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. 



