John Ray
1627-1705
Father of English natural history
• Born in Essex, England
• Parents –
– Dad –blacksmith
– Mom – herbalist, healer
– Passion for plants and the natural world
From his mom’s interest in
herbal plant remedies
- Devout Christian
Married 1673 Margaret Oakley¾ daughters survived him
British History ~ 17th century Britain
• 1625 Charles 1st King
• Ray born in 1627 – a very turbulent time in British history
• Civil War 1640-1660
1645 : Ray’s predecessor in field studies and botany, Thomas
Johnson, was killed while fighting for the Royalists.
• Charles II – 1660 returned to rule as King of England
Education and professional career
Cambridge University educated:
– 1644 – 1648 studied mathematics, natural science,
and languages
– 1649 became a minor fellow
– 1650 began to study plants in spare time
– 1651 became a lecturer in Greek, Math, and
Humanities
– 1658 became a junior dean
– 1660 ordained as a priest in the Anglican church
– 1660 First county flora by James Ray
British History ~ 17th century Britain
1660-1680
• Charles II – 1660 returned to rule as King of England
– By the Act of Uniformity (1661-2) - Protestant Church
of England - ministers had to swear an oath condemning
the Covenant, or resign ~ ‘Great Ejection’ Almost 2k
ministers, 1/5 of all the clergy, were dismissed and
forbidden to teach religion by word or pen.
– Ray did not sign or condemn the oath, thus he lost
his house, botanic garden and university post
• 1665 – black plague
• 1666- great fire in London
British History ~ 17th century Britain
• In 1685 James II succeeded his late brother Charles II
• James left England 1688 he fled from the ‘Glorious
Revolution’.
• The Stuart dynasty was overthrown in Revolution of 1688
• The crown passed to James’ daughter Mary Stuart, whose
husband was Dutch Prince, William of Orange.
• William and Mary reigned - peaceful prosperous period
• 1689 Act of Toleration – allowed Ray to begin writing
some of his most famous theological works
Academic accomplishments
• Wrote first County flora
• Took a number of expeditions to study the plants of
Britain:
The Peaks & North Wales, 1658
The Lakes & Isle of Man, 1659
The North & Scotland, 1661
Wales & the South West, 1662
• Took expeditions around Europe 1663 for three years –
observed and collected plants, animals, rocks (Germany,
France, Italy)
• Ray spent many years cataloguing and analyzing the
material gathered on this and other expeditions.
Academic accomplishments
• Founder of both botany and zoology in Britain
• Coined the terms flower ‘petal’ and ‘pollen’
• First Botanist to distinguish between monocotyledon and
dicotyledon
• Believed that fossils were once living organisms – at odds
with whether God would allow extinction…a new idea…
• Historia Plantarum was the first textbook of modern botany.
Dicot versus Moncot
Academic accomplishments
• Prior to Ray – only used reproductive organs for
classification. Ray advocated using many traits to
distinguish differences.
• No one moved systematic classification any further until Carl
Linneaus (1701-1778)
• Accomplished decades before his time in understanding the
function of plant and animal forms and animal behavior.
Methodus Insectorum, printed 1705.
• First to prove that wood of living tree
conducts water.
Academic accomplishments
• Devout Christian
• ‘natural theology’ = doctrine that the wisdom and power of
God could be understood by studying the natural world
• “There is for a free man no occupation more worthy and
delightful than to contemplate the beauteous works of nature
and honor the infinite wisdom and goodness of God. “
• ‘Natural Theology’ influenced many 19th century natural
historians that in turn influenced Charles Darwin
Academic accomplishments
• 1667 – Admitted as a Fellow into the Royal Society
• 1668 – invited to become the Secretary of the Royal
Society but he declined.
– Chose to focus on divinity as his primary vocation
– Educated Sir Francis Willughby’s children and helped
publish Willughby’s research on birds.
– Willughby left a pension in his will allowing Ray to
follow his passions for science and theological studies
for the remainder of his life.
Academic and Life accomplishments
1655: Father died and he bought his mom a cottage
“Dewlands”
1679: Returned to his birth place, Black Notley,after
the death of his mother, and moved into Dewlands.
Stayed in contact with scientific community by post
Samuel Dale, a local neighbor, helped Ray catalogue
his specimens, including many insects
Sameul Dale was inspired to become a biologist as
well!
Scholarly works
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1660 - Cambridge Catalogue - first county Flora.
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1691 - The Wisdom of God manifested in the Works of Creation, by John Ray, 1691
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1692 Three Physico-Theological Discourses
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1705 - Methodus Insectorum, printed.
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Catalogus Plantarum circa Cantabrigiam nascentium
Catalogus Plantarum Angliae
Collection of English Proverbs
Observations topographical, moral and physiological
Collection of English Words not generally used
Dictionalarium Trilinguae
Ornithologiae Libri tres (Willughby)
Methodus Plantarum Nova
Historia Piscium - fish
Historia Plantarum
Fasciculus Stirpium Brittanicarum
Synopsis methodica Stirpium Brittanicorum
Miscellaneous Discourses
Synopsis methodica Animalium Quadrupedum et Sepentini Generis - animals
Collection of Curious travels and Voyages
Stirpium Europaerrum extra Brittanias nascentium Sylloge
De variis Plantarum Methodis Disseratio brevis
Persuasive to a Holy Life
Historia insectorum - insects
Synopsis methodica Avium et Piscium
Summary
• Father of English natural history ~Founder of both botany
and zoology in Britain
• First to prove that wood of living tree conducts water.
• Coined the terms flower ‘petal’ and ‘pollen’
• First Botanist to distinguish between monocotyledon and
dicotyledon
• Believed that fossils were once living organisms – at odds
with whether God would allow extinction…a new idea…
References
• http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/history/ray.html
• http://www.jri.org.uk/johnray.htm
• http://books.google.com/books?id=dKwPAAAAYAAJ&pri
ntsec=frontcover&dq=john+ray&client=firefox-a