Constantine Samuel Rafinesque. ^ 



succeeded well. I introduced also a new branch of medical knowl 

 edge and art. I became a Pulmist, who attended only to diseases 

 of the lungs, as a Dentist attends only to the teeth. Being thus 

 the first Pulmist, and perhaps the only one here or elsewhere. 

 This new Profession changed my business for awhile ; yet enabling 

 me to travel again in search of plants or to spread my practice, 

 and to put my collections in better order, publishing many pam 

 phlets, &c. 



&quot; In 1829 I gave a public proof of my art, in printing a small 

 book called the Pulmist or the art to cure the Consumption, and 

 many hundreds of individuals, whom I have cured or relieved are 

 another striking proof of the beneficial results of my new practice.&quot;* 



Rafinesque did not entirely abandon pedagogy when 

 he left Kentucky. In the winter of 1826-27 he lectured 

 on physical geography and natural history in the Franklin 

 Institute, and afterward, during part of 1827, was &quot; P ro ~ 

 fessor of Geography and Drawing in the High school of 



*This book, the full title of which will be found in the bibliography 

 accompanying this sketch, was caustically reviewed by the editor of &quot; The 

 Western Journal of the Medical and Physical Sciences&quot; Volume III, 1830, 

 pp. 417, 418, 455. The review is included in a series headed &quot;The Peoples 

 Doctors,&quot; which deals with books of a character similar to that of Rafinesque. 

 The most remarkable thing connected with the review lies in the fact that 

 its author, Doctor Daniel Drake, had never seen the volume ! He says, p. 417 : 

 &quot; We have not had the advantage of seeing the Professor s doctor book, 

 the title of which is prefixed to this article, but his circular lies before us. . . .&quot; 

 I have no defense for Rafinesque s foolish book, with the contents of which 

 I am familiar, but I can not enter too strong a protest against treatment 

 of this sort, and against reviews by reviewers, who have never seen the 

 works of which they write. But this method has not been confined to the 

 doctors, evidently, as a perusal of some of the articles in the &quot;Rafinesquiana&quot; 

 herewith published will abundantly testify. 



