1910.] Ray's Dichotdmnus Classification. 19 



i 



f Digitis indi^nsis, sibi iiivicem cohserentibus & communi cute tectis, eorum 

 tantum extremis in margine pedis extantibus, & iiiiguibus obtusis munitis; 

 Elephas. 



Digitis aliquodque separatis & a se invicem divisis, qua; vel 

 [- II\aT-uajKu)(a & 'Av6pajTro'(j.op<j)a, Simice. 



<{ Unyiiil)ns (ingustionbus, Dentilnis primoribus seu incisoribus in utraque max- 

 l ilia, vel 



■ Pluribus, Haec autem omnia vel carnivora & rapacia sunt, vel saltern in- 

 sectivora, aut victu promiscuo ex Insectis & Vegetabilibus. 

 C Majora, rostro 



J I J Breri, capite rotundiore Felinum genus. 

 I Productiore, Genus Caninuin. 



Minora, corpore longo gracili, cruribus brevibus, Vermineum genus, seu 

 Mustelinum. 

 Binis insignioribus, cujus generis species omiies phytivorse sunt, Leporinum 

 genus. 



E Quadrupedibus viviparis pede multifido anomala sunt Echinus terrestris, 

 Tatou sive Armadillo, Talpa, Mus araneus, Tamandua, Vespertilio & Ai sive Ignavus 

 Priora quinque rostro productiore cum genera Canino aut vermineo conveniunt, 

 dentium forma & dispostione ab iisdem differunt; im6 Tamandua dentibus omnino 

 caret. Posteriora duo rostro sunt breviore. 



As regards both methods and residts tliese tables deserve careful con- 

 sideration. 



As regards methods, we note first Ray's debt to the Greeks and the 

 schoolmen, especially in the use of the dichotomous method of analysis. 

 The essence of dichotomy ("A is B or not B") is antithesis, which is espe- 

 cially noticeable in Ray's work. The obvious advantage of such dichoto- 

 mous tables as these is that they bring out both resemblances and differences 

 with equal clearness. If judiciously constructed they display to any desired 

 extent the characters of natural groups. When read vertically they are 

 diagnostic, analytical, exclusive; read horizontally or rather obliquely 

 from right to left they are s}Tithetic, inclusive, bracketing groups within 

 groups; read the other way, i. e. obliciuely from left to right they fully de- 

 scribe and define each final subdivision. They are at once tables of classi- 

 fication, descriptions, diagnoses, and keys. In so far as Greek and scholastic 

 logic emphasized this principle and made use of the 'Tree of Porphory' 

 (as the dichotomous tables were called) it may be said to have prepared the 

 way for Ray's analyses and thus indirectly for all the zoological classifications 

 which came afterward. 



As regards both form and matter Ray was indebted to Aristotle and 

 especially to Wotton (see above, p. 15). Ray developed Wotton's observa- 

 tions and followed his hints as to the diagnostic value of both teeth and feet. 

 He also used some of Aristotle's terms in his tabular analysis, c. g., "mono- 



