LINN^US AND NATURAL HISTORY 1*7 



his two sons, and the editing of his manuscripts. Ray per- 

 formed these duties as a faithful friend and in a generous 

 spirit. He edited and published Willughby's book on birds 

 (1678) and fishes (1686) with important additions of his own, 

 for which he sought no credit. 



After completing his tasks as the literary executor of Wil- 

 lughby, he returned in 1678 to his birthplace and continued 

 his studies in natural history. Tn 1691 he published "The 

 Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of the Creation," 

 which was often reprinted, and became the forerunner of the 

 works on natural theology like Paley's, etc. This was an 

 amplification of ideas he had embodied in a sermon thirty- 

 one years earlier, and which at that time attracted much 

 notice. He now devoted himself Largely to the study of ani- 

 mals, and in 1693 published a work on the quadrupeds and 

 serpents, a work which gave him high rank in the history of 

 the classification of animals. He died in 1705, but he had 

 accomplished much good work, and was not forgotten. In 

 1844 there was founded, in London, in his memory, the Ray 

 Society for the publication of rare books on botany and 

 zoology. 



Ray's Idea of Species. One of the features of Ray's 

 work, in the light of subsequent development, is of special 

 interest, and that is his limiting of species. He was the first 

 to introduce into natural history an exact conception of 

 species. Before his time the word had been used in an 

 indefinite sense to embrace groups of greater or less extent, 

 but Ray applied it to individuals derived from similar par- 

 ents, thus making the term species stand for a particular kind 

 of animal or plant. He noted some variations among species, 

 and did not assign to them that unvarying and constant char- 

 acter ascribed to them by Linnaeus and his followers. Ray 

 also made use of anatomy as the foundation for zoological 

 classification, and introduced great precision and clearness 



