RAY. 43 



published in 1693, but its author never prepared 

 another. The third, now most in use, was edited 

 twenty-eight years afterward by Dillenius. Of all 

 /the systematical and practical floras of any 

 country the second edition of Ray's " Synopsis '* 

 was the most perfect of his time,, and for many a 

 Jong^^j^r afterwards. " He examined every plant 

 recorde3~Tii"liis work, and even gathered most of 

 them himself He investigated their different 

 names with consummate accuracy ; and if the 

 clearness and precision of other authors had 

 equalled his, he would scarcely have committed 

 an error. It is difficult to find him in a mistake or 

 misconception respecting nature herself, though he 

 sometimes misapprehends the bad figures or lame 

 descriptions he was obliged to consult." Above a 

 hundred species are added in this second edition, 

 and the cryptogamic plants in particular are more 

 amply elucidated. The work led to much dis- 

 puting, but Ray took no delight in controversy ; 

 its inevitable asperities were foreign to his nature. 

 One of the biographers of Ray writes : " We must 

 not omit to notice that in the preface to both 

 editions of his ' Synopsis ' the learned author, 

 venerable for his character, his talents, and his \ 

 profession, as well as by his noble adherence to » 

 principle in the most corrupt times, has taken 

 occasion to congratulate his country, and to pour 

 out his grateful effusions to Divine Providence in 

 a style worth}^ of Milt©n for the establishment of 

 religion, law, and liberty by the revolution which 



