A simple Statement a Complex Man

In a calm sea every man is a pilot. John Ray 1627-1709
From the Wikipedia:


One of the most eminent naturalists of his time, John Ray was also an influential philosopher and theologian. Ray is often referred to as the father of natural history in Britain.

John Ray was born on November 29, 1627, in the village of Black Notley, Essex, England. His father was a blacksmith, and his mother was known as a healer and herbalist; perhaps it was from her that Ray gained his love of nature, and especially of plants. Entering Cambridge University in 1644, Ray rapidly became expert in languages, mathematics, and natural science; he became a Fellow in 1649, a Lecturer in 1651, and a junior Dean in 1658. In 1660 he was ordained a priest in the Anglican Church. Soon after, for political reasons, he left Cambridge. Between 1660 and 1671 he made many trips throughout England, and one trip to Europe, to collect plants, animals, and rocks. He also did experimental work in embryology and plant physiology; among other things, he proved that the wood of a living tree conducts water. His researches received so much renown that Ray was inducted into the newly-formed Royal Society of London, one of the world's first scientific societies, in 1667. Poor health eventually restricted his travels, and he spent the last decades of his life corresponding with the leading scientists of his time, such as Oldenburg, Lhwyd, Lister, and Hooke, and writing book after book on languages, theology, and natural history. He died on January 17, 1705.

Starting in 1660 with his Catalogue of Cambridge Plants, and ending with the posthumous publication of Synopsis Methodica Avium et Piscium in 1713, Ray published systematic works on plants, birds, mammals, fish, and insects, in which he brought order to the chaotic mass of names in use by the naturalists of his time. Like Linnaeus, Ray searched for the "natural system," a classification of organisms that would reflect the Divine Order of creation. Unlike Linnaeus, whose plant classification was based entirely on floral reproductive organs, Ray classified plants by overall morphology: the classification in his 1682 book Methodus Plantarum Nova draws on flowers, seeds, fruits, and roots. Ray's plant classification system was the first to divide flowering plants into monocots and dicots. This method produced more "natural" results than "artificial" systems based on one feature alone; it expressed the similarities between species more fully. Ray's system greatly influenced later botanists such as Jussieu and de Candolle, and systems based on total morphology came to replace systems based on only one feature or organ system.

A devout Christian, Ray expounded his belief in "natural theology," the doctrine that the wisdom and power of God could be understood by studying His creation, the natural world. This doctrine can be traced back to the Bible, but Ray expressed it so fully and clearly that he started a long tradition of natural theology in England and abroad. As Ray wrote in 1660:

There is for a free man no occupation more worthy and delightful than to contemplate the beauteous works of nature and honour the infinite wisdom and goodness of God.