Shining through the centuries: John Ray's life and legacy

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (1) ◽  
pp. 5-22
Author(s):  
B. J. Ford
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
John Ray

A major conference on John Ray and other clerical naturalists, entitled ‘John Ray and his successors; the clergyman as biologist’, was held at Braintree, Essex, from 18 to 21 March 1999. Speakers considered Ray's work and beliefs in the context of the theology of his day, and the interplay between religion and biology up to the present time. Some of the outstanding protagonists were, like Ray, ordained Fellows of the Royal Society.

scholarly journals ‘Vividness’ in english natural history and anatomy, 1650–1700

2012 ◽  
Vol 66 (4) ◽  
pp. 341-356 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alexander Wragge-Morley
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Natural History ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Medical Discourse ◽  
Rhetorical Strategies ◽  
Rhetorical Device ◽  
John Ray ◽  
The Mind ◽  
It Knowledge ◽  
The Brain

This article concerns the use of rhetorical strategies in the natural historical and anatomical works of the seventeenth-century Royal Society. Choosing representative works, it argues that naturalists such as Nehemiah Grew, John Ray and the neuroanatomist Thomas Willis used the rhetorical device known as ‘comparison’ to make their descriptions of natural things vivid. By turning to contemporary works of neurology such as Willis's Cerebri Anatome and contemporary rhetorical works inspired by other such descriptions of the brain and nerves, it is argued that the effects of these strategies were taken to be wide-ranging. Contemporaries understood the effects of rhetoric in terms inflected by anatomical and medical discourse—the brain was physically altered by powerful sense impressions such as those of rhetoric. I suggest that the rhetoric of natural history could have been understood in the same way and that natural history and anatomy might therefore have been understood to cultivate the mind, improving its capacity for moral judgements as well as giving it knowledge of nature.

scholarly journals Deep questions about the nature of early-life signals: a commentary on Lister (1673) ‘A description of certain stones figured like plants’

2015 ◽  
Vol 373 (2039) ◽  
pp. 20140254 ◽  
Author(s):  
Martin Brasier
Keyword(s):  
Metabolic Pathways ◽  
Early Life ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Early Earth ◽  
John Ray ◽  
Living Fossils ◽  
Plant Remains ◽  
Carboniferous Limestone ◽  
Pentagonal Symmetry ◽  
350Th Anniversary

In 1673, Martin Lister explored the preservation of ‘St Cuthbert's beads’ plus other fossil crinoid remains from approximately 350 Ma Carboniferous limestone in northern England. He used taphonomic evidence (transport, disarticulation, burial and cementation) to infer an origin as petrified plant remains, in contrast with his views expressed elsewhere that fossil mollusc shells could have formed abiogenically, by ‘plastic forces’ within rock. Lister also observed pentagonal symmetry, now seen as characteristic of living echinoderm skeletons. A postscript from John Ray supports Lister's ‘taphonomic’ observations and accepts the biogenicity of these fossil ‘vegetables’. Ray then concluded with a prophecy, predicting the discovery of comparable living fossils in remote ocean waters. These early discussions compare with current debates about the character of candidate microfossils from the early Earth and Mars. Interesting biomorphs are now tested against the abiogenic null hypotheses, making use of features such as those pioneered by Lister, including evidence for geological context, rules for growth and taphonomy. Advanced techniques now allow us to extend this list of criteria to include the nanoscale mapping of biology-like behaviour patterns plus metabolic pathways. Whereas the science of palaeobiology once began with tests for biogenicity, the same is now true for geobiology and astrobiology. This commentary was written to celebrate the 350th anniversary of the journal Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society .

The Wilkins Lecture, 1985 John Wilkins, John Ray and Carl Linnaeus

1986 ◽  
Vol 40 (2) ◽  
pp. 101-123 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
History Of Science ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Second Century ◽  
Great Power ◽  
Biblical Text ◽  
The People ◽  
John Ray ◽  
Carl Linnaeus ◽  
History Of ◽  
John Wilkins

As a botanical taxonomist I was naturally highly honoured and much surprised lito be invited by this venerable and exclusive Society to deliver the 1985 Wilkins Lecture on a subject related to the history of science. If this were a sermon, there could be no Biblical text more appropriate for the present occasion dealing with Bishop Wilkins and his contemporaries in the Royal Society than a passage from the book of wisdom, Ecclesiasticus, composed in the second century B.C.: ‘Let us now praise famous men, and our fathers that begat us. The Lord hath wrought great glory by them through his great power from the beginning. . . leaders of the people by their counsels, and by their knowledge of learning meet for the people, wise and eloquent in their instructions. . . There be of them, that have left a name behind them, that their praises might be reported.’ So be it with particular respect to John Wilkins (1614—72), in whose commemoration the triennial Wilkins Lecture was founded in 1947.

scholarly journals IV. A further and more exact account of the same, sent in a letter from Father Camelli, to Mr. John Ray, and Mr. James Petiver, Fellows of the Royal Society.

1699 ◽  
Vol 21 (250) ◽  
pp. 88-94 ◽  
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
John Ray

Catolongay quam alii Cantatà vocant: est Nuces Vomicas legitimas Serapionis ferens planta, quæ arbores quasvis altissimas sese involvendo scandit: Truncus lignosus, levis, porosus, & brachialis quandoque crassitudinis, corticisque scabri, crassi, et cinerei: Folia ampla, nervose; amara, Folio fermè similia: Florem Balaustiæ similem sructus in sequitur Melone major, qui delicatissima cuticula quæ splendens, lævis, et viroris luridi, ceu Alabastrini coopertas, subter quam alius cortex delitescit substantiæ quasi lapidescentis.

Rome and the Royal Society, 1660-1740

2004 ◽  
Vol 58 (1) ◽  
pp. 3-19 ◽  
Author(s):  
A. Cook
Keyword(s):  
Seventeenth Century ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
Classical Education ◽  
John Ray ◽  
Federico Cesi ◽  
New Churches ◽  
Accademia Dei Lincei ◽  
Queen Christina Of Sweden ◽  
John Evelyn

Most Fellows of The Royal Society in the late seventeenth century knew Rome through their classical education and would have been attracted to visit it for the remains of antiquity and for the new churches and palaces of the papal city. John Evelyn, in Rome 16 years before the foundation of the Society, John Ray, Edmond Halley and Robert Nelson, and Bishop Burnet and G.W. Leibniz, also met people who had links to the Accademia dei Lincei of Prince Federico Cesi, and to the later Accademia Fisica-mathematica associated with Queen Christina of Sweden. Besides astronomy, they were especially interested in cabinets of curiosities and in Vesuvius and other volcanic sites. They met English residents in Rome, especially those around the Venerable English College.

The efforts of the Aubrey correspondence group to revise John Wilkins’ Essay (1668) and their context

2001 ◽  
Vol 28 (3) ◽  
pp. 331-364 ◽  
Author(s):  
Rhodri Lewis
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Robert Hooke ◽  
Robert Boyle ◽  
John Ray ◽  
Intellectual Milieu ◽  
Society Committee ◽  
John Wilkins ◽  
The Individual ◽  
John Wallis ◽  
Christopher Wren

Summary In the aftermath of the publication of John Wilkins’s Essay towards a Real Character and a Philosophical Language (1668), the Royal Society established a committee to consider and develop Wilkins’s proposals, whose members included Seth Ward (1617–89), Robert Hooke (1635–1703), Robert Boyle (1627–1691), John Wallis (1616–1703), John Ray (1627–1705), Christopher Wren (1632–1723) and William Holder (1616–1698). Despite the fact that this committee never reported, work on the Essay did continue, with many of the individual members conducting a detailed correspondence, marshalled by John Aubrey (1626–1697). In addition to the members of the original Royal Society committee, this group’s participants included Francis Lodwick (1619–1694), the Somerset clergyman Andrew Paschall (c.1630–c.1696), and Thomas Pigott (1657–1686), fellow of Wadham College, Oxford. The correspondents could not, however, agree on the best means of advancing the Essay, with the principal bone of contention being the ideas of Seth Ward. Thus, their efforts were eventually fruitless. This article traces the activities of this group and the intellectual milieu in which the revision of Wilkins’s Essay took place.

An account of some books: - I. Francisci willughbeii de middleton armigeri, è Reg. Societate, Ornithologiæ libritres; in quibus aves omnes bactenus cognitæ, in methodum naturis suis convenientem redactæ, accuraté describuntur; Descriptiones lconibus clegantissimis & vivarum avium simillimis, æri incisis, illustrantur: Totum opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit Joh. Rajus, pariter ê Soc. R. Sumptus in Chalcographos fecit illustriss. D. Emma Willughby, vidua. Londini, impensis Joh. Martyn, Typographi Soc

1675 ◽  
Vol 10 (120) ◽  
pp. 481-490
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
Comparative Anatomy ◽  
John Ray

An account of some books: - I. Francisci willughbeii de middleton armigeri, è Reg. Societate, Ornithologiæ libritres; in quibus aves omnes bactenus cognitæ, in methodum naturis suis convenientem redactæ, accuraté describuntur; Descriptiones lconibus clegantissimis & vivarum avium simillimis, æri incisis, illustrantur: Totum opus recognovit, digessit, supplevit Joh. Rajus, pariter ê Soc. R. Sumptus in Chalcographos fecit illustriss. D. Emma Willughby, vidua. Londini, impensis Joh. Martyn, Typographi Soc. Regiæ, ad insigne campanæ in cæmeterio D. Pauli, 1676, in fol. - II. The comparative anatomy of the trunks of plants; together with an account of their vegetation grounded thereupon, by Nehemiah Grew M. D. and Fellow of the Royal Society: Printed by the assigns of John Martyn printer to the said society, for Walter Kittilby, in 80. - III. The Royal Almanack, &c. by N. Stevenson, one of his Majesties Gunners. As the person, that hath review'd, methodized and supplied this Work, Mr. John Ray, hath given to the worthy and learned Author thereof his just Elogy in the Preface; so we cannot but very thankfully acknowledge not only the Industry, Care and Accuracy of the Said person in digesting and perfecting it, but also the Bounty of that Excellent Lady, the Authors Relict Widow, enriching the same with so vast a Number of Elegant and Costly Figures.

scholarly journals An account of books. 1. The wisdom of God manifested in the works of the creation; in two parts. By John Ray, Fellow of the Royal Society. The second edition very much enlarged. London, printed for Samuel Smith: in 80. 1692. 2. Three physico-theological discourses, concerning, I. The primitive chaos, and creation of the world. 2. The general deluge, its causes and effects. 3. The dissolution of the world. By John Ray, S. R. S. The second edition. Lond. printed for Samuel Smith, 80. 1693. 3. Leonardi Plukene

1693 ◽  
Vol 17 (196) ◽  
pp. 611-622
Keyword(s):  
Royal Society ◽  
John Ray ◽  
The World ◽  
The Creation

An account of books. 1. The wisdom of God manifested in the works of the creation; in two parts. By John Ray, Fellow of the Royal Society. The second edition very much enlarged. London, printed for Samuel Smith: in 80. 1692. 2. Three physico-theological discourses, concerning, I. The primitive chaos, and creation of the world. 2. The general deluge, its causes and effects. 3. The dissolution of the world. By John Ray, S. R. S. The second edition. Lond. printed for Samuel Smith, 80. 1693. 3. Leonardi Plukenetii Phytographia seu Planta quamplurime novæ & Literis hue usque incognitœ ex varis & remotissimis Provinciis ipsilg; Indiis allatœ Nomine & Iconibus. Tabulis Æneis 130 fig. ferè 800 magnâ cum industriâ & insigni sanè in successores benesicio illustratœ. Fol. Londini, 1692. Pars III. The Design of our Author in this Treatlise, is manifest by the Title it self, which ho endeavours to make good from several Heads, as fist, from the Multitude of the Creatares , Cœletitial and terrestrial, and from the possibility, that the fixt Stars may be so many Suns, attended with the like Train as we find our Center, the Ruler of our Morions, is accomparied with.

The Historia Piscium (1686)

2000 ◽  
Vol 54 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-197 ◽  
Author(s):  
S. Kusukawa
Keyword(s):  
Natural History ◽  
Financial Support ◽  
Royal Society ◽  
John Ray ◽  
History Of ◽  
The Subject ◽  
Francis Willughby ◽  
The Cost ◽  
Made In

In 1686, just as Newton was preparing for the publication of the Principia , the Historia Piscium was being printed under the auspices of The Royal Society. The Historia Piscium was a work begun by Francis Willughby (1635–1672, F.R.S. 1663), completed by John Ray (1627–1705, F.R.S. 1667) and brought into print with the financial support of The Royal Society. The text and illustrations of the Historia Piscium reflect the 17th-century origins of the enterprise: Ray's quest to recover the knowledge and language lost in the Fall, and The Royal Society's support for establishing a reformed natural history of fish through publication. Ray's biblical belief in the corruption of human language and knowledge led him to reform natural history through ‘characteristic marks’. He sought to define, classify and depict fishes through their external features, which when matched up, would yield the same nature, and thus allow humans to identify and give a name to a fish. The Royal Society helped Ray's task by confirming the validity or uselessness of a given author on the subject, suggesting other authorities and sources for illustrations, organizing the printing, checking the corrections and paying for the cost of the printing. Subscriptions were sought for the illustrations and the inscriptions of subscribers reflect the Society's concern to promote its institutional identity and its supporters. Some Fellows of the Society also helped Ray with identities and classification of fishes, and changes were made in response to suggestions and objections of other Fellows. Without the intellectual and financial support of the Society, especially Pepys, Lister and Robinson, the Historia Piscium would not have been published in the way that it was. Despite the subscription, however, the Historia Piscium was a costly venture, largely due to its lavish illustrations, and the subsequent flop of sales of the book meant that The Royal Society faced serious financial problems. This is perhaps the main reason why it could not meet the cost of publishing Newton's Principia .

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document