7B 



MEMORIALS OF RAY : 



speak of the ' Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britanni- 

 camm.' The two editions of his alphabetical catalogue 

 of English plants being sold oft, and some pettifogging 

 reasons of his booksellers standing in the way of a third, 

 with any improvements, he remodelled the work, throwing 

 it into a systematic form, revising the whole, supplying 

 generic characters, with numerous additions of species, 

 and various emendations and remarks. The uses and 

 medicinal qualities of the plants are removed to the 

 alphabetical index at the end. A second edition of this 

 ' Synopsis' was published in 1696, nor did its author ever 

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

 twenty-eight years afterwards, by Dillenius. Of all the 

 systematical and practical Eloras of any country, the 

 second edition of Ray's ' Synopsis' is the most perfect that 

 ever came under our observation. " He examined every 

 plant recorded in his work, and even gathered most of 

 them himself. He investigated their synonyms with con- 

 summate 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 mis- 

 take or misconception respecting natm^e herself, though 

 he sometimes misapprehends the bad figures or lame de- 

 scriptions he was obliged to consult." (Tr. of Linu. Soc. 

 V. 4, 277.) Above a hundred species are added in this 

 second edition, and the cryptogamic plants in particular 

 are more amply elucidated. A controversial letter from 

 Rivinus to Ray, and its answer, with remarks upon 

 Tournefort, are subjoined to this second edition. Much 

 of the dispute turns upon the now obsolete distinction of 

 plants, in a methodical system, into trees, shrubs, herbs, 

 &c. The letters are well written in Latin ; and liberal, 

 though perhaps hypercritical, in their style. Ray took 

 no delight in controversy. Its inevitable asperities were 

 foreign to his nature. We must not omit to notice, that 

 in the preface to both editions of his ' Synopsis,' the 

 learned author, venerable for his character, his talente, and 

 his profession, as well as by his noble adherence to prin- 



