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RAY and in an especial manner devoted his attention to botany. He made many excursions in England, Wales, and Scotland, and drew up careful notices of what he observed and collected. In 1660 he published a catalogue of Cambridge plants, and in the same year he took orders in the English church, and was ordained by the bishop of Lincoln. After his ordination Ray continued to prosecute his botanical studies and herborizations, in company with his friend Mr. Willoughby. Having refused to sign the act of conformity in 1661, he was deprived of his fellowship. From 1663 to 1666 he prosecuted his natural history studies on the continent of Europe, and subsequently published an account of his travels. On 7th November, 1667, he was elected a fellow of the Royal Society. About this time he entered upon a series of experiments relative to the ascent and descent of the sap in trees, the results of which he published in the Philosophical Transactions. Having examined carefully the botany of his native country, he printed in 1670 a catalogue of English plants. The loss of his friends Willoughby and bishop Wilkins was severely felt by Ray, and being left in a sort of forlorn state, he began to have thoughts of marriage. Accordingly, on 5th June, 1673, he married a Miss Oakeley of Launton in Oxfordshire—he being forty-five and his bride twenty. In the same year he published his "Observations, Topographical, Moral," &c.; his "Catalogus Stirpium in exteris regionibus, a nobis observatorum;" and his "Collection of Unusual or Local English Words;" as well as a "Catalogue of English Birds and Fishes." Ray continued to send contributions to the Royal Society. Among these may be enumerated, remarks on the bleeding of trees; on spontaneous generation; on mushrooms; on maize; on musk-scented insects; on scolopendra; on the darting of spiders; the anatomy of the porpoise; the air-bladder in fishes, &c. After the death of his mother, he removed to Black Notley on 24th June, 1679. Here he finished his "Methodus Plantarum Nova," which was published in 1682. His method of classifying plants may be considered as the basis of the natural system in botany, of which Ray may be considered the founder. He divided the vegetable kingdom into groups, the characters of which were founded on the flower and fruit. He divided plants into monocotyledons and dicotyledons. He still kept up the old distinction of woody and herbaceous plants. There are many errors and deficiencies in his system, but there is no doubt that it contains the earliest views as to a natural method of classification. The system was far in advance of the age in which he lived, and his method was not adopted by his contemporaries and immediate successors, who preferred to invent artificial methods of arrangement. It was not until the time of Jussieu that Ray's method was duly appreciated. In 1686-87 Ray published the first and second volumes of his "Historia Plantarum Generalis." In 1690 appeared his "Synopsis Methodica Stirpium Britannicarum." While publishing his scientific works Ray did not neglect religious subjects, as shown by his dissertations on the being and attributes of God in what he calls "The Wisdom of God manifested in the works of the Creation," and in his "Three Physico-theological Discourses concerning the Chaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World." In 1690-94 his works called "Synopsis Methodica Animalium Quadrupedum," and "Synopsis Methodica Avium et Piscium," appeared, as well as "A Collection of Curious Travels and Voyages," including those of Ranwolff, and "Sylloge Stirpium Europæarum intra Britanniam." Dr. Derham says of Ray that he "was a man of excellent natural gifts, and had a singular vivacity of style, whether he wrote in English or Latin, which was equally easy to him—all which (notwithstanding his great age, and the debility and infirmities of his body) he retained even to his dying day, of which he gave good proof in some of his letters, written manifestly with a dying hand. In a word, in his dealings no man was more strictly just; in his conversation no man was more humble, courteous, and affable; towards God no man was more devout; and towards the poor and distressed no man was more compassionate and charitable, according to his abilities." "The name of Ray will ever be revered by the wise and the good," says a writer, "from the use he made of his extensive knowledge of nature. His work on the 'Wisdom of God in Creation' was the first attempt, we believe, ever made in the christian era to confirm the truth of revealed religion by facts drawn from the natural world. Another of his works, 'Persuasion to a Holy Life,' shows us also how deeply his pure and pious spirit was imbued with those truths he taught to others. None but a philosopher could have written the first, none but a christian the second." Haller terms Ray the greatest botanist in the memory of man. Ray's remains were interred in the churchyard at Black Notley, where a monument was erected, on which was carved a long and elegant Latin epigraph, composed by the Rev. William Coyte. The Philosophical Letters collected and published in 1718 by Dr. Derham, containing sixty-eight written by Ray, throw much light on his character and pursuits. A genus of plants has been named Rajania by Plumier. A society for the publication of works on natural history has been established in Britain, under the name of the Ray Society. Among other works, the society has printed Memorials of Ray, with extracts from his correspondence, and a full list of his works.—J. H. B.  RAYMOND: the name of seven counts of Toulouse, of whom we notice—

IV., called Raymond of Saint Gilles, Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Marquis of Provence, was the youngest son of Pons, count of Toulouse, and brother of William IV. He succeeded to the throne in 1093, and had for his share on the division of the paternal estates the earldom of St. Gilles, which comprised a part of the province of Nîmes. He married his cousin, the daughter and heir of Bertrand, count of Provence. In 1094 he was summoned by Pope Gregory VIII. to the defence of the patrimony of St. Peter, against the attacks of the Normans. The pontiff, however, soon after excommunicated him on the grounds that he had married within the ties of consanguinity. Raymond having reconciled himself with the pope, married Elvira, the daughter of Alfonso, king of Castile, receiving with her a large sum of money, which served to defray the expenses attending his journey to the Holy Land with the first crusade. This prince was among the first who responded to the appeal of Peter the Hermit; and after three years spent in preparation, left for Asia with an army of one hundred thousand men, leaving the government of his estates in his absence to his son Bertrand. The route selected was over the Alps, through Lombardy, Friuli, and Istria to Constantinople, and thence across the Dardanelles into Asia Minor. After numerous adventures and considerable opposition from Alexis, emperor of the East, Raymond succeeded in making himself master of Constantinople. To the offers of Alexis, who had endeavoured to detach him from the cause of the crusaders by the gift of estates, on condition of his recognizing him as his superior lord, Raymond is reported to have replied, that "He had not come so far to find any other master but Jesus Christ; and that for him he had left his country and his lands, and had undertaken so long a journey. If, however, the emperor would join him and his fellow crusaders, he for his part would willingly fight under his standard." Having landed in Asia the crusaders laid siege to Nice, which, notwithstanding the attempts of the Sultan Solyman to raise the siege, fell into their hands. Antioch was the next city which they attacked, and upon its surrender a quarrel arose between Raymond and Bohemond, both laying claim to the government. The approach of a large army of Saracens to besiege them in their new acquisition, hushed for a time the differences which divided the crusaders. The count of Toulouse, by announcing the discovery of the spear which had pierced the side of our Saviour as an omen of victory, rekindled the enthusiasm of the soldiers, and once again victory crowned their arms. Raymond himself took no part in the action, being confined to his bed by a dangerous illness. On the 15th July, 1099, Jerusalem surrendered to the crusaders, who offered the crown to Raymond. Upon his refusal to accept the proffered honour, Godfrey de Bouillon was elected king. After remaining some time in the Holy Land he returned to Constantinople, where he met reinforcements under the command of Hugues, brother of Philip of France, the counts of Chartres and Poitiers. At their request he accepted the command, but fortune no longer favoured him. On the taking of Tortosa he left the crusaders, and with his own followers commenced operations before Tripoli. On the completion of a castle erected by him within two miles from the city, which he called Mont Pélerin, he commenced its blockade. He did not live to see his plans carried out; for, worn out with fatigue, he expired in 1105, and was buried in his newly-constructed castle. He left issue two sons, Bertrand and Alphonse Jourdain, both of whom succeeded him.

V., Count of Toulouse, Duke of Narbonne, and Marquis of Provence, born in 1134, was the son of Alphonse 