72 Citiciutiafi Society of Natural History. 



because he thought a better opportunity to accumulate this 

 world's goods was thrown open to him ; but here was a fatal 

 mistake. He formed a partnership with H. H. Hill, in the 

 wholesale and retail drug business, at the corner of PMfth and 

 Race streets, and invested all he had. Drugs were very high 

 at that time, but they soon began to decline in value, and their 

 stock was of such a character that heavy losses ensued, and, 

 notwithstanding the faithful attention to business for fifteen 

 ensuing years, the losses were never overcome, and when the 

 partnership was dissolved and the business closed he was a 

 much poorer man than when he entered the business. During 

 all this time, however, he had not neglected the study of 

 natural science, which was in such perfect harmony with his 

 pleasant and mild temperament. He had become an analytical 

 chemist, as well as a druggist, an analytical mineralogist, 

 and an expert in determining the value of ores : he collected 

 and published a catalogue of all the fresh water and land 

 shells of Ohio, and as a scientific botanist he catalogued all 

 the plants indigenous to this part of the State, except the 

 mosses and fungi, as well as being proficient in the medicinal 

 virtues of all known to the pharmacopteia. He had become 

 a geologist and a palceontologist, and managed to make a very 

 large and valuable collection of fossils. It is difficult to con- 

 ceive a career within the bounds of natural history more 

 versatile and at the .same time more accurate in details than 

 that which marked the course and pursuits of Dr. R. M. 

 Byrnes, as all will testify who ever had occasion to call upon 

 him for information, in any of the various branches in which 

 he was so proficient. 



He was at the head of the movement for the estal)lishment 

 of the Society of Natural History, and if any one can be said 

 to be its father it was Dr. R. M. Byrnes. He attended all the 

 preliminary meetings, and kept the Ijook for the signatures of 

 those who would take part in founding the institution and 

 securing its incorporation. He specially solicited signatures 

 from among those whom he thought from their learning and 

 habits would be of value to the institution, and no one did 

 more in this regard than he, though Ludlow Apjoncs and two 

 or three others were active particijiants, in the beginning, 

 in establishing the vSocic-ty. When the I)c])artment of Min- 



