INTRODUCTION. 47 
his success as a teacher. He rapidly lost the position 
which he had held, and was thus compelled to retire into 
obscurity. But, he was not the less devoted to his 
favorite science, nor less industrious, and he poured 
forth from his retreat a multitude of flying leaves in 
which, -with harmless egotism, he magnified the impor- 
tance of his own discoveries. He ascribed his reverses 
to the machinations of secret foes, and to the disposition 
among mankind to " compel genius to slumber or to 
crawl ; " and, to the end, considered himself to be a 
most deserving, though unrequited laborer for the pro- 
motion of human knowledge. 1 
1 The character and works of M. Rafinesque have been here considered 
only as connected with zoology. His whole life might however be cited 
as a continuous example of perverted talent, and would afford materials for 
a very amusing and interesting biography. In his last years he became a 
dreaming schemer, and projector of various joint-stock financial, mercan- 
tile, and literary undertakings. In his retirement he meditated gigantic 
labors, and projected voluminous works in various branches of literature 
and science, which he had neither the intellectual ability, nor other means 
to accomplish. He appears to have been entirely satisfied with h i mself, 
and characterizes the younger men, who were putting themselves in ad- 
vance, and bearing away the honors of science, as a" crowd of young, un- 
skilled, inexperienced or incompetent candidates, who push forward and 
are preferred to the modest and able men who have labored for years with 
skill and zeal." He entertained hopes that some of the various State sur- 
veys which were commenced about the time he published his autobiography, 
would, as he expresses it, "call him to another field of utility,'' but in this 
he was again doomed to disappointment, and to find that he was entirely 
forgotten. The closing paragraph of his Life of Travels is an amusing 
instance of his vanity, and presents a summary view of his own acquire- 
ments and powers as understood by himself. " Versatility of talents and 
of professions is not uncommon in America," says he ; " but those which 
I have exhibited in these few pages may appear to exceed belief; and yet 
