM. Cuvier
and Valenciennes ; but they are not so ; and naturalists will judge
how far this is consonant with common justice, or with that law
of priority which is the only safe-guard to the reputation we all
covet. The generic characters of Rafinesque are as simple and
intelligible as those of Ljnnseus, and the derivation of their names
strictly classical and euphonious. In regard to the majority of

* Mentioned above in the extract relating to Cuvier's criticisms. [R. E. C.]

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 79

those species which have been termed ' imaginary ', or inaccurately
described, our firm conviction is, that nearly all, eventually, will be
as fully established as those of the best known in our systems. We
have formed this opinion, not from theory, but from actual obser
vation, and from having verified, in many instances, the validity of
Rafinesque's characters. The truth is, that Sicily is perhaps the
richest field for the ichthyologist, of any yet explored in the Medi
terranean, in whose warm and prolific waters, washing the tranquil
shores of so many islands, an immense variety of fish are constantly
found. Besides these two works, more especially devoted to the
ichthyology of Sicily, many other papers by the same author are
scattered in the periodical publications of Palermo ; and he has also
given a most original and valuable account of the fishes of the great
river Ohio."

The same writer gives additional information, in trie
form of a foot-note, that is quite useful in determining
the character of Rafinesque's methods during the time
he studied the fishes of Sicily. Says he:

" In further justification of the opinions here advanced, it may
be proper for me to state that I had the pleasure of M. Rafinesque's
society, during "the three years of my official residence in Sicily,
from 1807 to 1810, and again in 1812, when we were both at Palermo,
prosecuting our botanical and ichthyological researches together.
Circumstances have hitherto prevented me from giving them to the
public ; but an extensive series of drawings and descriptions, made
from the life, of the Sicilian fishes, not only confirms the accuracy
of M. Rafinesque, in many instances where he has been charged
with error, but affords strong ground for believing that one half of
the Sicilian species, said to be found also in the Atlantic Ocean,
Britain, etc., are, in reality, quite distinct. M. Rafinesque, unfortu-

8o The Life and Writings of

nately, was unable to publish more than a synopsis of his ichthyo-
logical discoveries ; and his figures, being very slight, are often not
calculated to clear up those doubts which the brevity of his descrip
tions sometimes creates; nevertheless, to one who examines the
species on the spot, in a fresh state, there are few which may not
be identified. M. Cuvier often asserts that all M. Rafinesque's
species were described from preserved specimens, but this is an
error — they were all taken from the life. We both used to frequent
the fish-markets, and we procured all our specimens there, or from
fishermen who were in our employ. I was frequently urgent with
my friend to preserve, at least, such as were the most remarkable
of his new genera, anticipating the incredulity that has since been
attached to them; but this advice, unfortunately, he never adopted.
The greater part of those which I examined, after being drawn and
described, were thrown away, or eaten ; a military life not being
suited to the formation of such collections ; but many of those
species met with near Palermo, were preserved in spirits and sent
to the British and Zoological Museums; few, however, of these are
now in existence. One cause, perhaps, of the errors of M. Cuvier
regarding the Mediterranean fishes, may be that he had only
examined preserved specimens, either distorted by stuffing, or
bleached and shrivelled by alcohol, so that it becomes often difficult
to recognise the most common species. If I have dwelt too long
on this subject, I hope the benevolent and candid reader will excuse
me; it has originated in my desire to do adequate, though tardy,
justice to one whose whole life has been devoted to science, and who
has been singularly unfortunate in his worldly concerns; who,
notwithstanding his eccentricities, has a kind and benevolent heart;
and whose labours have never been appreciated as I think they
deserve."

It is with some marked degree of pleasure that, to
this favorable estimate of Swainson on the value of

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 81

Rafinesque's work, there is to be added the statement
that, almost yearly, in some one or another of the
scientific journals and periodicals, or in the proceedings
of learned societies, occasional recognition is accorded to
some of the genera established by Rafinesque's Sicilian
work. Gradually the real, underlying facts are coming
to be known, and when known there are not wanting
men to do him justice. A feeling quite distinct from
that which prompted the adverse criticisms of Cuvier is
apparent in the work even of those who refuse to allow
him his names; they attempt, at least, to understand the
work which this pioneer in Sicilian ichthyology had
accomplished.

The study of the fishes of Sicily is almost the sole
zoological work of real and lasting value performed by
Rafinesque while a resident of that country. It formed
the ground-work of the whole subsequent superstructure ;
it was the first one to illustrate the forms described.
It partakes of the fault common to all the natural history
work of the time, in that the generic and specific diag
noses are brief, and altogether unsatisfactory, when meas
ured by modern standards. But it was a pioneer study;
it became the real foundation of all that followed it.

One of the more interesting facts connected with this
work of Rafinesque consists in the circumstance that

82 The Life and Writings of

he early recognized the artificial character of the L-in-
nsean system in use in the classification of plants. He
was a close student of Jussieu, upon whose system
most of his own botanical work was based. During the
period of these Sicilian publications Rafinesque pro
posed various arrangements and methods of classifica
tion, not alone of plants but of all organized bodies.
It hardly need be said that these systems were not
checked by that wide observation, and by that careful
comparison of material, gathered from all the quarters
of the globe, which alone could make a system of per
manent value. His schemes experienced the same fate
that all systems, which are based upon limited obser
vation, must have befall them. They are regarded now
as scientific curiosities. Of these Rafinesque's Principes
Fondamentaux de Somiologie, etc., and his Ordini Eltro-
logicl o Definizioni Ordini, etc., easily have the first place.
Numerous articles of similar character may be noted
in the Specchio delle Scienze, etc.; the Analysis of Na
ture, or Survey of the Universe and the Organized
Beings, is an elaborate attempt of the same import.

Another literary venture of Rafinesque, in this period
of Sicilian residence, was the proposed reprint or reissue
of the Panphyton Siculum of Cupani. This famous
and rare work was found by Rafinesque in the library

Constantine Samuet Rafinesque. 83

of the Jesuit Fathers, at Palermo. With the design of
making it more accessible to others he had the entire
work copied "on oil paper at great expeuce". Some
thing like one hundred and twenty of the seven hun
dred plates he had engraved; most of them were devoted
to the illustration of Sicilian plants. The work was
never completed; all that is known of the venture is
the statement by Rafinesque, in his "Life of Travels",
that these plates went down in the Race Rock ship
wreck off New London. The idea of a complete cop}'
of this work, made in the manner described, seems to
have had its inception in another plan of Rafinesque
to monograph the natural history of Sicily entirely and
completely. Most of the leisure of the ten years' resi
dence in the island was devoted to the collection and
study of natural objects with the one purpose, ever in
mind, of some day completing this self-imposed task.
In some certain sense this will account for the wide
range over which his studies and writings, at that
time, extended. Much of his work finally found its
way into print through the medium of various scientific
journals, and through the medium of the journal which
Rafinesque himself established, and carried to the comple
tion of the second volume, the Specchio delle Scienze, etc.
Writing on many subjects, and without monographic

84 The Life and Writings of

care, it is not wonderful that many papers published
during this time possess so little real value.

An episode of considerable interest occurred in the
last year of Rafinesque's Sicilian residence. It was the
reception of his first diploma of membership in a learned
society. The Academy of Natural Sciences of Naples
bestowed the honor. The item is insignificant in itself,
but it seems to have aroused a desire in him for other
similar honors. The method by which some of these
doubtless were secured may be gathered from a letter
by Rafinesque, published a few years since.* This
letter is here presented in full, not only for the reason
above assigned, but also because it indicates that Rafin
esque had in mind, for the cryptogamia at least, an
extensive work on American plants, and thus helps
to a further understanding of the wide range of his
literary efforts. The letter runs as follows:

" PALERMO, Jan. 28, 1807.
" DOCTOR M. CUTLER.

Dear Sir . — I had the pleasure to receive last month, via Mar
seilles, your esteemed favor of 8th May last, and being the first
that reached me from you since I am in Europe, you may easily
conceive how gratifying it has been. I perceive by it that you had
formerly wrote me and sent me some plants via Leghorn, which
both never came to hand, and I regret it exceedingly, but have no

*I,ife, Journal, and Correspondence of Rev. Manasseh Cutler, LX,. D.
Vol. II, pp. 311-314. 1888. Robert Clarke & Co., Cincinnati.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 85

doubt but that the next parcel you have the goodness to promise
me will make up that loss.

" I feel very sorry for the disorders you have experienced and
regret that, conjointly with some business, they have prevented you
to arrange your herbarium and favor us with another essay on the
plants of New England, but trust that God will grant you health
and leisure to accomplish both, and hope that you will at least favor
me with the catalogue and descriptions promised; they will be
gratefully acknowledged and mentioned when I shall publish my
travels and essays on the Nat'l Hist, of the Plants of the U. S., and
expect soon to receive the plants you mention to prepare, one of
which you say is a new genus, and if it be correct I am willing to
name it Cutlera, and alter the other plant named so. I trust you will
renew occasionally, or at least once every year, sending me a large
parcel of plants ; you know already most of those I want, but to refresh
your memory you will find hereunder the names of the principals,
as well as the names of the plants lost in the passage, which I don't
doubt you will have the goodness to collect for me this season. My
friends, Messrs Dawes, Ingersoll, etc., of Boston, who propose
returning to Sicily this year, will by my desire acquaint you with
the time of their departure. Any Captain coming from Salem to
Palermo, and they are many in the course of the year, will also
willingly take charge of such things for me, and in default you may
address any package or letter to my friends here-under mentioned
in several ports of the Mediterranean.

" In return of your kindness, and according to your desire, I
now send you a parcel of Sicily plants, to which I join a few
specimens of n. sp. of American plants, such as I can conveniently
spare. Here-under you have the particulars of same. I hope they
will prove acceptable. Among the Sicilian plants there are many
new sp. I have discovered. I am sorry to say I have no curious
seed to join to them at present. I inclose three copper plates of
as many new American criptogamic Genera Carpanthus, Volvaria,

86 The Life and Writings of

and Aedyeio. I get many others engraved here, and intend they
should make part of an essay on the natural history of American
fungi, that I shall publish in more peaceable times. I shall make
it a point to forward you my productions. I contemplate a natural
history of all the vegetables in America, and perhaps the animals
likewise, and whatever communications on those beings you may
choose to make will be highly acceptable.

" My leisure is now wholly engaged in investigating the Nat.
history of this Island, which I likewise contemplate to achieve, and
I am already very far advanced with the plants, Birds, Fishes, and
Mollusks, and I shall soon begin the remaining classes.

" It has always been my wish to be associated to some American
philosophical or botanical Society or Academy, and I suppose it
would not be very difficult to be aggregated as Corresp'd Member
through your means; and in case it should not be so easy as I
conceive, please to point out to me the means to become such. If
communications, presents of books or Natural curiosities, should be
necessary before or after, I am willing to send such as you will
think most proper. Your particular attention to this will infinitely
oblige me.

"Please to mention what new books or discoveries have been
published in America on any part of Natural history.

" If your friend Mr. Wm. Peck, or any other gentleman, would
also enter into a Botanical Correspondence with me, it would be
very gratifying for me. Pray what has the Erica returned to some
Andromeda or Dabcecia? or what?

" I remain, truly,

Your most obedient servant,

C. S. RAFINESQUE SCHMALTZ,

Chancellor of the American Consulat, Palermo.

" P. S. I could not get the parcel of plants ready for this oppor
tunity, but I shall send them by another, the William Gray, that
sails for Salem in fifteen days, and the Super., Mr. Waldo, will take
charge of them."

Constantine Samuel Rafinesqtte. 87

The circle of acquaintance with men of science, which
Rafinesque assiduously sought ever to widen, included
very many of the foremost naturalists of Hurope. Dur
ing his Sicilian residence he corresponded with very
many of the men who have been famous in French
annals of science; his acquaintance with the naturalists
of Italy appears also to have been cordial, and quite
complete. Wherever he could get a new plant, find a
new shell, obtain new information, there Rafinesque
sought and made acquaintances. In this way it hap
pens that so many of the names of men who have
achieved renown in the annals of European science
during the earlier portions of this century find a place
in the personal memoirs of Rafinesque. That, in after
years, they withdrew from these relations finds an
explanation solely in the fact that in his published
writings he was not always careful to give proper
credit for information so derived, or in the fact that
these relations became strained from the attempt to
turn them to purely personal ends. Whatever may
have been the real cause, but few of all the scientific
men with whom Rafinesque corresponded, during his
Sicilian residence, remained to him in the role of true
friends. Swainson alone, in Bngland, defended him to
the last ; on the Continent there was left not one.

The Life and Writings of

SCIENTIFIC WORK IN LEXINGTON.

The student of American science will find most of
interest in that portion of Rafinesque's scientific work
which was accomplished during his residence in Lex
ington. In some respects this period of activity was
marked by certain features which were identical with
those that had determined his Sicilian work. Rafin-
esque was the first naturalist to investigate at all fully
the natural history of the Ohio Valley. He found an
exhaustless and virgin field. A wealth of life, of every
sort, was in constant notice in field, in wood, in stream.
The larger and most common food fishes alone were
known, and these were, for the greater part, without
scientific name. Only an occasional mollusk, which had
found its way to the cabinets of Europe from the hands
of the earlier French residents along the valley, or the
few forms which Say had discovered, were known to
science. The birds and larger mammals had been made
known, but in the fields where Rafinesque had worked
longest and best there was a wealth of new and unde-
scribed forms. The temptation to publish, while yet the
nondescripts found had been but too carelessly studied,
was so great that a flood of scientific papers proceeded

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 89

from the pen of our author. These were printed in
various magazines, some scientific and some literary;
others found a place in the proceedings of learned
societies ; still others were projected in book form ;
many were promised but never were realized. The
first teacher of science west of the Appalachians, with
numerous objects brought to him, either through curi
osity or real interest, concerning which he had opinions
to express, occupying a newly established science chair
in the only western university, it is little wonder that
Rafinesque found so much to interest him in all direc
tions, and that he came to be a kind of Sir Oracle in
the Kentucky backwoods.

The nature of the papers printed during this active
period of seven years will be gleaned best from the
accompanying bibliography.

Two works in particular deserve especial mention in
this connection. They are the "Fishes of the River
Ohio", and "A Monograph of the Fluviatile Bivalve
Shells of the River Ohio". These works were pub
lished about the same period, one as a serial in the
Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, at Lex
ington, and the other as a monographic article in the
Annales Generales des Sciences Physique, at Brussels.

12

90 The Life and Writings of

THE FISHES OF THE OHIO.

The series of papers on the fishes of the Ohio was
also issued in separate form, the volume being made up
of oversheets from the magazine mentioned. The title
given was the " Ichthyologia Ohiensis". A new brief
introduction precedes the paper, which was wanting as
it appeared in the Western Review, but in all other
respects the work is identical. Since this book has been
the subject of a most various comment, and since it affords
a good index to the characteristic literary style of Raf-
inesque, it will be proper to give it more than a passing
mention. Add to this the fact that it was the first work
ever written on the Ohio River fishes, and has thus
become the groundwork for all succeeding investigations,
and it will be granted that full data respecting this re
markable book will be justified in this connection.*

*The "Ichthyologia Ohiensis" is now an extremely rare volume. Very
few copies are known, less than a half dozen in all. The writer succeeded
in tracing a copy from the library of the late Doctor Robert Peter, of Lex
ington, Kentucky, through the hands of Robert Clarke, of Cincinnati, to
the Newberry Library, of Chicago. Not only did this institution refuse to
allow us to make a photographic copy of the title-page, to illustrate this
work, but even refused to allow us to see the book. Application made at
the Librarian's desk elicited only the information, first, that the book was
not in the library, and, second, when confronted by the Librarian's own letter
to us acknowledging possession, we were informed that " the book could not
be seen ". It is felt that this statement is due to others, who may some time
wish to consult rare books, in order that time and means should not be wasted
in a fruitless journey to Chicago.

18SO. T1SHES OF THE RIVER

A

mentioned by Lesucur as a variety of his »#; rubicundus, page
390 of the Trcms. Am. Phil. Society, but it differs widely from
it.

100th Species. BIGMOUTH STURGEON, ^.ccijienser macroi-
ttnins. Eiurgcon beant. , ^

Head one fourth of total length, snout elongated, somewhat
flattened, eyes round Body cylindrical deep brown above,
white beneath. Tail elongated; about 20 dorsal scales, seve-
ta.l between the dorsal and anal fin, about 30 scales in each lat
eral row.

I have net seen this species, but Mr. Audubon has commu-
mealed me a drawing of it. It is o:i'y tumid in ihc lower parts
of 'the Ohio, and reaches four feet in length. Good food,
Mouth large gaping, hanging down, retractable. Gill cover
oblong. Tail slender, the lower lobe very small. Fins trape
zoidal, the dorsal and anr.l somewhat falcated and more distant
from the nil than usual. Lateral scales dimidiated.

XXXII Genus. Dovin.i; FIN. DIXECTUS. Uinecte.

Differs from Sturgeon, by having two dorsal and no abdom
inal fins. First dorsal anterior, the second opposed to the anal.
Three rows of scales us in Xt> fit-tun.

This genus rcits altogether upon the uutho • ity of Mr. Audu-
bon, -who has presented me a dra.ving of the only species be
longing to it. It appears -very distinct if his drawing- be cor
rect" but it require* to be examined again. Is it only a Stur^
gcon incorrectly drawn?

lOUt Species. FLATNOSE D<;u«i.EFlx. Dincctua iru*catus.'

Dinccte cam us.

Hc-.'.d cr.e rl'th «>f total length, conical, snout very short trun
cated, eyes roxu:'J. B«xly cylindrical deep brown above, silve
ry white' beneath. t-H elongated: dorsal scales, 4 before the first
dorsal fin, 6 between the fins, and 4 behind the second, lateral
rows with about 30 small dimidiated scales.

This fish was taken with the seine near Hendersonvillc in
the soring of 13 IS by Mr. Audubon. Length two feet, skin
very thfck and leathery. Mouth very large "and hanging down
as in the foregoing, somewhat like a proboscis. Pectoral and
anal fins iruawoidal, dorsal tins nearly triangular, the first larg-

FROM THE "FISHES OF THE RIVER OHIO."

Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, 1820.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesgue. 91

The title-page of this volume furnishes a good illus
tration of the encyclopaedic character which was given
to all title-pages during the early part of the century.
Its full reading is as follows:

Ichthyologia Ohiensis | or | Natural History | of the Fishes
Inhabiting the | River Ohio | and its Tributary Streams, | Preceded
by a physical description of the Ohio and its branches | by C. S.

Rafinesque, | | Professor of Botany and Natural History in

Transylvania University, Author of the Analysis of Nature, &c., &c.,
member of the Literary and Philosophical Society of New York,
the Historical Society of New York, the Lyceum of Natural History
of New York, the Academy of Sciences of Philadelphia, the Ameri
can Antiquarian Society, the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences
of Naples, the Italian Society of Arts and Sciences, the Medical

Societies of Lexington and Cincinnati, &c., &c., | | The art of

seeing well, or of noticing and distinguishing with accuracy the
objects which we perceive is a high faculty of the mind, unfolded
in few individuals, and despised by those who can neither acquire

it, nor appreciate its results. | | Lexington, Kentucky, | printed

for the Author by W. G. Hunt, (price one dollar). | | 1820.

(One volume, 8vo, pp. 90.)

The title-page reverse has the following:

These Pages | and the Discoveries which they contain | in one
of the principal Branches | of Natural History, | are respectfully
Inscribed | by the Author | To his fellow-labourers in the same field
of Science | Prof. Samuel L. Mitchill, M. D. | who has described
the Atlantic Fishes of New York, | and to | C. A. Le Sueur, | who
was the first to explore the Ichthyology of the Great American
Lakes, etc. | In Token | of Friendship, Respect, and Congratulation.

92 The Life and Writings of

In this way this remarkable book was launched.
Many of the descriptions of fishes which it contains
are still regarded as good ; they are, of course, charac
terized by exceeding briefness, and must, many of them,
be read in connection with the generic characters which
precede them. There was certainly no opportunity of
checking observations by the work of others, because
the field was wholly unexplored and its fauna entirely
unknown. It was impossible that errors of more or less
moment should not enter into a book written piecemeal as
this one was. It is also quite evident, to any one who
has seen any of the fishes of the Ohio, that most of the
descriptions are based upon actual observation. But it
is also to be remembered that the descriptions were
mainly made from the fresh and living specimens — in
exact imitation of the method adopted by the same
anthor in his work on the fishes of Sicily. These
descriptions were placed in his note-books and after
ward utilized in the preparation of the serial papers
without the check afforded by comparison of specimens.
Also, facts were collected after the publication of some
of the parts in the Western Review and Miscellaneous
Magazine, and these were then introduced, sometimes
with change of the original names. A few forms had
already been characterized in the American Monthly

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 93

Magazine ; these species were not always kept distinctly
in inind by Rafinesque. The result is a blending of
characters and names that has caused very much con
fusion among students of American fresh-water fishes.
Add to these the forms, described as new or made the
basis of new genera, that had been " communicated by
Mr. Audubon" and the chief elements of uncertainty
are understood.

Numerous attempts have been made to determine the
exact fishes which Rafinesque had before him in writing
his notes; of these a record of varying success has been
made. President Jordan, Messrs. Copeland, Girard, Cope,
and L,. Agassiz, at different times and for different rea
sons, have attempted to settle these matters. While the
results are not altogether satisfactory, many names have
been definitively fixed; while a few others have been
abandoned. Among the latter are the names of the
fictitious fishes, the drawings and descriptions of which
Mr. Audubon had given to Rafinesque " for a practical
joke", victimizing all future science far more than they
did Rafinesque.*

Professor Louis Agassiz wrote,f in 1854:

"Nothing is more to be regretted for the progress of natural
history in this country than that Rafinesque did not put up some-

*A list of these forms will be found on page 29, antea, in foot-note.
~\Vide American Journal of Science, 2d series, Vol. XVII, p. 354.

94 The Life and Writings of

where a collection of all the genera and species he had established,
with well-authenticated labels, or that his contemporaries did not
follow in his steps, or at least preserve the traditions of his doings,
instead of decrying him and appealing to foreign authority against
him. Tracing his course as a naturalist during his residence in
this country, it is plain that he alarmed those with whom he had
intercourse, by his innovations, and that they preferred to lean
upon the authority of the great naturalists of the age, then resid
ing in Europe, who, however, knew little of the special natural
history of this country, than to trust a somewhat hasty man who
was living among them, and who had collected a vast amount of
information from all parts of the States, upon a variety of objects
then entirely new to science. From what I can learn of Rafin-
esque, I am satisfied that he was a better man than he appeared.
His misfortune was his prurient desire for novelties and his rash
ness in publishing them, and yet both in Europe and America
he has anticipated most of his contemporaries in the discovery of
new genera and species in those departments of science which he
has cultivated most perseveringly, and it is but justice to restore
them to him, whenever it can be done."

To this opinion should be added that of Doctor
Charles Girard, who, writing two years later,* says:

"... We find the laudable desire of attempting to bring back
into use the long-forgotten genera of Rafinesque, which fell into
disuse because of their own imperfection, and if they have not
passed into the common nomenclature of the day it was owing
to their defect more than to the partiality of naturalists; for we
may well imagine how any one would feel when rebuilding another's
work, as little known to the author as to the commentators them
selves.

*Proc. Acad. Nat. Sciences, Phila., VIII, 165-213, 1856.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesgue. 95

"And yet, for my part, I have always looked upon the resto
ration of Rafinesque's genera and species as highly desirable, as
soon as they had once been proposed and introduced into science
as names. But in order to do justice to the scheme, it was neces
sary to the undertaking that one should go to the very ground
covered by Rafinesque himself during all seasons of the year, to
enable us to discriminate between that which Rafinesque really
observed and that which is imaginary."

The most serious, and at trie same time most suc
cessful, attempt to ascertain precisely what fishes Rafin
esque had before him in making his descriptions is that
of President David S. Jordan in his " Review of Rafin
esque's Memoirs on North American Fishes",* in which
will be found a careful and well-considered attempt to
settle these important matters. While later the results
were modified slightly, this work stands as a faithful
and judicious attempt to place Rafinesque in his proper
relation to the work of his contemporaries and succes
sors. It was the first, and, so far as our information
extends, the only attempt at identification which has
been made from personal study within the region in
which Rafinesque had fished. All the rest, or nearly
all, were attempts made to understand, from alcoholic
materials, descriptions which were originally drawn from
fresh specimens personally taken by Rafinesque, or

* Bulletin U. S. National Museum, No. IX, 1877.

96 The Life and Writings of

obtained from fishermen. The writer of the "Ichthyo-
logia Ohiensis" had often depended on memory without
the check of careful notes, and in other cases had
described scientifically, from the stories of others than
Audubon, fishes which never existed. Eliminating these
forms, which are relatively few in number, there yet
remains a rather large list of fishes that well attests the
accuracy of Rafinesque's observations and his power of
specific diagnosis.

The " Ichthyologia Ohieusis" will therefore stand as
the groundwork of the ichthyological literature of the
great valley of the Mississippi, throughout which very
many of the forms that it described now range.

RAFINESQUE'S WORK IN CONCHOLOGY.

Almost equally with the work accomplished among
the fishes does Rafinesque's work in the molluscan
group rank as fundamental. In the extensive papers
published in the Journal des Physique et Chimie, etc.,
of Paris, Rafinesque for the first time called atten
tion to the great wealth, in the western waters, of
animal life in this branch of zoology. Not only did
he discover many forms unknown to other naturalists,
but he described them well. He even saw the wide

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 97

diversity that existed among the great family of the
Unionidce and attempted to render the group more
intelligible by instituting many subdivisions. That
these were always of value could not now be main
tained; but later students, unwilling to institute sub-
genera, have found it necessary to investigate these
mollusks under a natural grouping, each division of
which is headed by some well-known typical form. The
fact that Rafinesque actually made these divisions may
well be pardoned, therefore, in the light of the great
diversity of form which the Ohio Unionidtz present.

Rafinesque visited the Falls of the Ohio for the first
time in the late summer of 1818. The water was low,
as it usually is at that season, and myriads upon myriads
of fresh-water univalves, of the family Strepomatidce,
were in the shallows and pools. The numbers of shells
of this group, which may be seen in a single pool, is
incredible to one who never has made a visit to the
locality. They are of various and beautiful coloration
or markings; to Rafinesque, who saw them for the first
time, they must have had an irresistible charm. Few
of the naturalists of America had seen more than the
half score of species found in the eastern States; these
western forms were practically unknown. They consti
tuted the subject of extended notice in the Brussels

98 The Life and Writings of

Annales, and so this work becomes of historic impor
tance to the student of mollusca. Only recently there
has been made an attempt to interpret Rafinesque's
descriptions and figures from abundant material col
lected at the Falls of the Ohio, and the results appear
to be commensurable with those reached by the students
of the fishes. There are, indeed, the same short and
often faulty diagnoses, the same disregard of formal
notes that should have been made on the spot, the
same crudity in generalization that affords just subject
of criticism to the student of fishes. But Rafinesque's
conchologic nomenclature appears to be better under
stood than does that of his fishes; at least this is true
outside of the family of Unionidce. In this connection
the remark made by President Jordan, in his report on
the Fishes of Ohio,* may be quoted as especially appli
cable to the work which Rafinesque did in the mollusca:

"... I may say that Rafinesque's work as a whole is bad enough,
and bad in a peculiarly original and exasperating way, but that
it is much better than some of its critics have considered it, and
that the trouble it has occasioned in nomenclature is due to a
large extent to causes not inherent in the character of the work.
A certain amount of conservative odium always attaches to a
writer who attempts to form natural genera out of time-honored
artificial combinations."

* Geological Survey of Ohio, Vol. IV, Zoology and Botany, p. 741, 1882.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 99

I do not think that Rafinesque has always received
fair treatment at the hands of American conchologists.
He has been traduced, and in one instance, at least, a
concerted attempt has been made to ignore his work
and to reflect on his scientific reputation.* From these
facts it has resulted that others have been influenced
in forming their opinions of his work, not having the
opportunity, assuming that they had the inclination, to

*My library contains a small pamphlet, with the following title: "Cata
logue | of the | Unios \ Alasmodontas, and Anodontas \ of the \ Ohio River and
its Northern J"ributaries, \ adopted by the \ Western Academy of Natural Sci
ences, \ of Cincinnati, January, 1849. | Cincinnati; \ Printed by J. A. & U. P.

James, \ | ". This small catalogue of nineteen pages recognizes sixty-seven

species of these three subgenera. Of these species three of Unio are cred
ited to Rafinesque; a large number of the other names which he gave to
forms are listed under the synonymy of various species described by other
writers, notably Say, Hildreth, Barnes, and Lea. This pamphlet had its origin
in a determined attempt to recognize none of Rafinesque's species. A very
interesting fact connected with its design lies in the mention of a similar
matter by Dr. Lea, who says (Synopsis of the Family Unionidcz, 1870, p. xxx,)
that the Ohio naturalists, Hildreth, Kirtland, Ward, Buchanan, and Clark, also
made out a list in which they gave one species only to Rafinesque out of a
total of one hundred and nineteen! It is a fact of great moment to note
that possibly these gentlemen, who were interested as descriptive naturalists
in this same group, may have rendered not a fair judgment. It is also
important to note that Rafinesque's descriptions appear to have been drawn
so accurately that these gentlemen could recognize them, and place them as
synonyms under names which they and their friends had attempted to es
tablish. It will always be considered by future students that this treatment
of Rafinesque was unfair, unjustifiable, contrary to the true spirit of science,
and inimicable to the best interests of knowledge. The final classification
of the Unionidcz has yet to be made.

ioo The Life and Writings of

obtain information at first hand. Even Mr. Lea, who
reviews the matter with some detail in his Synopsis of
the Family Unionidce, edition of 1870, does not seem to
be entirely free from prejudice, notwithstanding that he
declares he " studied his [Rafinesque's] works faithfully,
without prejudice, and certainly without profit, losing
much time ineffectually". In short, it would appear
that Mr. Idea's explanation of his treatment of Rafin
esque's species is less an attempt to unravel the diffi
culties of the matter, and do justice to all concerned,
than an attempt at a justification of a method which
entirely disregarded the work Rafinesque had accom
plished. One can not but feel that, if more generous
impulses had prevailed among the naturalists who wrote
from 1825 to 1870, much of the difficulty in the way of
recognition of the species established by Rafinesque
and others would have been avoided. Jealousies of the
most pronounced character entered into the matter, and
a general wrangle ensued which eventually involved
nearly all the conchologists of this country. In the
discussions which resulted, Rafinesque and his views
were quite lost to sight. Only of late years his claims
have been advanced again. Both Mr. Say and Mr.
Conrad, well known for work on the members of the
family Unionidce, have published lists in which some of

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 101

Rafinesque's names are made a leading term, but the
unfortunate fact remains that these lists were in part
the result of the antagonisms which prevailed among
the earlier conchologists. Each felt, or fancied, that he
had not received proper consideration at the hands of
Mr. Lea, and so there resulted some forced recognitions
of Rafinesque's species, in the hope that Mr. Lea's
names would fall into synonymy. This very unpleasant
episode in American malacology would better be passed
in silence were it not that it must come into observation
when the final revision of the Unionidte is undertaken.
The results reached by Rafinesque in fossil con-
chology do not possess the value which attaches to
his work in recent shells. Many of the genera charac
terized by him are faulty in so many particulars,
and have such imperfect description, that, if quoted at
all, they are relegated to tables of names of inserta
sedis. However, one, a very common genus, from the
Devonian, known as Strophomena, yet remains, of all
Rafinesque described, to indicate that he did some work
in the brachiopoda. Among corals his Devonian genus
Zaphrentis yet stands and represents almost the sum of
his studies in the ccelenterates. The great majority
of his generic and other names bestowed upon fossils at
one time or another has been shown to be valueless.

io2 The Life and Writings of

In respect to land shells Rafinesque's names have
fared far better. A number of his genera are still
recognized, and are in common nse. Since most or all
of the work which he did in this branch was nnique
for its time, and since his aptitude for forming generic
names was most happy in the matter of the choice of
the terminology employed, it is with pleasure that one
chronicles the fact that many yet stand in the various
systems. Among them are Triodopsis, Mesodon, Steno-
trema, and Mesomphix, all of which are happy expres
sions of conchologic facts.

Considered as a whole the conchologic work of Raf-
inesque was remarkably well done. The forms on
which he based his nomenclature were not myths, but
were actually under observation. If some of them must
be abandoned, it is in keeping with the rules of priority
most rigidly applied; some are names given to groups
that had already been characterized, but the fact was
unknown to their author. He, first among many, suc
ceeded in regrouping, in some rational and natural
manner, forms of most divergent character that before
had constituted heterogeneous assemblages; he was, in
this matter, far ahead of his contemporaries, and the
fact must ever remain as a singular proof of his acumen.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 103

RAFINESQUE'S WORK IN BOTANY.

One of the most striking facts in connection with
the botanical work of Rafinesque consists in his con
stant onslaughts upon the artificial classificatory systems
of his day. Especially is this marked in his reviews
of the work of others. In these papers he spares not,
and herein lies one chief cause of the disrepute into
which he early fell among American botanists. He was
bold to a fault; he was quick to see new relations; he
was not always careful to work them out to the satis
faction of others, but insisted on their adoption without
the formality of a rigid demonstration. In this way his
propositions came to be regarded as dangerous innova
tions, for American science was yet under the domina
tion of the masters in Europe. Closet naturalists abroad
directed the investigators of this country what groupings
to accept and what relations to recognize.

Of the genera and species established by Rafinesque,
and that are recognized in Gray's Manual of Botany,
there are thirteen genera, eight subgenera, and sixteen
species. With advancing years others will be added,
and the full sum of tardy justice eventually will be
reached. There only intervenes, preventing speedy rec-

104 The Life and Writings of

ognition, that doubtful rule that accepts a well-known
and long-recognized name in lieu of one less well known
but previously described. However convenient such a
rule may be to the systematist in botany, it is mani
festly one which is capable of being applied with great

injustice.

THE FLORULA LUDOVICIANA.

This work, on account of its remarkable nature, and
because it has justly subjected its author to severest
censure, deserves more than passing notice. Like very
many others of the works of Rafinesque, this one has
a piece-meal ensemble that is quite characteristic. It is
"respectfully inscribed to Dewitt Clinton, LL. D., Gov
ernor of the State of New York, President of the
Literary and Philosophical Society of New York, and
president of many other learned and benevolent societies,
etc., etc." A preamble of five pages states the sources
of information for the matter contained and the reasons
for publishing the work. The justification for the book,
in Rafinesque's mind, may be found in the following
statement from the preamble:

"... In perusing this Flora, I was astonished to find, among
many blunders in nomenclature and classification, several accurate
descriptions and valuable additions to the knowledge of plants,
their geography, utility and natural history. Having, therefore,
compared with attention all his descriptions with the Floras of North

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Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 105

America of Michaux and Pursh, I became convinced that a great
number of new genera and species, unknown to those authors,
were described by Robin.''*

That any marked scientific value could attach, to a
volume prepared as Rafinesque arranged this one is im
possible. That part of the "Florula Ludoviciana" which
is thus based upon Robin's work comprises pages 12
to 128. To this part of the book there are three indices;
the first, an " Index of Louisianian vulgar names", all
of which are, naturally, French ; second, an " Index of
New Genera and Sub-Genera"; and lastly, an " Index
of Old Genera". Pages 129-155 are devoted to a "Sup
plement" and "Additions" based upon the works of
Pursh, Bartram, Michaux, and others; this is designed
to include all the plants unknown to Robin, which were
mentioned by these authors. Not the least remarkable
feature of the book is that portion which fills pages
157-165, and is occupied with "An Appendix to the
Trees and Shrubs of Louisiana" based upon an entirely
different publication than Robin's. This work was by
William Darby,f and has, in a chapter on statistics,

*The title of Robin's book is as follows: Voyages dans 1'interieur de la
Louisiane, de la Floride Occidentale, et dans les isles de la Martinique et de
Saint-Dominque, pendant les Annees 1802, 1803, 1804, 1805 et 1806. Paris. 1807.
(3 Vols., 8vo.) The botanical portion is the " Flore Louisianaise", Vol. Ill,

PP- 313-551.

t A | Geographical Description | of the | State of I/ouisiana, | the Southern
part of the | State of Mississippi | and | Territory of Alabama: | presenting | A

io6 The Life and Writings of

many references to the indigenous forest trees of various
parts of the State. On pages 300, 301, and 353-356 are
two formal lists, with both Bnglish and Latin names, of
trees that form the basis of the supplement of Rafinesque
in his Florula. The last few pages of Rafinesque's book
are concerned with advertisements of his books and
papers already published, and to be published, as well
as mention of some still in hand. Taken altogether
the volume is a most curious botanical olla podrida.

The descriptions of Robin, as he himself states,
were all based upon the living plants; he made no col
lections; nor were his notes submitted to any competent
botanist. That he actually saw the plants he indicates,
and to which he gave the French provincial names, is
without question the fact, but he nowhere describes these
plants technically. Nor is it at all likely that he pos
sessed the ability to do so. The Latin diagnoses of
Rafinesque, therefore, must be regarded as pure fabri-

view of the soil, climate, animal, vegetable, and mineral | productions: illus
trative of their natural physiognomy, | their geographical configuration, and
relative situations; | with an account of the character and manners of the j
inhabitants. | Together with | A Map, | from actual Survey and Observation,
projected on a scale of | ten miles to an inch, of | The State of Louisiana, | and

adjacent countries. | Second Edition, enlarged and improved. | | By

William Darby. | | [Extract of five lines, in French, from the Memoire

de M. De Vergennes sur la Louisiane.} \ | New York. | Published by

James Olmstead, | Sold also by B. Levy & Co. Booksellers, New Orleans. |
J. Seymour, printer. | | 1817. [8vo., map, pp. I-XII (i, Map) 13-356. (3).]

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 107

cations which have neither scientific value nor authority.
His book takes its proper place as a literary curiosity;
it will, at the same time, remain a monument to the
most foolish episode in his botanical career.

OTHER BOTANICAL WORK.

The penchant for genus-making, which was so marked
in Rafinesque, seems to have had full swing in his
botanical nomenclature. Not only did he emphasize
minor differences, but he even closely scanned the
descriptions of others, and, without seeing the plants
themselves, erected on these formal written or printed
diagnoses his own generic names. That he was often
wrong could be said with truth; but that he was often
right is equally true. He had little sympathy with the
artificial systems that prevailed during the early part
of the century. He saw relationships that others were
unwilling to grant him. In his reviews of the published
work of other authors he employed his characteristic
methods to an alarming extent; some of the genera
which observers proposed he threw out of his system,
on the ground that he had himself originally described
them under other names. That this method should
bring upon him the severe criticisms of those whose
work he treated thus is by no means surprising, but his

io8 The Life and Writings of

rejoinders were not always of a courteous nature. On
this matter Doctor Gray, reviewing Rafinesque's botani
cal writings, in 1841, wrote as follows:

" It is indeed a subject of regret, that the courtesy which prevails
among the botanists of the present day, (who are careful to adopt
the names proposed by those who even suggest a new genus,)
was not more usual with us some twenty years ago. Many of
Rafinesque's names should have been adopted; some as matter of
courtesy, and others in accordance with strict rule. But it must
be remembered, that the rule of priority in publication was not
then universally recognized among botanists, at least as in present
practice, (the prevalence of which is chiefly to be ascribed to the
influence of De Candolle;) the older name being preferred coeteris
paribus, but not otherwise. It is also true, that many scattered
papers of Rafinesque were overlooked by those who would have
been fully disposed to do justice to his labors, had they been
acquainted with them; and a large portion of the genera proposed
in his reviews of Pursh, Nuttall, Bigelow, &c., were founded on
their characters of plants which were doubtfully referred to the
genera in which they were placed, or were stated to disagree in
some particular from the other species."*

There is opportunity for some careful botanical stu
dent permanently to place the Rafinesquian genera into
their true relation to the work of others. Whether the
results will be largely valuable does not matter ; it has
now become a simple question of priority and of justice.
The work of a man who has been grossly neglected will

* American Journal Science, Vol. XL,, p. 234, 1841.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. IOQ

need to be carefully revised; many of his dried speci
mens and illustrations of genera still are to be found in
the herbaria of Europe and America. The task will be
less difficult in this than in any other branch which
Rafinesque cultivated, for he was first of all other things
a botanist, and accomplished in that subject his most
valuable work. In other directions little or nothing
anywhere remains to help the student of science in
forming a judgment. The best collection which illus
trated his work in the Unionida, that of Mr. C. A.
Poulson, of Philadelphia, has been scattered long since,
and there exists no other which would have given the
aid possible in that one. But many dried plants with
original Rafinesquian names still exist, and these should
be examined; then should the rules of priority rigidly
be enforced.

Rafinesque's botanical work extended over the whole
period of his literary activity. A large number of
short papers appeared from time to time, in every
possible medium of publication. These never were
collected by their author, and there exists to-day no
complete collation in any library in the world. Some
of the work he did on Kentucky plants was not pub
lished under his name, though the most of that work
found its way to the scientific public through a variety

no The Life and Writings of

of avenues. The single exception, which is impor
tant, is the first, or almost the first, list of Kentucky
plants, published by Doctor Henry McMurtrie, in his
" Sketches of Louisville", in 1819.* This volume con
tains an appendix called " The Florula Louisvillensis sive
Plantarum Catalogus vicinitate urbis, Henrico M*> Murtrie,
M, /?.," and comprises pages 207-230. The name of
Rafinesque nowhere is mentioned in connection with
this catalogue, though he was credited with lists of the
shell-fish and the fishes given on pages 62-66. But a
writer in the Western Review and Miscellaneous Maga
zine, Volume II, page 90, speaking of the list of plants
as "a pretended view, of the vegetables of that section
of the country", states that McMurtrie was indebted to
Rafinesque for the names and classification of his plant
list! Certain it is that the list contains some of the
Rafinesquian genera, and thus shows some acquaintance
with Rafinesque's work on Kentucky plants, very little
of which had been published at that date.

* Sketches | of | Louisville | and its Environs; | including among a great
variety of Miscellaneous Matter, a | Florula Louisvillensis; | or, A Catalogue
of | nearly 400 genera and 600 species of Plants, that grow in the vicinity
of | the Town, exhibiting their Generic, Specific and | Vulgar English

Names. | By H. McMurtrie, M. D., etc. | . . . | | To Which is Added | an

appendix, | Containing an accurate Account of the Earthquakes experienced
here from | the i6th December, 1811, to the 7th February, 1812, extracted

prin- | cipally from the Papers of the late J. Brookes, Esq., | | First

Edition. | | Louisville, | Printed by S. Penn, prin. Main-Street | 1819.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

in

Among the best of the drawings which Rafinesque
made of plants, usually in outline only, were those of
his earliest attempts essayed while still a resident of
Sicily. These plates were all lost in the shipwreck,
only one ever appearing. There exists in the library
of the New York Academy of Science, in a volume of
botanical wood-cuts,* a collection of plates by Rafin
esque. On the margin of the first plate is written:
"The following are the proofs of plates lost in my ship
wreck of 1815." On the back is written: " Collection
of 29 plates and 46 figures of New Genera and Species
of plants from N. America, discovered by C. S. Rafin
esque in 1802—1804. Published in 1807, 1808, and 1814.
These plates never published — only proofs of plates
lost in 1815, thus they are a unique collection. Depos
ited in the Lyceum at the foundation in 1817, by the
author. N. B. The Phyllepidum alone was published
in the Bncycl. Journal of Sicily, 1814." Whether these
plates and figures will serve to distinguish the American
plants described as a result of the first visit to the United
States must be left to the professional botanists to de
termine.

Rafinesque's drawings of plants were all, so far as
we have seen them, in outline. Perhaps the best

* Volume C, Shelf D, Case No. 36.

ii2 The Life and Writings of

examples are to be seen in the Medical Flora, the one
hundred plates of which are all in outline, but are very
characteristic and accurate. The plants are easily recog
nizable from the drawings, but are deficient in matters
of detail. None of the drawings made by him to
illustrate zoological subjects at all approach these plates
of plants in accuracy and value. In short, however,
Rafinesque could not be said to have made even clever
drawings of the plants which he named and described.
His reputation as an artist rests on a very insecure
foundation.*

Summarizing the facts in the botanical writings of
Rafinesque, it would appear that he, among the first,
clearly saw that many plants, which had been forced
into specific and generic relationship, were really either
separate forms or types of new genera; that his oppor
tunities for wide collection rendered it clear that new
groupings must be made, though in this he antagonized
the workers of his time. It also appears that foreign
authors and collectors frequently found plants with the
generic relationships of which they were not themselves

* Very few of Rafinesque's general drawings have been preserved. An
interesting instance, however, may be seen in the Medical Repository, Vol.
XVIII, in a letter by a Mr. Gratz, one of the former owners of Mammoth
Cave, relating to a mummy said to have been found in the Cave ; the draw
ing from which the engraving was made was by Rafinesque.

Constantine Satmiel Rafinesque.

entirely satisfied; in their various systematic arrange
ments these aberrant forms were noted, of course. These
plants of inserts sedis Rafinesque assumed to group,
and he established for them new generic appellations.
In the great majority of instances he never saw the
plants themselves when he thus attempted to establish
a new genus, but based his work on the descriptions of
the students from whom he borrowed. It also appears,
whether from ignorance or from indifference does not
here matter, that he gave names to plants already well
known, thus needlessly complicating the literature of
botany. These are his chief defects. On the other hand
there is to be considered an insight into natural group
ings which was far ahead of that of others of his time ; a
love for Nature that amounted to a passion ; a generosity
in the distribution of his plants and his papers that few
have emulated; a laudable ambition to be regarded the
first naturalist of his time. These are all commendable.
It is sad to reflect that the high ideals, which he had
before him in early manhood, were fated to non-realiza
tion. His botanical work demonstrates that he was the
creature of an unfortunate environment, the victim of
an unbalanced training, the intellectual scientific problem
of his day.

e Life and Writings of

ARCH/EOLOGIC WORK.

During the period of Lexington residence Rafinesque
devoted much attention to the mounds and other evi
dences of prehistoric peoples in the Ohio Valley. About
Lexington, in Fayette County, are several examples of
mounds, to the study of which he gave much time. It
is not known that the modern methods of careful
exploitation were employed by him; probably he simply
surveyed and located the mounds he discovered. His
attention had been directed to these interesting and re
markable earthworks during a journey in Ohio, where
for the first time he saw them. From that time on,
wherever he went, his close attention was directed to
these objects. In the appendix to his work on the
"Ancient Monuments of Kentucky", published in Mar
shall's History, is an enumeration of the sites of an
cient towns and prehistoric monuments and similar
works. In a summary, at the end of the enumeration,
Rafinesque states that he had already, in North America,
ascertained five hundred and forty-one sites of towns,
of which one hundred and forty-eight were in Ken
tucky. In the same summary he says that before his
time only twenty-five sites and one hundred monuments

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

were known in Kentucky; he then states that by his
labors the entire list for North America had been
increased to one thousand eight hundred and thirty, of
which five hundred and five are in Kentucky. Many
of these most certainly were not artificial constructions;
some were the residual products of erosion ; in short,
they were natural features.

Very little of the work which Rafinesque professed
to have accomplished in this branch of inquiry was ever
printed. Such memoirs as he did present, and which
are listed in the bibliography accompanying this sketch,
possess but very little value. Indeed, the whole subject
has practically been developed since his day. Then, too,
the various earthworks were in process of exact location
and of description from the standpoint of the curious;
it has remained for a later coterie of students to ap
proach the question along lines which are purely scien
tific. There is every reason also for believing that many
of the mounds, which Rafinesque listed elsewhere than
in Kentucky, were natural elevations rather than artificial
works. There is no record that he ever opened a single
one of them, or ever dreamed that this method alone
could produce such valuable results as are now known
to attach to it. Such of these mounds as can une
quivocally be classed among artificial earthworks are

n6 The Life and Writings of

probably few; of the whole number but forty-one are
credited to Rafmesque by Professor Cyrus Thomas,* and
some of these are probably listed twice, inasmuch as
the boundary lines of certain counties have changed
since the original enumeration by Rafinesque, and this
has resulted in some confusion regarding identity. It
is, however, exceedingly creditable to his acumen and
general interest in whatever had a scientific facies, that
he, at that early day, should have made a list of works of
this sort and thought them worthy of permanent record.
Some of them he mapped or surveyed, making copious
notes at the time. These facts, thus gathered, have been
utilized by subsequent writers.

In Squier and Davis' "Ancient Monuments of the
Mississippi Valley "f are a number of plates of mounds
and other earthworks derived from the unpublished
manuscripts of Rafinesque. On page xxxvi of the

*Vide Catalogue of Prehistoric Works east of the Rocky Mountains,
pp. 89-102. Bureau of Ethnology, Washington. 1891.

tSmithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. I, 1848. The following
plates in this work are based upon the surveys and drawings of Rafinesque :
Plate IX, No. 3, Ancient Work near Lexington, Kentucky; Plate XII, No. i,
Stone Work on Duck River, Tennessee; Plate XIII, No. i, Works on Flat Run,
Bourbon County, Kentucky ; Plate XIV, No. 3, Ancient Work, Fayette County,
Kentucky; Plate XXXVIII, Ancient Work on the Etowah River, Alabama
(Georgia?); Plate XXXII, No. 6, Ancient Work, Montgomery County, Ken
tucky; Plate XXXIII, No. i, Ancient Work near Mount Sterling, Kentucky,
on Brush Creek, Montgomery County.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 117

preface of that rare and valuable volume may be noted
the following remark:

" It will be observed that several plans and notices of ancient
works are presented in the succeeding chapters, upon the authority
of the late Prof. C. S. Rafinesque. This gentleman, while living,
devoted considerable attention to the antiquities of the Mississippi
valley, and published several brief papers relating to them. His
notes and plans, for the most part brief, crude, and imperfect, at
his death found their way into the possession of Brantz Mayer,
Esqr., of Baltimore, late Secretary of the American L/egation to
Mexico. . . . His notes are principally important, as indicating the
localities of many interesting monuments, rather than as conveying
any satisfactory information concerning them."

It is difficult properly to characterize this critique
of the work of Rafinesque without doing an uninten
tional injustice to the memory of the distinguished
authors of the "Ancient Monuments," but it hardly
appears to do Rafinesque full justice. It does not rec
ognize the fact of his inexperience in studies of this
character, nor does it consider that this branch of inves
tigation was very far from being reduced to a scientific
method in his day. It fails to measure his work by
the standards of his time and the status of his subject,
but applies modern methods of criticism. His notes
may have been brief, his work crude, his deductions
not always sound, his information not always complete;
granted all these, yet time has shown the essential accu-

n8 The Life and Writings of

racy of his facts, time has developed value for these
observations, if they only have served to indicate to
more observing minds and to more skillful surveyors
the locations of new and important prehistoric works.
With the location of certain now well-known ancient
monuments, and with their fair delineation, the really
valuable portion of Rafinesque's archseologic work may
be said to end. The extensive memoirs which he pro
jected, and some of which he partially executed and
published, possess very little archseologic value indeed.
It is quite clear that Rafinesque was not well equipped
for investigations of this sort. The opportunity to let
the imagination run riot, because there is so little check
of real fact in certain lines of ethnologic investigation,
afforded to him the means of attempting some of the
wildest vagaries. His ideas were not checked by facts
but proceeded along lines which were impossible of dem
onstration. It would be hard to find a more valueless
and unscientific treatment of ethnologic questions than
that in his "Ancient Annals of Kentucky", in Marshall's
History, or those found in his "American Nations etc",
if, indeed, one except the works of John Haywood and
Josiah Priest! One of the shorter papers of Rafinesque,
published in the Cincinnati Literary Gazette, the "Biog
raphy of the American Solomon",* called forth a severe

*The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, No. 22, May 29, p. 170, 1824.

Constanttne Samuel Rafinesque.

119

critique from David G. Burnett, some time president of
the Lone Star State, who also furnished the Gazette
a series of articles on the Indians of Texas. Perhaps
it would be quite sufficient to say, in brief, that the
work done by Rafinesque in this field possesses so few
of the elements of permanency and of value that it can
not be quoted as authoritative nor depended upon as
exact by any modern author. His claim to scientific
recognition would surely fail if it rested on his arch-
seologic work.

LITERARY WORK FROM 1825- TO 1840.

When Rafinesque left Kentucky, in the fall of 1825,
the period of his most valuable scientific work came to an
end. From that time his literary efforts partake more
and more of the character of vagaries. His life now
became a series of disappointments and constant strug
gles with poverty. Every man's hand appeared to him
to be against him; a certain misanthropy, which had
developed, became very marked and dominated all his
work. If he failed in any enterprise his "secret foes"
accomplished it; if his books were not issued to him
fresh from the press without payment, and were therefore
held back, it was "the secret machinations of enemies"

120 The Life and Writings of

that accomplished it. In such frame of mind as this
Rafinesque passed the last fifteen years of his life, and
under such an incubus of distrust did he prepare and
print his later works. It is little wonder, therefore, that
they are now sought after, not for any scientific value
which they may possess, but for the fact that they are
really literary curiosities. One alone of all his works,
published during those fifteen years, has in it the ele
ments of perpetuity, and that is the "Medical Flora".
This work of two volumes possesses real value, and
stands as his best monument for all this period. His
literary work was never entirely abandoned, though it
was seriously interfered with by business ventures of one
or another sort; with these were entangled several patent
schemes relating to steam-plows, incombustible dwellings,
sub-marine steamboats, and the like, which, of late years,
have been realized by other and competent inventors.

What the real nature of the literary work of this
period was, a glance at the appended bibliography will
disclose. It covered the usual wide scope of subjects,
and was characterized by the usual looseness of style
and piece-meal ensemble. Perhaps the best illustration
of the valueless work of this latest period is "The
Genius and Spirit of the Hebrew Bible" , a book without
a single redeeming literary feature.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 121

The botanical work of Rafinesque, during this last
period, was mainly in the establishment of various new
genera of plants, a large number of which were pro
posed. He had planned a thousand new ones, as he
announces in his Flora Telluriana, but most of them
were based upon the work of others, and not on the
plants themselves. Many short papers, proposing new
species of plants, or erecting new genera, appeared from
time to time, but always in cheap and ephemeral form.
His articles were usually short, and poorly written; he
had lost the facile pen of his earlier life. He yet trav
eled everywhere, and yet collected largely of every thing
that grew. He yet kept note-books, yet planned stu
pendous literary undertakings. Nothing appeared long
to receive his undivided attention. He abandoned a
subject after brief treatment, only to take it up again
and complete his observations thereon at another time.
Attempting every phase of human thought, writing on
almost every subject known to men, planning but never
executing, undertaking only to abandon, distrustful al
ways, ever indefatigable, living only to publish, withhold
ing money from necessities that he might present to the
world of scholars some new book or pamphlet, what
wonder that the literary efforts of this period are esti
mated to be of so little value!

16

122 The Life and Writings of

RAFINESQUE'S LITERARY STYLE.

The reader of Rafinesque will find few attempts at
rhetorical effect. His style is singularly loose and unsci
entific. His thought is not always sequential; his facts
are not always clearly presented. There are frequent
lapses from grammatical laws, seen particularly in the
relation of singular verbs and plural subjects, or the
contrary. When he essayed formal description in natu
ral history Latin, the ablative absolute and the nomi
native independent are hopelessly confused. And yet,
notwithstanding these defects in style, there is a certain
directness and vigor which are refreshing. Especially
is this true of those parts of his writings which may be
regarded as controversial. His printed works abound in
contractions, but most often of the two words genus and
species; he commonly wrote "G." for the one, and "Sp."
for the other. Rarely did he spell his numerals, but
usually employed the Arabic symbols. These facts give
to his pages a peculiar appearance, and may be regarded
as distinctive.

To enable the reader to form some fair opinion of Raf-
inesque's best literary style the following extracts, from
the "New Flora of North America," Part I, Introduction,

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 123

are given at some length. Doctor Asa Gray, who also
quotes them, does so with the remark that in them
Rafinesque "draws a lively picture of the discomforts,
as well as the enjoyments of a travelling naturalist".
They certainly are both vivid and true to nature:

" During so many years of active and arduous explorations, I
have met of course all kinds of adventures, fares and treatment.
I have been welcomed under the hospitable roof of friends of knowl
edge and enterprise, else laughed at as a mad botanist by scornful
ignorance. — Such a life of travels and exertions has its pleasures
and its pains, its sudden delights and deep joys mixed with dangers,
trials, difficulties and troubles. No one could better paint them
than myself, who has experienced them all. L,et the practical
botanist, who wishes like myself to be a pioneer of science, and to
increase the knowledge of plants, be fully prepared to meet dangers
of all sorts in the wild groves and mountains of America. The
mere fatigue of a pedestrian journey is nothing compared to the
gloom of solitary forests, when not a human being is met for many
miles, and if met he may be mistrusted; when the food and collec
tions must be carried in your pocket or knapsack from day to day ;
when the fare is not only scanty but sometimes worse ; when you
must live on corn bread and salt pork, be burned and steamed by
a hot sun at noon, or drenched by rain, even with an umbrella in
hand, as I always had. Musquitoes and flies will often annoy you
or suck your blood if you stop or leave a hurried step. Gnats dance
before the eyes, and often fall in unless you shut them ; insects
creep on you and into your ears. Ants crawl on you whenever
you rest on the ground, wasps will assail you like furies if you
touch their nests. But ticks, the worst of all, are unavoidable
whenever you go among bushes, and stick to you in crowds, filling

124 The Life and Writings of

your skin with pimples and sores. Spiders, gallineps, horse-flies,
and other obnoxious insects, will often beset you, or sorely hurt
you. Hateful snakes are met, and if poisonous are very dangerous ;
some do not warn you off like the Rattle-snakes. You meet rough
or muddy roads to vex you, and blind paths to perplex you, rocks,
mountains, and steep ascents. You may often lose your way, and
must always have a compass with you as I had. You may be
lamed in climbing rocks for plants, or break your limbs by a fall.
You must cross and wade through brooks, creeks, rivers and swamps.
In deep fords or in swift streams you may lose your footing and
be drowned. You may be overtaken by a storm ; the trees fall
around you, the thunder roars and strikes before you. The winds
may annoy you; the fire of heaven or of men sets fire to the grass
or the forest, and you may be surrounded by it unless you fly for
your life."*

But the true botanist and the student and lover of
Nature has the ascendancy in the end ; that Rafinesque
felt this, and that he had often realized it is very clear
from his description of the counterpart of the toils and
dangers just enumerated. Says he :f

"The pleasures of a botanical exploration fully compensate
for these miseries and dangers; else no one would be a travelling
botanist, nor spend his time and money in vain. Many fair days
and fair roads are met with, a clear sky or a bracing breeze inspires
delight and ease, you breathe the pure air of the country, every
rill and brook offers a draught of limpid fluid. What delight to
meet with a spring, after a thirsty walk, or a bowl of cool milk out

*New Flora of North America, Part I, Introduction, p. n, et seq.
t Ibidem, p. 14, et seq. Quoted from Gray in American Journal of Science,
Vol. XL, 1841, pp. 223, 224.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

of the dairy ! What sound sleep at night after a long day's walk ;
what soothing naps at noon under a shaded tree near a purling
brook. Every step taken into the fields, groves and hills, appears
to afford new enjoyments. Landscapes and plants jointly meet in
your sight. Here is an old acquaintance seen again ; there a novelty,
a rare plant, perhaps a new one, greets your view ; you hasten to
pluck it, examine it, admire, and put it in your book. Then you walk
on thinking what it might be, or may be made by you hereafter.
You feel an exultation, you are a conquerer, you have made a con
quest over Nature, you are going to add a new object or a page to
science. — To these botanical pleasures may be added the anticipa
tion of the future names, places, uses, history, &c. of the plants
you discover. For the winter, or season of rest, are reserved the
sedentary pleasures of comparing, studying, naming, describing,
and publishing."

There are occasional idioms in his composition, and
these are constant reminders of foreign parentage and
education, yet occurring often enough to cause us to be
patient with the grammatical faults of Rafinesque. On
the whole his English is very good; but the brevity of
his descriptive work renders strict compliance with es
tablished usage quite impossible. The chief fault in his
scientific writings consists in extreme brevity of descrip
tion; evidently his original descriptions were hastily
drawn, many or most of them in the field, and these
formed the bases of his future published work. In this
way may be explained very many crudities ; they are
verbatim renditions of original field notes.

126 The Life and Writings of

The writings of Rafinesque should be regarded from
the literary standpoint of his time, in the field which
he cultivated. Natural history was not then the impor
tant branch of culture it is now; it was not cultivated
by men of classical training, or but rarely so ; the men
who worked at natural history problems did not always
possess the advantage of the drill and refinement then
supposed to pertain solely to the languages. If these
facts be remembered the judgments formed concerning
the style of Rafinesque will be generously modified;
final opinions will on the whole prove to be quite compli
mentary.

RAFINESQUE AND EVOLUTION.

The wide acquaintance of Rafinesque with the physi
cal conditions under which plants grow, and with the
evident relationships which exist between physical factors
and the forms of plant life, seems to have resulted in
some views concerning species, varieties, and so on,
that entitle him to distinction as an evolutionist. It
is not meant by this that he had a carefully formulated
system of evolutionary development in mind; it is in
tended to be understood as implying that he did, how
ever, clearly see one of the important factors in that
far-reaching philosophic doctrine. From an early period

Constantine Samuel Rafinesqm.

in his study of natural forms he had conceived certain
opinions regarding the natural relationships of so-called
species and varieties ; these he first expressed, though
in very crude form, in 1814, in his work on Somiology.
Toward the latter part of his life he appears to have
arrived more definitely at that form of evolution which
may be said to find its best illustration in Lamarck.
He had not, apparently, thought out any connected
philosophic system of development; he had caught only
a glimpse of the great truth. Nor do his expressions
of his views bear evidence of having investigated, closely
and continuously, the problems only the outlines of
which he saw before him. Perhaps, allowing him to
speak for himself, it is better that one suppose him a
Lamarckian rather than a Darwinian. Darwin's great
work was in progress, and had been for many years,
though unknown to Rafinesque when he wrote,* in 1833,
as follows:

" I shall soon come out with my avowed principles about G.
and Sp. partly announced in 1814 in my principles of Somiology,
and which my experience .and researches have ever since confirmed.
The truth is that Species and perhaps Genera also, are forming
in organized beings by gradual deviations of shapes, forms and
organs, taking place in the lapse of time. There is a tendency to
deviations and mutations through plants and animals by gradual

*Vide Herbarium Rafinesquianum, p. n aud p. 15. 1833.

128 The Life and Huntings of

steps at remote irregular periods. This is a part of the great
universal law of perpetual mutability in everything.

"Thus it is needless to dispute and differ about new G., Sp.
and varieties. Every variety is a deviation which becomes a sp.
as soon as it is permanent by reproduction. Deviations in essential
organs may thus gradually become N. G. Yet every deviation in
form ought to have a peculiar name; it is better to have only a
generic and specific name for it, than 4 when deemed a variety."

These opinions appear to us to warrant the assertion
that Rafinesque was an evolutionist. This is a remark
able fact for his time, when nearly the whole world of
science yet maintained the fixity of species and the
immutability of genera; a time when those purely arti
ficial yet convenient divisions of the student of living
forms, unknown to Nature itself, called genera, were
thought to be the result of express creative fiat. While
Rafinesque's belief appears to result from actual obser
vation of botanical facts, he had nowhere elaborated his
views, nowhere presented them as a complete system,
nowhere given evidence that he was capable so to do.
It rather would seem to be a kind of happy inspiration,
such as sometimes come to men, that guided him in his
groping search. It may be that this thought was upper
most in his mind when he described so many new forms
on slight data; if they were not yet species they surely
would be such in time!

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 129

MEDALS, DIPLOMAS, AND OTHER HONORS.

The scientific work of Rafinesque earned for him
recognition from many learned societies. Among them
were the Academies of Science of Zurich, Vienna, and
Bruxelles; the Reale Accademia delle Scienze, e Belle
Lettere, Naples; Societe de Geographic, Paris; the Ly
ceum of Natural History, New York; the Literary and
Philosophical Society, New York ; the Medical Society of
Lexington, Kentucky ; the Medical Society of Cincinnati,
Ohio; and other lesser organizations. The earliest one
of these to confer membership, or a diploma, on him
was the Natura Curiosorum, of Bonn. Rafmesque says
that this society conferred on him the degree of Doctor
Catesby, i. e., named him to fill the position styled for,
or in honor of, that celebrated traveler.* The Societe
de Geographic gave him its gold medal, in 1832, for
two memoirs on "The Primitive Negroes of Asia and
North America", but these essays were never published. f

*This was Mark Catesby, English naturalist, born about 1680, died in
1749. He was the author of an early work on the zoology of America,
published under the title, " The Natural History of Carolina, Florida and
the Bahama Islands, &c." London, 1731-1743.

tThe present whereabouts of this medal is unknown. In 1876 it was in
possession of Doctor William Kent Gilbert, of Philadelphia. An illustration
of it may be seen on page 99 of Potters American Monthly, Vol. VI, No. 50,

17

130 The Life and Writings of

^ Transylvania University conferred on him the degree of
Master of Arts, July 10, 1822.* He had been elected to

> membership in the Philadelphia Academy of Sciences
in February, 1816. His membership in the New York

> Lyceum of Natural History dated from the time of
organization, he having been one of its founders.

Notwithstanding the fact that formerly, more than
now, it was customary to bestow honors of this sort
on learned men without the very close scrutiny which
now obtains, it must be clear that the early scientific
work and acquaintance of Rafinesque had gained for
him substantial reputation. These societies all would
not have given him an election or other distinction
without at least some examination into his claims.
That they gave the honors is some evidence of deserv
ing merit.

iSjC. It has been erroneously stated that this medal was sold for old gold
to the United States Mint, at Philadelphia. This inaccurate statement may
be based upon the fact that at the auction sale, or private sale, of Rafinesque's
effects the medal was "valued at the United States Mint", but was not sold
to it. From the will of Rafinesque it will be seen that he highly prized it,
and had hoped it would remain in possession of the family Rafinesque.

*This fact is gleaned from the Kentucky Reporter, of July 15, 1822. This
was a newspaper published at Lexington, files of which were examined
through the courtesy of Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, of Louisville. It may
be interesting to know that several other persons received this degree at
the same time, to wit: Robert Jefferson Breckiuridge, a graduate of Union
College; William Gibbs Hunt, a graduate of Harvard University; John
Thomas Mason, a graduate of William and Mary College; Robert R. Barr,
James G. Trotten, and John M. McCalla, alumni of Transylvania University.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

RAFINESQUE'S NAME IN NOMENCLATURE.

It is often customary for scientific investigators to
compliment other students by affixing their names as
specific ones in the description of plants or animals
belonging to the groups which they have especially
cultivated. More rarely now than formerly is this done.
While no attempt has been made to collate all the forms
named after Rafinesque, but very few have been found
which have been so characterized. Knglemann named
a cactus for him — the Opuntia rafinesquii. A single
genus of fossils has likewise received his name — the
Rafinesquiana of Hall, for a group of Brachiopoda found
in the Upper Silurian. A single Devonian coral has
been named after him, the Zaphrentis rafinesquii Davis.
Among fishes there was the name Scaphirhynchus rafin
esquii Heckel; though described in 1835 this form is
now known by the name of Scaphirhynchus platirhynchus
Baird, described in 1850. For what sufficient reason the
name was changed we have been unable to discover.
In conchology Rafinesque's name has yet to appear in
specific application. Not more than two or three other
instances of its use would probably occur on careful
search.

132 The Life and Writings of

It is certainly not due to any fault of Rafinesque
that lie obtained but little recognition in the adoption
of his personal name in botanical literature. At least
twice he himself sought to establish the genus Rafin-
esquia ; the first instance occurring when he appropri
ated the Lotus pinnatus as the type of a new genus —
Rafinesquia, but the plant was later found to be a
true Hosackia. The next plant selected was Gardoquia
hookeri, which he also named Rafinesquia. The first in
stance was based on Lotus Pinnatus of Hooker, Botanical
Magazine, t. 2913. This he called Rafinesquia (or Flun-
dula) comosa. The description thereof may be seen in
the Flora telluriana, 2, 96; it is now known as Hosackia
bicolor. The second case was based upon the beautiful
genus of labiate plants so well developed in the mountain
region of Chili and Peru. This plant was selected after
the first one employed had been shown to be well known ;
along with its description occurs an amusing defense
of his attempt to fix his own name in nomenclature.*

The Rafinesquia recognized by the present generation
of botanists is a genus of Composites, and includes but
two known species, the Rafinesquia californica and Rafin
esquia neo-mexicana ; this genus, of small geographic dis
tribution, occurs only in the southwestern United States.

*Vide Flora Telluriana, Pt. Ill, p. 6, 1836.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.

Bibliography.

r I ^HE simplest arrangement, that of chronologic se-
* quence, has been adopted in this register of titles
by Rafinesque. No attempt has been made to apply
rigid bibliographic rules; but the ends of lines in
book-titles are indicated by light, vertical lines; maga
zines and journals are indicated by italicized titles ;
volume and page references and title verbiage have been
compared, in large part, in galley-proof, with the orig
inal sources.

In all cases the mistakes and misprints of the orig
inals, together with all lapses from grammatical correct
ness, have been retained. Also, many matters ordinarily
deemed of small or of no importance, such as quotations
and verses on title-pages, have been reproduced. The
object has been to present such a faithful transcript of
the title-pages that the reader might catch and study
all peculiarities in style or in expression, and from
the physiognomy of various title-pages be enabled to
reach conclusions that would be, in a measure, original.
Throughout are occasional notes calling attention to

136 The Life and Writings of

certain facts or factors that have been deemed of use
to accomplish the same result. It is hoped that this list,
which has been somewhat carefully prepared, will prove
useful to men of science who are interested in the his
torical phase of their special subjects.

Those who are somewhat familiar with the writings
of Rafinesque will not find, in this bibliography, certain
titles which are quoted by him in one or another of his
papers, and which they must have noticed. It appears
to have been a custom with him to prepare formal papers
and forward them to journals, magazines, and societies;
this constituted "publication" in his conception, and
some of these memoirs and essays are quoted by him
as having appeared. It is often quite difficult indeed
to separate these titles from those which really were
printed; but where specific journals are mentioned by
him it is quite easy to make the discrimination. A case
in point is a paper on "The Chinese Nations", said by
Rafinesque to have been published in the Knickerbocker
Magazine for 1834. The article never appeared. Simi
lar instances might be multiplied; it is only necessary
that extreme care be employed lest these fictitious works
and titles shall mislead others who may desire a more
intimate personal acquaintance with the late epoch of
Rafinesque's literary career, the period of vagaries.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 137

1. Notice sur deux nouvelles especes des genres picoides et turnix

de 1'ile | de Java, d£crites a Philadelphie, dans le cabinet de
M. Peales | par le C. Rafinesque. (Bulletin des Sciences, \ par la
Societ^ Philomatique, \ Paris, Vendemiaire, an n de la Repub-
lique. No. 67, p. 146.) [1803.]

This constitutes the earliest title by Rafinesque con
cerning which I am able to give any definite information.
The Bulletin was published in Paris, from 1791 to 1805.

2. Notice sur une hirondelle et un figuier de 1'ile de Java, decrits a

Philadelphie, dans le museum de M. Peales, par le C. Rafinesque.
(Bulletin des Sciences, \ par la Societe Philomatique. \ Paris,
Brumaire, an n de la Republique. No. 68, p. 153.) [1803.]

3. Canvass-Back Duck and its Food. Extract of a Letter from

Mr. C. S. Rafinesque to Dr. Mitchill, dated Philadelphia,
Sept. 7, 1804. (In Medical Repository, 2d Hexade, Vol. II
(No. 2), p. 208. New York, 1804.)

4. Additions to Michaux's Flora of North-America. In a Letter

from Mr. Rafinesque, to Dr. Mitchill, dated Palermo, in Sicily,
8th August, 1805. (In Medical Repository, 2d Hexade, Vol.
Ill, pp. 422, 423. New York, 1806.)

5. Sicilian Quarantines. (Extract from a letter to Dr. Mitchill,

dated Palermo, February 25, 1806. In Medical Repository, 2d
Hexade, Vol. Ill, p. 442. New York, 1806.)

6. Manifesto della Pamphysis Sicula sive Historia Naturalis Ani-

malium, vegetabilium, et mineralium quae in Sicilia vel in
circuitu ejus inveniuntur, opus incaeptum a P. Franc. Cupani
in Panphyto Siculo, continuatum ab Anton. Bonanno Ger-
vasi, Jos. Steph. et Franc. Chiarelliis, et ab C. S. Rafinesque-
Schmaltz locupletatum, etc. Palermo, 1807, tab. i.

18

138 The Life and Writings of

Quoted from the "Specchio delle Scienze" etc. The
work itself was never published. Rafinesque says of it:
"The book thus announced was never published, though
it would have done much honor to Sicily, and brought
to publicity the entire Panphyton Siculum, with all the
plates, about 700 in number." The "Prospectus" alone
was issued.

7. Prospectus of Mr. Rafinesque Schmaltz's two intended Works

on North-American Botany; the first on the new Genera and
Species of Plants discovered by himself, and the second on
the Natural History of the Funguses, or Mushroom-Tribe of
America. (In Medical Repository, 2d Hexade, Vol. V, pp.
350-356. New York, 1808.)

8. Essential Generic and Specific Characters of some new Gen-

usses and Species of Plants observed in the United States of
America, in 1803 and 1804. By Mr. C. G. Rafinesque Schmaltz.
In a communication to Dr. Mitchill, dated Palermo, Sept. ist,
1807. (In Medical Repository, 2d Hexade, Vol. V, pp. 356-363.
New York, 1808.)

9. Notice on the Medical Properties of some North-American

Plants : addressed to Dr. Mitchill by C. S. Rafinesque Schmaltz.
(In Medical Repository, 2d Hexade, Vol. V, pp. 423, 424. New
York, 1808.)

10. Cinquanta figure di nuovi Generi e nuovi Specie di Piante degli
Stati Uniti di America, del Sign. C. S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz.
Palermo. 1808.

Title quoted from the " Specchio delle Scienze" etc.
Of this work the plates only were printed.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 139

11. Sei vedute ad acqua forte d'antichita Siciliane fatte incidere dal

Sign. C. S. Rafinesque. Palermo. 1808.

This title is quoted from a bibliographical notice on
page 141, Vol. I, of the Specchio delle Scienze. A plate
of "Ruined Pillar in the Eloriu-road" (title in Italian,
French, and English) is reprinted in this magazine at
page 148.

12. Sur les proprietes mddicales de quelques plantes de 1'Amerique

Septentrionale ; par M. Rafinesque Schmacty [Schmaltz],
traduit du Medical Repository de New-Yorck; par M. Warden,
Consul americain. (In Desvaux's Journal de Botanique, Vol.
I, pp. 126-128. Paris, 1808.)

13. Description des Plantes trouvees dans les Etats-Unis d'Am£rique,

en 1803 et 1804, par M. Rafinesque-Schmaltz, communiquee a
M. Mitchill, membre du Senat des Etats-Unis, et un des
Redacteurs du Medical Repository de New-Yorck, dans un
lettre datee de Palerrne, i septembre 1807; traduite du Medical
Repository, vol. 5, p. 356, avril 1808; par M. Warden, Consul
americain. (In Desvaux's Journal de Botanique, Vol. I, pp.
218-234. Paris, 1808.)

14. Prospectus de M. Rafinesque Schmaltz, relatif a deux ouvrages

sur la Botanique du Nord de TAmerique; traduit du Medical
Repositor}' de New-Yorck, vol. 5, p. 350, par M. N. A. Desvaux.
( In Desvaux's Journal de Botanique, Vol. II, pp. 166-178. Paris,
1809.)

15. Caratteri | di alcuni nuovi generi e nuovi specie | di animali

e piante della Sicilia | con varie osservazioni sopra i mede-

simi. | | Opuscolo | del Sig. C. S. Rafinesque Schmaltz j

| Palermo | 1810. | Per le stampe di Sanfilippo. | |

Con Approvazione. [8°. pp (4) 1-105 (J)> pU- xx (77 figures).]
Dated "Palermo, Aprile i, 1810."

140 The Life and Writings of

Rafinesque says of this book : *

" It would not be proper to praise one's own production, so it
must suffice to say that in this classical work (opera classical are
described 24 new species of Birds and Reptiles, 51 new genera and
154 new species of Fishes, 21 new genera and 188 new species of
Plants, terrestrial and marine, all observed in Sicily and undescribed
('tnediti'). It would be rare good fortune to be able to effect else
where in Europe such an aggregate of discoveries and new Creatures :
nevertheless this is only the least part of the Author's observations,
and is simply a prelude to that which he expects to give to the
world when the times are more propitious to Science. He has
nearly ready for the press a Fauna and Flora of Sicily, both class
ical works which will be brought to light as soon as he is appointed
to one of the Professorships which he is seeking."

One of these professorships was that of the Chair
of Botany in the University of Palermo, which had been
filled by Professor Tineo. Both Rafinesque and Bivana
became candidates, but the choice fell on Tineo's son.
The other professorship sought was that of the Chair of
Agriculture and Economy, in the same institution. This
was finally 'filled by a "Clerk of a Minister of State",
and Rafinesque never attained the desired preferment.

16. Indice | d'lttiologia Siciliana | ossia | Catalogo Metodico dei
Nomi Latini | Italiani, e Siciliani dei Pesci, che | si Rinvengono
in Sicilia | Disposti | Secondo un Metodo Naturale | eseguito |
da un Appendice che contiene la Descrizione | di alcuni nuovi

Pesci Siciliani | Illustrate da due Piance. | | Opuscolo

del Signore | C. S. Rafinesque Schmaltz | - - | Messina j

Presso Giovanni del Nobolo | Con Approvazzione | 1810. |

(8vo, pp. 1-70, pi. 2.)

* Notice of and extracts from this work may be found in fsis, Band 22,
Heft 5, pp. 534-538. Leipzig. 1829.

Constantine Satmiet Rafinesque. 141

17. Progress in American Botany. A letter from C. Rafinesque

Schmaltz, Esq., of Palermo in Sicily, to Dr. Mitchill, dated
May 30, 1809. (In Medical Repository, 3d Hexade, Vol. I,
p. 297, New York, 1810.)

1 8. Statistica Generale | di Sicilia | De' Signori | D. D. Giuseppe

Emmanuele Ortolani | avvocato e mineralogico | e Constantino
S. Rafinesque Schmaltz | negoziante e naturalista | in due
parti | Nella prima si descrive il Fisico della Sicilia, | nella
seconda il suo Morale. | Palermo | 1810 | Dalla reale stamp-
eria. | (8vo, pp. 49, with two maps.)

Rafinesque remarks:

" The Moral Statistics of Sicily.— ( ' // morale della Sicilia ' ). The
second and more important part of this useful and innocent work,
was fully approved by the Royal and Ecclesiastical censors (' revisori
regj e chiesiastici'}, nevertheless its printing was prohibited by a
timorous Neapolitan cabinet-minister, because it discussed the con
dition of the government, the customs service, the army, the public
institutions &c of Sicily. The authors intend, however, to print it
as soon as we are in the enjoyment of the liberty of the press."

In the " Specchio" for February, 1814, p. 80, it is said:

"It is proposed to send to the press the second part of the
' Statistica de Sicilia.' — The ' Statistica Morale ' which includes the
geographical, constitutional, political, commercial, economic, historical,
literary, &c descriptions of Sicily, by Signori Ortolani and Rafinesque,
with a map of ancient Sicily and two plates or views, in one quarto
volume, at the price of 8 ' tari' (12 'tari' for the two parts) to be
paid on delivery, if before printing there are 100 subscriptions.

" It would be futile to praise such a book, but it should suffice
to say that the last Parliament ordered an exact census of the Island.

142 The Life and Writings of

The authors were the first to conceive such a plan, and had completed
it in 1810. They had no access to official documents, and were
forbidden to print the book, although it had been approved by the
censors. In our feeble judgment it will be of value to all citizens."

19. An Essay on the exotic plants mostly European, which have

been naturalized, and now grow spontaneously in the Middle
States of North America. By C. S. Rafmesque Schmaltz.
[Dated Palermo, ist Apr., 1810.] (In Medical Repository, 3d
Hexade, Vol. II, pp. 330-345. New York, 1811.)

20. Botanical information concerning two Families of Plants. I. Spe

cies of the genus Callitriche. II. North American species
of the genus Potamogeton. (In Medical Repository, 3d Hex
ade, Vol. II, pp. 407-409. New York, 1811. A letter to Dr.
Mitchill, dated Palermo, Apr. i, 1810.)

21. Cento venti tavole del Panphyton Siculum di Cupani, nuova-

mente fatte incidere col ritrato di Cupani, dal Sig. C. S.
Rafinesque-Schmaltz. Palermo. Folio. 1812. pp. ?.

Title quoted from the "Specchio dellc Scienze" etc.
Doctor Goode, who gives me this title, also quotes the
following information :

" The famous ' Panphyton Siculum ' of Cupani is a book so rare
that perhaps only four copies exist in Sicily and Europe. The
author of this reprint has had the copy in the library of the Jesuit
fathers in Palermo exactly copied at great expense. This contains
650 plates but he has had only 120 engraved, selected specially with
the purpose of making this precious work more generally known."

22. Description de quelques Vegetaux de Sicile et des Etats-Unis;

par Rafinesch [Rafinesque] Schmaltz. ( Desvaux's Journal de
Botanique, Vol. Ill, pp. 235, 236. Paris, 1813.)

Constanhne Samuel Rafinesque. 143

23. Champignons des Etats-Unis. ( Desvaux's Journal de Botanique,

Vol. Ill, pp. 236, 237. Paris, 1813.)

This paper, devoted to the mushrooms, is one of the
very few botanical papers of Rafinesque which deal
with cryptogams.

24. Specchio delle scieuze | o | giornale enciclopedico di Sicilia |

deposito letterario | delle moderne cognizioni, scoperte, ed
osservazioni | sopra le scienze ed arti | E particolarmente
sopra la Fisica, la Chimica, la | Storia Naturale, la Botanica,
1'Agricoltura, la Me- | dicina, il Commercio, la L,egislazione,
1'Educa- | zione, ec. | - - | Tomo priuio | prima annata e primo

semestre. | Instruire utilement, est le but ou j 'aspire. | |

Palermo | Delia Tipografia di Francesco Abate Qm. Domen-
ico. | 1814. (I^arge 8vo, pp. 1-216. 2 pi.)

The first volume of this rare work consists of the
first six numbers of the " Mirror of the Sciences," with
the following dates of publication:

Number I. i Gennaro 1814. pp. 1-44.

Number II. i Febbraro 1814. pp. 45-80.

Number III. i Marzo 1814. pp. 81-112. i tavola.

Number IV. i Aprile 1814. pp. 113-148. i tavola.

Number V. i Maggio 1814. 149-180.

Number VI. i Giugno 1814. 181-216.

Volume two consists of Numbers VII to XII, and
ends the work.

The title of the second volume is somewhat different,
so that it deserves recognition as a distinct bibliographical
unit. It is as follows:

144 The Life and Writings of

25. Specchio delle scienze | o | giornale enciclopedico di Sicilia |
deposito letterario | delle moderne cognizioni, scoperte, ed
osservazioni sopra le scienze ed arti | E particolarmente sopra
la Fisica, la Chimica, la | Somiologia, 1'Agricoltura, la Medi-
cina, la Legis- | lazione, etc. | Scritto dal Signore | C. S.

Rafinesque | | Tomo secondo | prima annata e secondo

semestre. | | Instruire utilement, est le but ou j 'aspire

j | Palermo | della Tipografia di Francesco Abate Qm

Domenico. | 1814. (Large 8vo. pp. 1-192 (?).)

Number VII. i Guglio 1814. pp. 1-32.

Number VIII. i Agosto 1814. pp. 33-64.

Number IX. i Settember 1814. pp. 65-96.

Number X. i Ottober 1814. pp. 97-128.

Number XI. i November 1814. pp. 129-160.

Number XII. i December 1814. pp. 161-192 (?).

The title-page reverse of Volume I has the following
note, fixing the chief part of the work on Rafinesque.
The note reads :

" Tutte quelle scoverte ed Osservazioni che in questo Giornale
non porteranno un nome particulare d'Autore saranno proprie del
Sig. C. S. Rafinesque Schmaltz."

This publication, designed to compass the widest
range of physical and natural science, appears to have
been modeled upon the " Medical Repository*''1 of Doctor

*"The Medical Repository, comprehending Original Essays and Intelli
gence relative to Medicine, Chemistry, Natural History, Agriculture, Geography
and the Arts ; more especially as they are cultivated in America ; and a Review
of American publications on Medicine, and the Auxiliary Branches of Science.
Conducted by Samuel Latham Mitchill and Edward Miller." This title was for
the year 1811.

Constantino Samuel Rafinesque. 145

Samuel Latham Mitchill, with which Rafinesque was
familiar. He had contributed a number of articles to
Doctor Mitchill's journal, itself a magazine of the broad
est character. Rafinesque, as editor of the "Specchw",
appears to have been almost the sole contributor. The
journal is mentioned in the "Precis des Decouvertes et
Travaux Somiologiques " on page four, as follows: "J'ai
entrepris depuis le commencement de cette annee la
redaction d'un Journal letteraire (le seule en son genre
ici) dont je public un numero tons les mois, sous le
titre de Specchio delle Scienze o Giornale Enciclo-
pedico di Sicilia etc". With the end of the year it
ceased to exist.

To Doctor G. Brown Goode, Assistant Secretary of
the National Museum, I am indebted for the full title
of this work. He has also kindly made from it the
list of separate titles, which are here given. The last
number of the second volume is wanting in the Smith
sonian Library, and Doctor Goode has supplied the
data from other sources. The articles by Rafinesque
are as follows :

( i ) Manifesto [della " Specchio delle Scienze "]. I. pp. 3-6.

This is dated Palermo, September 15, 1813. "It is
a very elaborate plan for an encyclopedic journal, which
the editor hopes may become world-wide in its influence"

(Goode).

19

146 The Life and Writings of

( 2 ) Osservazioni sopra il clima della Sicilia. I. pp. 3-6, 45-47, 81-84.

( 3 ) Nuova Veduta, o Divisione dello Studio Metodico dell' Istoria

Naturale. I. pp. 10, n.

(4) O Quadro del Metodo Sinottico di Somiologia. I. pp. 11-15.

(5) Descrizione d'un nuovo genere di Pesce. Leptopus peregrinus.

I. pp. 16, 17.

(6) Sopra due nuovi Alberi del Monte Etna. I. pp. 17, 18.
{Betula etnensis, n. s. ; Spartium etnensis, n. s.]

(7) Osservazioni sopra la Pioggia terrosa seguita in Palermo nel

Mese di Marzo, 1813. I. pp. 18-20.

(8-10) Dicefilo. No. i, I, pp. 21-23; No. 2, I, pp. 59-62; No. 3,
Vol. II, pp. 33-39.

" Three essays on prison reform, published under the section
of the journal headed ' Legislazione ' with many references to the
system in the United States and to a description of the Prisons of
Philadelphia and New York, translated from the tracts of LaRouche-
foucauld de Liancourt. This is the work catalogued in Rafinesque's
French Bibliography under the title ' Dicefile, ou 1'Ami de la Justice ' '
(Goode).

( 1 1 ) Quadro della Letteratura Siciana nel principio di questo secolo

6 Raguaglio dell' Opere stampate in Sicilia dal 1800 a tutto
il 1812. I. pp. 35-43.

(12) Memorie sopra le Riforme chi richiede 1'Agricoltura Siciliana.

I. pp. 48-51.

(13) Paragone di alcuni Stabilimenti, Instituzioni, ed Usi economic!

6 politici d' Inghilterra e di Sicilia. I. pp. 51-53.

( 14) Definizioni delle nuove Classi naturali di Vegetabili. I. pp. 53, 54.
[Eltroginias Mesoginia, Endoginia, Sinfoginia, Angioginia, Gim-

noginia, Faneroginia, Crittoginia, Algolia, MicoliaJ]

(15) Illustrazioni di Materica Medica Siciliana [Essempio Zologico. —

Grapsus fluviatilis\. I. pp. 55-58.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 147

(16) Seguito del Quadro della L,etteratura Siciliana nel principle di

questo Secolo 6 dal 1800 al 1812. I. pp. 72-75, 108-110.

(17) Neogenito Esotico o Definizioni di cento nuovi generi di Piante

Esotiche. I. pp. 86-88; 115-117; 156-158; 192-195.
[Pkemeranthus, Phyllepidum, Valentiana, Kinia, Radiana : —
Bonannia, Geanihus, Prychanthus, Triclisperma, Viviania : —
Bivonea, Crafordia, Wilsonia, Pelagnia, Edwardia : — Tenorea,
Hexorima, Vireya, Plenckia, Dicarphus^\

This article, continued through several numbers, had
one plate illustrating Phyllepidum squarrosum.

( 18) Osservazioni microscopiche fatte ... in Agusto 1812. pp. 88-90.
[Describes a new conferva, Arthrodia linearis, and two new

minute animals, Xanemus vibroides and Paranuecium dioxinum.]

(19) Seguito del Quadro della L,etteratura Siciliana, etc. I. pp.

108-110.

( 20) [Quadro degli] Ordini Eltrologici 6 Definizioni degli Ordini della

prime Classe delle Piante, L/Eltrogynia. I. pp. 113-115.

(21) Seguito delle tre Illustrazioni di Materia Medica Siciliana. 2.

Esempio Botanico — Asphodelus ramosus. I. pp. 130-134.

(22) Seguito del Quadro della Letteratura Siciliana del 1800 al 1812.

I. pp. 140-143.

(23) Addenda agli Ordini Eltrologici. I. p. 148.

The orders are finally fixed in the "Addenda" as fol
lows:

" Sotto-Classe Po ly gy nia.

i. Ord. Rhodanthia. 2. Ord. Perimesia. 3. Ord. Adnantheria.

Sotto-Classe Eltrandria.

4 Ord. Axanthia. 5 Ord. Monospermia, 6 Ord. Plyrontia. 7
Ord. Isandria. 8 Ord. Spyridia. 9 Ord. Monostimia. 10.
Ord. Polynesia, n Ord. Isostimia.

148 The Life and Writings of

Sotto-Classe Symphandria.

12 Ord. Adelphidia. 13 Ord. Omoplitia. 14 Ord. Perimonia.
15 Ord. Cyteanthia. 16 Ord. Peritalia"

(24) Quadro ragionato del Commercio attivo della Sicilia, e di suoi

generi d'esportazione, [I. Parte. Produzioni Mineral!.] I. pp.

I49-I53-

(25) Esempio del Metodo Sinottico di Botanica, illustrato nel primo

Ordine della prima Classe. I. pp. 154-156.

(26) Osservazioni sopra le Stagioni, e le Pioggie in Sicilia. I. pp.

158-161.

(27) Fine del Quadro della Letteratura Siciliana dal 1800 al 1812.

I. pp. 172-175. '

(28) Nuova Divisione del Globo Terrestre. I. pp. 181-184.

(29) Nuova Divisione geografica della Sicilia. I. pp. 184-187.

(30) Fine delle tre Illustrazioni di Materia Medica Siciliana del Sign.

C. S. Rafinesque. 3. Esempio Mineralogico. — Succinum elec-
tricum. I. pp. 187-191.

(31) Descrizione del Buphthalmum crassifolium, nuova specie di Pianta

delle vicinanze di Palermo. I. pp. 191, 192.

(32) Suplemento al Quadro della L/etteratura Siciliana del 1800 al

1812. I. pp. 207-210.

The second volume, the title of which is given above,
contains the following articles:

(33) Nuova divisione delle Acque del nostro Globo. II. pp. 3-5.

(I. Parte, Talassografia. II. Parte, Dimnografia. III. Parte,
Potamografia.)

(34) Descrizione di una nuova pianta Siciliana, Saponaria Sicula. II.

PP- 7-9-

(35) Quadro delle Instituzioni letterarie e scientifiche della Citta di

Londra nel 1813. II. pp. 9-13.

(36) Popolazione della Sicilia. II. pp. 13-16.

Constantme Samuel Rafinesque.

(37) Quadro della L,etteratura Siciliana nel 1813. II. pp. 27-29;

60-62; 91-94; 123-126.
( 38 ) Osservazioni sopra gli Animali Polistomi, ed un nuovo Genere

di essi, Polactoma. II. pp. 41-43.

(39) Analisi di uu Opuscolo Somiologico francese, titolato, Precis

des Decouvertes & des travaux somiologiques di C. S. Rafin
esque, Palermo, 1814, 55 pagini, 8 pic. II. pp. 43, 44.

(40) Una Osservazione di Nosologia vegetabile. II. p. 45.

( 41 ) Definizioni di due nuove species Siciliane del Genere Hesperis
[//. rtipestris & H. fasciculata] II. pp. 46-47.

(42) Economia pubblica. Quadro dello Studio metodico di questa

Scienza. II. pp. 47-50.

(43) Prodromo di Erpetologia Siciliana. II. pp. 65-67; 102-104.

(44) Seguito delle Osservazioni microscopiche si veda il Tom. I.,

num. 3, pag. 88. II. pp. 68, 69.

[ Volvox fuscus n. s. ; Volvox ovalis, n. s. ; Monas punctum, n. s. ;
Zomorphus ocellatiis, n. s. ; Cercaria bispinosa, n. s. ; Cercaria
verticilloides, n. s. ; Vorticella bidentata, n. s.]

(45) Definizioni di due nuove Specie Siciliane e frutescenti del

genere Brassica. II. pp. 69, 70.
[Brassica montana, n. s. and Brassica crispa, n. s.]

(46) Analisi di un opera francese di Storia Naturale. II. pp. 70-72

(47) Abbozzo di una nuova Teoria o Classificazione dei Colori. II.

pp. 72-74.

(48) Pensieri sopra 1'Oreologia ossia lo Studio delle Montagne. II.

pp. 76-78.

(49) Scoperta di un intiero Mammonte in Siberia. II. pp. 86-88.

[Elephas mammonteus, n. s., described.]

(50) Osservazioni sopra le migrazioni dei Pesci. II. pp. 97-100.

(51) Descrizione di un Nuovo Genere di Pesce Siciliano. Ncmo-

chirus erythropterus. II. pp. 100-102.

( 52 ) Descrizione di un nuova genere di Fungo Siciliano. Endcematus
albus. II. p. 105.

150 The Life and Writings of

( 53 ) Notizia dei mineral! e fossili delle vicinanze di Nicosia in Sicilia.

II. pp. 105-108.

(54) Descrizione delle Cave Antiche di Nicosia, Sperlinga, etc. II.

pp. 108-110.

(55) Osservazioni sopra le specie Siciliane del genere Phoca. II.

pp. 129-131.

[Discusses Phoca and describes Aghphema, n. g. ; Selopoda, n. g. ;
Parthenopa, n. g., and Aglophema maculata, n. s. ; Selopoda fusca,
n. s. ; Parthenopa leucogaster, n. s.]

(56) Descrizione di due nuovi genere di Meduse Siciliane. II. pp.

i3J» I32-
[Styrifius, n. g., and Pterostoma, n. g.]

(57) Arrive delle L,odole [skylarks] vicino Palermo nell' autunno.

II. pp. 132-134.

(58) Descrizione di una nuova specie di Marrubium [M. saxatile].

II. pp. 134, 135.

(59) Osservazioni sopra \\Rumex linaria di L,inneo. II. pp. 135, 136.

(60) Nuova Malattia Vegetabile. II. p. 136.

(61 ) Memoria sopra i Venti in Sicilia, le Aure diurne, ed il Scirocco.

II. pp. 142-146.

(62) Penseri sopra le Comete di un anonimo inglese. II. pp.

148, 149.

(63) [Nota sopra gli] Caratteri delle specie di due nuovi generi di

Quadrupedi fossili, Pal&tkerium, e Anoplotherium, del Sign.
Cuveri. II. p. 153.

(64) Quadro dei Generi di Molluschi pteropodi dei Signori Peron e

Lesueur. II. pp. 153-155.

[This article has the following new genera: Hypterus, n. g. ;
Sarcopterus, n. g. ; Heteroptera, n. g. ; Abretia, n. g. ; Cteniurus,
n. g. ; Dicroptera, n. g.]

(65) Quadro della L,etteratura Siciliana nel 1814. II. pp. 155-158.

(66) Definizioni di 36 nuovi generi di Animali marini. II. p. 161.

[Not seen.]

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

(67) Due ambigue produzioni marine. II. p. 166. [Not seen.]

(68) Enumerazione di 14 spugne di Sicilia. II. p. 168. [Not seen.]

26. Pre'cis | des Decouvertes et Travaux | Somiologiques | de Mr.

C. S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz. | entre 1800 et 1814 | Ou choix
raisonne de ses principales Decouvertes | en Zoologie et en
Botanique, pour servir | d'introduction a ses ouvrages | futurs i

| De Linne le genie il a choisi pour guide. | - - | Pal-

erme | Royale Typographic Militaire. | 1814. | Aux depens de
1'Auteur. | ( 24mo. pp. 55.)

This work was in the form of a letter to the botanist
Persoon.

27. Principes Fondamentaux | de | Somiologie | ou | les loix de la

nomenclature et de la | classification de 1'empire organique \
ou des anirnaux et des vegetaux I contenant les Regies essen-
tielles de 1'Art de leur | imposer des noms immuables et de
les | classer me'thodiquement | par C. S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz. |

| Palerme | | De 1'Imprimerie de Franc. Abate, | aux

depens de 1'Auteur. | 1814. (8°, pp. 50 +).

28. Sur les Ouvrages de M. Rafinesque-Schmaltz. ( Desvaux's Jour

nal de Botanique, Vol. IV, pp. 268-276. Paris. 1814.)

This paper was a reprint of the botanical portion of
the " Precis des Decouvertes."

29. Chloris ^Stnensis | o | le Quattro Florule dell' Etna, | opuscolo j

del Sig. C. S. Rafinesque-Schmaltz. | Palermo, Dicembre
1813. | Destinato per essere inserito | nella | Storia Naturale
Dell'Etna, | Del Can'co Recupero, | dal suo degno nipote | il
Can'co Tes're D. Agatino Recupero | Di Catania. | Catania.
1815. (4to. pp. 15.)

152 The Life and Writings of

This work formed a portion of Recupero's Natural
History of Mt. Etna, the " Storia Naturale e Generale
dell'Btna." It was issued in advance of the completed
work, and is now very rare.

30. Analyse | de la Nature | ou | Tableau de L'Univers | et | des

Corps Organises | | par C. S. Rannesque | De 1'Institut

des Sciences naturelles de Naples, et | de la Societe Italienne

des Sciences et des arts. | | L,a Nature est mon guide, et

Linneus mon maitre. | | Palerme | 1815 | | Aux

de*pens de 1'Auteur. (8vo., pp. 224.)

The frontispiece of the "Analysis of Nature" is a
portrait which is believed to be the original of the
painting from which the Popular Science Monthly por
trait was taken. The volume is now among the rarest
of all of Rafinesque's writings.

31. Circular Address | on | Botany and Zoology; | followed by the |

prospectus of two periodical works; Annals of Nature | and
Somiology of North America. | By C. S. Rafinesque, | of the
Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Naples, | and of several

other learned societies | in Europe and America. | | Chi

fa quanto puo, fa quanto deve. | - - | Philadelphia: | Printed
for the Author, by S. Merritt, | 74, south Second street. | . . . |
1816. | (i2mo., pp. 36.)

Two editions of this pamphlet, one a larno and the
other an i8mo, were issued for free distribution.

32. Precis des decouvertes somiologiques ou Distribution methodique

de tours les corps de la nature. Palermo. 1816.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

I have never seen this work, the title of which
is quoted from Rafinesque himself, and do not know
whether it is another issue of the earlier work of sim
ilar title of 1814. The date of publication is two years
later, but identity is more than probable.

33. [Review of] Barton's "Flora Philadelphia Prodrotnus, etc."

(American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 5,
PP- 356-359- New York. 1817.)

Rafinesque claims, in this review, a number of species
previously published by himself.

34. Museum of Natural Sciences. By C. S. Rafinesque, Esquire, i.

Description of the Tubipora Striatulse, a new species of Fossil
from the State of New-York. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 359, 360. New York. 1817.)

Striatulcs is a misprint for striatula, which is spelled
correctly in the article.

35. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 2. Specimens of several new

American species of the genus Aphis. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical * Review, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 360, 361. New
York. 1817.)

36. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 3. New species of Mammifers,

noticed in the Notes to the (Tableau methodique des Mammi-
feres) Methodical Picture of the Mammifers, by D. Desmarets,
in the 24th and last volume of the French New Dictionary of
Natural History. Paris, 1804. Translated and improved, by
C. S. Rafinesque. (American Monthly Magazine and Critical
Review, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 361-363. New York. 1817.)

154 The Life and Writings of

Defines the genus Mazama. Describes Galago minu-
tus, Cants leucoxurus, Castor europeus, Cervus melanopus,
Mazama bira and Mazama pita. Of these several are
simply removed from another genus.

37. [Review of] A Manual of Botany for the Northern States, com
prising generic descriptions of all Phenogamous and Crypto-
gamous plants to the north of Virginia, hitherto described, &c,
&c. Compiled by the Editor of Richard's Botanical Dictionary.
Albany. Webster & Skinners. 1817. i2tno. pp. 164. (Amer
ican Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 6, pp.
426-430. New York. 1817.)

This reviews very harshly the first edition of Baton's
Botany. The review begins thus:

"The work before us, has no higher claim than to the title of
a mere compilation; but compilations are sometimes very useful
when properly and skilfully executed, and this manual professing
utility as its avowed object, it may be incumbent to examine how
far this desideratum has been attained. It is ushered under the
patronage of the members of the Botanical Class in Williams'
College, Massachusetts, for whose use it appears to have been
compiled, and whose thanks are offered to the author for his
pains. While it must be highly gratifying to observe that as
many as sixty-three students have signed that address, and attended
the lectures on mineralogy and botany, delivered by the author in
that College, and while they express their gratitude towards him
in terms highly commendable, it may be proper to hint, that
students are not in general the best judges of what is most useful
in their pursuits. What they deem such, may often prove otherwise,
and they are but seldom enabled to detect the errors of their teachers,
while they are taught to consider them as doctrines and truths."

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 155

38. Museum of Natural Sciences. By C. S. Rafinesque, Esquire. 4.

Dissertation on Water Snakes, Sea Snakes and Sea Serpents.
(American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 6,
pp. 431-435. New York. 1817. Reprinted, with same title, in
The Philosophical Magazine and Journal, London, Vol. LIV, pp.
361-367. 1819.)

Describes Ophinectes n. g., Natrix, n. g., and new
species as follows : Natrix dorsalis, Platurus laurenti*
Hydrophis cyanura, Pelamis schneideri, Pelamis margin-
atus, Pelamis fuscatus, Ophinectes cinereus, Ophinectes
viridis, Ophinectes luteus, Ophinectes cerulescens, Ophi
nectes versicolor, Ophinectes maculatus, Ophinectes punc-
tatus, Ophinectes crythrocephalus [misprint for erythro-
cephalus\ Ophinectes dorsalis, and Ophinectes major.

39. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 5. Extracts from the Journal of

Mr. Charles LeRaye, relating to some new Quadrupeds of the
Missouri Region, with notes by C. S. R. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 6, pp. 435-437. 1817.)
\Corvus \cervus\ macrurus, n. s. ; Cants cklorops, n. s. ; Cervus mel-
anurus, n. s.; Melesium pratense, n. s. ; Felis misax, n. s., and
Lynx aureus, n. s.]

40. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] Botany. 6. Neogenytum Sicu-

lurn, or Descriptions of four new genera of Dicotyle Sicilian
Plants. (American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol.
I, No. 6, pp. 437-439- .1817.)

*The description of this form is the very briefest that I remember ever
having seen in a work on natural history. It reads : " 2. sp. Platurus laurenti
Raf. Tail obtuse."

156 The Life and Writings of

41. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 7. Description of seven new

Species of Sicilian Plants. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 6, pp. 439, 440. 1817.)

42. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 8. Florula of the White Moun

tain of New-Hampshire. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. I, No. 6, pp. 440-442. 1817.)

43. Museum of Natural Sciences. By C. S. Rafinesque, Esq. 9.

Synopsis of four New Genera and ten new Species of Crustacea,
found in the United States. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. II, No. i, pp. 40-43. 1817.)

44. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 10. First decade of undescribed

American Plants, or Synopsis of new species, from the United
States. (American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol.
II, No. i, pp. 43, 44. 1817.)

45. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] n. Descriptions of seven new

genera of North American Quadrupeds. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. i, pp. 44-46. 1817.)
[Mazama, Diplostoma, p. 44; Geomys, Cynomys, Anisonyx, My-
nomes, p. 45 ; Lynx, p. 46.]

46. Survey of the progress and actual state of Natural Sciences in

the United States of America, from the beginning of this
century to the present time. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 81-89. 1817.)

This article was to be continued, having surveyed
but a portion of the field, but the design was never
completed. It is a very masterly piece of work.

47. Museum of Natural Sciences. 12. Description of the loxylon

Pomiferum, a new genus of North American tree. (American
Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, pp.
118, 119. 1817.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 157

48. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 13. Second Decade of unde-

scribed American Plants. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 119, 120. 1817.)

49. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 14. First Decade of new

North-American Fishes. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 120, 121. 1817.)

50. [Review of] American Entomology, or Descriptions of the In

sects of North America, illustrated by coloured figures from
drawings executed from nature, by Thomas Say, &c. (Amer
ican Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2,
p. 143. 1817.)

Rafinesque does not give this book by Say a very
complimentary notice. He says, among other things :
"The United States can at last boast of having a learned
and enlightened Entomologist in Mr. Say. Those
who have preceded him . . . have merely been collec
tors . . ." He then proceeds to complain of the cost
of the publication, saying, " we are offered an elegant
specimen of typography: but the price of it is two
dollars. For that sum we have forty pages (of which
twelve are quite blank) and six coloured plates, contain
ing only eight species (whereof five are new) while
they might have included sixty . . ." etc.

51. [Review of] Descriptio uberior Graminum et Plantarum Cala-

mariarum Americae septentrionalis, indigenarum et circurum.
Auctore D. Henrico Muhlenberg, etc. (American Monthly Mag
azine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 2, pp. 143, 144. 1817.)

158 The Life and Writings of

52. Florula Ludoviciana; | or, | A Flora | of the | State of Louisiana.

| | Translated, revised, and improved, | from the French of

C. C. Robin, | By C. S. Rafinesque, | Of the Royal Institute of
Naples, the Academy of Natural Sciences of | Philadelphia, the
Literary and Philosophical Society of New- | York, the Lyceum
of Natural History of New- York, | &c. &c. &c. Author of

the Analysis | of Nature &c. &c. &c. | | Quand les mate-

riaux sont imperfaits, r edifice ne pent pas etre complet. \ |

New- York : | Published by C. Wiley & Co. | No. 3 Wall-Street.
1817. | Price One Dollar. (8vo, pp. 178.)

This is the volume which first of all his works has
led to and justified the severe criticisms which have
been visited upon Rafinesque. The work is based upon
a list made by a French traveler, C. C. Robin, who jour
neyed through Louisiana and Florida in 1802-1806.
Returning to Paris he published in the following year,
1807, in three volumes, his observations and notes.
Robin was not a botanist, nor indeed is there any thing
in his work that would indicate more than a passing
acquaintance with natural objects. Nevertheless he lists,
in an appendix, Vol. Ill, pp. 311-525, Flore Louisianiase,
a number of common plants, many of which could not
possibly have been correctly identified. From the list so
made up "was fabricated, by Rafinesque, a fancy work
called Florula Ludoviciana^. It may be further said
that Rafinesque was never within a thousand miles of
the region included in this volume. The book must go

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 150

down to history as a monument to an uncontrolled
love of genus-making. It marks the beginning of the
period of the decadence of the influence of Rafinesque
among his contemporaries. I know of but one copy
in Kentucky, and that one belongs to the library of
the late Doctor Robert Peter, of Lexington.

53. Museum of Natural Sciences. 15. Introduction to the Ich

thyology of the United States. (American Monthly Magazine
and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 202, 203. 1818.)

54. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 16. Descriptions of two new

genera of North American Fishes, Opsanus and Notropis.
(American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No.
3, pp. 203, 204. 1818.)

55. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 17. Second Decade of new

North-American Fishes. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 204-206. 1818.)

56. [Museum of Natural Sciences.] 18. Third Decade of new Spe

cies of North-American Plants. (American Monthly Magazine
and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 206, 207. 1818.)

57. [Review of] Pursh's " Flora Americana Septentrionalis". (Amer

ican Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 3,
pp. 170-176. Also, in continuation, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 265-269.
1818.)

58. [Review of] Bigelow's " Florula Bostoniensis ". (American

Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. II, No. 5, pp.
342-344. 1818.)

59. Second Memoir on the Genus Aphis, containing the Description

of 24 new American Species. By C. S. Railnesque. (American
Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. Ill, No. i, pp.
15-18. 1818.)

160 The Life and Writings of

60. [Review of] Elliott's " A Sketch of the Botany of South-Carolina

and Georgia". (American Monthly Magazine and Critical
Review, Vol. Ill, No 2, pp. 96-101. 1818.)

61. [Review of] Eaton's "An Index to the Geology of the Northern

States, with a transverse Section from the Catskill Mountains
to the Atlantic, etc." (American Monthly Magazine and Critical
Review, Vol. Ill, No. 3, pp. 175-178. 1818.)

62. [Review of] Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences of

Philadelphia. Vol. I, Part I, &c. (American Monthly Magazine
and Critical Review, Vol. Ill, No. 4, pp. 269-274. 1818.)

63. Discoveries in Natural History, made during a Journey through

the Western Region of the United States. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. Ill, No. 5, pp. 354-356. 1818.)

This is a letter to Samuel L. Mitchill, President, and
the other members of the New York Lyceum of Natural
History, and was dated from Louisville, Kentucky, July
20, 1818.

64. Further Discoveries in Natural History, made during a Journey

through the Western Region of the United States. (American
Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. Ill, No. 6, pp.
445-447. 1818.) \Mnsculus leucopus ; M. nigricans, etcl\

That part of this paper which deals with the descrip
tions of new bats has been reproduced in the Bulletin
U. S. Nat. Mus. No. 43, Appendix, p. 183, 1893, by Doctor
Harrison Allen.

65. Discoveries in Natural History made during a Journey through

the Western Region of the United States. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. IV, No. i, pp. 39-42. 1818.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 161

This and the title immediately preceding were letters
to the New York Lyceum of Natural History, through
Doctor Mitchill.

66. General Account of the Discoveries made in the Zoology of the

Western States in 1818. (American Monthly Magazine and
Critical Review, Vol. IV, No. 2, p. 107. 1818.)

67. Description of three new genera of fluviatile Fish, Pomoxis,

Sarchirus, and Kxoglossum. By C. S. Rafmesque. Read Dec.
ist and 8th. (Journal Academy Natural Sciences, Philadelphia,
Vol. I, Part II, pp. 417-422. With one plate. 1818.)

68. A Journal of the Progress of Vegetation, near Philadelphia, be

tween the 2oth of Ferbuary and the 2Oth of May, 1816, with
occasional Zoological Remarks. (American Journal of Science,
Vol. I, ist Series, pp. 77-82. New York, 1818.)

69. Description of a New Species of North American Marten ( Mus-

tela vulpina). (American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. I,
pp. 82-84. 1818.)

This paper was republished in The Philosophical
Magazine and Journal, London, Vol. LIU, pp. 411, 412.
1819.

70. Natural History of the Scytalus Cupreus, or Copper-head Snake.

(American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. I, pp. 84-86. 1818.)

71. Descriptions of Species of Sponges observed on the Shores of

Long-Island. (American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. I,
No. 2, pp. 149-151. 1818.)

72. Memoir on the Xanthium maculatum, a New Species from

the State of New- York, &c. (American Journal of Science, ist
Series, Vol. I, No. 2, pp. 151-153. 1818.)

21

1 62 The Life and Writings of

73. Description of a New Genus of North American Fresh-water

Fish, Exoglossum. (American Journal of Science, ist Series,
Vol. I, pp. 155, 156. 1818.)

74. New Genus of American Grasses, (Diploea barbatd). (American

Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. I, pp. 252-254. 1818.)

75. Prodrome de 70 nouveaux Genres D'Animaux decouverts dans

1'interieur des Etats-Unis D'Amerique, durant 1'annee 1818.
(Jour, de Physique, de Chemie et D'Histoire Naturelle, et des
Arts, etc. Paris. Tome 88. 1819. pp. 417-429. See also, Isis,
Litterarischer Anzeiger, pp. 236-244. Jena, 1820.)

76. Description and Natural Classification of the Genus Floerka.

(American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol I, No. 4, p. 373.
1819.)

77. Descriptions of Three new Genera of Plants, from the State of

New York. Cylactis, Nemopanthus, and Polanisia. (Amer
ican Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. I, No. 4, p. 377. 1819.)

78. Notice on the Myosurus Shortii. (American Journal of Science,

ist Series, Vol. I, No. 4, p. 379. 1819.)

79. Thoughts on Atmospheric Dust. (American Journal of Science,

ist Series, Vol. I, No. 4, pp. 397-400. 1819.)

80. [Review of] Nuttall's "The Genera of North-American Plants,

etc." (American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol.
IV, No. 3, pp. 184-196. 1819.)

81. Result of the Botanical Discoveries made in the Western States

by C. S. Rafinesque. (American Monthly Magazine and Critical
Review, Vol. IV, No. 3, pp. 207, 208. 1819.)

82. Description of a New Genus of Fluviatile Bivalve Shell, of the

family of Brachiopodes; Notrema Fissurella; in a letter to Dr.
S. Iy. Mitchill, Prof, of Nat. Hist., &c, New- York. (American
Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. IV, No. 5, p. 356.
1819.)

Constantine Samitel Rafinesque. 163

83. On some new Genera of American Plants. Extract of the third

Letter of C. S. Rafinesque, to Mr. Decandolle, Professor of
Botany at Genevra, and author of the new Species Plantarum,
dated Philadelphia, 25th Feb., 1819. Translated from the
French. (American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review,
Vol. IV, No. 5, pp. 356-358. 1819.)

84. On the introduction and cultivation of the Tea-Plant, in three

Letters from C. S. Rafinesque, Esq. to the Hon. S. L. Mitchill.
Read before the Lyceum of Natural History, Feb. 8, 1819.
(American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. IV, No.
5, pp. 382-384. 1819.)

85. Letter to the Editor of the American Monthly Magazine, on the

Date-Tree, or Palm. By C. S. Rafinesque. (American Monthly
Magazine and Critical Review, Vol. IV, No. 6, pp. 465-467.
1819.)

86. Prodrome des nouveaux Genres de Plantes observes en 1817 et

1818 dans I'iiiterieur des fitats-Unis d'Amerique. Par C. S.
Rafinesque, Professeur de Botauique et d'Histoire naturelle
dans 1'Universite de Lexington. (Journal de Physique, etc.,
Vol. LXXXIX, pp. 96-107. Paris. Aout, 1819.)

Describes fifty genera. Contribution dated from Phil
adelphia, May i, 1819.

87. Descriptions De onze Genres nouveaux de Mollusques, publics

en 1814. (Jour, de Physique, etc. Paris. Tome 89, p. 150. 1819.)

88. Remarques critiques et synonymiques sur les Ouvrages de MM.

Pursh, Nuttall, Elliott, Jorrey, [Torrey], Barton, Muhlenburg,
etc., sur les Plantes des Etats Unis. (Journal de Physique, etc.,
Vol. LXXXIX, pp. 256-261. Paris. Octobre, 1819. Ninety
items. Dated Philadelphia, May i, 1819.)

164 The Life and Writings of

89. On the different Lightnings observed in the western states, by
C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of Botany and Natural History in
Transylvania University. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous
Magazine, Vol. I, No. i, August, pp. 60-63. Lexington, 1819.)

This paper describes ten species or varieties of light
ning in a style which some suppose closely approaches
the formal modes of plant description. It has subjected
its unfortunate author to remarkably severe criticisms,
but mainly from those who never have seen the paper
itself. I have read the paper with the greatest care,
more than once, but I fail to find in it more than an
attempt to describe the various phenomena connected
with electrical displays. In no case has a name of a
binomial character, either Latinized or not, been bestowed
upon a single variety said by Rafinesque to have been
observed by him. So many misleading things have been
said about this paper, some of them copied by interested
persons, that justice requires the truth to be told. I
have seen no mention of this paper by the critics save
where introduced by the explanatory remark, "said to
have described in natural history style". It is time
this fiction was destroyed. Nearly all the remarks
which Rafinesque makes have reference solely to the
direction of the discharge and to the character of the
spark, whether deflected or straight or bent or forked.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^^

It is not claimed by the compiler that the paper has
either scientific merit or value, but that it has been used
unfairly in detraction.

90. Botany of Kentucky ; On its Principal Features. ( Western Re

view and Miscellaneous Magazine, August, Vol. I, No. i, pp.
92-95. 1819.)

A number of typographical errors occurring in this
paper are corrected in an erratum on p. 128.

91. On the Salivation of Horses. (Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, October, Vol. I, No. 3, pp. 182-184. 1819.)

92. On the Oil of Pumpkin Seeds. [An open letter to Dr. C. L.

Seeger, Northampton, Mass.] ( Western Review and Miscellane
ous Magazine, October, Vol. I, No. 3, pp. 185, 186. 1819.)

93. Descriptions of Two New Shrubs from Kentucky, etc. ( Western

Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, November, Vol. I, No. 4,
pp. 228-230. 1819.) \Betula rupestris, Cornus obliqua^\

94. Descriptions of Two New Species of Foxes from the Western

States. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. I,
November, pp. 234-236. 1819.) [Cams melanurus, C. leucurus.]

95. Natural History of the Fishes of the Ohio River and its Trib

utary Streams. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine,
Vol. I, pp. 305-313, December. 1819.) [Introduction to the
Fishes and first part of the description of the Ohio river.]

This paper with the several same titles following
were collected and published in a separate volume in
1820. See the Ichthyologia Ohiensis.

1 66 The Life and Writings of

96. On A Remarkable Ancient Monument near Lexington. ( Western

Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. I, No. 5, pp. 313, 314,
December. 1819.)

97. Description of the Silures, or Catfishes of the River Ohio. {Quar

terly Journal of Science, Literature, and Arts, Royal Institution,
London, Vol. IX, p. 48. 1820.)

98. Description of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellane

ous Magazine, Vol. I, No. 6, pp. 361-377, January. 1820.)

This paper is a continuation of the Introduction to
the Fishes of the River Ohio. On page 368 the de
scriptions of the fishes begin.

99. La Divinite : Ode Sacree, A Echo et Chorus Responsif. ( West

ern Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. I, January, pp.
383, 384. 1820.)

100. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous
Magazine, Vol. II, February, pp. 49-57. 1820.)

IOT. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex
ington by Professor Rafinesque. ( Western Review and Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, February, pp. 57, 58. 1820.)

102. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex

ington by Professor Rafinesque. ( Western Review and Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, March, pp. 122, 123. 1820.)

103. Fragments D'un Poeme sur la Femme. ( Western Review and

Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, March, pp. 127, 128. 1820.)

104. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, Vol. II, No. 3, pp. 169-177, April. 1820.)

105. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex

ington by Professor Rafinesque. (Western Review and Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, April, pp. 185, 186. 1820.)

Constantine Samiiel Rafinesque. ^

106. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 235-242, May. 1820.)

107. Description of the Ancient Town near Lexington. In a letter

to Caleb Atwater, of Circleville, Ohio. ( Western Review and
Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, No. 4, pp. 242-244, May. 1820.)

108. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, Vol. II, No. 5, pp. 299-307, June. 1820.)

109. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in L/ex-

ington b}' Professor Rafinesque. April and May. ( Western
Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, June, pp. 310-312.
1820.)

no. Remarks on the Geology of the Valley of the Mississippi.
(Western Review and Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, July,
pp. 321, 322. 1820.) \Discomphites, in foot-note on page 326.*]

This is a note prefacing a geological paper by J. D.
Clifford, who had published a similar paper in an earlier
number, but had died before the appearance of a second
one.

in. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous
Magazine, Vol. II, July, pp. 355-363. 1820.)

112. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex

ington by Professor Rafinesque. ( Western Review a?id Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. II, July, pp. 374, 375. 1820.)

113. On the Upper Alleghawian Monuments of North Elkhorn

Creek, Fayette county, Kentucky. [Letter to Caleb Atwater,
Circleville, Ohio, dated July 12, 1820.] (Western Review and
Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. Ill, August, pp. 53-57. 1820.)

*The foot-note, page 326, proposes Discomphites for Maclurite.

1 68 The Life and Writings of

114. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex

ington by Professor Rafinesque. ( Western Review and Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. Ill, September, pp. 124-127. 1820.)
[This title includes the observations for July, August, Sep
tember, 1820.]

These records are the very first ever made in Kentucky
in a more or less scientific and careful manner. Their
examination shows them to have been kept in the true
method of more recent times. Many of them contain
notes on the flowering of plants and similar matters.

115. Fishes of the River Ohio. (Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, Vol. Ill, October, pp. 165-173. 1820.)

1 1 6. Fishes of the River Ohio. ( Western Review and Miscellaneous

Magazine, Vol. Ill, November, pp. 244-252. 1820.)

This paper concludes the series devoted to the fishes,
which was separately published from oversheets, with
the title next following:

ii7.*Ichthyologia Ohiensis | or | Natural History | of | the Fishes
Inhabiting the | River Ohio | and its Tributary Streams, j
Preceded by a Physical Description of the Ohio and its

Branches. | | By C. S. Rafinesque, | Professor of Botany

and Natural History in Transylvania University, etc, etc. |
Lexington, Kentucky : | printed for the author | By W. G.
Hunt. | (Price one dollar.) | - - | 1820. (8vo, pp. 1-90.)

This little work, which is now very rare, has been
the cause of much misunderstanding among naturalists

*: For full title see p. 91.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

who have devoted themselves to fishes. It is from
the same type as the several papers above enumerated,
and was issued in a very small edition.

118. Prodrome d'une Monographic des Rosiers de I'Amerique Septen-

trionale, contenant la description de quinze especes nouvelles
et vingt varieties. (Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques
[Bruxelles], Tome V, pp. 210-220. 1820.)

119. Sur le Genre Houstonia et Description de Plusieurs Especes

Nouvelles. (Annales Generales des Sciences Physiques [Brux
elles], Tome V, pp. 224-227. 1820.)

120. The Western Minerva, or American Annals of Knowledge and

Literature; a Quarterly Journal to be published in Lexing
ton, Kentucky. Un peu de tout. Prospectus. (Kentucky Re
porter, October 16, 1820.)

This is the title of a journal, planned by Rafinesque,
of which the first number was published in January,
1821. Of the edition, the size of which is unknown,
Rafinesque saved only three copies. The printer refused
him the remainder of the edition without payment, and
the whole, with the exception of the three copies secured
by Rafinesque, was destroyed. Later, in one of his publi
cations, Rafinesque advertises one of these for sale, at
a valuation of five dollars, remarking that it was "a
unique copy." For several weeks the Kentucky Reporter
had published a column advertisement of this proposed

170 The Life and Writings of

journal, which was a marvel of promise. A list of some
forty-four articles " already prepared" and destined for
publication in the new journal fills about one fourth
of the space. Of them the following titles may stand
as fair examples: "The Morality of Truth"; " Theory
of the Emanation of Beings"; "Theory of the Intellect
ual World"; "The Pandoceist, or thoughts on every
thing"; "Enquiries on the Heavenly Spheres"; "The
Harmony of the Worlds"; "Descriptions of New Ani
mals and Plants"; "Letters on the Antiquities of Ken
tucky"; "The Chemical Art of Making sugar with
wood"; "Description of 100 Modes of Grafting Fruit
Trees"; "New Treatment of Consumption"; "New
Theory of Love or the harmonics of Sympathy"; "On
the Infinite Calculation of Space and Time", etc., etc.
It is really fortunate that the journal failed to secure
subscribers! The Kentucky Reporter of January 28, 1821,
has a notice that "the publication of the Journal is
suspended if not abandoned. Hereafter, should a better
subscription list be procured, and arrangements more
suitable to the success of such a work, be made by the
editors, due notice will be given. In the meantime those
who have paid their subscriptions in advance shall have
them refunded." This "Western Minerva" should not
be confounded with the literary journal of similar name,

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. .

started in Cincinnati, in 1826, by Francis and William
D. Gallagher.

121. Prodrome d'une monographic de Turbinolies fossiles du Ken

tucky. (Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles],
Tome V, pp. 231-235. 1820.)

This paper was explanatory of a joint work to be
undertaken in conjunction with J. D. Clifford, whose
death appears to have been the chief cause of its aban
donment. It is one of the two joint titles known to
me in connection with Rafinesque's writings.

122. Monographic des Coquilles Bivalves Fluviatiles de la Riviere

Ohio, Contenant douze Genres et soixante huit Especes.
(Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome

V, Pt. 13, pp. 287-322. 1820.)

This work was republished in 1845, with three plates,
in Chenu's Bibliotheque Conchyliologique, Series I,
Tome 3, 8vo, pp. 30, Paris. It also formed the basis
of Poulson's translation mentioned below, which was
published, without the plates, in 1832.

123. Remarques sur les rapports naturels des genres Viscum, Samo-

lus et Viburnum. (Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques
[Bruxelles], Tome, V, pp. 348-351. 1820.)

124. Tableau Analytique des Ordres Naturelles families naturelles

et genres, de la classe endogynie sous-classe corisautherie.
(Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome

VI, pp. 76-89. 1820.)

172 The Life and Writings of

125. Remarques sur le Genre Eustachya, avec une Nouvelle espece.

(Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome
VI, pp. 97, 98. 1820.)

1 26. Sur les animaux philostomes et Porostomes. (Annales Generales

des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VI, pp. 359-364.
1820.)

127. Remarques sur quelques Erreurs en Ichthyologiques. (Annales

Generales des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VI, p. 369.
1820.)

128. Remarques sur le genre Jeflfersonia. (Annales Generales des

Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 18. 1820.)

129. Sur le nouveau Genre Enemion. (Annales Generales des Sciences

Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 18. 1820.)

130. Nouveau caractere de d'Irillium. (Annales Generales des Sci

ences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 19. 1820.)

131. Sur quelques Animaux hybrides. (Annales Generales des Sci

ences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, pp. 85-88. 1820.)

This impossible account was founded solely on state
ments made by others, some of whom were neither
intelligent nor honest. Rafinesque was victimized.

132. Nomenclature Synandrique, ou descriptions des differens modes

d'union parmi les etamines. (Annales Generales des Sciences
Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, pp. 101-107. 1820.)

133. Sur les genres Tridynia, Steironema, Lysimachia, etc. (Ann.

Generales des Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 192.
1820.)

134. Sur le genre Manis, et description d'une nouvelle espece,

Manis leonyx. (Annales Generales des Sciences Physiques
[Bruxelles], Tome VII, pp. 214, 215. 1820.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesqne. 173

135. Genres Chetyson, Stylyphus etc. (Annales Generates des Sci

ences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 387. 1820.)

136. Sur les Explosions orageuses. (Annales Generates des Sciences

Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 388. 1820.)

137. Alluvions fluviatiles. (Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques

[Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 388. 1820.)

138. Sur le Knops-Hills du Kentuky. (Annales Generates des Sci

ences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VII, p. 388. 1820.)

139. Description d'une Araignee qui constitue un Genre nouveau

(Tessaops). (Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques [Brux
elles], Tome VIII, p. 88. 1821.)

140. Remarques sur les Convolulacees, etc. (Annales Generates des

Sciences Physiques [Bruxelles], Tome VIII, pp. 268-272. 1821.)

141. Ueber eilf neue Sippen von Mollusken, aufgestellt 1814. (fsts.

Litter arise her Anzeiger, pp. 244-247. Jena. 1820.)

142. Enquiries on the Galaxy or Milky- Way. ( Western Review and

Miscellaneous Magazine, Vol. Ill, September, pp. 117-124.
1820.)

This paper is introduced by general astronomic re
marks.

143. Annals of Nature | or | Annual Synopsis | of New Genera and

Species of Animals, Plants, &c. | discovered in North Amer
ica: | | by C. S. Rafinesque, | Professor of Botany and

Natural History in Transylvania University, at Lexington |
in Kentucky, and Member of several Learned Societies in
the j United States and in Europe, &c. | | Exertion un
folds and increases knowledge. | | First Annual Number,

for 1820. | - - | Dedicated to Dr. W. E. Leach, | of the British
Museum, London. [Text follows.] (8vo, pp. 16. 1820.)

174 The Life and Writings of

The portion of this paper which deals with certain
new bats is quoted in full by Doctor Harrison Allen in
his Monograph of North American Bats, Bulletin U. S.
Nat. Mus., No. 43, 1893, p. 184.

144. Sur Plusiers Nouveaux genres de Mollusques. (Journal de

Physique, de la Chimie, etc., Paris, Tome LXXXVIII, p. 417.
1820.)

145. Monthly Results of Meteorological Observations, made in Lex

ington by Professor Rafinesque. (Western Review and Mis
cellaneous Magazine, Vol. Ill, January, p. 375. 1821.)

This title includes the Observations for the months
of October, November, and December, 1820.

146. Description of a Fossil Medusa, forming a new Genus, Trian-

isites cliffordi. (American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol.
Ill, pp. 285-287. 1821.)

147. Beschreibung einer fossilen Medusa, die eine neue Sippe bildet :

Trianisites. (fszs, Heft 7, p. 749. Jena. 1823. Litter arischer
Anzeiger^)

This is a translation of the article in Silliman's
Journal, Vol. Ill, 2, 1821.

148. Clio No. I. Ancient History of North America. (The Cincin

nati Literary Gazette, Vol. I, No. 8, February 21, pp. 59, 60.
1824.)

149. Neophyton No. I. On a new tree of Kentucky forming a new

genus Clandrastus Fragrans. (The Cincinnati Literary Ga
zette, Vol. I, No. 8, February 21, p. 60. 1824.)

Constanttne Samuel Rafinesque. 175

150. Neophyton No. II. On the Genus Collinsia, and two new

species of it. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. I, No. n,
March 13, p. 84. 1824.)

151. Clio No. II. Ancient History of America. Monuments of the

State of Ohio. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. I, No.
14, April 3, pp. 107, 108. 1824.)

152. Clio No. III. Ancient History of North America. On the

Mexican Nations. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. I,
No. 19, May 8, pp. 146, 147. 1824.)

153. Clio No. III. — Concluded. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette,

Vol. I, No. 20, May 15, p. 155. 1824.)

154. Clio No. IV. Ancient History of N. A. Biography of the

American Solomon. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. I,
No. 22, May 29, p. 170. 1824.)

155. Clio No. V. To the Editor of the Literary Gazette. On Naza-

hual, the Nabijos and Comanchees. (The Cincinnati. Literary
Gazette, Vol. I, No. 26, June 26, p. 202. 1824.)

This article of two columns, addressed to the editor
of the Gazette, gives the authorities for facts mentioned
in Clio No. IV, which had been attacked by Burnett, as
mentioned in the preceding sketch of Rafinesque's life.
Doctor Venable says:* "It is written without acrimony
and states that ' although the demand ' (in Burnett's card)
'was anonymous and indecorous, therefore unworthy of
notice: since it has been admitted into your pages, it
requires a short notice'".

* In lit., August 15, 1894.

176 The Life and Writings of

156. [Review of] Dr. Martin Ruter's Hebrew Grammar. (The Cin

cinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. I, No. 21, May 22, pp. 161, 162.
1824.)

This review is signed only with initials, and is dated
from Transylvania University. It is curious and inter
esting as showing something of Rafinesque's linguistic
attainments. Doctor W. H. Venable gives a brief history
of this book of Ruter in his " Beginnings of Literary
Culture in the Ohio Valley", p. 194.

157. Neophyton No. III. On a new medical plant, Prenanthes opi-

orina, and a new kind of opium — opiorine. (The Cincinnati
Literary Gazette, Vol. II, No. 2, July 10, pp. 10, n. 1824.)

This paper was read before the Kentucky Institute,
of which mention has been made, February n, 1824.

158. Neophyton No. IV. On the new genus Lophactis. (The Cin

cinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. II, No. 4, July 24, p. 28. 1824.)

159. Soiniology, ou les lois de la Nomenclature et de la Classification

des Vegetaux et des Animaux. (1824.)

I have been unable to obtain any more definite in
formation either as to form or place of publication.

1 60. Ancient Annals of Kentucky; or Introduction to the History

and Antiquities of the State of Kentucky. (Marshall's His
tory of Kentucky, Vol. I, pp. i-ix-47. 1824.)

Oversheets of this work, or chapter, were collated and
published under the title given next below. On page 3

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 177

is a curious, though useless, ethnological and philological
table of the primitive nations and languages. Four
words (Heaven, Man, Land, and Water,) were used to
form this table, which possesses no real linguistic value.

161. Ancient History, | or | Annals of Kentucky; | with a Survey of

the Ancient Monuments | of North America | And a Tabular
View of the Principal Languages and Primi- | tive Nations
of the Whole Earth. | By C. S. Rafinesque, A. M., Ph. D., |
Prof, in Tran. Uni. | Sup't. of the Trans. Bot. Garden | Sec'y
of the | Kent Institute, and member of the following Socie
ties: | Imp. Nat. Cur. of Bonn: Lit. & Phil. Soc. of New
York, | Imp. Econ. Soc. of Vienna, Lye. of Nat. hist, of New
York, | R. Inst. of Sciences of Naples, | Ac. of Nat. Sc. of
Philadelphia, | It. Ac. of Arts and Sciences, | Antiq. Soc. of
Tennessee, | Lin. Soc. of Paris; Med. Soc. of Cincinnati,
Amer. Antiq. Soc. ; Med. Soc. of Lexington, | Histor. Soc. of
New York, &c, &c, &c, | (Numquam otiosus.) | | Frank
fort, Kentucky. | = = \ Printed for the Author. | = | 1824.
(8vo, pp. 1-39 [i].)

This work consists of the oversheets of the article
used by Marshall in his "History of Kentucky". The
second page contains a dedication of the work to "Alex
ander de Humboldt, in token of the high value set upon
his researches in America".

162. Clio No. VI. On the Panis Language and Dialects. (The

Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. II, No. 7, August 14, pp.
50, 51. 1824.)

163. Clio No. VII. On the White -Tribes of America, etc. (The

Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. II, No. 23, December 24,
p. 178. 1824.) 23

' Y^ er rut

UNIVEK8ITY

178 The Life and Writings of

164. Clio No. VIII. On erroneous criticism. (The Cincinnati

Literary Gazette, Vol. Ill, No. 12, March 19, pp. 89, 90.
1825.)

This article constitutes a reply to a rather unfavor
able review, conceived in a semi-humorous vein, of Raf-
inesque's "Ancient Monuments and Ancient History of
Kentucky". The review to which it is a reply may be
found in the Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. II, Decem
ber 25, 1824, PP. 203, 204.

165. Neogenyton, or indications of Sixty-six new genera of plants

of North America. By C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of Botany
and Natural History in the University of Lexington in Ken
tucky. Dedicated to Professor Decandoile of Geneva. [Lex
ington?] (8vo, pp. 4. 1825.)

Rafinesque says, at the beginning of this brochure,
"Some of these plants were indicated last year, 1824, in
the Catalogue of the Botanic Garden which I have tried
in vain to establish in Lexington".

1 66. Useful Inventions. (The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. Ill,

No. 9, February 26, pp. 66, 67. 1825.)

167. Outlines | of a General History of America | By C. S. Rafin

esque | = | Second Chronological Part | | Colunal An
nals | of the | Antillary or West Indies | Islands | also Guyana
and Brazil | besides the Boreal and Austral Islands | or the
whole of America | except | Spanish America and North

America | | From 1492 to 1775. | Begun in Philadelphia,

in October 1827.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 179

This is an unpublished manuscript, forming a book
of two hundred and eighty pages, all in the handwriting
of Rafinesque. The title was kindly transcribed by
Doctor Goode. The work is preserved in the Library
of Congress, at Washington, and is one of several man
uscripts left by him. It is one of Rafinesque's general
historical works projected but never completed.

168. Medical Flora; | or Manual | of the [ Medical Botany | of the
United States | of | North America. | Containing | a selection
of above 100 figures and descriptions of Medi | cal Plants,
with their names, qualities, properties, | history, &c, : | and
notes or remarks on nearly | 500 equivalent substitutes. | In
two volumes. | - - | Volume the first ; | A=H | with 52
plates. | | Medical Plants are compound Medicines pre
pared by the hands of Nature, &c. Med. Princ. 31. | = | By
C. S. Rafinesque A. M. Ph. D. | * * * | = = | Philadelphia :
Printed & Published by Atkinson & Alexander. No. 112
Chestnut Street. 1828. [Vol. II. 1830.]
Vol. I, pp. (4) i-xii, 1-268, pll 1-52. (1828)
Vol. II (Volume the Second with 48 plates) Phila. Published
by Samuel C. Atkinson | | ( 1830). pp. 1-276. pll 53-100.

This work, which possesses real value, was dedicated
to Doctor Torrey, Doctor Short, and Stephen Elliott, Esq.
The matter is alphabetically arranged, and embellished
with plates which are in outline and printed in green
ink. A .considerable number of copies were purchased
by individuals at the auction sale of the effects of Raf
inesque.

i8o The Life and Writings of

169. Price One Dollar. | The Palmist; | or, | Introduction to the Art
of Curing and Preventing the | Consumption | or | Chronic
Phthisis. | A Medical Essay, including a new and better
Distinc- | tion of its Causes, Kinds, Remedies, Diets, | and
other Peculiarities. | | The Consumption is not an in
curable disease; but its reme- | dies are to be chiefly con
veyed to the lungs by breathing | or inhalation — no. |

| By Prof. Rafinesque, Ph. D. & Pulmist. | Professor of Prac
tical and Medical Botany, Natural and Civil | History, &c,
&c. | Author of the Manual of Medical Botany of the United
States, the | Analysis of Nature, and 50 other works or
phamphlets. | Member of the Medical Societies of Cincinnati
and L,exington ; the Philadelphia | Society and Lyceum of
New York ; the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadel- |
phia ; the American Antiquity Society of Worcester and
Nashville; the Kentucky | Institute, &c; and of several
learned Societies of Europe, in Paris, Bruxelles, Vi- | enna,

Bonn, Florence, Naples, &c. | | Philadelphia: | Printed

for the Author, | By C. Alexander, 112 Chestnut street. I
- | 1829. (8vo, pp. 72, i fig.)

This curious work has no scientific medical value.
During these years, which were among the saddest of
the last decade of our author's life, he engaged in the
practices that now commonly attach to medical charla
tans. Two extracts from this book will serve to show
that his methods were not at all unlike those adopted
at the present day. On page 8 he writes: "My dislike
of every appearance of empiricism, and my wish to avoid
censure, induced me to conceal myself under the name

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

of MEDICUS; and thus for two years I have often prac
ticed, with some restraint, and under many disadvan
tages". And, again, page 69, "I have avoided to publish
venal certificates and recommendations of its [pulmel]
effects, in order to shun the appearance of empiricism.
I have merely published in the Saturday Evening Post,
the medical statements of six or seven cases and cures,
and I now add here those of as many more, in as brief
form as possible". The quotation from page no on
the title page indicates an understanding of the "germ
theory of disease" quite unusual for his time.

170. Eight Figures, | Twenty-five Cents. | - | American Manual |
of the | Grape Vines | and the | Art of making Wine: | in
cluding | An Account of 62 Species of Vines, with nearly 300
Varieties. An account of the Principal Wines, Ame \ rican
and Foreign. Properties and uses of Wines \ and Grapes.
Cultivation of Vines in America, and \ the Art to make good
Wines. \ With 8 figures | - - | By C. S. Rafinesque, A. M.
Ph. D. | Professor of Natural History, Practical and Medi- |
cal Botany, &c. in Philadelphia ; Member of | twelve learned
societies in America | and Europe; Author of many | works,
&c. &c. &c. | - | Let every Farmer drink his own Wine.
\- - | Philadelphia: | Printed for the Author. | - | 1830. |
(pp. 64, and one page "additions to this manual"; 2 plates
with 8 figures of grape-leaves.)

Bight drawings illustrate this work, which is made
up of oversheets from volume two of the Medical Flora.
It comprises the whole of the article on Vitis. The
cover of the brochure has certain additions to the text.

1 8a The Life and Writings of

171. Enumeration | and Account of some remarkable | Natural Ob

jects in the Cabinet | of Professor Rafinesque, in Philadel
phia, | being Animals, Shells, Plants | and Fossils, collected
by him | in North America, between | 1816-1831 | by C. S.
Rafinesque | Professor of historical and natural sciences |
Philadelphia. | William Sharpless, Printer | No. 2 Decatur
Street. | 9 pll. 1831.

A manuscript copy of this work exists in the Zoolog
ical Library of Harvard University.

172. Continuation of a Monograph of the Bivalve Shells of the

River Ohio, and other rivers of the Western States ( Pub
lished at Brussels, September, 1820). Containing 46 species,
from 76 to 121. Including an Appendix on some Bivalve
Shells of the Rivers of Hindostan, with a Supplement on
the Fossil Bivalve Shells of the Western States, and the Tulo-
sites, a new Genus of Fossils. Philadelphia, October, 1831.

173. First Number, For the Spring of 1832. | With two figures, |

Melissa and Mammoth Cave. | Atlantic Journal, | and Friend
of Knowledge ; | A cyclopedic Journal and Review | of
universal science and knowledge : | Historical, Natural, and
Medical Arts and Sciences : | Industry, Agriculture, educa
tion, and every kind of useful knowledge : | with numerous
figures. | = | Editor, C. S. Rafinesque, | Professor of His
torical and Natural Sciences, and Member of several | learned
societies in Paris, Brussels, Vienna, Naples, Bonn, | New
York, Philadelphia, Cincinnati, Lexington, &c. | == \ Knowl
edge is the mental food of man. | .-= | Contents of No. i. |
[List of 36 articles] | Philadelphia: | Published Quarterly at
the office of the Atlantic Journal, | No. 59 North Eighth
Street, and Dobson's Bookstore, No. 108 Chesnut Street;
where subscriptions are received. | Price One Dollar, per
Annum in advance, or Two Dollars for twelve numbers, j
William Sharpless, Printer, No. 2. Decatur street. | 1832.
(i2mo, pp. 212.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

This publication was projected on a very broad basis,
including, in its scope, "Historical, natural and medical
arts and sciences: industry, agriculture, education, and
every useful information", as the reader is informed on
the title-page. Bight numbers are believed to have
appeared, at irregular intervals. Of these we have seen
a copy of the first number, in the library of Colonel
R. T. Durrett; the additional numbers have been noted
and abstracted in the library of Harvard University.
The work comprises a total of some two hundred and
twelve pages, and is mainly made up of short articles by
Rafinesque, with an occasional item added by some other
writer [?]. It is curious rather than valuable. Follow
ing are the contents of the complete periodical, so far
as Rafinesque is known to have contributed to it.

In Number i :

(1) Latent Knowledge, p. i.

( 2 ) First Letter to Champollion on the Graphic systems of Amer

ica, and the Glyphs of Otolum or Palenque, in Central
America, pp. 4-6.

(3) Tabular View of the American Generic Languages, and Origi

nal Nations, pp. 6-8.

(4) The Atlantic Nations of America, pp. 8-10.

(5) Results of the Experiments of Recluz on the Fixed Oils.

pp. 12, 13.

(6) Confirmation of the Important Discovery of the property of

Sulphur in Trees to destroy all Insects preying on them,
pp. 13, 14.

184 The Life and Writings of

(7) Melissa Officinalis, or Balm. pp. 14, 15.

(8) A selection of 24 out of 100 new species of Plants of North

America sent to Europe in 1828 by C. S. Rafinesque. pp.
16-18.

(9) On the Large Wandering Tygers or Jaguars of the United

States, pp. 1 8, 19.

(10) On the North American Couguars. p. 19.

( 1 1 ) Extracts from A Second Series of Zoological Letters written

to Baron Cuvier, of Paris, by Prof. Rafinesque, in 1831. pp.
19-22.

(12) Description of the Sperlerpes or Salamander of the Caves of

Kentucky, p. 22.

( 13 ) History of China before the Flood, pp. 22-26.

(14) Early Colonization from China by Sea. p. 26.

(15) The Caves of Kentucky, pp. 27-30.

This paper has a cut of the entrance to Mammoth
Cave.

(16) Geological Strata of Ohio and Kentucky, pp. 30,31.

(17) Gold Mines of North America, p. 31.

(18) Plan of a New Trading Voyage of Industry and Science, pp.

32-34-

(19) Fragment of a Philosophical Poem on Knowledge, p. 36.

In Number 2, Summer of 1832:

( 20 ) Second Letter to Mr. Champollion on the Graphic Systems of

America, and the Glyphs of Otolum or Palenque in Central
America. Elements of the Glyphs, pp. 40-44.

(21) Primitive Origin of the English Language, pp. 44-48.

(22) The Fundamental Base of the Philosophy of Human Speech,

or Philology and Ethnology, pp. 48-51.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

(23) On the Zapotecas And other Tribes of the State of Oaxaca.

pp. 51-56.
( 24 ) The Domestic Animals of Mankind and the American Nations.

pp. 56-61.
( 25 ) On the Moles of North America and two new species from

Kentucky, pp. 61, 62.
( 26 ) Description of a New Otter, Lutra Concolor from Assam in

Asia. p. 62.

( 27 ) Couguars of Oregon, pp. 62, 63.
(28) Description of a new Eagle from South America, Aquila

dicronyx, or Macarran Eagle, p. 63.
( 29 ) On the Salamander of the hills of East Kentucky. S. lurida.

pp. 63, 64.

(30) Description of two new genera of Soft Shell Turtles of North

America, by C. S. Rafinesque. Apalone and Mesodeca. pp.
64, 65.

(31) Extracts of a Series of Geological Letters to Prof. Al. Brong-

niart, President of the Geological Society of Paris, pp. 65-67.

(32) Remarks on the Silicious Fossils of North America. (Trans

lated from the French.) pp. 67-69.
( 33 ) Remarks on the Geodes and Geodites. pp. 69, 70.

(34) On the Cavulites and Antrosites. pp. 70,71.

(35) On the Genera of fossil Trilobites or Glomerites of North

America, pp. 71-73.

( 36 ) On the Salses of Europe and America, pp. 73, 74.
( 37 ) On the Lamellites N. G. of American Fossils, p. 74.
(38) Licks and Sucks of Kentucky, pp. 74-77.
( 39 ) Description of a new cherry tree from the Oregon Mountains.

p. 78.

(40) Account of 2 N. Sp. of Dionea or Venus fly trap. pp. 78,79.

(41) New Plants from Bartram's Botanic Garden, pp. 79,80.

(42) Some Antiquities of Ohio. p. 81.

(43) Economy or Science of Wealth, p. 81.

24

1 86 The Life and Writings of

In Extra of Number 3, September, 1832:

(44) Scientific Travels of the Editor in 1832. p. 85.

(45) The Primitive Black Nations of America, pp. 85, 86.

(46) Savings' Banks at Baltimore, p. 89.

In No. 3, Autumn of 1832:

(47) The American Nations and Tribes are not Jews. pp. 98-101.

(48) The Cradle of Mankind or the Imalaya Mountains, pp. 101-105.

(49) Oreology. Relative Age of Mountains, p. 105.

(50) Geological Survey of the Alleghany Mountains of Pennsylvania,

in 1818, from West to East. pp. 105-109.

(51) Description of some of the fossil teeth found in a Cave in

Pennsylvania, pp. 109, no.

(52) Remarks on the Monthly Journal of Geology and Natural

Science of G. W. Featherstonaugh, for May 1832 (but only
published in July), pp. 110-114.

(53) On the false Rhinoceroides of Featherstonaugh and Harlan.

pp. 114, 115.

(54) Geology of the Feroe Islands, p. 116.

(55) Arcibites Rhombifera, a new Encrinite, from the Cabinet of

Dr. Cohen, of Baltimore, p. 116.

( 56 ) Lucilites Nigra, a new univalve fossil shell, from the Alleghany

Mountains of Pennsylvania, pp. 116, 117.

( 57 ) Ancient Chronology of the Onguys or Iroquois. [A review.]

pp. 117, 118.

(58) Vocabulary of the Yarura Language, p. 118.

(59) New and Rare Plants of Maryland near Baltimore, p. 119.

(60) Six New Firs of Oregon, pp. 119, 120.

(61) On 3 N. Sp. of Clintonia. p. 120.

(62) On 3 N. Sp. of Eriocaulon. p. 121.

(63) On 3 New Water Salamanders of Kentucky, p. 121.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 187

(64) A new Tubular fresh water shell of the Alleghany mts. pp.

121, 122.

(65) Fossils of Sherman Creek, p. 122.

(66) Atlantic Review, p. 122.

In Number 4, Winter of 1832:

(67) The Last Indians of New-Jersey, p. 128.

(68) Description of an ancient Mexican Historical manuscript.

pp. 128-130.

(69) Table of the successive Dynasties and Incas of Peru. pp.

130-132.

(70) American Languages. Wahtani or Mandan. pp. 132,133.

(71) Languages of Oregon. Chopunish and Chinuc. pp. 133,134.

(72) Vulgar names of fossils and petrifactions in North America.

P- 137-

(73) Ancient Volcanoes of North America, pp. 137-140.

(74) Oolites of North America, pp- 140, 141.

(75) The Fishes of the United States, pp. 141, 142.

(76) New Fossil Shells of Pennsylvania, pp. 142, 143.

(77) Stratipora and Flexulites. N. G. p. 143.

(78) New Lizard from Kentucky, pp. 143, 144.

( 79 ) Twenty new genera of Plants from the Oregon Mountains, &c.

pp. 144-146.

(80) Account of 32 N. Sp. of plants from Florida, pp. 146-148.

(81) On 3 Sp. of Typha. pp. 148, 149.

(82) Two New Genera of Umbelliferous Plants from Kentucky.

p. 149.

(83) On 12 N. Sp. of Plants from Illinois, &c. pp. 149-151.

(84) On 17 N. Sp. of Plants from Upper Canada, &c. pp. 151, 152.

(85) Vernasolis, a New Genus, p. 152.

(86) Lophactis N. G. pp. 152, 153.

(87) On 4 N. Sp. of North American Tulips, p. 153.

1 88 The Life and Writings of

(88) New Plants of the Alleghany Mts. pp. 153, 154.

(89) Odatelia N. G. of N. American Bivalve fluviatile shell, p. 154.

In Number 5, Spring of 1833:

(90) American Travellers. Who have written their travels? pp.

I55-I57-

(91) Alleghanies Mountains, pp. 157-161.

(92) The Patagons. pp. 161-163.

(93) N. G. Cauloma. Raf. p. 163.

(94) Principles of the Philosophy of new Genera and new species

of Plants and Animals. (Extract of a letter to Dr. J. Torrey,
etc.). pp. 163, 164.

(95) N. G. Scandianus. Raf. pp. 164, 165.

(96) On 3 N. G. of Land Shells from Buenos Ayres in South

America, p. 165.

( 97 ) On 5 New Fresh Water Shells of Bengal and Assam in Asia.

pp. 165, 166.

(98) Commercial Enterprise, p. 166.

(99) Account of the Botanical Collections of Professor C. S. Rafin-

esque. pp. 169, 170.

In Number 6, Summer of 1833.

(100) Epidermic Varieties of Mankind, pp. 171, 172.

( 101 ) Complexions of Mankind, &c. pp. 172, 173.

( 102 ) Affinities of the English Language with the African Lan

guages and Dialects of Egypt, &c. pp. 173-175.

(103) Sorex dichrurus. N. Sp. of Shrew, pp. 175, 176.

( 104 ) Florula Texensis. Dicotyl. N. Sp. New Dicotyl Plants of

Texas and Arkansas, in my Herbarium, pp. 176-179.

(105) G. Dodecatheon or Meadia. pp. 179, 180.

(106) New Amer. Subterranean Plants, pp. 180-182.

( 107) Pleuradena Coccinea. N. G. of Mexican Shrub from Bartram's

Garden, p. 182.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 189

( 108 ) Orospodias Corymbosa, or Wild Cherry, of Oregon Mts.

p. 182.

( 109 ) Incombustible Architecture, Or Fire Proof Buildings of all

Kinds, built as Cheap as any combustible buildings. By
C. S. Rafinesque, Professor of many sciences, Architect,
Draftsman, &c. pp. 183-186.

174. Atlantic Journal. — Extra of No. 6. | Herbarium | Rafinesqui-
anum. | Prodromus. — Pars Prima, | Rarissm. Plant. Nov. |
Herbals: or Botanical Collections of C. S. Rafinesque, Pro
fessor of Botany, &c, &c, &c. | First Part. | Very Rare New
Plants chiefly from Oregon, Texas, Arkansas, Missouri, Illi
nois, Kentucky, Tennessee, Alabama, Florida, Apalachian and
Alleghany Mountains, in North America. Besides Russia,
Siberia, Syria, Arabia, Candia, Sicily, Italy, Egypt, Magellania,
&c, elsewhere. Collected or acquired between 1800 and 1832.
| The Labor of a Whole Life! | Philadelphia: 1833. | Price
one dollar. (i2mo, pp. 48.)

This small pamphlet contains the following separate
articles :

(no) Account of the Botanical Collections of Professor C. S. Raf
inesque. pp. 3-10.

(in) Principles of the Philosophy of new Genera and new species
of Plants and Animals. (Extract of a letter to Dr. J.
Torrey, of New York, dated ist Dec., 1832.) pp. 11, 12.

(112) Natural Classification of Plants, pp. 12-15.

(113) Extracts from Botanical Letters to Decandolle, Agardh, and

Arnott, in 1830, 31, 32, & 33. pp. 16-20.

(114) Florula Texensis. pp. 20-26.

(115) G [enus] Dodecatheon or Media, pp. 26-29.

(116) G [enus] Kuhnia, revised, pp. 29, 30.

(117) G [enus] Helichroa. Raf. 1825. pp. 30-32.

1 90 The Life and Writings of

The second part has the following:

(118) Chronological Index of the principal Botanical Works and

Discoveries published by C. S. Rafinesque. pp. 33-37.

(119) Index of the Florula Mandanensis of Bradbury* and Rafin

esque, published in 1817 and in 1820, with Notes and addi
tions, pp. 37-41.

(120) Monograph of the Species of G. Samolus, in my Herbarium.

pp. 41-43.

(121) Genus Cypripedium. pp. 43, 44.

(122) Genus Spiranthes. pp. 44, 45.

* John Bradbury, born August 20, 1768, died 1823. The grave of this famous
botanist is in the cemetery at Middletown, near Louisville. This naturalist
made a journey up the Missouri river, two thousand nine hundred miles
above New Orleans, in 1811. Extensive collections of plants were made; of
these some were shipped to England, with the intention of describing the
rarer forms. But it appears that his confidence was violated and the collec
tions were submitted, in advance of his return, "to a person of the name of
Pursh, who has published the most interesting of my plants in an appendix
to the Flora America Septentrionalis" (1814.) Bradbury published in his
book.t "Travels in the Interior of America, in the Years 1809, 1810, and 1811,"
on pp. 335-338, a catalogue of the more rare and valuable plants found. This
I have carefully compared with the list which Rafinesque gives in his Florula
Mandanensis, but only very few are the same. There is here an interesting
matter connected with these plants; were the names given by Rafinesque be
stowed upon plants already named by Bradbury? or did Rafinesque publish
first and anticipate the names assigned by Pursh ? In any event there is very
little evidence that Rafinesque used the Bradbury list, as he did those of
Robin and Darby!

t Travels | in The Interior of America, | in the | years 1809, 1810, and 1811 ; | including | A
Description of Upper Louisiana, | together with | The States of Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana, | and
Tennessee, | with the | Illinois and western Territories, | and containing | Remarks and Obser
vations | useful to | Persons emigrating to those countries. | | By John Bradbury, F. L- S.

London, | Corresponding Member of the Liverpool Philosophical Society and Honorary Member
of | the Literary and Philosophical Societies, New York, United States, America. | = \ Liver
pool : | Printed for the author, | By Smith and Galway, | and published by Sherwood, Neely,
and Jones, London. | | 1817. (8vo, pp. 1-12 [Errata], 9-364.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 191

(123) G. Jeffersonia and Podophyllum. p. 46.

(124) Fasiculus florula Oregonsis. pp. 46-48.

(125) Florula Apalachensis. (Dicotyl. Fasciculus I.) p. 48.

In Number 7, Autumn of 1833:

(126) Scientific Travels of C. S. Rafinesque, in 1833. pp. 187, 188.

( 127) Elevations of land and water, mountains and hills in the State

of New York. pp. 188-191.

(128) Some essential views of Geology, by Dr. Hebbert and Rafin

esque. pp. 191-195.

(129) Some remarks on the Ruins of Otolum near Palenque.

pp. 195-197-

(130) History of Austral America, pp. 197, 198.

( 131 ) Chontal or Tzendal Vocabulary, p. 198.

( 132) Gypsies of America, pp. 198, 199.

(133) N. G. Ygramela and Peltimela. p. 199.

( 134) On the Custard-apples or Aunona triloba and glabra. pp.
199, 200.

(135) Expexis. N. G. of Water Plants, p. 200.

(136) Substitutes for Tobacco, pp. 200, 201.

( 137) Huge Water Volcano, pp. 201, 202.

(138) Improvements in Navigation, p. 202.

(139) Chemical Manufacture, of Professor Rafinesque. (An adver

tisement, in the first person.) p. 202.

In Number 8, Winter of 1833:

(140) The Luminous Meteors of 1833. pp. 205, 206.

(141) Chronological Index of the principal Botanical Works and

Discoveries published by C. S. Rafinesque. pp. 206-208.
(142)" Geology and Physical features of the Atlantic Plains of North

America, pp. 209-211.
(143) Valedictory, pp. 211, 212.

192 The Life and Writings of

It will readily be noted that this publication has
absolutely no scientific value. The full lists of notes
and articles by Rafinesque have been given with the
sole hope of thus furnishing additional basis for a
judgment concerning the value of his later work.

175. A | Monograph | of the | Fluviatile Bivalve Shells | of the River

Ohio, | containing | Twelve Genera & Sixty-eight Species. |

| Translated from the French of C. S. Rafinesque, Prof.

Bot. | and Nat. Hist, in Transylvania University. | | Phil
adelphia: | J. Dobson, 108 Chestnut Street. | 1832. (i2mo,
pp. i-vi, 7-72.) i, pi. unio verrueosa Ref.

This is an English translation of Rafinesque's earlier
work on the shells of the Ohio River, published by his
friend Poulson, of Philadelphia. A favorable review by
Doctor Harlan, afterward a bitter enemy, may be found
in the Monthly American Journal of Geology, Vol. I,
No. 8, pp. 372-375, February, 1832.

176. Visit to Big-Bone Lick, in 1821. By C. S. Rafinesque, Professor

of Historical and Natural Sciences, etc. (The Monthly Amer
ican Journal of Geology and Natural Sciences, Vol. I, No. 8,
February, pp. 355~358- l832-

A critique, with additional information, of an article
by William Cooper, in numbers four and five of the
same journal. Cooper gives a most excellent map of
the locality.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 193

177. Le Pulmist | ou | Introduction a 1'Art de Guerir | et de PreVenir

| La Consomption | ou | La Phthisic Chronique; | (Traduit de
1'Anglais) | Par M. le Dr C.-S. Rafinesque, | Professeur d'his-
torie naturelle et de botanique | medicale a Philadelphia, |
Auteur du Manuel de Botanique Medicale des Etats-Unis,
| de 1'Analyse de la Nature, etc., etc. | Membre des Societes
medicales de Cincinnati, de Lexington et de Phi- | ladelphie,
du Lycee de New-York, de 1'Academie des Sciences | natur-
elles de Philadelphie, de la Societe des Antiquities ameri-
caines | de Worcester et de Neschville, de 1'Institute de Ken
tucky et de plu- | sieurs Societes savantes de 1'Euope, a
Paris, Bruxelles, Vienne, | Bonn, Florence, Naples, etc. | La
consumption n'est pas une maladie incurable; mais | les
remedes a y appliquer doivent principalement etre | porte"s
au poumon par la respiration ou 1'inhalation. | (Le Pulmist,
n. no.) | - - | Paris. | Imprimerie de Dezauche, | Faub.
Montmartre, No. n. | - - | 1833. (8vo, pp. xix, 123.)

178. Letter to Mr. Champollion, on the Graphic Systems of Amer

ica, and the Glyphs of Otolum, or Palenque, in Central
America. (In "American Antiquities and Discoveries in the
West", 4th Ed., by Josiah Priest, pp. 118-124. l834-)

This is a reprint of Rafinesque's article in the Atlantic
Journal and Friend of Knowledge.

179. Ancient Languages of the first Inhabitants of America. First

Letter to Mr. Champollion, on the Graphic Systems of Amer
ica, and the Glyphs of Otolum or Palenque, in Central
America. (In "American Antiquities and Discoveries in the
West", 4th Ed., by Josiah Priest, pp. 309-313. 1834.)

Reprinted from the Atlantic Journal and Friend of
Knowledge. The letter is dated from Philadelphia, Jan
uary, 1832.

194 The Life and Writings of

180. Primitive Origin of the English Language. (In "American

Antiquities and Discoveries in the West", 4th Ed., by Josiah
Priest, pp. 316-323. 1834.)

181. [Review of] Ancient Chronology of the Onguys or Iroquois

Indians. By David Cusick. (In "American Antiquities and
Discoveries in the West", 4th Ed., by Josiah Priest, pp.
336-338. 1834.)

182. Evidence that a Nation of Africans, the Descendants of Ham,

now inhabit a District of South America. (In "American
Antiquities and Discoveries in the West", 4th Ed., by Josiah
Priest, pp. 340-342- 1834.)

183. A | Life of Travels | and | Researches | in North America and

South Europe, | or | Outlines | of | The Life, Travels and
Researches | of | C. S. RAFINESOUE, A. M. Ph. D. | Professor
of historical and natural scien | ces, member of many learned
societies in | Europe and America, | author of many works
&c, | containing | His travels in NORTH AMERICA and | the
SOUTH of EUROPE; the Atlantic | Ocean, Mediterranean,
Sicily, Azores &c, | from 1802 to 1835, — with sketches of his

| scientific and historical researches, &c. | | Un voyageur

d£s le berceau, | je le Serais jusqu'au tombeau * * * | |

Philadelphia, Printed for the Author | By F. Turner, No. 367,
Market Street, 1836. | Price Seventy-five cents. (i2mo, pp.
1-148.)

This book is now quite rare, and, like some other
works by its unfortunate author, seems to have been
grossly misinterpreted. Almost all we know of the per
sonal history of Rafinesque is derived from this work.
To many it has appeared to be little more than the

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

product of an overweening vanity, which is further
supported by the fact that the narrative is constantly
in the first person. It is well, however, to remember
that this book was originally written in the form of
personal reminiscences to his sister, in whom Rafinesque
appears to have taken great interest. This will explain
the constant use of the pronoun of the first person.
The book is exasperating in a very peculiar way, since
very many facts which we wish to know most are
omitted entirely. The work should be read by every
one desiring to form a just estimate of Rafinesque's
earlier scientific work.

184. Bulletin of the Historical and Natural Sciences. No. 3. Phil

adelphia, May, 1836. pp. 17-24. 24mo.

A copy of this Bulletin, which is but one of a series
of advertising pamphlets " distributed gratis", may be
seen bound in with "The American Nations", of which
it is a prospectus, in the Bates Hall, Boston Public
Library. A number of these tracts appeared at differ
ent times, irregularly, but are consecutively numbered;
they possess no real value.

185. The World, | or | Instability. | A Poem. | In twenty parts. | With

notes and illustrations. | * * * | | Philadelphia & London:

| * * * | 1836. (8vo, pp. 1-248.)

196 The Life and Writings of

The name of the author does not appear on the title-
page nor elsewhere in the volume, but he has in another
place confessed authorship ; its origin, however, is other
wise unmistakable.

1 86. The American | Nations; | or, | Outlines of A National History;

j of the Ancient and Modern Nations | of North and South

America. | * * * | First number or volume Generalities and

Annals. Philadelphia, | 1836. (i2tno, pp. 260.)

Second number or Volume "Origin and Researches." (pp. 292.)

Bach volume has a second title-page as follows:

The American Nations; | or | Outlines of their | General His
tory, | Ancient and Modern : | Including the whole history of
the earth | and mankind in the Western Hemisphere; | the
Philosophy of American History; | the Annals, traditions,
Civilization, | Languages &c of all the Ameri | can Nations,
Tribes, Empires | and States. | With Maps, Plates, Views, and
Plans of Monuments, | Tables, Notes, and Illustrations. | * * *
| First [Second] Volume | * * * | Philadelphia; | C. S. Rafin-
esque, no North Tenth St. | * * * | - - | 1836.

Of this work, planned to comprise twelve volumes,
but two volumes were printed. No maps, plates, or
illustrations appear. The work was dedicated to "the
Society of Geography of Paris." It is a curious assem
blage of facts and quotations, many of which have no
bearing on the general subject of the work. Very odd
anthropologic relations are assumed without basis of
real fact.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

187. First Part. Introd. Lexicon, &c [ = = | New Flora | and Botany
| of | North America. | Being a supplemental flora, | To the
Various Floras and Botanical Works of Michaux, | Muhlen-
berg, Pursh, Nuttall, Elliot, Torrey, Beck, Eat- | on, Bigelow,
Barton, Robin, Hooker, Riddell, Darling- | ton, Schweinitz,
Gibbs, &c. | Besides the general works of Linneus, Wildenow,
| Vahl, Vitmau, Persoon, Latnark, Decandole, Sprengel, | Jus-
sieu, Adanson, Necker, Lindley, &c. Containing | nearly 500
additional or revised New Genera, and 1500 | additional or
corrected New Species, illustrated by | figures in AUTIKON
BOTANICON. | By C. S. Rafinesque, A. M.— Ph. D. | Prof, of
Botany, the historical and natural sciences — | Member of
many learned Societies in Paris, Vienna, | Bonn, Bruxelles,
Bordeaux, Zurich, Naples, &c. and | in Philadelphia, New
York, Cincinnati, Lexington, &c. | - | The Floral wealth
in this wide land concealed, | Will be at last by learned care
revealed. | - | Philadelphia. | Printed for the Author and
Publisher. | 1836.

This work was published in four parts* as follows:

New Flora and Botany of North America. Part First. Intro

ductory Lexicon, Monographs, etc. 1836. (8vo, pp. i-ioo.)
New Flora and Botany of North America. Second Part. Neo-

phyton. 1836. (8vo, pp. 96.)
New Flora and Botany of North America. Third Part. New

Sylva. 1836. (8vo, pp. 96.)
New Flora and Botany of North America. Fourth Part. Neo-

botanon. 1836. (8vo, pp. 112.)

In the title of the third and fourth parts the word
" great" instead of "general" is employed in describing
the "works" of the various authors named. The lines

*From the prospectus we learn that the work was to have consisted of
six parts.

198 The Life and Writings of

are broken in a slightly different manner, but the phrase
ology is otherwise identical.

1 88. First Part j of the | Synoptical Flora Telluriana, | Introduction

& Classification, | With new Natural Classes, Orders and
fami- | lies: preamble of the 2000 New or revised Gen- | era
and Species of Trees, Palms, Shrubs, Vines, | Plants, Lilies,
Grasses, Ferns, Algas, Fungi &c. | from North and South
America, Polynesia, i Australia, Asia, Europe and Africa,
omitted or | mistaken by the authors, that were observed
or | ascertained, described or revised, collected or | figured,
between 1796 and 1836, | By C. S. Rafinesque, A.M. | Prof,
of Botany, historical and natural scien- | ces — member of
many learned Societies in | Paris, Vienna, Bruxelles, Bonn,
Bordeaux, | Zurich, Naples &c. Philadelphia, New York,

Cincinnati, Lexington, &c. | | To observe and compare,

to correct or approve | By good names and new facts that
convince and improve. | - - | Philadelphia : | Printed for the
Author | By H. Probasco, No. 119, North Fourth St. | 1836.
(8vo, Ft. I., pp. 104; Pt. II, pp. 112.)

189. Autikon Botanicon. | Incones Plantarum Select. Nov. vel Rar-

iorum, | plerumque Americana, interdum African. | Europ.
Asiat. Oceanic. &c. | Centur. XXV. | - - | Botanical Illustra
tions | by Select Specimens or Self-figures in | 25 Centuries
of 2500 | Plants, Trees, Shrubs, Vines, Lilies, Grasses, | Ferns
&c, chiefly new or rare, doubtful or in- | teresting, from North
America and some other | regions; with accounts of the
undescribed, notes, | synonyms, localities &c. | In 5 parts
of 5 Centuries each of text with | 25 Volumes folio of
Self-figures. | By C. S. Rafinesque, | Prof, of Botany, the
Historical and Nat- | ural Sciences, member of many learned
So- | cieties in America and Europe, author of | many botan
ical and other works &c. | Part First, Cent. I to V. j (The

best botanical figures are the objects themselves) | |

Philadelphia. | Collected, ascertained and described between
| 1815 & 1840.

Constantine Samttel Rafinesque, 199

Text of 500 objects and articles. Phila. 1815-1840. (8vo, pp. 72.)
Second Part. Centuries VI-X. Phila. 1815-1840. (8vo, pp. 68.)
Third Part. Centuries XI to XV. Phila. 1815-1840. (8vo, pp. 60.)

The work has consecutive pagination from i to 200.
There are no figures. It ended with the third part and
is one of the incomplete works of Rafinesque, and
further illustrates his mental vacillation.

190. Safe Banking, | including | the Principles of Wealth; | being an

enquiry into the principles and | practice of safe and unsafe
banks, or | nionied institutions in North America, | the defects
of the American banking | system and legislation, &c. | By
C. S. Rafinesque, | A. M.— Ph. D. Prof, of Historical and Nat
ural Sciences, | member of 15 learned Societies in America
and | Europe, Author of 50 Works. — Founder of the | Divitial
Institution of North America, and | many other useful Insti
tutions, &c. | | Every Bank liable to risks or losses and

to sudden calls | is Unsafe. — Every Bank liable to neither is

Safe. | | Philadelphia: | 1837. | Printed by order and at

the expense of the | Divitial Institution of North America, |
and 6 per cent Savings-Bank. (i2mo, pp. 138.)

191. Alsographia | Americana, | or an American Grove of new or

revised | Trees and Shrubs of the Genera Myrica, Caly- |
canthus, Salix, Quercus, Fraxinus, Populus, Ti- | Ha, Sam-
bucus, Viburnum, Cornus, Juglans. Aes- | culus &c, with
some New Genera, Monographs, | and many new Sp. in 330
articles, completing | 1405 G. and Sp. as a continuation of
the SYLVA TELLURIANA and North American Trees & |
Shrubs. | - - | * * * | Philadelphia. | 1838. | Price One
Dollar. (8vo, pp. 1-76.)

200 The Life and Writings of

192. The Ancient Monuments | of | North and South America,
second edition, | Corrected, enlarged and with some additions,
| By C. S. Rafinesque, A. M.— Ph. D. | Professor of Historical
and Natural Sci- | ences, Member of many Learned Societies
in | Philadelphia, New York, Lexington, Cincin- | natti, Nash
ville, Paris, Bordeaux, Brussels, | Bonn, Vienna, Zurich,
Naples &c, the Amer- | ican Antiquarian Society, the North
ern An- | tiquarian Society of Copenhagen &c. | The massive
ruins the arts and skill unfold | Of busy workers, and their
styles reveal, | The objects and designs of such devisers : j
In silent voices they speak, to thinking minds | They teach,
who were the human throngs that left | Uplifted marks for
witness of past ages. | Philadelphia | 1838. | Printed for the
Author. (8vo, pp. 1-28.)

There was never a " first edition" of this pamphlet
printed, as might be justly inferred from this title. The
matter comprised in this paper appeared in the journal
named in the following title. The "Additions" comprise
pages 25 to 28, and contain some curious matter. The
addition "n" is particularly interesting reading. It runs
as follows:

" In my work on Historical Palingenesy or the restoration of
ancient nations and languages presumed lost, I have been able to
restore many of all the parts of the world (but chiefly America and
Europe) in the same manner as I once did for the Haytian nation
and language, whereby many historical links will be evolved and
traced. My process is similar to that of Cuvier and the modern
Paleontologists, who restore extinct animals by fragments of their
bones. I do the same with extinct languages by fragments of their
words and elements, discovered and put together."

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque > 201

193. Researches on the Antiquities and Monuments of North and

South America. (American Museum, No. i, September, 1838.
Baltimore.)

This paper originally appeared in a periodical which
commenced a new series of the North American Quar
terly Magazine, a literary monthly periodical undertaken
by Brooks and Snodgrass. The original paper has not
passed under inspection, but the title is quoted from
the second page of the pamphlet named in the pre
ceding reference.

194. Celestial Wonders and Philosophy, or the Structure of the

Visible Heavens, with hints on their Celestial Religion and
theory of Futurity. Philadelphia. 1838. (i6mo, pp. 136.)

Book not seen ; quoted from Gray's review of the
botanical writings of Rafinesque, which see.

195. Bulletin of the Historical and Natural Sciences. By C. S.

Rafinesque, A. M., Ph. D. Philadelphia. (Spring of 1838.
No. 7, pp. 37-44-)

This is an advertising sheet, and is mentioned here
because it contains a list of Rafinesque's other works
and so may prove useful.

196. Genius and Spirit | of the | Hebrew Bible. | Including the Biblic

Philosophy of | Celestial Wisdom, Religion and Theo- j logy,
Astronomy and Realization, | Ontology and Mytholog}7, Chro-
no- | metry and Mathematics. | Being the First Series of Bible
Truths, | Ascertained and Explained by the | true restored

26

202 The Life and Writings of

names and words in Eng | lish Letters, of the Religious and
Philoso | phical Conceptions of the OBRI or He- | brew
Language relating thereto, that are | found in the MKRE or
Hebrew Scrip- | tures, with their meanings and deriva- | tions :
whereby the real ancient OBRI | knowledge is restored and
found to agree | with the highest modern Knowledge. | By
C. S. Rafinesque, A. M., Ph. D., | Prof, of Historical and Nat
ural Sci- | ences, of Languages and comparative | Philology —
Member of many learned | Societies in Europe and America —
Au- | thor of many Works — Founder of the | Central Uni
versity of Illinois &c. | Printed for the Eleutherium of
Know- | ledge and Central University of Illinois &c. | Phila
delphia. | 1838. (i2mo, pp. 1-264.)

This work is very clearly that of a man who has
lost the power of acute perception and correct ratio
cination. It is very curious and odd, but without the
least value from any possible standpoint.

197. Sylva Telluriana. | Mantis, [sa] Synopt. [ica] | == | New Gen
era and Species | of Trees and shrubs of North America, |
and other regions of the earth, | Omitted or mistaken by
the Botanical Au- | thors and Compilers, | or not properly
classified, | now reduced by their natural affinities to the |
proper natural orders and tribes. | By C. S. Rafinesque, A. M.
— Ph. D. Prof, of Botany, the Natural and Historical Sciences,
Member of Many learned Societies, in Paris, Bordeaux, Brus
sels, Bonn, Vienna, Zurich, Naples, &c. — Philadelphia, New
York, | Lexington, Cincinnatti, &c., author of many | works.

| Being a supplement to the Flora Telluriana. | | (Trees

and Shrubs are the Ornaments of the Earth) | | Phila
delphia: Printed for the Author and Publisher. | | 1838.

(8vo, pp. 1-184.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 203

198. American Manual of the Mulberry trees; 25 separate species,

30 varieties; history, &c. with hints on procuring silk out
of the bark. Philadelphia. 1839. (i2mo, pp. 96. [Not seen.])

199. The | Pleasures and Duties | of | Wealth. | By C. S. Rafinesque.

| A. M— Ph. D. | * * * | - - | * * * | - _| Philadelphia : |

Printed for the Eleutherium of Knowledge. | | 1840.

(8vo, pp. 1-32.)

200. The Good Book — Number I | (300 Figures) | | Amenities

of Nature | or annals of | Historical and Natural Sciences, |
Chiefly on Zoology, Botany, Geology, Agro- | nomy, Ethnog
raphy, Philology &c . . . Organ- | ized beings and fossils,
Nations and languages. | with 1000 figures. | By C. S. Rafin
esque A. M. — Ph. D. | Professor of those Sciences &c. | — — |
Philadelphia | January 1840. | Subscriptions $5 in advance for
10 numbers | — single numbers one dollar each.

This is the title as given on the cover of the volume.
The title given on the title-page is quite different, but
as it is sometimes quoted it is here given in full. It
runs as follows :

The Good Book, | and Amenities of Nature, | or Annals of
Historical and Natural | Sciences. | Containing Selections, of
observations, resear- | ches and novelties in all the branches
of Phy- | sical and Historical Knowledge, with Letters | of
eminent Authors — chiefly on Zoology, Botany, | Agronomy,
Geognosy, Ethnography ... or Or- | ganized Beings and
Fossils, Nations and Lan- | guages. By C. S. Rafinesque
A. M. — Ph. D. | Prof, of Historical and Natural Sciences, j
Languages &c, member of 16 Learned Societies | in Europe
and America, author of 220 Works, | Pamphlets, Essays and

Tracts . . . j | The works of God to study and explain,

| Is happy toil and not to live in vain. | | Philadelphia

| 1840. | Printed for the Eleutherium of Knowledge. (8vo,
pp. 84.)

204 The Life and Writings of

The contents are all by Rafinesque, and are as follows :

Prospectus, p. 2.
Introduction, pp. 3, 4.

(1) Classification of the Natural Sciences and Objects, pp. 5-12.

(2) Eutaxy. Theory of Classification and the new science of

Eutaxy or Methodology, pp. 12-16.

(3) Analogies. The Circle of Natural Objects, or collective affin

ities and analogies of corporeal forms — a new Science, pp.
16-19.

(4) Botany. On a new natural class of plants, the Antilles or

Endantines. pp. 19-23.

(5) Botany. The natural family of Carexides. pp. 23-28.

(6) Zoology and Geology. The Adelostomes and their geological

formations, with 45 figures, pp. 28-36. [Figures not printed
in this volume.]

( 7 ) American botany, remarks on the Flora of North America by

Torrey, Grey, and Nuttal. pp. 37-44.

(8) New Flora and Botany of North America or a Supplemental

Flora, to all the botanical works on the United States, by
C. S. Rafinesque. pp. 44-47.

(9) New Trees and Shrubs of North America, pp. 47-49.

(10) Scadiography or 100 G. of Ombelliferous plants chiefly new,

with their types &c. pp. 49-61.
(n) On the 5 Genera Torreya &c. pp. 61-63.

(12) On the 3 Genera of Cephalopodes, Ocythoe, Todarus and An-

isoctus. pp. 63-65.

(13) Ditaxopus paradoxus, a new Fossil G. of Cephalopodes, discov

ered 1819. Figure 54 and 55, shell and animal, pp. 66, 67.

( 14) The new Quadrupeds of North America, described in my Atlan

tic Journal of 1832. pp. 67, 68.

(15) Etymology of the Origon Mountains, p. 68.

(16) Historical and Ethnographical Palingenesy &c. pp. 68-70.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 305

(17) Monument of the Atlantes, with an inscription 4000 years old —

with figures 62 to 68. pp. 71-76.

( 1 8 ) The Graphic Systems of the Ancient American and Chinese

Nations, pp. 76-81.

(19) Agronomy. Oils of India, pp. 81, 82.

(20) Useful trees and plants of East Indies, pp. 82, 83.

(21) Additions and Index, pp. 83, 84.

201. Monographic | des | Coquilles | bivalves fluviatiles | de la Riv

iere Ohio j par M. C. S. Rafinesque, | Professeur d'Historie
Naturelle a 1'universite transylvane de Lexington | [Cut] |

Paris. | A. Franck, Librarie Editeur | | 1845. (8vo, pp.

1-50. [Frontispiece.] pll. I-III.)

202. The | complete writings | of | Constantine Schmaltz Rafinesque

| on | recent and fossil | conchology. | | Edited by | Wm.

G. Binney, and George W. Tryon, Jr., | Members of the Acad
emy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia. | | New York :

|****| 1864. (8vo, pp. 1-96, 1-7 [i] pi. I.) (From the
Annales Generates des Sciences Physiques, Bruxelles, LXXX,
LXXXI, LXXXIL)

203. Remarks on the Physical Geography of North America. By

C. S. Rafinesque. Philadelphia, April, 1840. (Journal of the
Royal Geographical Society, Vol. XI, p. 165. London, 1841.)

This is a posthumous publication, the only one by
Rafinesque with which I am acquainted. It consists of
thirty numbered paragraphs. The author divides the
country into eight great regions, beginning: " i. The
Boreal, or region of the lakes. 2. The Atlantic, or region
of the littoral plains," etc., etc. Each of these regions
is described in detail; there is a plea for the retention

206 The Life and Writings of

of the "true or Indian names" of every thing; also,
there is given a list of the aboriginal names of the
mountains; and the general ignorance of all other geog
raphers on the subject is lamented. Not a few refer
ences occur relating to former geographic work by
himself, including a mention of his map of the Ohio
river, made in 1818.

The same volume contains, at the end of the above-
mentioned article, some editorial notes which collectively
constittite a brief summary of "some Remarks on New
Colonies, communicated to the Royal Geographical Soci
ety, by the same author, but not published, as the paper
contains little that is new", etc. An interesting fact
connected with this essay on physical geography is that
the plan had been revolved in the mind of Rafinesque
for many years. In a column advertisement of the pro
posed "Western Minerva", printed in the Kentucky Re
porter for October 16, 1820, is the title of this article,
which had then been prepared and was "in hand for
publication ". It is the last one in the list of works
and memoirs by a remarkable though eccentric man.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 207

SUMMARY OF PUBLICATIONS.

A summary of this register will serve to indicate
very clearly the general bibliographic character of Raf-
inesque's work. There are relatively few books and
pamphlets; magazine articles include by far the greater
number of his titles. The following arrangement will
present these facts at a glance:

Magazine articles, 144

Books and Pamphlets, 39

Rafinesque's Magazines, 3

Original articles in last, 233

Manuscripts, i

Total titles, 420

To this summary may be added:

Reprints, 17

Translations 7

Books from oversheets, 3

Grand total, 447

A further classification by subjects will serve to show
the very wide range over which the scientific work of
Rafinesque extended. Among these papers botanical sub
jects, with one hundred and forty-one titles, take preced
ence; zoological papers and pamphlets come next in order
with some one hundred and twenty titles, of which

2o8 The Life and Writings of

those that relate to ichthyological matters are in excess.
A singular fact is next apparent in that historical, rather
than scientific, subjects appear to have received atten
tion, there being thirty-nine papers which may be so
classed. Poems, with four subjects, one of which com
prised some two hundred pages, presents the smallest
number of titles.

BIBLIOGRAPHIA INCERTA.

i. The Cosmonist. (Twenty Numbers of articles under this title
in the Kentucky Gazette, 1822.)

The files of the Kentucky Gazette, which were formerly
complete and in the Lexington Library, have suffered
so much at the hands of unscrupulous visitors that nearly
all that portion which comprised the years 1821-1825
has been removed from the library. There is now no
complete copy known. The missing portion contained
the numbers of the Gazette in which these articles of
Rafinesque appeared.

/?. The Mexicans in 1830.

Said by Rafinesque, in his "Life of Travels", to have
been published in 1831. It has been impossible to learn
more of the paper.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 309

*BIBLIOTHECA RAFINESQUIANA.

Anonymous. Review of "The Ancient Monuments of Kentucky".
(In The Cincinnati Literary Gazette, Vol. II, December 25, pp.
203, 204. 1824.) [Editorial?]

Audubon, John J. "The Eccentric Naturalist". (In Ornithological
Biography, Vol. I, pp. 455-460. 1832.)

Agassiz, Louis. " Notice upon a Collection of Fishes from the
Southern bend of the Tennessee river, in the State of Alabama ".
(American Journal of Science, 2d Series, Vol. XVII, pp. 297 et
segg. 1854.)

Allen, Harrison. "A Monograph of the Bats of North America".
(Bulletin of the United States Museum, No. 43, pp. 183, 184.
1893. Same matter in Monograph of North American Bats,
in Smithsonian Miscellaneous Collections, Vol. VII, pp. xvi, xvii.
1864.)

In these titles are reproduced the descriptions of
bats published by Rafinesque in The American Monthly
Magazine and in "The Annals of Nature."

Binney, Wm. G. and Bland, Thomas. " Note on Mesodon leucodon,
of Rafinesque". (Annals New York Lyceum of Natural History,
Vol. IX, pp. 294, 295. 1870.)

* Under this title are given, without any attempt at completeness, a list
of works from which facts connected with either Rafinesque or his scientific
work may be gleaned. The list will be found to comprise papers of a varying
and wide range of criticism.

27

210 The Life and Writings of

This title also mentions a manuscript work by Raf
inesque, never published, under the title of Conchologia
Ohiensis.

Brendel, Frederick. " Historical Sketch of the Science of Botany
in North America from 1635 to 1840". (American Naturalist,
Vol. XIII, pp. 764, 765. 1879.)

Call, R. Ellsworth. " Note on the Genus Campeloma of Rafinesque."
(American Naturalist, Vol. XVII, pp. 603-608. 1883.)

Call, R. Ellsworth. " On the Genus Campeloma Rafinesque, with a
Revision of the Species, Recent and Fossil." (Bulletin Wash-
burn College Laboratory of Natural History, Vol. I, pp. 149-165.
1886.)

Chase, Theodore R. " Constantine Schmaltz Rafinesque". (Potter's
American Monthly, an Illustrated Magazine of History, Litera
ture, Science, and Art, Vol. VI, pp. 97-101. 1876.)

Collins, Lewis. History of Kentucky. (Contains a short sketch of
Rafinesque. See Vol. II, pp. 201, 202. Edition of 1882. Rafin-
esque's list of the sites of ancient monuments in Kentucky is
reproduced on pp. 392, 393.)

Conrad, Timothy A. " Synopsis of the Family of Naiades of North
America." (Proceedings Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sci
ences, Vol. VI, p. 243 et seqq. ; also, ibidem, p. 499. 1853.)

Copeland, Herbert E. "A Neglected Naturalist". (American Nat
uralist, Vol. X, pp. 469-473. 1876.)

Ball, William H. "Some American Conchologists." (Proceedings
Biological Society of Washington, Vol. IV, pp. 114-117. 1888.)

Featherstonhaugh, G. W. Professor Rafinesque. (American Monthly
Journal of Geology and Natural Science, January, Vol. I, No. 7,
pp. 328, 329. 1832.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque.

211

Featherstonhaugh, G. W. " Review of Monograph of the Bivalve
Shells of the River Ohio. Translated from the French of Pro
fessor Rafinesque, by C. A. Poulson, Esq." (American Monthly
Journal of Geology and Natural Science, February, Vol. I, No. 8,

pp. 372-375- 1832.)

Ferussac, A. E. J. P. J. F. d'Audebard de. "Observations sur les
Naiades ". (Magazine de Zoologie, Numbers 59 and 60. 1835.)

Garnian, S. "The Generic Name of the Pastinacas, or Stingrays."
(Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. VIII,
pp. 221-224. 1885.)

Gill, Theodore. " On the Relations and Nomenclature of Stizoste-
dion or Lucioperca". (Proceedings of the United States National
Museum, Vol. XVII, pp. 123-128. 1894.)

Girard, Charles. "Researches upon the Cyprinoid Fishes inhabiting
the Fresh-waters of the United States, west of the Mississippi
valley, from specimens in the Museum of the Smithsonian
Institution ". (Proceedings of the Academy of Natural Sciences
of Philadelphia, Vol. VIII, pp. 165-213. 1856.)

Goode, G. Brown. "The Beginnings of American Science. The
Third Century." An Address Delivered at the Eighth Anni
versary Meeting of the Biological Society of Washington. (Pro
ceedings of the Biological Society of Washington, Vol. IV,
pp. 25, 26, 37 and 66. 1888.)

Gray, Asa. " Notice of the Botanical Writings of the late C. S.
Rafinesque ". (American Journal of Science, ist Series, Vol. XL,
pp. 221-241. 1841.)

H. H. (Anonymous). Letter to Editor of the Philadelphia Ledger,
dated 5th May, 1877. (Printed also in the American Naturalist,
Vol. XI, pp. 574, 575- 1877.)

2i2 The Life and Writings of

This is a very inaccurate account, full of misstate-
ments, by some one who intended well.

Haldemann, S. S. " Notice of the Zoological Writings of the Late
C. S. Rafinesque". (American Jotirnal of Science, ist Series, Vol.
, pp. 280-291. 1842.)

Harlan, Richard, M. D. " Fauna Americana ; | being | a Description |
of the | Mammiferous Animals j inhabiting North America. |
- | 1825." (See Introduction, p. viii, and Appendix, pp. 302-
309-)

Haven, Samuel F. "Archaeology of the United States, or, Sketches
Historical and Bibliographical of the Progress of Information
and Opinion Respecting Vestiges of Antiquity in the United
States." (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge, Vol. VIII,
Article I, pp. 39-41. 1856.)

Jordan, David S. " Contributions to North American Ichthyology,
No. I. Review of Rafinesque's Memoirs on North American
Fishes". (Bulletin United States National Museum, No. IX.
1877.)

Jordan, David S. " Report on the Fishes of Ohio." (Geological
Survey of Ohio, Vol. IV, pp. 737-741. 1882.)

Jordan, David S. " Note on the Scientific Name of the Yellow
Perch, The Striped Bass, and other North American Fishes."
(Proceedings of the United States National Museum, Vol. VIII,
pp. 72, 73. 1885.)

Jordan, David S. " Identification of the Species of Cyprinidae and
Catostomidae, Described by Dr. Charles Girard, in the Proceed
ings of the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia for
1856." (Proceedings of the United States National Museum,
Vol. VIII, pp. 118-127. 1885.)

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 313

Jordan, David S. "A Sketch of Constantine Schmaltz Rafinesque".
(Popular Science Monthly, Vol. XXIX, pp. 212-221. 1886. Same
article reprinted in Science Sketches.)

Jordan, David S. "Note on the 'Analyse de la Nature' of Rafin
esque." (Proceedings of the United States National Museum,
Vol. X, pp. 480, 481. 1887.)

Jordan, David S. " On the Generic Name of the Tunny." (Pro
ceedings of the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences,
p. 180. 1888.)

Jordan, David S., and Gilbert, Charles H. "On the Synonymy of
the Genus Bothus Rafinesque". (Proceedings United States
National Museum, Vol. V, pp. 576, 577. 1882.)

Jordan, David S., and Gilbert, Charles H. "Note on the Nomencla
ture of Certain North American Fishes." (Proceedings United
States National Museum, Vol. VI, p. no. 1883.)

Keep, Josiah. "Eminent Naturalists." Part II. (West American
Scientist, Vol. II, pp. 99-102. 1886.)

Kirtland, Jared P. " Descriptions of the Fishes of Lake Erie, the
Ohio River and their Tributaries." (Journal Boston Society of
Natural History, Vols. Ill, IV, and V. 1840-1846.)

Lea, Isaac. " Synopsis of the Family Unionidae". (4th Edition, 1870,
pp. xxviii-xxx. Vide, also ibidem, 3d Edition, p. xx, 1852.)

Lea, Isaac. " Rectification of T. A. Conrad's 'Synopsis of the Family
of Naiades of North America, etc.' " (Proceedings of the Phil
adelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. VII, p. i et seqq.;
and p. 236 et seqq.; also, new edition, pamphlet, pp. 13-25. 1872.)

LeConte, John. " The Vines of the United States." (Proceedings of
the Philadelphia Academy of Natural Sciences, Vol. VI, p. 270.
1853.) [Not seen.]

Of THt Tr ^

UNIVERSITY

214 The Life and Writings of

Meehan, Thomas. "Rafinesque". (Philadelphia Public Ledger Sup
plement, February 18, 1891.)

Squier, E. G., and Davis, E. H. " The Ancient Monuments of the
Mississippi Valley ". (Smithsonian Contributions to Knowledge,
Vol. I, preface, p. xxxvi. 1847.)

Swainson, William. " The Natural History and Classification of
Fishes, Amphibians and Reptiles, or Monocardian Animals".
(In Lardner's Cabinet Cyclopedia, Vol. I, pp. 60-63. 1838, 1839.)

Tryon, George W. "A Sketch of the History of Conchology in the
United States." {American Journal of Science, 2d Series, Vol.
XXXIII, p. 161, et seqq. 1862.)

Venable, W. H., LL. D. Sketch of Rafinesque. (In "Beginnings
of Literary Culture in the Ohio Valley," pp. 167, 168. 1891.)

APPENDIX.

THE WILL OF RAFINESQUE.

The Will of Rafinesque.

(First Page)

THE last will and testament of Constantine Samuel Rafinesque
of Philadelphia.

My own autograph Will written on the ist May 1833 at the
Eve of my departure for a journey in the Apalachian Mts of Caro
lina, Tenessee & Alabama.

1. I leave my immortal Soul to the Creator & preserver of the
Universe, the Supreme Ruler of Millions of Worlds moving through
space, to be sent to whatever world he may deem fit, according to
his wise laws.

2. I wish my body if possible to be burnt rather than buried
as I do not want to contamine the Earth by decay, nor be a cause
of desease to other men. My ashes if they can be collected I wish
to be deposited in a Urn, to be kept with my Collections.

3. The whole of my property is personal, and consist, chiefly
in Scientific Collections, Books, Patents, Secrets and Claims. The
whole of which except what shall be hereafter mentioned I leave
to my beloved only Sister Gergette Louisa Rafinesque, now married
to Paul Lanthois of Bordeaux in France, and to my beloved only
Daughter Emily Louisa, to be equally divided between them, but
at the conditions hereafter specified.

4. While residing in Sicily, I deemed myself lawfully married
from 1809 to 1815 to Josephine Vaccaro, although the decres of
the Council of Trent forbid our regular marriage. In 1811 was
born my Daughter Emily, and in 1814 my son Charles Linneus,
who died in 1815. But on hearing of my shipwreck in 1815, Josephine

28

ai8 The Life and Writings of

suddenly married Giovanni Pizzarrone a Comedian, and dissipated
the property I had left in her hands. She also refused to send
me my Daughter, for whom I sent in 1816 & 1817 two Brigs in
succession to Palermo, the Indian chief & the Intelligence. Where
fore I have ever since refused to notice her, and do not leave a
single cent of my property to her, as she has another family by a
living husband.

C. S. RAFINESQUE, my true will)

(Second Page )

5. Moreover as she lives at the expence of my daughter Emily,
whom she has compelled to ascend the stage as a Singer, I direct
that no part of my property shall be paid over to Emily, until she
leaves altogether & separates from her unworthy mother, her share
being kept in trust for her by my Sister the interest to be supplied
for Emily own personal use only, until the death of her mother,
when she may receive her share entire.

6. I order that my Library, Books, Maps, Engravings, Drawings,
Collection of Shells, fossils, minerals, and other objects of Natural
history, as well as my Herbals or Botanical Collections, besides my
apparel, Drugs, medicines, Pulmel, Syrups, Balsams and every other
personal property of mine (except my manuscripts and own draw
ings,) be sold at private sale in America or Europe by the Executors
of my will, and the proceeds employed as follows.

7. To print and publish all my manuscripts, drawings, sketches
and maps (unpublished at my decease) in the cheapest form either
in America or Europe in English or french, unless the copyrights
can be sold. These posthumous works of mine to be sold at an
advance of 100 per cent, and 500 copies at least to be printed. The
proceeds of the copy rights or sales are to form the fund of my
inheritance, to be equally divided between my Sister and daughter.

8. I entrust the publication of these posthumous works, among
which the principal are to be my i. History of the American

Constantine Samuet Rafinesque. 219

Nations, 2. My travels and researches since 1800 3 Tellers or
history of mankind, 4 Monuments of America. 5 Poem on Insta
bility, & 6 My Autobiography &c, to my nephew Jules Rafinesque
if he is able & willing, or else to Prof John Torrey of Newyork
and Prof. Jacob Green of Philadelphia: directing them to publish
in succession all what is suitable for publication, and I grant them
as a reward One hundred copies of such works, or one fifth of the
whole number published (being 50 each if two are employed in
this task) or if the copyrights are sold by them I grant them ten
per cent commission on the same for the trouble
(C. S. RAFINESQUE, my true will)

(Third Page)

of preparing them for the press.

9. The Secret of the Pulmel and other medicaments for the
Consumption, I enjoin to my Executors not to divulge, but either
sell it or pass it under seal into the hands of my Sister, to be by
her used as her own, requesting her to give one fourth of the
profits to my daughter Emily.

10. I direct my Executors to sell my patentright of the Divitial
Invention if possible, and sue all the Bankers and Savings Banks
who have stolen it in part or compromise it & pass the proceeds
to my heirs as above stated.

11. I direct them also to sell all my Caveats & Secrets, relating
to Aquatic Railways, Navigation of Shallow Waters, Steam Ploughs,
Rail Wheels, Artificial Leather, Incombustible Architecture &c,
and every other Invention of mine, the proceeds being disposed of
as above.

12. I forgive all my foes and those who have stolen my property
at various time, beginning with those who embezzled my father
and uncle inheritance. But I direct my Executors to endeavour
to collect all debts due to me, of which a list will found with
vouchers.

220 The Life and Writings of

13. If any body has thought himself wronged by me, I ask
their pardon. I never did any thing wrong willingly, but being
beset by knaves and Rivals may have been compelled to act some
times in a way not exactly as I should have chosen, had I been
fairly dealt with by others.

14. I do not owe any thing of any account, have lately dealt
always in cash, there is no Bills against me, and any one presented
would be spurious. There may be some old claims against me by
my defunct brother Anthony, but it was unfounded as my Letters
to him prove, and if his son Jules brings it on, he will hereby be
unfit to be my publisher. Some old claims in Sicily and Newyork
by Pinistri & Roulet, if brought forward must be compromised &
much reduced, as my lawsuit with Pinistri evinces the shallowness
& injustice of this claim, & Roulet accts are also mostly wrong,
both besides are obsolete & out of law course. In justice they
ought to take as offsetts the similar claims for $10,000 I have on
Lafleche, Lanfiar, Blodget, Cramer & Spear, Thomas Smith, Trampylo
Univry* & Botanic Garden &c, or at least accept my works in
paymt of any real compromise balance.

C. S. RAFINESQUE my own will)

( Fourth Page )

15. I direct my Executors to withdraw, claim & publish my
memoir on Materials for hist of America sent in 1825 to the Academy
of Sciences of Boston for a premium of $100, both of which have
been withheld & stolen from me, as the Letters of Mr. Everett
proves. Also my memoir on a Peaceful Congress of Nations sent
in 1831 to the Peace Society of Newyork for the premium of $500
offered & not yet awarded, if it is not the successful one and
publish it with my other posthumous works.

* Transylvania University is evidently intended here. From this item
it may be inferred that Rafinesque claimed an unpaid salary balance.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 221

1 6. Whereas all the learned Societies of America directed by
a base feeling of jealousy in some members have never valued nor
encouraged my labors in Science, I leave them nothing, and direct
to sell none of my collections to them unless a better price can
not be obtained in Europe : where I recommend selling to public
institutions rathan than private individuals.

17. The gold medal awarded me by the Soci of geography of
Paris, I leave to my nephew Jules Rafinesque, at the condition
to keep it forever in the family of Rafinesque as a honorable record
of a reward of merit.

1 8. I leave to my neice Laura Rafinesque, a wedding present
at her choice or a necklace of the value of one hundred francs to
be paid to her on her wedding day, and leave her besides a set of
all my works published or posthumous to be given her at once.

19. I request my sister (particularly if she has no children)
to leave equaly at her death, all her share of my inheritance to
Jules and Laura, or their children. If Emily should die before me,
I leave her share to Jules Rafinesque, requesting him to allow some
thing to Henrietta Whinston Daughter of my Emily by Sir Henry
Whinston, whom I also recommend to the care of my Sister, if
her father does not provide for her.

20. If my Sister dies before me, I leave her share to Jules &
Laura Rafinesque to be equaly divided between them ; but if they
should at any time bring on against me or my Estate the unfounded
claims of their defunct father, I withhold from them the whole, and
all the beneficial clauses of this will in their favor, and substitute
to them my Daughter Emily.

21. If the proceeds of my Estate, & posthumous works, patents
and Inventions should exceed the sum of ten thousand Dollars
or fifty thousand francs : I direct that the excess whatever it is,
may be put at compound interest in a Savings Bank for the benefit
of the first Female Orphan School

C. S. RAFINESQUE my own will)

222 The Life and Writings of

(Fifth Page)

that shall be established in the United States, as near as possible
upon the plan of Girard's Orphan College for Boys. And if none
is established within ten years after my decease, I give the same
excess to the first Free Library that shall be established in fire proof
buildings in the United States.

22. I name as Executors of this my last Will and Testament,
Prof: John Torrey of Newyork, Prof. Jacob Green of Philadelphia,
Peter A. Browne Bsq of Philadelphia, Dr. James Mease of Phila
delphia J. H. McCulloh Jr. of Baltimore, and the Consul of France
in Philadelphia for the time being, or any three of them that may
accept the trust, if three should think fit to decline it.

23. I recommend the care, selection & publication of my man
uscripts relating to travels and Botany to John Torrey chiefly ; those
on Zoology & Sciences chiefly to Jacob Green, those on Geology
and onyctology chiefly to Peter A. Brown, and those on History,
Antiquities & Languages chiefly to J. H. McCulloh.

24. I conclude by stating explicitly that I wish all the clauses
of this Will, to be understood in their plainest obvious meaning and
sense, without cavil nor quibble, but as equity and justice should
decide and require.

Written, Done, Executed and sealed by myself, being in perfect
health of body and mind. In witness whereof I have signed this
at every page and at the end & propose to deposit the same at the
public office for registering Wills In Philadelphia this first of May 1833.

C. S. RAFINESQUE
(this is my own autograp will)
Addition. I add Dr. James Mease of Philadelphia to my Ex
ecutors & publishers of my works giving him the general super
intend of it as I know his fitness for this task

Codicil. I vouch and aver that the claim of Maclure against
me has been settled by me by my shipment of Plants &c.

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 223

2. That the claim of Atkinson is cancelled by my offsets, the
mistakes in his previous accts & the withholding the 100 plates
of the Medical flora worth $300, whereby he is largely in my
Debt

3. that my claim on the Estate of Z. Collins is just and must
be pursued & recovered by law or compromise

C. S. RAFINESQUE

SUPPLIMENT, ADDITION & CODICIL TO MY LAST WILL OF 1833

Whereas since the date of this Will I have had the misfor
tune to lose my Sister Georgette Louisa Lanthois born Rafinesque
who was to have been my sole heir, I hereby confirm the whole
of my said will except what relates to her, and I substitute for
my heirs Jules Rafinesque my nephew son of my late brother
Anthony Rafinesque, and Laura Rafinesque his sister and my
niece, besides Emily Rafinesque my natural Daughter to be all
all three my joint and absolute heirs, each in one third, of my
estate, chattels, properties and claims

But whereas my nephew & niece Julius & Laura Rafinesque
are minors, whatever will belong to them shall be held in trust
by my Executors until they are of age, the interest alone being
paid them till them. And whereas my Daughter Emily has been
bereft from me and is in the power of rapacious relations (unless
she should be married by this time) it is my will that only the
interest of her share to my estate should be paid to her during
her whole lifetime, and the principal should revert at her death
to Julius & Laura Rafinesque. The Consul of the two Sicilies in
Philadelphia can inform on Emily who is now in Naples. Julius
& Laura are in Paris.

Whereas Mr. Peter Browne has neglected my business, I strike

him off from the number of my

C. S. RAFINESQUE

224 The Life and Writings of

(Second Page)

Executors and appoint in his stead my friend Dr. Samuel Betton
of Germantown. Wherefore the three Executors of my will should
be Dr. James Mease, Prof Jacob Green & Dr. Samuel Betton. But
if one of them should decline to serve I substitute the french
Consul for the time being, if another should decline I substitute
the Consul of the two Sicilies for the time being, and if all three
should decline, the third to be appointed by the Court.

I particularly confirm the obligations imposed upon the Exec
utors of my will, to have my valuable Collections properly sold and
rather in Europe than in America, where they will fetch a better
price. I want them to be offered first to the Museum of Natural
history of Paris at a fair mutual valuation and also the obligation
to publish all my manuscripts, the works thereof forming part of
my estate when printed like my other Works.

I recomend again to my nephew Jules the care of my man
uscripts & works. If any msst of mine is neglected by my Ex
ecutors, he may call for all what I have written in books & loose
sheets, and may thereof draw what materials he may deem worthy
of publication.

I aver that I owe not one cent to any body, having always
paid cash for everything lately, but that many owe me largely,
and that I have many claims to settle, whereof Schedules will be
found in my Books, Pulmel Book, Natural Collections Book. Even
my Sister or rather now her husband Paul L,anthois owes me a
settlement of account for many articles Sent for Sale to them at

Bordeaux & received.

C. S. RAFINESQUE

(Third Page.)

After ten years trials and delays, I succeeded this year to
establish in May, the Divitial Institution of North America, and
Six per cent Savings Bank, which is a beneficial & useful Institu
tion. It has been assailed at the outset by the violent opposition

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 225

of the gambling Institutions trying to be set up who have bribed
some of my friends & given me all the trouble they could.

My uneasiness of mind on that score has been great & hurtful
to my health, finding I could find so few to act honestly to the
public along with me. If I should die before I can put in full
successful operation which requires one year, I leave it in the
hands of the few friends who partake my honest meaning, my
two joint trustees Peter Brutte & Christopher Marshall may admit
another equally honest & carry on the Institution under the printed
Rules & published regulations

I aver that the whole of my Expences to form & mature this
Institution since 1825 has over Three hundred Dollars & my
expences from March to June abt $60, besides the printing. These
expences were to be paid me in shares & are yet to be. None but
those that can show their certificates signed by me are entitled
to them as paid, as the Letter p was put in the Books to some
Np not paid.

The above is the last Codicil & Supplement to my will, in
witness whereof I have written the whole myself and signed &
sealed it, and mean to deposit it in the office of the Probate of
Wills of Philadelphia

Philadelphia the i5th June 1835

C. S. RAFINESQUE

(Fourth Page)

Additional Codicil I further add and solemnly declare that the
late award of $173 made in my favor by the Arbitrators in my
claim on Collins' Estate is less than is justly due me, & if the
Administrator appeals this claim must be pursued to the utmost
and papers found to prove $306 and beyond I recommend com
promise in all cases to my Executors in cases of disputed claims
and to avoid litigation & expences.

29

226 The Life and Writings of

Whatever in my will & in this Codicil may be found dubious
must be construed according to the dictates of equity & honesty.
Done in Philadelphia the i6th June 1835

C. S. RAFINKSQUE

CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADA SS.

REGISTER'S OFFICE Nov. 16. 1840

Then personally appeared Samuel Hood & James Henry Horn
& on their oaths did say that they were well acquainted with
C. S. Rafinesque, deceased the Testator in the foregoing Will &
three Codicils named in his life time & are acquainted with his
handwriting having seen him write his name as well as other
matters, that they have viewed the foregoing Will and Codicils
and that as well the body thereof as the signatures C. S. Rafin
esque thereto subscribed are all of the proper hand writing of him
the said C. S. Rafinesque to the best of their knowledge and belief

Sworn and subscribed before me the

date above.

I. B. SEWALL

Depy Register

SAM HOOD

JAMES HENRY HORN

NOVEMBER 28th, 1840.

I do swear that as the Executor of the foregoing Last Will
and Testament and Codicils thereto of C. S. Rafinesque, deceased
I will well and truly administer the Goods and Chattels, Rights
and Credits of said deceased agreeably to law and that I will comply
with the provisions of the law relating to Collateral Inheritance

Sworn and subscribed before me the \
date above and Letters Testamen- /
tary granted unto him. ( JAMES MEASE

I. B. SEWALL \

Depy Register j

Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. 227

COMMONWEALTH OF PENNSYLVANIA,

I ss-
CITY AND COUNTY OF PHILADELPHIA. )

REGISTER'S OFFICE, September i3th 1894.

I, Wm. G. Shields, Register of Wills and ex-officio Clerk of the
Orphans' Court for the City and County of Philadelphia, in the
Commonwealth of Pennsylvania, do hereby certify the foregoing
to be a true and accurate copy of the last Will and Testament
and three Codicils thereto of C. S. Rafinesque, deceased, together
with the probate thereof upon which Letters Testamentary were
granted unto James Mease on the 28th day of November, A. D.
1840, as the same remains on file and of record in this office.

In Testimony Whereof, I have hereunto set
^_^_ N my hand and official seal at Philadelphia

the date above.

WM. G. SHIELDS

Register of Wills and ex-officio
Clerk of Orphans'1 Court.

we
XJHIVEB8IT!

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