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, &quot;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.&quot; 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 



