180 The Life and Work of John Ray, and
whilst Ray's list, in which neither cryptogams nor grasses
were as yet numerous, only distinguishes 1050; but, whilst
many of the supposed species of How and Merrett have never
been identified, those of Ray are well known to all botanists
who have taken the trouble to investigate the treasures of the
Sloane Herbarium in the British Museum. Though only
alphabetically arranged, this Catalogue must have superseded
all others.
Without stopping to notice all the short papers contributed
by Ray from time to time to the Royal Society's 'Trans-
actions,' it is interesting to note that he expressed his
disbelief in the then prevalent opinion of spontaneous
generation.
In the autumn of 1671 he started for another tour in the
north, taking with him Thomas Willisel, an uneducated man,
who was, however, of great use not only to Ray, but to many
of the other naturalists of the day, from his skill as a collector.
But a few months later an unexpected event altered the
whole tenonr of the naturally unsensational life of a student
such as Ray, viz., the death of his young friend Willughby,
then only in his thirty-seventh year, from a fever, in July,
1672 ; and not many months later, in November, Ray lost
another great friend in Bishop Wilkins. His friendship for
his pupil Willughby had always been of the most cordial
character; it has, in fact, but one parallel in the history of
science, and that a curiously close one, first pointed out by
Dr. Lankester, the friendship of Linnaeus for the ill-fated
Artedi, who was drowned at the age of thirty. Both young
men curiously left works upon Ichthyology, which were pub-
lished by their surviving friend; but, in the words of Sir
J. E. Smith, "from the affectionate care with which Ray has
cherished the fame of his departed friend, we are in danger
of attributing too much to Willughby, and too little to him-
self." Willughby bequeathed to his friend the care and
education of his two sons, Francis and Thomas, the youngest
of whom alone survived to manhood, becoming Lord Middle-
ton. There was also a daughter, who became Duchess of
Chandos, and the eldest child was then under four years old.