go PIONEERS OF SCIENCE IN AMERICA. 



New York Historical Society, but has long since been for- 

 gotten. 



His social and domestic character, according to the writer 

 in Harper's Magazine, was unusually amiable and attractive, 

 and marked by many amusing peculiarities. He had great 

 fondness for young people, and a rare power of inspiring them 

 with the love of knowledge. His home was pleasant and un- 

 pretending, " and the numerous celebrities who used to resort 

 to his salon were entertained with cordial but simple hospi- 

 tality." His house was a perfect museum of curiosities, and 

 Mrs. Mitchill used to be troubled by the disorder they occa- 

 sioned. As pertinent to this nuisance, the story of the ant- 

 eater's skin was told. At first the skin was an object of great 

 interest. Then it became dingy and dusty, and was remanded 

 to the garret. In two or three years more it became old and 

 motheaten, and Mrs. Mitchill and the servant, not wishing to 

 worry the doctor, had it secretly carried off and thrown into 

 the street. Dr. Mitchill, taking his regular walk the next 

 morning, came upon a group of boys curiously looking at some 

 unusual object, which proved to be the ant-eater's skin. He 

 joined them, and, after giving them a full scientific lecture on 

 the ant-eater, said he had a skin like this one at home, and 

 would be glad to have another and bought it from them for 

 fifty cents. No further attempts were made to get rid of it. 



