488- APPENDIX. 



Ray lived must be so well known to those present, that it must be useless 

 for him to refer' to it, except to remind them of the difficulties with which he 

 had to contend. To show the extent and importance of the labours of Raj, 

 he would mention some of the principal works which he had produced. 

 Among them were ' Historia Plautarum Generalis ;' ' Catalogus Plantarum 

 circa Cantabrigiam, &c. with Appendices ;' ' Methodus Plantarum circa 

 Cantabrigiam,' &c. ; ' Catalogus Plantarum Angliae et Insularum adjacen- 

 tium ;' 'Catalogus Stirpium in exteris regionibus observatorum ;' ' Synopsis 

 Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum, &c. ;' ' Synopsis Methodica Avium et 

 Piscium;' 'Methodus Insectorum;' 'Observations made in a Journey 

 through part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France, with a 

 Catalogue of Plants, not natives of England;' to which is added, 'An 

 Account of the Travels of F. Willughby through Spain, and a Collection of 

 Travels into the Eastern Countries ;' ' A Collection of English Proverbs and 

 unusual Provincial Words ;' ' Dictionarium Trilingue ;' ' An Itinerary 

 through England;' ' Translation of Bishop Wilkins's real Character;' various 

 sermons and theological works. The work published by Mr. P. Willughby, 

 under the title of ' Ornithologise libri tres,' &c. was known to be principally 

 by Ray. In the ' Philosophical Transactions ' were printed, among other 

 papers, On the manner in which Spiders project their Threads ; On the Dis- 

 section of a Porpoise; On the Swimming-bladders of Fish ; On the Effects 

 of Poisonous Roots, and the Virtues of the Leaves of Hemlock; and 

 Observations (1699) made on the Comet that appeared at Rome ; and the 

 last of his works which he should mention was 'The Wisdom of God 

 manifested in the Creation.' This had been very frequently reprinted, and 

 was clearly the prototype of a late celebrated book on the same subject. 

 He had read the work of Ray with infinite delight, and it was alike an 

 honour to his head and to his heart. But although his productions were so 

 numerous, it was by their excellence that they commanded attention. Ray 

 was the first who reduced natural history to a system, and prepared the way 

 for those more perfect arrangements which have since had so salutary an 

 influence on its cultivation. It was to his penetrating genius and indefatigable 

 exertions that the civilized world was indebted for many most important 

 discoveries. If he did not himself always arrive at the goal, he pointed out 

 the road ; and it was to his pursuing the course he had commenced that we 

 owed our present advanced state in many particulars of natural history. 

 Haller felt now much he owed to Ray, and he termed him " the greatest 

 botanist in the memory of man." Ray very early distinguished himself. 

 While at college he acquired a high fame, and some of the exercises he 

 performed there have been found to oe worthy of preservation even to this 

 period. They formed the foundation of some of his late and important 

 works. 



" Of this inestimable writer," says Stillingfleet, in his ' Calendar of Flora,' 

 " whose works do honour to our nation, as a late disciple of the great Swedish 

 naturalist justly observes, I cannot help saying further, that no writer till 

 his time ever advanced all the branches of natural history so much as that 

 sagacious, diligent, English observer, whose systematical spirit threw a light 

 on everything he undertook, and contributed not a little to those great and 

 wonderful improvements which have since been introduced." 



He was invited to become a member of the Royal Society in 1667 ; and 

 he happily lived in amity with some of the most able and most virtuous men 

 of his age. It was to do justice to the memory of such a man that they 

 were then assembled, and he would not longer detain them from drinking 



