FIRST VENTURES IN BUSINESS 171 



complete two or more large drawings of ducks on the 

 same day. New York at this time was a city of about 

 75,000 people; Audubon said that by walking briskly 

 he could pass from one end to the other in a few minutes. 

 In the foregoing letters we have seen young Audu- 

 bon sending seeds and live birds to his father and to 

 Fran9ois Rozier, and reptiles and dried plants to 

 Charles d'Orbigny, and ordering for his own use the 

 best drawing materials from France. While at New 

 York he had the good fortune to become a friend and 

 protege of the most distinguished naturalist of the me- 

 tropolis, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell, 26 eminent in many 

 walks of life, and at that time a member of the United 

 States Senate. Audubon prepared many birds and 

 mammals for Dr. Mitchell's collections, and the friend- 

 ship thus early formed proved of much service to him 

 later. He was probably working for Dr. Mitchell when, 

 as the story goes, some of his neighbors lodged a com- 

 plaint with the municipal authorities on account of the 

 strong odors that habitually issued from his workroom, 

 and a constable was sent to investigate. 



28 



Samuel Latham Mitchell (1764-1831), physician, naturalist, politician 

 and voluminous writer on many subjects. In 1797 he founded, in asso- 

 ciation with Dr. Edward Miller and Dr. Elihu H. Smith, the New York 

 Medical Repository, and was its chief editor. He began also, at the 

 University of New York, one of the earliest collections in natural history, 

 and in 1817 appealed to the Historical Society of his city for the founda- 

 tion of a Zoological Museum; in the same year he organized the Lyceum 

 of Natural History, and was its first president, Joseph Le Conte serving 

 as corresponding secretary, and John Torrey as one of its curators. On 

 April 9, the following subjects were assigned to different members for in- 

 vestigation, "Ichthyology or fishes, Plaxology or crustaceous animals, 

 Apalology or mollusca, and Geology or the earth" being reserved for the 

 president; Samuel Constantine Rafinesque (see Chapter XIX) took charge 

 of "Helmintology or worms, Polypoligy or polyps, Atmology or Meteorology, 

 Hydrology or waters, and Taxodomy or classification;" John Torrey, who 

 became a distinguished botanist, was more modest, and assumed charge only 

 of "Entomology or insects;" while to John Le Conte were given 

 "Mastodology or mammalia, Erpetology or reptiles, and Glossology or 

 nomenclature." See the American Monthly Magazine and Critical Review 

 (New York) for August, 1817, p. 



