In the

account of these will be given immediately. meanwhile we must hasten to the end. Ray's marriage had not been blessed with children, and the last ten years of his life were embittered by failing health and a painful disorder. To the last, however, he intermitted not in his labours, and was engaged in writing perhaps the best of his zoological treatises (namely his 'History of Insects'), when death overtook him. His last letter, penned on his deathbed, bearing, as Dr Derham says, 'the marks of a dying hand in every letter,' and broken off at the end by reason of failing strength, was to Sir Hans Sloane. It is subjoined below in its entirety. Few who have known what it is to enjoy a long and tried friendship, will read it unmoved.

man.

DEAR SIR-The best of friends; these are to take a final leave of you as to this world. I look upon myself as a dying God requite your kindness expressed any ways towards me an hundred fold, bless you with a confluence of all good things in this world, and eternal life and happiness hereafter, and grant us an happy meeting in heaven. I am, sir, eternally yours, JOHN RAY.

BLACK NOTLEY, Jan. 7th, 1704.

Postscript.-When you happen to write to my singular friend Dr Hotton, I pray tell him I received his most obliging and affectionate letter, for which I return thanks, and acquaint him that I was not able to answer it; or

On the 17th of January 1704, in his house at Black Notley, Ray died, in the seventy-seventh year of his age.

So passed away a great and good man, who to preeminent intellectual gifts united a singularly upright, simple, pure, and lovable disposition. As his biographer Derham has it'in his dealings no man more strictly just; in his conversation, no man more humble, courteous, and affable; towards God, no man more devout; and towards the poor and distressed, no man more compassionate and charitable, according to his abilities.'

IN estimating Ray's intellectual achievements, and the value of his scientific labours, his published works may be divided into three groups. The first and most considerable of these embraces his botanical treatises. These we must wholly pass over here, though it is upon them that Ray's scientific reputation most largely rests. It is enough to quote in this respect the verdict of Sir James E. Smith ('Rees's Cyclopædia'), that Ray was 'the most accurate in observation-the most philosophical in contemplation-and the most faithful in description,

amongst all the botanists of his own, or perhaps any other time.'

The second division of Ray's works includes his theological treatises, of which two attained great celebritynamely, 'The Wisdom of God in the Creation,' which went through many editions, and his three 'Physico-theological Discourses concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World,' of which three successive editions appeared. The first of these is an elaborate and learned survey of nature in general, and of the structure of the body of man and animals in particular, from the teleological point of view. From that point of view, it is a wonderful production for the time in which it was writtenclear in conception, full in illustration, elevated in sentiment, and dignified in language. The second of the works just referred to is, in the main, a cosmogony and a theory of geological action.

As was natural at the time he wrote, and with his views, Ray did not wholly eschew hypothetical causes in his endeavour to explain how the earth had reached its present condition. All the geologists of his day relied upon imaginary causes, or invoked hypothetical agencies in their explanations of the formation of the earth. Ray, however, was in this respect more advanced than most of his contemporaries, for he relied upon known physical agencies, whenever it seemed to him possible to account for the presumed course of events by the ordinary and recognised operations of nature. He not only showed a desire to get rid of imaginary causes in his explanation of the creation of the world; but he endeavoured to explain the anticipated dissolution of the world by

similar causes. Thus, he drew particular attention to the 'denuding' action of rain, rivers, and the sea, and to the manner in which the dry land is at the present day worn away by these agencies; and he speculates upon the result in the future of the long continuance of this action. The value of Ray's treatise is now, of course, purely historical; but as a piece of philosophical reasoning, it attains a much higher level than its more celebrated contemporary, the Essay towards a Natural History of the Earth and Terrestrial Bodies,' by John Woodward (1695).

The third group of the works which the world owes to Ray comprises his zoological treatises. Ray's contributions to the science of zoology are, however, so largely, and in many respects so indissolubly linked with those of his friend Willughby, that it is not possible, even if it were desirable, to consider the two separately. It may therefore be proper to preface this subject by the following brief account of the life of the latter.

Francis Willughby was born at Middleton in Warwickshire, in the year 1635, and was the only son of Sir Francis Willughby. Little is known of his early life, except that he was a most diligent student. In 1653, he entered at Trinity College, Cambridge, graduating as Bachelor of Arts in 1656, and as Master of Arts in 1659. It was at Cambridge that he commenced his lifelong friendship with John Ray, whose pupil he is stated to have been; though on this point there seems to be some doubt. Be this as it may, it is forward Ray and Willughby

certain that from this time