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- 
