MEMOIR OF RAY. 23 



derstanding of all manner of Herbes, and their gra- 

 cyous vertues which God hath ordeyned for our 

 prosperous welfare and helth, for they hele and 

 cure all manner of dyseases and sicknesses that fall 

 or misfortune to all manner of creatures of God 

 created." Instead therefore of being valued, as they 

 are by modern botanists, for their rarity and beauty, 

 or as supplying a link in the chain of natural affinities, 

 the highest recommendation which plants could pos- 

 sess may be supposed to be similar to that men- 

 tioned by the apothecary in the tale, when he found 

 one that was unknown to him, " that it had a line 

 poisonous smell, and must be good for something !" 

 No trial had been made to form a system of arrange- 

 ment, and the particular localities of species were 

 very little regarded. 



His first work on this subject was named Catalo- 

 gtts Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium, which 

 was published in 1 660. It was nothing more than the 

 title imports, a mere catalogue of plants, with the 

 addition of the place of their growth. No generic 

 characters or description of species are given, nor is 

 there any attempt at systematic arrangement, the 

 names being simply placed in alphabetical order. 



The favourable manner in which this publication 

 was received, and the impulse it gave (notwithstand- 

 ing its local reference and uninviting nature) to the 

 study of botany, induced its author to form the de- 

 sign of preparing a similar work applicable to the 

 whole of England. He thus explains his intentions in 



