490 APPENDIX. 



great delight iu seeing also the place of his birth, the church in which he 

 had been baptised ; and in entering the house in which this good man had 

 lived and died, it was pleasing to reflect that he was treading the very 

 boards which Ray had trodden, and that he was looking, perhaps, on trees 

 and plants which Ray had admired. The Linnaean Society was proud of 

 being thought so nearly connected with the chief labours of Ray ; but that 

 great philosopher ought not to be considered merely as a botanist, we must 

 look on his character as a man. " His religion was pure and free from cant ; 

 his piety sincere, and without affectation ; his morality consistent, and his 

 manners gentle, affable and kind to those around him." One proof only 

 of his integrity need be mentioned, his having resigned his fellowship ; and, 

 though reduced to poverty, refused all further preferment in the Church, 

 because he would not declare that those who had sworn the solemn league 

 and covenant might break their oaths ; not that he had himself signed it, for 

 he thought it an unlawful oath ; yet he could not conscientiously make the 

 declaration required. 



" Prosperity to the Geological Society" having been given, the President 

 (Dr. Fitton), in returning thanks, stated his concurrence in all that had been 

 said respecting the great merit of Ray as a naturalist, and the excellence of 

 his private character. Ray was in fact, he said, an honest man ; he gave up 

 station and emolument rather than swear to what he did not believe ; and 

 if such examples of integrity were not found amongst those who devote 

 themselves to the pursuit of truth, where else, he would ask, should they be 

 looked for ? In geology, Ray made many sagacious observations, and enter- 

 tained some opinions much beyond the state of the subject in his own time. 

 But our chairman had justly stated, that geology, as a distinct branch of 

 knowledge, had not then obtained a name ; and in fact it supposes such an 

 advanced state of scientific inquiry, that it scarcely could have existed till a 

 much later period. The geologist, it is true, is in a great measure nothing 

 more than a physical geographer, and all that constitutes his exclusive 

 business lies within a very narrow compass ; but he requires a high degree 

 of cultivation in several other departments of inquiry with which his own is 

 allied, especially in chemistry, zoology, and botany ; for what without these 

 would be geology at the present day ? Instead of regretting this state of 

 dependence, he was rather disposed to rejoice at it, since it tended to produce 

 more frequent intercourse with those who are engaged in the pursuit of 

 other branches of natural science ; so that when he looked about him in such 

 an assembly as the present one, he felt that he was surrounded with bene- 

 factors ; and great as the merit of Ray unquestionably was, as an original 

 observer of the earth's structure, he was disposed to rate still more highly 

 the services he had rendered to geology, by contributing to the perfection of 

 those other departments of natural history, to which his attention was prin- 

 cipally devoted. But there were more general views, which made him rejoice 

 that a meeting like this had been brought together. It proved, and must if 

 possible contribute to increase, the cordiality of intercourse and feeling that 

 distinguish, so very creditably, the naturalists of this country ; and it tended 

 also to increase their power and resources. It had been said, perhaps with 

 too much truth, that England, notwithstanding the number and wide distri- 

 bution of its colonies, has done much less to advance the natural history of 

 foreign countries than might have been expected : occasional meetings like 

 the present must facilitate the inquiries of our naturalists, not only by 

 enabling them to combine their own exertions, but by impressing upon the 

 government of the country the importance and value of the researches in 

 which they arc engaged. In a country like ours, the government itself could 



