LITTLE 5?pvS^^? LL children are zoologists but a botanist 

 JOURNEYS \^^J/i^^) appears upon earth only at rare intervals. 



QA Botanist is born not made. Q From 

 Pliny's time Botany performed the Rip Van 

 "Winkle act until John Ray, the son of a 

 blacksmith appeared upon the scene in 

 England. In the meantime, Leonardo had classified the 

 rocks, recorded the birda, counted the animals & written 

 a book of three thousand pages on the horse. Leonardo 

 dissected many plants, but later fell back upon the rose 

 for decorative purposes. 



John Ray was born in 1628 near Braintree in Essex. 

 Now, as to genius no blacksmith shop is safe from it. 

 We know where to find ginseng, but genius is the 

 secret of God. 



A blacksmith's helper by day, this aproned lad with 

 sooty face, dreamed dreams. Evenings he studied 

 Greek with the village parson. 

 They read Aristotle and Theophrastus. 

 Have a care there you Macedonian miscreant dead 

 two thousand years you are turning this boy's head! 

 Q John Ray would be a botanist as great as Aristotle, 

 and he would speak divinelyjust as did Theophrastus. 

 Qlt is all a matter of Desire ! 



Young Ray became a Minor Fellow of Trinity College, 

 Cambridge; then a Major Fellow; then he took the 

 Master's Degree ; next he became lecturer on Greek 

 and insisted that Aristotle was the greatest man 

 the world had ever seen, excepting none and the 

 Dean raised an eyebrow. 

 34 



