Constantine Samuel Rafinesque: a Oicev in the American Wilderness
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University of Kentucky UKnowledge History of Science, Technology, and Medicine History 2004 Constantine Samuel Rafinesque: A oiceV in the American Wilderness Leonard Warren University of Pennsylvania Click here to let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Thanks to the University of Kentucky Libraries and the University Press of Kentucky, this book is freely available to current faculty, students, and staff at the University of Kentucky. Find other University of Kentucky Books at uknowledge.uky.edu/upk. For more information, please contact UKnowledge at [email protected]. Recommended Citation Warren, Leonard, "Constantine Samuel Rafinesque: A oiceV in the American Wilderness" (2004). History of Science, Technology, and Medicine. 3. https://uknowledge.uky.edu/upk_history_of_science_technology_and_medicine/3 CONSTANTINE SAMUEL RAFINESQUE CONSTANTINE SAMUEL RAFINESQUE LEONARD WARREN THE UNIVERSITY PRESS OF KENTUCKY Publication of this volume was made possible in part by a grant from the National Endowment for the Humanities. Copyright © 2004 by The University Press of Kentucky Scholarly publisher for the Commonwealth, serving Bellarmine University, Berea College, Centre College of Kentucky, Eastern Kentucky University, The Filson Historical Society, Georgetown College, Kentucky Historical Society, Kentucky State University, Morehead State University, Murray State University, Northern Kentucky University, Transylvania University, University of Kentucky, University of Louisville, and Western Kentucky University. All rights reserved. Editorial and Sales Offices: The University Press of Kentucky 663 South Limestone Street, Lexington, Kentucky 40508-4008 www.kentuckypress.com Frontispiece: Miniature portrait of Rafinesque in enamel, possibly by William Birch. Transylvania University Library, Lexington, Kentucky 08 07 06 05 04 1 2 345 Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Warren, Leonard, 1924- Constantine Samuel Rafinesque : a voice in the American wilderness I Leonard Warren. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 0-8131-2316-X (alk. paper) 1. Rafinesque, C.S. (Constantine Samuel), 1783-1840. 2. Naturalists-United States-Biography. I. Title. QH31.R13W37 2003 508'.092-dc22 2003024567 This book is printed on acid-free recycled paper meeting the requirements of the American National Standard for Permanence in Paper for Printed Library Materials. Manufactured in the United States of America. ~A~A' I ~ Member of the Association of 'I~ _ American University Presses "To see, to know, to publish, became with him a ruling passion." Fitzpatrick For those who have shaped me Charles H. Best, Zelma B. Miller, John M. Buchanan, Herbert Tabor, Seymour S. Cohen, Hilary Koprowski. CONTENTS List of Abbreviations 1X Chronology x Preface xiii Introduction 1 ~I In the Beginning 6 ~2 The Newcomer in Botanical Paradise, 1802-1805 13 ~3 Sicily,1805-1815 35 ~-? American Science and Natural History in Rafinesque's Time 49 ~5 Return to America, 1815-1818 56 ~6 Going West, 1818 71 cg~7 Kentucky,1819-1826 79 C@~8 The World of Finance and Banking 100 ~&"9 Travels and Farewell to Lexington 109 ~"'IO The Medicine Man 117 ~"'II History, Archaeology, and Linguistics 127 C@no/-W'" 12 Walam Olum 148 ~"'13 Botany and Zoology 156 ~/4 Last Years in Philadelphia 171 C@~"'16 Last Days 192 Epilogue 201 Notes 211 Bibliography 231 Index 241 Illustrations follow page 130 ABBREVIATIONS ANS Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia APS American Philosophical Society BPL Boston Public Library CP College of Physicians of Philadelphia HSP Historical Society of Pennsylvania LC Library Company of Philadelphia VP Van Pelt Library of the University of Pennsylvania WFI Wagner Free Institute of Science of Philadelphia CHRONOLOGY 1783 Born in Constantinople, October 22; brought to Marseille, where he was reared. 1792 Family flees to Livorno (Leghorn), Italy, to escape the French Revolution. 1793 Father, a merchant trader, dies of Yellow Fever in an epidemic in Philadelphia. 1797 Family returns to Marseille. Irregular education. 1802 Arrives in Philadelphia. Works in a counting house and begins his botanical expeditions on foot. Advocates the new Natural system of classification, which gains slow acceptance in America. Unable to find a position in a university. Begins to write papers and books-one thousand over his lifetime. 1805 Moves to Sicily where he spends ten years in business as a trader in natural products and secretary to the American Consul. Befriends the natural historian William Swainson with whom he explores Sicily. Publishes extensively, including the journal, The Mirror of Science, which existed for only one year, and Fundamental Principles of Somiology, dealing with classification of plants and animals. 1809 Marries Josephine Vaccaro. Daughter born in 1811; infant son dies in 1814. 1815 Publishes Analyse de la Nature ou Tableau de l'Univers. Unable to find a position in Italy. Returns to the United States. Shipwrecked off Long Island with the loss of almost all his collections and notes. Settles in New York City. Tours the Hudson River Valley and the Northeast. Helps found the Lyceum of Natural History of New York, the precursor of the New York Academy of Sciences. CHRONOLOGY xi 1816 Publishes Circular Address on Botany and Zoology. 1817 Publishes Florula Ludoviciana; or A Flora of the State of Louisiana. 1818 Without prospects in New York. Leaves for Philadelphia and travels along the Ohio River to the Mississippi River. Visits Audubon and his friend and patron, John D. Clifford, in Lexington, Kentucky. Maps and describes Native American mounds. 1819 A busy winter in Philadelphia. Returns to Lexington as a Professor of Natural History at Transylvania University where he botanizes extensively, writes many papers, publishes the Western Minerva, and teaches natural history and several languages. Becomes interested in the history, languages, and archaeology of Native and Mexican Americans. 1820 Clifford dies. Rafinesque's position becomes increasingly difficult without protector. Several attempts to find new position meet with failure. Passed over by Jefferson's newly founded University of Virginia. Publishes Ichthyologia Ohiensis, or Natural History of the Fishes Inhabiting the Ohio River. 1824 Engaged in historical and language studies of Native Americans. Attempts to establish a grand Public Garden in Lexington. Publishes Ancient History or Annals ofKentucky. 1825 Patents a Divitial System of banking and travels to major cities promoting his invention. 1826 Professorship at Transylvania University terminated; leaves Lexington and setdes in Philadelphia, where he teaches and writes. Numerous travels on foot through the Northeast, collecting plants. In all names 6,700 kinds of plants. 1827 Announces the discovery and manufacture of Pulmel, which prevents and cures tuberculosis. Establishes a clinical practice as a Pulmist, carried out by mail. 1828 Publishes Medical Flora of the United States. 1829 Publishes The Pulmist; or Introduction to the Art of Curing and Preventing the Consumption or Chronic Phthisis. 1830 Publishes American Manual of the Grape Vines and the Art of Making Wine 1832 Publishes Atlantic Journal, and Friend of Knowledge. 1836 Publishes The Life, Travels and Researches of c.s. Rafinesque. xii CHRONOLOGY 1836 Publishes The American Nations; or Outlines of their General History, Ancient and Modern. Publishes The World or Instability, A Poem. Publishes New Flora of North America. Publishes Flora Telluriana, in 4 Parts. Publishes the Walam Olum, the purported account of the wanderings of the Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians from Asia to the shores of the Delaware River. 1837 Publishes Safe Banking Including The Principles of Wealth. 1838 Publishes Genius and Spirit of the Hebrew Bible. Publishes Ancient Monuments of North and South America. Publishes Celestial Wonders and Philosophy, or the Structure of the Visible Heavens. Publishes Alsographia Americana; or an American Grove of Trees and Shrubs. 1839 Publishes American Manual of the Mulberry Trees. 1840 Publishes The Good Book, Amenities of Nature or Annals of Historical and Natural Sciences. Dies of gastric carcinoma, September 18, in Philadelphia. His papers, books, and plant collections, many junked, sell for less than the cost of burial. PREFACE $ was only a few years ago that the name Rafinesque meant nothing to me. However as I read early nineteenth century literature in biology and kept running across the name Rafinesque associated with the names of numerous plants and animals, I became aware that just pronouncing the euphonious name itself evoked the pleasant image of an exquisite French aristocrat. Darwin had acknowledged his contributions, and one could not explore great archives like those in the American Philosophical Society, the Academy of Natural Sciences of Philadelphia, or the University of Pennsylvania, without encoun tering Rafinesque. Similarly, he cropped up in numerous biographies of American natural historians of the time. As my reading in history, science, and biology broadened, I found that the name Rafinesque kept pace, for it was relevant in an astonishingly broad context, attested to by the fact that in the most complete bibliography of this man, there are over nine hundred papers of his on every conceivable subject. The more I read, the more I was drawn in; I had opened up a Pandora's box and out tumbled the encyclopedic cogitations of a mind on fire. His discoveries and special insights were numerous and astonishingly