820 



breathes in no ordinary degree the spirit of Christian piety ; and it is 

 gratifying to see how, as knowledge has increased, his ideas of Natu- 

 ral Theology, in connexion with Natural History, have been carried 

 out, first by Derham in 1720, then by Paley, and in the present day 

 by the Bridgwater Treatises, MacCulloch, and others. 



His works on Botany are numerous and extensive. He was un- 

 questionably the first who reduced that science to system, and thus 

 paved the way for the immortal Swede ; he found Nature a trackless 

 wilderness, but his genius and perseverance reduced it to order, me- 

 thod, and systematic arrangement. Linnaeus truly characterises his 

 ' Hiatoria Plantarum,' as "opus immensi laboris." Sir J. E. Smith 

 observes, — "Of all the systematical and practical Floras of any coun- 

 try, Ray's ' Synopsis ' is the most perfect that has ever come under 

 our observation. He examined every plant recorded in this work, 

 and even gathered most of them himself. He investigated their sy-- 

 nonymes with consummate accuracy, and if the clearness and preci- 

 sion of other authors had equalled his, he would scarcely have com- 

 mitted an error." His publications on the various departments of 

 Zoology have established his high reputation as a philosophical natu- 

 ralist. His ' History of Insects,' Mr. Haworth observes, is a master- 

 piece of clearness and precision. He was an intimate friend of Wil- 

 lughby, with whom he travelled through the Low Countries, Germany, 

 Italy, &c., and subsequently assisted him to arrange his collections 

 in all the various branches of Natural History. After the premature 

 death of his friend, Ray acted as tutor to his children, with whom he 

 resided for some time. But this excellent and admirable man appears 

 to have spent many of his last years in his secluded native village, 

 retaining his intellect to the last, and dying in 1705, at the age of se- 

 venty-seven. 



Ray was a man whose whole life is to be admired. Even amid the 

 ardour with which he prosecuted his scientific studies, he appears al- 

 ways to have kept in view this noble object, the advancement of the 

 glory of God, and the good of his fellow-creatures. 



The second centenary of his birth was celebrated in London in 

 1828, by a public dinner, at which were present many of the most ce- 

 lebrated naturalists and leading characters of the day, the President 

 of the Royal Society occupying the chair. G. S. Gibson. 



Saffron Walden, October, 1843. 



