RAY. 



went liand in lund witli his ftudics and recreations,^ and he 

 enjoyed, as Halk-r obfL-rvcs, the rare felicity of givi4ig 50 

 years uninterniptcdly to his favourite fciencc. His long- 

 protraftcd lludies, and ripened experience, enabled hirn to 

 achieve what at firft he could but regard at a diftanee, as 

 the great objcft of his wiflies, a fyftcmatic arrangement of 

 the animal as well as vegetable kingdoms. Every body 

 had, hitherto, been content with Ariilotle's clafTiHcation of 

 animals, of whofe imperfeftions Ray, daring to think for 

 himfelf, could not but be aware. He invented a new one, 

 founded on the Itrufture of the heart. " The Harveian ex- 

 periments, and dodriiie of the circulation, had called the 

 peculiar attention of philofophers to every organ which has 

 a fhare in that pheaomenon ; and to this caufe, probably, we 

 owe the method of Ray." The mode. of breathing in ani- 

 mals, whether by lungs or by gills, and the fiiiglc or double 

 ttrufture of the heart, in the former cafe, conRitute the bafis 

 of his fyllem ; which, in thefe particulars at leait, fuececd- 

 ing n.ituralills have adopted. His fubordinate charafters of 

 the principal clafles evince great Ikill and fagacity, and the 

 Linn;-Ean fyftem of Quadrupeds is highly indebted to that of 

 our illuftrious countryman. 



His zoological publications indeed did iiot follow each 

 other in rapid fuccefllon ; for after the Ornithology had 

 come forth in Enghlh, eight years elapfed before the 

 Hiftona Pijc'mm of Willughby was given, by his care, to 

 the world. This was printed in folio, with 188 plates of 

 filhes, in, 1686, at Oxford, owing to the intereft of bifhop 

 Fell, and the pecuniary affiftance of the Royal Society. 

 It does not appear why the relift of Mr. Willughby with- 

 held, in this inrtance, the contributions which had fo much 

 benefited her hufband's former work, and which fhejuftly 

 owed to his fame. It feeins that the intimate connexion 

 of Ray with this family, was much impaired by the death 

 of lady Caffandra Willughby, the mother of his friend, 

 about the year 1675 or 1676; when the children were 

 taken from 'his tuition, and he left Middleton-hall, fixing 

 for a fhort time at Sutton Cofeld, four miles diftant. 

 At Micliaelmas 1677 he removed from thence to Falborne- 

 hall, in Eflex, not far from his native village. On the 

 15th of March following, his mother, at the age of 78, 

 died at Black Notley, " in her houfe on Dcwlands ;" of 

 whom he fpeaks with that reverence and regret, which has 

 peculiarly marked the charafters of fome of the greateft 

 and belt men on the fame occafion. At Midfummer 1679, 

 he finally fettled at Black Notley, for the remainder of his 

 days, or " for the fhort pittance of time he had yet to 

 live in this world," as he himfelf expreffed it ; which 

 pittance, however, extended to more than twenty-five 

 years. 



The firft fruit of our author's leifure and retirement 

 was his Methodus Plantarum Nova, pubhlhed in 1682, 

 making an oftavo volume. His principles of arrangement 

 are chiefly derived from the fruit. The regularity and 

 irregularity of flowers, which take, the lead in the fyftem 

 of Rivinus, make no part of tliat of Ray. It is remark- 

 able that he adopts the ancient primary divifion of plants, 

 into trees, fhrubs, and herbs, and that he blamed Rivinus 

 for abohlliing it, though his own prefatory remarks tend 

 to overfet that principle, as a vulgar and cafual one, un- 

 worthy of a philofopher. That his fyftem was not merely 

 a commodious artificial aid to practical botany, but a phi- 

 lofophical clue to the labyrinth of Nature, he probably, 

 like his fellow-labourers, for many years, in this depart- 

 ment, believed ; yet he was too modell, and too learned, 

 to think he had brought this new and arduous defign to 

 perfection ; for whatever he has incidentally or deliberately 



thrown out, rol'peAijig the value of his labours, is often 

 marked with more diffidence on the fiibjcft of claflifica- 

 lion, than any other. He firft applied his fyftem to 

 praftical ufe in a general Hjjlona Flantiiruiii, of which 

 the firft volume, a thick folio, was publifhed in 1686, and 

 the fecond in 1687. Tlie third volume of tiie fame work, 

 which is iupplementary, came out in 1 704. This vaft and 

 critical compilation is llill in ufe as a book of reference, 

 being particularly valuable as an epitome of tlie contents 

 of various rare and expenfive works, which ordinary libra- 

 ries cannot pofTeis, fuch as the Hortus Malahar'icui. The 

 defcription of fpecies is faithful and inftruftive ; the re- 

 marks original, bounded only by the whole circuit of the 

 botanical learning of thjt day ; nor are generic characters 

 neglected, however vaguely they are afTumed. Specific 

 differences do not enter regularly into the author's plan, 

 nor has he followed any uniform rules of nomenclature. 

 So ample a tranfcript of the praftical knowledge of fuch 

 a biitanift, cannot but be a treafure ; yet it is now much 

 neglefted, few perfons being learned enough to ufe it with 

 facility, for want of figures, and a popular nomenclature; 

 and thofe v.ho are, feldom requiring its affiftance. A 

 mere catalogue or index, like the works of Tournefort 

 and Cafpar Bauhin, which teach nothing of themfelves, 

 are of readier ufe. The Species Plantarum of Linnaeus 

 unites tlie advantages of the cleareft moft concife fpe- 

 citic definition, and, by the help of Bauhin, of an uni- 

 verfal index. 



But if the fame or the utility of Ray's great botani- 

 cal work has, neither of them, been commenfurate with 

 the expectations that might have been formed, a little o6tavo 

 volume, which he gave to the world in 1690, amply fup- 

 plied all fuch defetts, and proved the great corner ftone 

 of his reputation in this department of fcience. We fpeak 

 of the Synopfis Melhod'ica Shrp'ium Br'itanmcarum. The 

 two editions of his alphabetical catalogue of Englifh plants 

 being fold off, and fome pettifogging reafons ot his hook- 

 feller's ftanding in the way of a third, with any improve- 

 ments, he re-modelled the work, throwing it into a fyftc- 

 matic form, revifing the whole, fupplying generic charac- 

 ters,, with numerous additions of fpecies, and various emen- 

 dations and remarks. The ufes and medicinal qualities of 

 the plants are removed to the alphabetical index at the 

 end. A fecond edition of this Synopfis was publiftied in 

 1696, nor did its author ever prepare another. The third, 

 now m.oil in ufe, was edited twenty-eight years afterwards 

 by DlLLENiis. (See that biographical article.) Of all 

 the fyftematical and practical Floras of any country, the 

 fecond edition of Ray's Synopfis is the moft perfeft that 

 ever came under our obfervation. " He examined every 

 plant recorded in his v ork, and even gathered moft of them 

 himfelf. He inveftigated their fynonyms with confummate 

 accuracy ; and if the clearnefs and precifion of other au- 

 thors had equalled his, he would fcarcely have committed 

 an error. It is difficult to find him in a miftake or mif- 

 conception refpecting Nature herfelf, though he foinetimes 

 mifapprehends the bad figures, or lame defcriptions, he waa 

 obliged to confult." TV. of Linn. Soc. v. 4. 277. Above 

 a hundred fpecies are added, in this fecond edition, and the 

 cryptogamic plants, in particular, are more amply eluci- 

 dated. A controverfial letter from Rivinus to Ray, and its 

 anfwer, with remarks upon Tournefort, arc fubjoined to 

 this fecond edition. Much of the dilpute turns upon the 

 now obfolete dillindtion of plants, in a methodical fyftem, 

 into trees, ftirubs, herbs, &c. The letters are well written, 

 in Latin : and liberal, though perhaps hypercritical, in 

 their ftyle. Ray took no delight in controverfy. Its in- 

 evitable 



