Editing John Ray (section)

== Work ==
[[File:Ray, John – Synopsis methodica stirpium britannicarum, 1690 – BEIC 8764527.jpg|thumb|''Synopsis methodica stirpium britannicarum'', 1690]]
At Cambridge, Ray spent much of his time in the study of [[natural history]], a subject which would occupy him for most of his life, from 1660 to the beginning of the eighteenth century.{{sfn|Slaughter|1982|loc=p.&nbsp;62}}{{sfn|Vines|1913}} When Ray found himself unable to subscribe as required by the [[Act of Uniformity 1662]] he, along with 13 other college fellows, resigned his fellowship on 24 August 1662<!--not in source: the year after [[Isaac Newton]] had entered the college--> rather than swear to the declaration that the [[Solemn League and Covenant]] was not binding on those who had taken it.<ref name="DNB00">{{cite DNB|wstitle= Ray, John |volume= 47 |last= Boulger |first= George Simonds |author-link= George Simonds Boulger |pages= 339-344 |year= |short=1}}</ref> [[Tobias Smollett]] quoted the reasoning given in the biography of Ray by [[William Derham]]:
{{blockquote|The reason of his refusal was not (says his biographer) as some have imagined, his having taken the solemn league and covenant; for that he never did, and often declared that he ever thought it an unlawful oath: but he said he could not say, for those that had taken the oath, that no obligation lay upon them, but feared there might."<ref>[[Tobias Smollett|Tobias George Smollett]] (1761) ''The Critical review, or, Annals of literature'', Volume 11 [https://books.google.com/books?id=ZoRHAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA93 pp. 92–93]</ref>}}
His religious views were generally in accord with [[Clarendon Code|those imposed]] under the restoration of [[Charles II of England]], and (though technically a [[Nonconformist (Protestantism)|nonconformist]]) he continued as a layman in the [[Established church|Established]] [[Church of England]].<ref name="DNB00" />

From this time onwards he seems to have depended chiefly on the bounty of his pupil [[Francis Willughby]], who made Ray his constant companion while he lived.{{sfn|Thompson|1911|p=931}} They travelled extensively, carrying out field observations and collecting specimens of botany, ornithology, ichthyology, mammals, reptiles and insects. Initially they agreed that Ray would take responsibility for the plants, and Willughby for birds, beasts, fishes, and insects. Willughby arranged that after his death, Ray would have 6 shillings a year for educating Willughby's two sons.<ref name="Mickel">{{cite journal |last1=Mickel |first1=Clarence E. |title=John Ray: Indefatigable Student of Nature |journal=Annual Review of Entomology |date=January 1973 |volume=18 |issue=1 |pages=1–17 |doi=10.1146/annurev.en.18.010173.000245 |pmid=4617556 |url=https://www.annualreviews.org/doi/pdf/10.1146/annurev.en.18.010173.000245 |access-date=21 February 2023 |language=en |issn=0066-4170}}</ref>

In the spring of 1663 Ray started together with Willughby and two other pupils ([[Philip Skippon (1641-1691)|Philip Skippon]] and [[Nathaniel Bacon (colonist)|Nathaniel Bacon]]<ref name=gribbin2002>{{cite book | author=Gribbin, John | author-link=John Gribbin | title=Science, a History, 1543-2001 | url=https://archive.org/details/sciencehistory150000grib | url-access=registration | publisher=Allen Lane | location=New York | year=2002| isbn=9780713995039 }}</ref>) on a tour through [[Europe]], from which he returned in March 1666, parting from Willughby at [[Montpellier]], whence the latter continued his journey into [[Spain]]. He had previously in three different journeys (1658, 1661, 1662) travelled through the greater part of Great Britain, and selections from his private notes of these journeys were edited by [[George Lewis Scott|George Scott]]<!--Fellow of Society of Antiquaries--> in 1760, under the title of ''Mr Ray's Itineraries''. Ray himself published an account of his foreign travel in 1673, entitled ''Observations topographical, moral, and physiological, made on a Journey through part of the Low Countries, Germany, Italy, and France''. From this tour Ray and Willughby returned laden with collections, on which they meant to base complete systematic descriptions of the animal and vegetable kingdoms.<ref name="Mickel"/>{{sfn|Thompson|1911|p=932}}

In 1667 Ray was elected Fellow of the [[Royal Society]],<ref name="Mickel"/> and in 1669 he and Willughby published a paper on ''Experiments concerning the Motion of Sap in Trees''.{{sfn|Thompson|1911|p=932}} In 1671, he presented the research of Francis Jessop on [[formic acid]] to the Royal Society.{{sfn|Raven|1950}}

Following Willughby's death in 1672, Ray took on the responsibility of bringing both Willughby's work and his own to publication.  Ray was left with an ornithology and ichthyology to edit as well as his own work dealing with mammals, reptiles and insects. Although he presented the
''Ornithologia'' (1676) as Willughby's, he made extensive contributions to the work. His task became more difficult after the death of Lady Cassandra, Willughby's mother, on July 25, 1675. Lady Cassandra had supported Ray's continued work, but the widow Willughby had no interest in her late husband's scientific interests or his scientific friends. Ray was no longer allowed to instruct the children, and Ray and his wife Margaret Oakley were forced to leave the Willughby household in Middleton. Critically, Ray lost access to the Willughby collections, notes and manuscripts at this time. The plants gathered on his British tours had already been described in his ''Catalogus plantarum Angliae'' (1670), which formed the basis for later English floras. He had likely already used the botanical collections to lay much of the groundwork of his ''Methodus plantarum nova'' (1682),  His great ''Historia generalis plantarum'' appeared in 3 vols. in 1686, 1688, 1704.<ref name="Mickel"/>

In the 1690s, he published three volumes on religion—the most popular being ''The Wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation'' (1691), an essay describing evidence that all in nature and space is God's creation as in the Bible is affirmed. In this volume, he moved on from the naming and cataloguing of species like his successor [[Carl Linnaeus]]. Instead, Ray considered species' lives and how nature worked as a whole, giving facts that are arguments for God's will expressed in His creation of all 'visible and invisible' ([[Colossians]] 1:16).
Ray gave an early description of [[dendrochronology]], explaining how to find the [[Ash (tree)|ash tree's]] age from its tree-rings.<ref>Armstrong, 2000. p. 47</ref>

=== Taxonomy ===

Ray's work on [[plant taxonomy]] spanned a wide range of thought, starting with an approach that was predominantly in the tradition of the [[herbalists]] and [[Aristotelianism|Aristotelian]], but becoming increasingly theoretical and finally rejecting Aristotelianism. Despite his early adherence to Aristotelian tradition, his first botanical work, the ''Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium'' (1660),{{sfn|Ray|1660}} was almost entirely descriptive, being arranged alphabetically. His model was an account by [[Gaspard Bauhin|Bauhin]] of the plants growing around Basel in 1622 and was the first English county flora, covering about 630 species.{{sfn|Jarvis|2012}} However at the end of the work he appended a brief taxonomy{{sfn|Ray|1660|loc=pp.&nbsp;100–102}} which he stated followed the usage of Bauhin and other herbalists.{{sfn|Ray|1660|loc=pp.&nbsp;100–102}}{{sfn|Slaughter|1982|loc=p.&nbsp;62}}

==== System of classification ====

Ray's system, starting with his Cambridge catalogue, began with the division between the imperfect or lower plants ([[Cryptogams]]), and perfect (''planta perfecta'') higher plants ([[Seed plants]]). The latter he divided by [[life forms]], e.g. trees (''arbores''), shrubs (''frutices''), subshrubs (''suffrutices'') and [[herbaceous plants]] (''herbae'') and lastly grouping them by common characteristics. The trees he divided into 8 groups, e.g. ''Pomiferae'' (including apple and pear). The shrubs he placed in 2 groups, ''Spinosi'' ([[Berberis]] etc.) and ''Non Spinosi'' ([[Jasmine]] etc.). The subshrubs formed a single group and the herbs into 21 groups.{{sfn|Slaughter|1982|loc=pp.&nbsp;62–63}}

Division of Herbae;
{{div col|colwidth=30em}}
# Bulbosae (''[[Lilium]]'' etc.)
# Tuberosae (''[[Asphodelus]]'' etc.)
# Umbelliferae (''[[Foeniculum]]'' etc.)
# Verticellatae (''[[Mentha]]'' etc.)
# Spicatae (''[[Lysimachia]]'' etc.)
# Scandentes (''[[Cucurbita]]'' etc.)
# Corymbiferae (''[[Tanacetum]]'')
# Pappiflorae (''[[Senecio]]'' etc.)
# Capitatae (''[[Scabiosa]]'' etc.)
# Campaniformes (''[[Digitalis]]'' etc.)
# Coronariae (''[[Dianthus|Caryophyllus]]'' etc.)
# Rotundifoliae (''[[Cyclamen]]'' etc.)
# Nervifoliae (''[[Plantago]]'' etc.)
# Stellatae (''[[Rubia]]'' etc.)
# Cerealia (''[[Leguminosae|Legumina]]'' etc.)
# Succulentae (''[[Sedum]]'' etc.)
# Graminifoliae (''[[Gramineae|Gramina]]'' etc.)
# [omitted]
# Oleraceae (''[[Beta (plant)|Beta]]'' etc.)
# Aquaticae (''[[Nymphaea]]'' etc.)
# Marinae (''[[Fucus]]'' etc.)
# Saxatiles (''[[Asplenium]]'' etc)
{{div col end}}

As outlined in his ''Historia Plantarum'' (1685–1703):{{sfn|Singh|2004|loc=[https://books.google.com/books?id=z6fMBQAAQBAJ&pg=PA302 John Ray p.&nbsp;302]}}
* Herbae ([[Herbaceous plants]])
** Imperfectae ([[Cryptogams]])
** Perfectae ([[Seed plants]])
*** [[Monocotyledons]]
*** [[Dicotyledons]]
* Arborae ([[Trees]])
** Monocotyledons
** Dicotyledons

==== Definition of species ====
Ray was the first person to produce a biological definition of '''[[species]]''', in his 1686 ''History of Plants'':

{{blockquote|... no ''surer criterion for determining species has occurred to me than'' the distinguishing features that perpetuate themselves in propagation from seed. Thus, no matter what variations occur in the individuals or the species, if they spring from the seed of one and the same plant, they are accidental variations and not such as to distinguish a species... Animals likewise that differ specifically preserve their distinct species permanently; one species never springs from the seed of another nor vice versa.<ref>Mayr ''Growth of biological thought'' p256; original was Ray, ''History of Plants''. 1686, trans E. Silk.</ref>}}

=== Publications ===

Ray published about 23 works, depending on how they are counted. The biological works were usually in Latin, the rest in English.<ref name="Keynes">[[Geoffrey Keynes|Keynes, Sir Geoffrey]] [1951] 1976. ''John Ray, 1627–1705: a bibliography 1660–1970''. Van Heusden, Amsterdam.</ref> His first publication, while at Cambridge, was the ''Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium'' (1660), followed by many works, botanical, zoological,theological and literary.{{sfn|Vines|1913}} Until 1670, he wrote his name as '''John Wray'''. From then on, he used 'Ray', after "having ascertained that such had been the practice of his family before him".{{sfn|Gunther|1928|loc=p.&nbsp;16}}

==== List of selected publications ====
{{refbegin|30em}}
* {{cite book|last=Ray|first=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Catalogus plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium ...: Adiiciuntur in gratiam tyronum, index Anglico-latinus, index locorum ...|trans-title=Catalogue of Cambridge plants|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=hz0-AAAAcAAJ|year=1660|publisher=John Field|location=Cambridge|language=la}} Appendices 1663, 1685
** {{cite book|last=Ray|first=John|title=Catalogus Plantarum Circa Cantabrigiam Nascentium|trans-title=Ray's Flora of Cambridgeshire|others=trans. Ewen & Prime|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=vJk_AAAAYAAJ|year=1975|publisher=Wheldon and Wesley|isbn=978-0-85486-090-6}}
** {{cite book|last=Ray|first=John|title=John Ray's Cambridge Catalogue (1660)|others=trans. Oswald and Preston|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=l6uhpwAACAAJ|year=2011|publisher=[[Ray Society]]|isbn=978-0-903874-43-4}}
* 1668: ''Tables of plants'', in [[John Wilkins]]' ''[[An Essay Towards a Real Character, and a Philosophical Language|Essay]]''
* {{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title= Catalogus plantarum Angliae, et insularum adjacentium: tum indigenas, tum in agris passim cultas complectens. In quo praeter synonyma necessaria, facultates quoque summatim traduntur, unà cum observationibus & experimentis novis medicis & physics|trans-title=Catalogue of English plants|edition=2nd|date=1677|orig-year=1668|publisher=A Clark|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/82234#/summary|language=la}}
* 1670: ''Collection of English proverbs''.
* 1673: ''Observations in the Low Countries and Catalogue of plants not native to England''.
* 1674: ''Collection of English words not generally used''.[https://books.google.com/books?id=njdWAAAAYAAJ online]
* 1675: ''Trilingual dictionary, or nomenclator classicus''.
* 1676: [https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/129443#page/7/mode/1up  ''Willughby's Ornithologia''].{{efn|"In fact, the book was Ray's, based on preliminary notes by [[Francis Willughby]]".<ref name="Keynes"/><sup>p52</sup>{{sfn|Raven|1950}}<sup>Chapter 12</sup> "Willughby and Ray laid the foundation of scientific ornithology".<ref>[[Alfred Newton|Newton, Alfred]] 1893. ''Dictionary of birds''. Black, London</ref>}}
* {{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Methodus plantarum nova: brevitatis & perspicuitatis causa synoptice in tabulis exhibita, cum notis generum tum summorum tum subalternorum characteristicis, observationibus nonnullis de seminibus plantarum & indice copioso|trans-title=New method of plants|date=1682|publisher=Faithorne & Kersey|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/37647#/summary|language=la}}
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080820060520/http://montgomery.cas.muohio.edu/nimissa/research/methodus%20folder/methoduspreliminary.html English translation by Stephen Nimis]
* 1686: ''History of fishes''.{{efn|Plates subscribed by [[Fellows of the Royal Society]]. [[Samuel Pepys]], the President, subscribed for 79 of the plates.}}
* 1686–1704: ''Historia plantarum species'' [''History of plants'']. London:Clark 3 vols;
** [https://books.google.com/books?id=fCCbsb0ySy0C Vol 1 1686], [https://books.google.com/books?id=01xl8Eu-LnwC Vol 2 1688], [https://books.google.com/books?id=ojSSrVW3OrcC Vol 3 1704] (in Latin){{efn|The third volume lacked plates, so his assistant [[James Petiver]] published Petiver's Catalogue in parts, 1715–1764, with plates. The work on the first two volumes was supported by subscriptions from the President and Fellows of the Royal Society}}
** [https://theses.ncl.ac.uk/jspui/handle/10443/327 Lazenby, Elizabeth Mary (1995).  The Historia Plantarum Generalis of John Ray, Book I : a translation and commentary. PhD thesis  Newcastle University]
* {{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Synopsis methodica stirpium Britannicarum: in qua tum notae generum characteristicae traduntur, tum species singulae breviter describuntur: ducentae quinquaginta plus minus novae species partim suis locis inseruntur, partim in appendice seorsim exhibentur : cum indice & virium epitome|trans-title=Synopsis of British plants|date=1690|publisher=Sam. Smith|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/63346|language=la}}
** 2nd edition 1696
* 1691: [http://www.jri.org.uk/ray/wisdom/ ''The wisdom of God Manifested in the Works of the Creation'' 7th ed.] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150807175816/http://www.jri.org.uk/ray/wisdom/ |date=7 August 2015 }} 2nd edition 1692, 3rd edition 1701, 4th edition 1704, 7th edition 1717{{efn|7th edition Printed by R. Harbin, for William Innys, at the Prince’s-Arms in St Paul’s Church Yard, London 1717. Each edition enlarged from the previous edition. This was his most popular work. It was in the vein later called [[natural theology]], explaining the [[adaptation]] of living creatures as the work of God. It was heavily plagiarised by [[William Paley]] in his ''Natural theology'' of 1802.<ref name="Keynes"/><sup>p92</sup>{{sfn|Raven|1950}}<sup>p452</sup>}}
* 1692: [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/15962 ''Miscellaneous discourses concerning the dissolution and changes of the world'']{{efn|This includes some important discussion of fossils. Ray insisted that fossils had once been alive, in opposition to his friends [[Martin Lister]] and [[Edward Llwyd]]. "These [fossils] were originally the shells and bones of living fishes and other animals bred in the sea". Raven commented that this was "The fullest and most enlightened treatment by an Englishman" of that time.{{sfn|Raven|1950}}<sup>p426</sup>}}
* 1693: ''[https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/item/91492 Synopsis of animals and reptiles]''.
* 1693: ''Collection of travels''.
* 1694: ''Collection of European plants''.
* 1695: ''Plants of each county''. (Camden's Britannia)
* {{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=De Variis Plantarum Methodis Dissertatio Brevis|trans-title=Brief dissertation|date=1696|publisher=Smith & Walford|location=London|url=http://digital.onb.ac.at/OnbViewer/viewer.faces?doc=ABO_%2BZ184733202|language=la}}
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20080827204643/http://montgomery.cas.muohio.edu/nimissa/research/dissertatio/diss.html English translation by Stephen Nimis]
* 1700: ''A persuasive to a holy life''.
* {{cite book|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Methodus plantarum emendata et aucta: In quãa notae maxime characteristicae exhibentur, quibus stirpium genera tum summa, tum infima cognoscuntur & áa se mutuo dignoscuntur, non necessariis omissis. Accedit methodus graminum, juncorum et cyperorum specialis|date=1703|publisher=Smith & Walford|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/105652#/summary|language=la}}

;Posthumous
* 1705. ''Method and history of insects''
* 1713: [http://gdz.sub.uni-goettingen.de/dms/load/toc/?PID=PPN383878012 Synopsis methodica avium & piscium: opus posthumum (''Synopsis of birds and fishes''), in Latin. William Innys, London] vol. 1: ''Avium'' vol. 2: ''Piscium''
* 1713 [http://lhldigital.lindahall.org/cdm/ref/collection/earththeory/id/9107 ''Three Physico-theological discourses'']{{efn|This is the 3rd edition of Miscellaneous discourses, the last by Ray before his death, and delayed in publication. Its main importance is that Ray recanted his former acceptance of fossils, apparently because he was theologically troubled by the implications of extinction.<ref>{{cite book | author=Bowler, Peter J. | author-link=Peter J. Bowler | year=2003 | title=Evolution: the history of an idea | url=https://archive.org/details/evolutionhistory0000bowl_n7y8 | url-access=registration | edition=3rd | location=California| isbn=9780520236936 }}</ref><sup>p37</sup> [[Robert Hooke]], like [[Nicolas Steno]], was in no doubt about the biological origin of fossils. Hooke made the point that some fossils were no longer living, for example [[Ammonite]]s: this was the source of Ray's concern.<ref>Hooke, Robert 1705. ''The posthumous works of Robert Hooke''. London. repr. 1969 Johnson N.Y.</ref><sup>p327</sup>}}
* {{cite book|editor-last=Dillenius|editor-first=Johann Jacob|editor-link=Dillenius|last1=Ray|first1=John|author-link=John Ray|title=Synopsis methodica stirpium Britannicarum: in qua tum notae generum characteristicae traduntur, tum species singulae breviter describuntur: ducentae quinquaginta plus minus novae species partim suis locis inseruntur, partim in appendice seorsim exhibentur: cum indice & virium epitome (editio tertia multis locis emendata, & quadringentis quinquaginta circiter speciebus noviter detectis aucta )|trans-title=Synopsis of British plants|date=1724|orig-year=1690|edition=3rd|publisher=Gulielmi & Joaniis Innys|location=London|url=https://www.biodiversitylibrary.org/bibliography/63346|language=la}}
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20170320053107/http://www.raysociety.org.uk/publications/general-and-historical/synopsis-methodica-stirpum-britannicarum-john-ray/ Facsimile edition 197], [[Ray Society]], London. With introduction by [[William T. Stearn]]. {{ISBN|978-0-903874-00-7}}
** Fourth edition 1760
{{refend}}

==== Libraries holding Ray's works ====
Including the various editions, there are 172 works of Ray, of which most are rare. The only libraries with substantial holdings are all in England.<ref name="Keynes"/><sup>p153</sup> The list in order of holdings is:

:The [[British Library]], Euston, London. Holds over 80 of the editions.
:The [[Bodleian Library]], University of Oxford.
:The [[University of Cambridge]] Library.
:Library of [[Trinity College, Cambridge]].
:The [[Natural History Museum, London|Natural History Museum]] Library, South Kensington, London.
:The [[John Rylands Library]], University of Manchester, Deansgate, Manchester