Constantine Samuel Rafinesqtte. 55 



which he mentions, proved a prolific source of income! 

 Many similar institutions were proposed and established 

 at this time in Philadelphia, but Rafinesque lumps them 

 all together and declares that they were all gambling 

 institutions. The bank was still in existence at the 

 death of Rafinesque, but nothing can be learned of its 

 real history. It is not a little singular that the earliest 

 and the latest business ventures of Rafinesque alone 

 appear to have succeeded. All the rest is a record of 

 continuous failure. 



THE DEATH OF RAFINESQUE. 



The closing scenes in the life of this man are of the 

 saddest nature imaginable. He lived in the most abject 

 poverty on Race Street, Philadelphia, in a garret, sur 

 rounded by his books, minerals, plants and other loved 

 natural objects. He shunned the company of others 

 and had no, or but few, real and tried friends. Scientific 

 recluse that he was in these days, there were none to care 

 for him and help him in time of want. His scientific 

 loves were still strong, and he struggled along in the 

 unequal battle with fortune in the face of a disease 

 which had no relief save in death. The end came in 

 1840, when, alone in his crowded garret, in a poor quarter 

 of the great city, he died of cancer of the stomach. 



