96 



MEMORIALS OF RAY : 



nascentium,' one vol. 8vo, which was the result of re- 

 searches he had pursued for ten years. 



This book is in reality a work of little importance, but 

 it is interesting as marking the commencement of the 

 longest and most useful career which had up to that pe- 

 riod been recorded in the annals of botanical science ; in 

 the preface to it, which, like those of all his works, deserves 

 perusal, he enumerates the difficulties which he had to 

 overcome in the prosecution of his labours, the principal 

 of which appear to have arisen from the want of a guide 

 whom he might safely follow. His unwearied patience 

 and great sagacity, however, enabled him to surmount all 

 obstacles. The Catalogue is arranged alphabetically, but 

 at the end is subjoined the sketch of a method which he 

 had invented, and which he employed merely for the pur- 

 pose of enabling him to recognize the plants he met with. 

 This method differs but little from that followed by C. 

 Bauhin, in his ' History of Plants,' which excellent work 

 had just appeared, and was quoted amongst the earliest 

 by Ray, who was also one of the first to refer to the im- 

 portant labours of Jungius, at that time only in manuscript. 



The dryness naturally incidental to a work of this 

 nature is in this instance enlivened by the frequent intro- 

 duction of curious notes, referring not only to plants 

 themselves and their anatomy, but also to other branches 

 of natural history, and especially to entomology, which 

 Ray appears already to have made an object of study. 

 He had also observed the hermaphroditism of the snail. 

 A Supplement to this Catalogue was published in 1663, 

 and a second in 1685. 



Ray's talents as a preacher, and his acquirements in 

 classical and theological learning, naturally promising 

 advancement in the church, he was ordained in 1660, 

 immediately after the restoration of Charles II. His 

 hopes, however, in this direction were soon arrested, as 

 he was compelled by conscientious scruples to refuse ad- 

 hesion to the Act of Uniformity, which was passed in 

 1662, and which required all clergymen to subscribe to 



