32 Some hjurly Philadelphia Botanists — Leonard. 



French merclumt of Marsailles. For any notes concerning hi» 

 early career, I am at a loss since his autobioc^raphy,entit]ed "A Life 

 of Travel and Research," is not accessible. However, from a 

 *^notice of the Botanical Writings of the late C. S. Kafinesque" 

 written for the American Journal of Science in 1841, by Prof. 

 Asa Gray, and quoted in the Botanical Gazette for January, 1883 

 — for which I am chiefly indebted for the material of this sketch — 

 we learn that Rafinesque came to this country in 1802. Here he 

 remained three years, which time was occupied in exploring our 

 Atlantic coast and in travelling on foot over much of the territory 

 between Northern Pennsylvania and Virginia. At the time of his 

 coming the botanical field was all his own for no one made any 

 pretentions to the knowledge he possessed. With an ample fortune 

 at his command his opporhinities for original work were unequalled. 

 But in 1805 he returned to Sicily where he published three scientific 

 works in French. He did not again see America until 1815, when 

 he was shipwrecked off the coast of Long Island and lost his col- 

 lection ot* plants and the balance of his fortune. Here he became a 

 teacher and remained until his death in 1840. On this his second 

 coming he found such botanists as Pursh, Nuttall, Elliott, Bige- 

 low,etc.,at work. It may be a gratuitous supposition,but 1 suspect 

 that the knowledge that the workers just mentioned had accom- 

 plishedmuch that he might have done made him rather too cy,ustic 

 in his criticisms of them, and these his criticisms led later critics 

 to omit some honor that was really his due. Yet to his credit 

 be it said, he often praised those he had criticised, and, if unwise 

 in his discourtesy, was not embittered by malice. 



During the twenty-five years of his life in the United States, 

 he explored most indefatigably from Vermont to Virginia and 

 westward to the Wabash river. Tn 1819 he was appointed Pro- 

 fessor of Natural Sciences in the University of Lexington, Ken- 

 tucky, where he remained for seven years. In this time he 

 claims to have explored the state thoroughly and made excur- 

 sions into the neighboring states north and south. 



He finally settled in Philadelphia, and in 1832, when 48 years 

 of age, established the ''Atlantic Journal and Friend of Knowl- 

 edge" of which eight numbers appeared. 



His chief published books are as follows: — 



Annals of Kentucky, 8 vo., Frankfort, 1824. Medical Flora 

 of U. S., 2 vols. 12 mo. Phila., 1836,and A Life of Travel and Re- 



