306 AUDUBON, THE NATURALIST 



whom I have some direct or indirect concern, thickens 

 around me, and I see little prospect of more leisure, 

 nor any of retirement and seclusion." At this juncture 

 also, when Audubon and Best were working for his 

 Museum, Dr. Drake was experiencing the first disas- 

 trous check in his energetic career. In January, 1820, 

 in spite of the opposition and intrigue of professional 

 rivals, he succeeded in organizing the Medical College 

 of Ohio, and Robert Best became the assistant in chem- 

 istry and the curator of the Western Museum. Opposi- 

 tion did not abate, but instead of strangling the College 

 which he had founded, the marplots succeeded in ex- 

 pelling the Doctor from its staff. At last, feeling 

 obliged to leave the city, Dr. Drake accepted in 1823 

 a position in the rival medical school of Transylvania 

 University, and thus became a colleague of Constantine 

 Rafinesque. It will be seen that Audubon's engage- 

 ment at Cincinnati fell in a troubled era, and the annoy- 

 ance which he may have felt at lack of pay was probably 

 no fault of the harassed doctor. 



While at Cincinnati Audubon was obliged to resort 

 to his crayon portraits; and he also started a drawing 

 school, but it required all of Mrs. Audubon's skill in 

 management to keep the family out of debt. In 1820 

 he began for the first time seriously to consider the pos- 

 sibility of publishing his drawings, and under the spur 

 of this incentive began to exert himself as never before. 

 He planned a long journey through the Middle West 

 and South, his intention being to descend the Ohio and 

 Mississippi Rivers, explore the country about New Or- 

 leans, and then proceed as far east as the Florida Keys ; 

 he wished also to ascend the Red River, cross Arkansas, 

 and visit the Hot Springs, before returning again by 

 river to Cincinnati. Lack of ready money was no draw- 



