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MEMORIALS OF RAY : 



as it were, popular in the science ; and on this account, 

 we beheve, that the best monument that could be erected 

 to the memory of Ray would be the republication of this 

 part of his work separately. 



These numerous writings formed an epoch in the his- 

 tory of botany, and placed their author in the first rank 

 among contributors to the progress of the natural history 

 of the vegetable kingdom. The works, however, of later 

 naturalists, and especially those of Linnaeus, on account 

 of their more precise terminology and more convenient 

 nomenclature, have superseded those of Ray, which are 

 now scarcely resorted to, except by those who interest 

 themselves specially in the history of the science. 



The works which he composed or published in zoology 

 are yet more important, and have been much more fortu- 

 nate, for they still retain their utility. It may be said, 

 that they are the basis of all modern zoology ; and natu- 

 ralists are continually obliged to consult them, to explain 

 the diffiulties which occur in the writings of Linnaeus 

 and his copyists. 



Ray, however, was only induced to apply himself to 

 zoology by a feeling of gratitude towards his friend 

 Willughby, who, on his death, in 1672, at the age of 37, 

 entrusted to Ray both the education of his two children, 

 whom he left of a tender age, and the task of arranging 

 the materials which he had collected in zoology for the 

 works which, from the period of their first acquaintance, 

 Ray and he had projected in common. Ray devoted 

 himself with ardour to this double duty, and composed 

 his ' Nomenclator Classicus' for the use of his pupils, of 

 whom the elder died young, and the second was after- 

 wards raised to the peerage, under the title of Lord 

 Middleton. 



He displayed also as much zeal as fidelity in the editing 

 and publication of the two great works which Willughby 

 had undertaken, and which Ray might, not unjustly, 

 perhaps, have regarded in great measure as his own, since 

 they had been originally designed with the same object 



