AN ECCENTRIC NATURALIST. 145 



well as the Hebrew, Sanskrit, Chinese, and fifty 

 other languages, as I felt the need or inclination to 

 study them." At the age of twelve he published 

 his first scientific paper, '* Notes on the Apen- 

 nines," as seen from the back of a mule on a jour- 

 ney from Leghorn to Genoa. Rafinesque was now 

 old enough to choose his calling in life. He de- 

 cided to become a merchant; for, said he, "com- 

 merce and travel are linked." At this time came 

 the first outbreaks of the French Revolution, when 

 the peasants of Provence began to dream of " cas- 

 tles on fire and castles combustible ;" so Rafinesque's 

 prudent father sent his money out of France and 

 his two sons to America. 



In Philadelphia, Constantine Rafinesque became 

 a merchant's clerk, and his spare time was devoted 

 to the study of botany. He tried also to study 

 the birds ; but he says, " The first bird I shot was a 

 poor chickadee, whose death appeared a cruelty, 

 and I never became much of a hunter." Duringr 

 his vacations Rafinesque travelled on foot over 

 parts of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He visited 

 President Jeff'erson, who, he tells us, asked him to 

 call again. In 1805, receiving an offer of business 

 in Sicily, Rafinesque returned to Europe. He 

 spent ten years in Sicily, — the land, as he sums it 

 up, ** of fruitful soil, delightful climate, excellent 

 productions, perfidious men, and deceitful women." 

 Here in Sicily he discovered the medicinal squill, 

 which, aided by the equally medicinal paregoric, 

 was once a great specific for all childish ailments. 

 He commenced gathering this in large quantities 

 for shipment to England and Russia. The Sici- 



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