MEMOIR OF RAY. 
23 
derstanding of all manner of Herbes, and their gra- 
cyous vertues which God hath ordeyned for our 
prosperous welfare and helth, for they hele and 
cure all manner of dyseases and sicknesses that fall 
or misfortune to all manner of creatures of God 
created.” Instead therefore of being valued, as they 
are by modern botanists, for their rarity and beauty, 
or as supplying a link in the chain of natural affinities, 
the highest recommendation which plants could pos- 
sess may be supposed to be similar to that men- 
tioned by the apothecary in the tale, when he found 
one that was unknown to him, “ that it had a fine 
poisonous smell, and must be good for something !” 
No trial had been made to form a system of arrange- 
ment, and the particular localities of species were 
very little regarded. 
His first work on this subject was named Catalo- 
gue Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium , which 
was published in 1 660. It was nothing more than the 
title imports, a mere catalogue of plants, with the 
addition of the place of their growth. No generic 
characters or description of species are given, nor is 
there any attempt at systematic arrangement, the 
names being simply placed in alphabetical order. 
The favourable manner in which this publication 
was received, and the impulse it gave (notwithstand- 
ing its local reference and uninviting nature) to the 
study of botany, induced its author to form the de- 
sign of preparing a similar work applicable to the 
whole of England. He thus explains his intentions in 
