Rafinesque and Us
by
Dr. John W. Thieret,
Northern Kentucky University
and
David M. Brandenburg,
The Dawes Arboretum,
Newark, Ohio
C.S. Rafinesque in Richard Ellsworth Call, The Life and Writings of Rafinesque (Filson Club Publications, Number IC Louisville, KY 1895.
Constantine Rafinesque (1783-1840) was one of the most famous-and infamous-naturalists in North America. With a certain lack of humility be described himself thus:
Botanist, Naturalist, Geologist, Geographer, Historian, Poet, Philosopher Philologist, Economist Philanthropist, . . Traveler, Merchant, Manufacturer, Collector, Improver, Professor Teacher, Surveyor, Draftsman, Architect, Engineer, . . . Author, Editor, Bookseller, Librarian, Secretary.
Opinions of Rafinesque and his work vary widely. On the plus side: American zoologist C. Brown Goode wrote in 1888 that "Rafinesque was in many respects the most gifted man who ever stood in our ranks. When in his prime he far surpassed his American contemporaries in versatility and comprehensiveness of grasp." In Green Laurels (1936) Donald Culross Peattie wrote that "Amongst all the naturalists who have ever worked on the American continent, Rafinesque is the only one who might clearly be called a titan." Titan he may have been but, on the minus side, others criticized him for his lack of focus: his perhaps 250 publications range from anthropology to zoology. lie was distrustful and sometimes scornful of other scientists. He proposed by far more new scientific names for plants than any other botanist: about 2700 genera and 6700 species, relatively few of which are still in use because they were given to plants already named by others. As judged by his contemporaries and his successors, his studies of new plants were often cryptic and incomplete. Just after his death his work was forced into an early eclipse by negative comments published in 1841 by eminent American botanist Asa Gray. Another hundred years would pass before Rafinesque"s contributions began their ascendency in scientific circles. Today about 50 of his publications have been reprinted. One of these, the autobiographical Life of Travels and Researches in North America and South Europe (1836) inspired us to retrace, in summer 1999, a botanical excursion taken by Rafinesque in Kentucky in 1823. Our trip is recounted here; Rafinesque"s, in Life of Travels (source of all our Rafinesque quotes).
Rafinesque"s trip and ours started and ended at Transylvania University in Lexington, Kentucky, where Rafinesque was professor of natural history and botany from 1818 to 1826 and where one of us (DMB) was a student in the 1970s. (The school"s name, by the way, is not related to Dracula but simply means "across the forest"-the western frontier as seen from the Atlantic coast.) Transylvania, founded in 1780 and the first U.S. university west of the Alleghenies, was an outpost of academics in the wilderness. Rafinesque was the shining light in science there during his eight year tenure.
Where was Rafinesque before Transylvania" He was born in what is now Turkey of a Greek mother and a French father, a merchant. His father died in Philadelphia in 1793. Growing up in Europe, Constantine taught himself Latin so that he could read botany texts.
He emigrated to Philadelphia in 1802 at age 19 and became an apprentice in a mercantile firm owned by the Clifford Brothers. Wherever he went on business he studied the plants and animals around him. Eventually leaving the firm so that he could spend more time outside, he traveled for a year, walking hundreds of miles in Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia,
I never was happier than when alone in the woods with the blossoms, or resting near a limpid stream or spring, I enjoyed without control the gifts of Flora, and the beauties of nature.
In 1804 he considered applying for the position of botanist on the Lewis and Clark expedition but instead returned to Europe in 1805 to take advantage of a business opportunity. A successful businessman there, he lived natural history as an avocation and added to his impressive collection of scientific memorabilia. In 1815 he once again set sail for America, leaving behind the Sicilian woman who had borne him two children, one of whom died in infancy. Off the U.S. east coast the ship was wrecked on submerged rocks.
I had lost everything, my fortune, my share of the cargo, my collections and labor for 20 years past, my books, my manuscripts, my drawings, even my clothes . . all that I possessed.
By then one of the Clifford brothers, John, had moved to Lexington where he was a trustee of Transylvania University. He invited Constantine to teach at that school. Rafinesque was there until 1826, offering his courses for fees to medical and other students and to townspeople. He encouraged women to attend his lectures, an enlightened attitude for that time.
Rafinesque tried to create a botanical garden in Lexington, envisioning a world-class institution. Alas, this project was ahead of its time and failed--the community was not ready to support it. Rafinesque lamented
I had to forsake it at last, and make again my garden of the woods and mountains.
While at Transylvania he took field trips into the Kentucky wilderness, generally on foot. Horses were offered to me: but I never liked riding them, and dismounting for every flower: horses do not suit botanists.
Rafinesque took two months to complete the trip we retraced. We covered the same territory by car in a leisurely eight days. Unlike him, we had detailed maps and a hand-held GPS unit from which we could read latitude and longitude. Like him, we collected plants: propagating materials of various trees and shrubs for the Dawes Arboretum and herbarium specimens for Dawes and Northern Kentucky University.
Before we headed into the Kentucky wilderness, we spent some time in the Transylvania library, where the rare-book room has a splendid assemblage of Rafinesquiana: correspondence, sketches, research papers, notes, and other documents. Our favorite item was a letter, written in Rafinesque"s elegant script, accepting his professorship.
Also of note were several portraits that he had created, mostly of society women in Lexington. Each is a drawing from the shoulders up, in profile, along with a plant or two. Written underneath each sketch are a few words or a poem. A picture of Pamela Brashear bears this inscription: "A Young Kentuckian Beauty, only 12 years of age. Drawn by her friend CSR 1824."
On campus we noted the trip"s first Rafinesque related plant: a fine cultivated specimen of American yellow-wood, a tree of the genus Cladrastis, so named by Rafinesque in 1824.
From Lexington we went south to the Danville area. In fencerows we saw Osage-orange (Maclura pomifera), a tree native to the southcentral states and now naturalized in Kentucky and elsewhere in the U.S. Rafinesque had written about this species as early as 1817.
Along the Dix River we found a patch of coneflowers, perennials in the genus Ratibida, a Rafinesque name from 1818. Nearby was fireweed, a drab plant in 1rechtites, another of his nomenclatural creations.
South of Danville a fine oak alley led us to the Isaac Shelby Cemetery. Shelby (1750--1826), Kentucky"s first and fifth governor and friend and host of Rafinesque, was a hero of both the Revolutionary War and the War of 1812. His estate house, Traveller"s Rest, one of the first stone dwellings in Kentucky, was gutted by fire in 1905 when the then-owner tried to smoke out wasps in the attic; he succeeded. The Shelby cemetery (restored), enclosed by a stone wall, has the graves of Shelby and his extended family. On the governor"s monument it notes that he "expired without pang." At the cemetery were some creatures that neither Shelby nor Rafinesque would have seen: Japanese beetles busily skeletonizing the foliage of various plants. This voraciously phytophagous insect was not introduced into the U.S. until 1916.
En route to Stanford we passed through a land of stone or wooden fences, a hallmark of Kentucky"s Bluegrass Region. Occasionally along the route were some fields of cane (canebrakes), our native bamboo (Arundinaria gigantea) with its stems like leafy fishing poles. There is a canebrake story about Rafinesque. In 1818, he spent some time with John James Audubon at the latter"s home in Henderson, Kentucky, on the Ohio River. On one of their trips Rafinesque temporarily lost his way in an extensive canebrake into which he had retreated after the sudden appearance of a black bear. From then on, he avoided canebrakes and, no doubt, black bears also.
I . . . took here the eastern road to Stanford, following the knobs [foothills of the Appalachians] as far as Hall's gap where I ascended them, to reach the table land at the source of the Green R[iver].
An array of tombstones in a vast cemetery greeted us as we approached Stanford. The number of monuments appeared to us to be out of proportion to the number of living occupants in this small town, leading us to believe that most of the population was subterranean.
At Hall"s Gap we ate a Spartan lunch near the headwaters of the Green River. From this settlement on the edge of The Knobs, the view down to the relatively flat land of the adjacent Bluegrass Region is impressive.
We spent the night in Somerset. Growing on a chain-link fence around the motel parking lot was sandvine, a weedy relative of milkweeds that bears the Rafinesque generic name . Continuing south through the outskirts of Somerset the next morning, we passed by mile after mile after mile of strip malls, one of the longest successions of shopping centers we had ever seen. This is in stark contrast to what Rafinesque had recorded.
After Somerset my way was thro" wild and hilly places, nearly unsettled, having some times to go 14 miles without meeting a Cottage.
Southeast of Somerset is the confluence of the Rockcastle and Cumberland rivers. On a hillside above is a beautified and diverse second-growth forest where there were more species of wildflowers, ferns, trees, and shrubs than in any other woods we had visited so far on the trip; this diversity perhaps approaches what Rafinesque saw when he was there in pre-logging days. One of the wildflowers there was anise-flavored sweet cicely, given the euphonious name Osmorhiza --"aroma" plus "root"- by Rafinesque. Although the woods were relatively unspoiled, the river below it was swarming with watercraft.
[I] visited the ... falls of the R[iver] Cumberland, which few travelers have seen. I had to take a hunter for a guide, and walk 24 miles with him in one day, out of the settlements among Bears and Deer. But I was rewarded by many new and rare plants . . . .
The waterfall, impressive at 68 feet, is now accessible via paved roads. The park has foot trails, the obligatory gift (i.e., kitsch) shop, and other appurtenances of modern life. A sign at the parking lot entreats visitors and upstream residents to use trash cans. Any refuse tossed near the riverbank is picked up by high water and carried away, accumulating among rocks below the falls.
Then on to Lake Cumberland, created in the mid-twentieth century. The surface of the lake is constantly being whipped to a froth by powerboats, at least during daylight hours. The surrounding forests support not only a rich flora but also a huge lumber industry.
[I went] afterwards to Barboursvale and to the water gap of the R. Cumberland where it issues from the mts. here called Pine mts.
Barbourville is a quaint place, with an oldfashioned downtown centered around a courthouse. The town"s namesake James Barbour, had early crossed the Alleghenies to settle in the region.
For nearly a century and a half these forbidding mountains were an obstacle to westward-moving colonists. Although the Cumberland Gap--a natural passage through the mountains near where Kentucky, Virginia, and Tennessee meet -- had been long used by wild animals and native Americans, it was not until 1750 that the first white explorers found it. Daniel Boone and others soon followed. This route became the famed Wilderness Road. From 1783 to 1810 some quarter of a million settlers had crossed into Kentucky through the gap, heading for the Bluegrass and points west
However, another obstacle faced those who had just traversed the Cumberland Gap: Pine Mountain. But there was a way through it also. The "water gap" Rafinesque mentioned is the cleft ii carved in the mountain by the Cumberland River. Although relatively unsung compared to the Cumberland Gap, Pine Mountain Gap was equally important on the Wilderness Road. At this point, settlers emerging from Cumberland Gap followed the Cumberland River as it cut through the mountain. The river was crossable by foot at a ford near the present town of Pineville.
What we saw at Pine Mountain Gap was what Rafinesque was spared: cacophonous traffic shaking the bridge over the Cumberland; a mall with three fast-food eateries; a mini-mart with a phalanx of gas pumps; and a mountainside shrouded by kudzu (Pueraria montana var. lobata), that notorious Asian vine. At Pine Mountain State Park we noted yet another plant with connections to Rafinesque: littlebrown-jug of the genus Ifexastylis, which was named by him in 1825. A dweller in rich woods, the plant has tastefully mottled, arrowhead-shaped leaves that have the aroma of sassafras when crushed.
I came back [to Lexington] by the Virginia road [i.e., the Wilderness Road], thro" haziepatch. mt. Vernon and Crab Orchard to Stanford again, &c. with a fine collection of plants, fossils and drawings.
As did Rafinesque, we too departed the Pineville area, traveling north to return to Lexington. Near Hazel Patch we headed up a challenging did road to a small commemorative site devoted to an early Civil War battle at Camp Wildcat. Along the way we saw and walked along a wagon-rutted section of the Wilderness Road, which has been "preserved" and marked by the U.S. Forest Ser vice. And there was another Rafinesque plant, the yellow-flowered false foxglove, in his genus Aureolaria. At Camp Wildcat, in fall 1861, was the first engagement of regular troops in Kentucky. Both sides were concerned about the strategic value of the Wilderness Road. The Union army, including troops from the Ohio Infantries, withstood a Confederate attack on 21 October. The rebels retreated that very night.
At Mt. Vernon and Crab Orchard we wandered through a couple of old cemeteries to see how many graves we could find with Rafinesque contemporaries buried there; there were quite a few. Of course, we did not know whether any of these individuals were even in Kentucky in 1823, but it is also quite possible that one or more of them might have extended an arm of hospitality to the weary naturalist traveling on foot. Even in a cemetery we found an annual plant Rafinesque had named: tucked here and there among the markers were individuals of three-seeded mercury (Acalypha rhomboidea).
Rafinesque journeyed back to Lexington and Transylvania by way of Stanford, thereby concluding an outing he regarded as successful. Our Rafinesque journey, also successful, ended at Transylvania, too. Perhaps one day we shall retrace another of Rafinesque"s trips, following once again the footsteps of this "botanist, naturalist, geologist, geographer, historian . . . . "
AFTERWORD
Rafinesque was to live for another 17 years after his return to Lexington in 1823. On a trip two years later his coming back to Transylvania was not so felicitous. Concluding a journey to and from Philadelphia in 1825, he found that
Transylvania president Horace Holley had broken open my rooms, given one to the students, and thrown all my effects, hooky and collections in a heap in the other . . I took lodgings in town and carried there all my effects: thus leaving the College with curses on it [remember that curse!] and Holley . . . . All my collections and books were then sent to Philadelphia, they filled 40 boxes . . . However I never was deprived of my Professorship and have never resigned it! But in the Winter of 1825-26 I gave my last course of lectures on medical Botany.
The Holley incident was the last straw for Rafinesque. It came in addition to a lack of support from the school and perhaps also Holley"s alleged "hatred against sciences" and his resentment of the "Constantinopolitan," as he called Rafinesque.
Rafinesque spent his final 14 years engaged in various pursuits, but his negative attitude toward humanity had deepened. In addition to his altercation with Transylvania, several past incidents still rankled him: the death of his friend Clifford, his failed relationship with the Sicilian woman, the loss of "everything" in the shipwreck, and the rejection of his manuscripts by several academies. He was oftentimes mistrustful in the latter part of his career. He felt certain that people were jealous of him and out to steal his ideas. If his own publications failed, it was because the material was "too learned and too liberal"; his colleagues succeeded even though their work consisted mostly of "plagiarisms and vapid trash." He battled "secret foes," the "jealousies of. . . learned men," and the "secret machinations of enemies." He was distrustful of medical doctors. When he caught the measles he commented
I recovered in spite of the Physicians, by taking none of their poisons, antimony and opium, while many died in their hands.
More positively, he hoped that his life of perseverance and industry" would "inspire youthful minds with a wish to do as well." He also wanted to live long enough to implement his proposals for, among others, female-orphan asylums and "societies of happiness."
Rafinesque lived alone and died of stomach and liver cancer in a rented house in Philadelphia in September 1840. Most of his belongings were sold at auction. Uncommonly for that time he asked in his will to be cremated. In fact, his body was autopsied and then buried in Ronald son"s Cemetery in Philadelphia.
The exact position of the burial plot was forgotten for more than 70 years. But in 1914 interested individuals, using cemetery records, relocated the grave, noting it to be "thickly set with grass and weeds." These men placed on the grave a large concrete slab on which was engraved
"HONOR TO WHOM HONOR IS OVERDUE!
CONSTANTNE S RAFINESQUE!
NATURALIST AND PHILANTHROPIST
BORN CONSTANTINOPLE 1783
DIED IN PHILADELPHIA SEP 18 1840
TO GOOD TO MANKIND HAS OFTEN BEEN AN UNGRATEFUL TASK!
THE WORKS OF GOD TO STUDY AND EXPLAIN IS HAPPY TOIL AND NOT TO LIVE IN VAIN
THIS TABLET PLACED HERE. SEPTEMBER 1919."
When it was rumored that the cemetery was to be put to another use, a librarian at Transylvania decided to salvage the remains of Rafinesque an have them transported to Lexington. The gray site was excavated in March 1924 and a coffin thought to be that of Rafinesque, was removed shipped to Lexington, and placed in a vault in 01 Morrison at Transylvania. It is there to this day. Transylvania"s greatest wonder is the tomb a Rafinesque. Rafinesque"s greatest legacy, in the minds of many Transylvanians, is the curse Shortly after Rafinesque left the university, Holley died of yellow fever, and the school"s administrator, building burned down. Thus began the curse"s fulfillment. Even in the twentieth century many misfortunes at Transylvania have been attributed to the curse. In 1 961 a woman student was found strangled to death in her car outside Old Morrison. The curse. On a winter night ix 1969 Old Morrison was gutted by flames; allegedly only Rafinesque"s tomb escaped unharmed, Again, the curse. And more recently, the malediction was recalled when a university workman fell from a roof to his death.
Rafinesque is commemorated at Transylvania in several ways. A restaurant on campus is called the Rafskeller. Students hold an annual Rafinesque celebration around the time of Halloween; a student flyer from the 1990s noted "We"re cursed, so we might as well party!" Four students (chosen by lottery) spend Halloween night in the tomb, reportedly to ward off the curse for another year. The tomb is windowless; we entered it through two iron grills. The concrete slab covering the brick burial chamber is the one originally placed over Rafinesque"s Philadelphia grave in 1919.
But who is really buried in Rafinesque"s tomb" Historian Charles Boewe has uncovered evidence that leads him to believe that it is someone other than Rafinesque. First there is the matter of the skull. Rafinesque"s brain was described in detail I by the pathologist in the 1840 autopsy report, hence the top of the cranium must have been removed. But an eyewitness to the exhumation, a high school student, recalled that the skull dug up in the Philadelphia grave site was intact. Boewe also researched the records at Ronaldson"s Cemetery and found that there were six bodies buried in the vertical grave in which Rafinesque was laid; Rafinesque"s coffin was, according to these records, the third one down. But for some reason the excavators stopped at the second level from the surface. It was this coffin that was shipped to Transylvania. As for the Philadelphia grave site, the land occupied by Ronaldson"s Cemetery has since been turned into a public playground; beforehand, all of the remains were scooped up and interred elsewhere. It would seem, then, that according to Boewe, the bones of Rafinesque lie lost in the City of Brotherly Love.
An ignominious end, yes. But Richard Ellsworth Call, one of the several authors who have written biographies of Constantine Rafinesque, said this: "Rafinesque"s name has gone to every land where science is cultivated, He yet lives and will live as long as plants shall be studied and classified." Rafinesque never ceased to see the wonder in nature. On the American frontier he reveled in describing a new world of living things. His was an ecstasy of discovery. Regardless of where he was or what he was doing, he was enthralled and awed at the life around him passionate and enthusiastic to the end.
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