HISTORY. £> 



gans on which it was founded, was an insurmountable 

 objection to its general use. 



And though it was received by some of the German 

 botanists, that of Ray, possessing still greater excellen- 

 cies, was more generally adopted in England. Its au- 

 thor, who was aclergymau of the English Church, was 

 equally distinguished for his piety and learning, for his 

 very eminent talents and indefatigable industry ; a hap- 

 py combination of excellencies, from which great im- 

 provements might be confidently expected. He pub- 

 lished a General History of Plants, embracing nearly 

 20,000 species and varieties, and at the commencement 

 of the eighteenth century, completed a system, " in 

 which the order of nature where it could be traced, is 

 carefully pointed out, and the affinities of plants delin- 

 eated with a masterly hand."* 



The merits of his arrangement were unquestionably 

 very great, and when we compare it with those of an 

 earlier date, we shall not wonder that it was generally 

 adopted in the native country of its author. 



Contemporary with Ray lived Tournefort of France, 

 who at an early age manifested a partiality for the same 

 pursuits, and was afterwards distinguished for the in- 

 trepidity with which he collected plants, and the suc- 

 cess with which he arranged them. After investigating 

 the natural productions of Aix and the neighbouring 

 Alps, he was led by the spirit of discovery to the 

 summit of the Pyrenees, and over the hills of Spain, 

 where he twice encountered the robbers, who had 

 sought in those sequestered retreats, an escape from 

 justice, and a repository for their plunder. Finding 

 him loaded with dried herbs and poor bread, they wil- 



* Smith. 



2* 



