APPENDIX. 485 



tematist devoted himself unceasingly to the study of the works of the 

 Creator, whom in those works he learned devoutly to adore. His researches 

 extended into every branch of natural history, and in each of these he 

 excelled. His labom-s were deservedly esteemed by his contemporaries, and 

 continued to receive from succeeding writers the attention to which their 

 intrinsic value entitled them. To them Linnaeus himself was deeply 

 indebted ; and Cuvier, the fii'st of the zoologists of the nineteenth century, 

 does not hesitate to avow his obligations to our illustrious countryman, who 

 laboured in the same vineyard during the seventeenth. The admii-ation and 

 gratitude of' every naturalist, to what branch soever of the science hisatten- 

 tion may be more particularly directed, are justly due to Ray, and are indeed 

 on all occasions most freely tendered. How well he merited them will 

 readily be illustrated by even a brief enumeration of a few only of those 

 numerous and valuable productions which we owe to Ms observation, his 

 study, and his research. 



Ray has been pronounced by Cuvier to be the first trae systematist of the 

 animal kingdom, and the principal guide of Linnaeus in this department of 

 nature. To him chiefly the zoologist is indebted for the excellent ' Ornitho- 

 logy' and 'Ichthyology' which pass under the name of Willughby. The 

 notes collected by both were, after the decease of the latter, digested and 

 arranged by Ray, who revised and methodised the whole, and gave to the 

 works the form in which they were presented to the world. Both these 

 productions are well known, and are still justly esteemed ; the ' Ichthyology ' 

 especially, the principles first applied m which have been adopted by Cuvier 

 in his primary divisions of the fishes in that great work for which he has 

 been coUectmg materials during nearly the whole of his life, and of which 

 the first livraison has just appeared. The posthumous publications of Ray, 

 the ' Syiiopsis Methodica Avium,' and the ' Synopsis Methodica Piscium,' 

 afford abridgments of the 'Ornithology' and the 'Ichthyology,' with 

 numerous additions. His ' Synopsis Methodica Quadrupedum et Serjientim 

 generis ' was published during his life, and very shortly after his decease 

 appeared his ' Methodus Inseetorum.' The ' Historia Insectorum,' a work 

 of real value, was printed some years after his death, at the expense of the 

 Royal Society. 



By Haller, Ray was desigiiated as the greatest botanist in the memory of 

 man. Still more emphatic is the character of him given by the late revered 

 President of the Linnsan Society— "The most accurate in observation, the 

 most philosophical in contemplation, and the most faithful_ in description, 

 amongst all the botanists of his own, or perhaps any other time." To Ray 

 the British botanist is indebted for the first good Plora of his native land. 

 At an early period of his life he gave to the worid his 'Catalogus Plantarum 

 circa Cantabrigiam nascentium,' which was followed in a few years by his 

 ' Catalogus Plantarum Anglise et Insularum adjacentium.' The tliird edition 

 of the latter work was entitled ' Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum,' 

 and is still universally known. This also passed through three editions, the 

 last of wliich was considerably enlarged and improved by the celebrated 

 Dillenius. His earliest attempt as a general systematist was the ' Methodus 

 Plantarum nova,' ux which, availing himself of the labours of former writers, 

 corrected by his own philosopliical genius, he produced an outline in several 

 respects superior to those of his predecessors. His later 'Methodus 

 Plantarum emendata et aucta' adopts many of the views advanced by his 

 generous rival and contemporary, Touruefort. These systems, modified 

 from time to time according to his continually increasuig knowledge, had 



