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 
Francois 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 
protégé of the most distinguished naturalist of the me- 
tropolis, Dr. Samuel L. Mitchell,?® 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. 
2° 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 Zodlogical 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. 272. 
