MEMOIR OF RAY. 
57 
who pointed out the inaccuracy of the division of 
plants into trees, shrubs, under-shrubs, and herba- 
ceous, a distinction which had been almost universal- 
ly adopted, and which was warmly defended by Ray, 
who unaccountably made it the groundwork of his 
arrangement, although he had declared it to be un- 
plulosophical. Although this controversy was car- 
ried on with less personal recrimination than usually 
characterizes such discussions, it was by no means 
agreeable to Ray, whose Christian principles, no less 
than the amenity of his disposition, rendered him 
desirous to live in peace with all men. The prin- 
cipal benefit that resulted from this altercation, was 
the improvement which it led him to make in his me- 
thod of arrangement. These improvements were 
embodied in the Methodus Plantarum nova emen- 
data et aucta , and are exhibited in the second ta- 
bular view which we have given on a former page. 
Owing to some difficulty in effecting an arrange- 
ment with the London booksellers for the publica- 
tion of this work, it w*as printed at Amsterdam, 
under the care of Dr Hotton, professor of botany 
at Leyden ; and its wide diffusion on the Continent 
made Ray’s name as a botanist of European cele- 
brity. It was published in 1703, and is the last of 
his botanical labours. 
While engaged in its composition, the infirmities 
of age were rapidly accumulating. He writes to Dr 
Robertson that he was quite unable to go to Lon- 
don to examine the different collections of plants, 
