--- title: "The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705 - IVU - International Vegetarian Union" description: "The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705: John Ray John Ray - extracts John RAY , 1627-1705 (text from the 1st edition, 1883 ) John Ray, the founder of Botanical and, only in little less degree, of Zoological Science, was an alumnus of the University of Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of Trinity" url: "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2987-history-williams-ray.html" date: "2026-11-06T00:20:34+00:00" language: "en-GB" --- # The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705 > ![](https://ivu.org/images/legacy/history/history/renaissance/John_Ray.jpg) > John Ray > > [John Ray - extracts ](https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2613-history-renaissance-ray.html) > > **John RAY**, 1627-1705 > *(text from the 1st edition, 1883*) > > John Ray, the founder of Botanical and, only in little less degree, of Zoological Science, was an *alumnus* of the University of Cambridge. He was elected Fellow of Trinity College in 1649, and Lecturer in Greek in the following year. While at Cambridge he formed a collection of plants growing in the neighbourhood, a catalogue of which he published in 1660. Three years later, with his friend Francis Willoughby, he had traversed the greater part of Europe, as during his academical life he had traversed the greater part of these islands, in pursuit of botanical and zoological science - an account of which he published in 1673. > > He had been one of the first Fellows of the recently founded Royal Society. In 1682 appeared his *New Method of Plants*, which formed a new era in botany, or rather, which was the first attempt at making it a real science. It is the basis of the subsequent classification of Jussieu, which is still received; and its author was the first to propose the division of plants into *monocotyledons* and *dicotyledons*. > > His principal work is the Historia Plantarum, 1686-1704. "In it he collected and arranged all the species of plants which had been described by botanists. He enumerated 18,625 species. Haller, Sprengel, Adamson, and others speak of this his work as being the produce of immense labour and as containing much acute criticism." > > What, however, is more interesting to us is the fact that "in zoology Ray ranks almost as high as in botany, and his works on this subject are even more important, as they still in great measure, preserve their utility. Cuvier says that 'they may be considered as the foundation of modern zoology, for naturalists are obliged to consult them every instant for the purpose of clearing up the difficulties which they meet within the works of Linnaeus and his copyists.' " > > Between 1676-1686 appeared *Ornithologia* and *Historia Piscium*, the materials of which had been left him by his friend Willoughby. To his extraordinary erudition and industry the world was indebted for *A Methodical Synopsis of Quadrupeds* as well as a very valuable history of insects. Conspicuous amongst his merits are his accuracy of observation and his philosophical method of classification. With others, Buffon is largely indebted to the most meritorious of the pioneers of zoological knowledge. > > Ray has delivered his profession of faith in the superiority and excellence of the non-flesh diet in the following passage which has been quoted with approval by his friend John Evelyn :- > > > "The use of plants is all our life long of that universal importance and concern, that we can neither live nor subsist in any plenty with decency, or conveniency or be said to live indeed at all without them: whatsoever food is necessary to sustain us, whatsoever contributes to delight and refresh us, are supplied and brought forth out of that plentiful and abundant store: and ah \[he exclaims\], how much more innocent, sweet and healthful, is a table covered with these, than with all the reeking flesh of butchered and slaughtered animals. Certainly man by nature was never made to be a carnivorous animal, nor is he armed at all for prey and rapine, with jagged and pointed teeth and crooked claws, sharpened to rend and tear, but with gentle hands to gather fruit and vegetables, and with teeth to chew and eat them." [(1)](#1) > Footnote 1. See *Acetaria* (page 170). By John Evelyn - Acetaria: A Discourse of Sallets *(plain text 255k)* by John Evelyn (1620-1706) First pub. 1699, this edition New York, 1937. From the foreword: 'Evelyn ... is probably the first advocate in England of a meatless diet.' > [ Howard Williams, *The Ethics of Diet* - index](https://ivu.org/hv-libraries-research-history-williams-index.html) > A note on this archive. The history section of this website is drawn from a body of legacy content originally compiled by John Davis, former manager of the International Vegetarian Union. It represents his curation of historical material, and in places includes passages written by him directly. Over the years, the IVU website has migrated between several different hosting servers. In the course of these migrations, a number of PDF files were unfortunately lost, and **some links to PDF documents may no longer function**. Where this is the case, we have chosen to leave the original link text in place, as it may itself carry information of historical value. - Hits: 1253 ## Schema ```json {"@context":"https://schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-libraries-research-history-williams-index.html?view=article&id=2987:history-williams-ray&catid=79","url":"https://ivu.org/hv-libraries-research-history-williams-index.html?view=article&id=2987:history-williams-ray&catid=79","name":"The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705","inLanguage":"en","isPartOf":[{"@id":"https://ivu.org/history-of-ivu.html#archive"},{"@id":"https://ivu.org/hv-libraries-research-history-williams-index.html"}],"publisher":{"@id":"https://ivu.org/#organization"},"description":"John Ray John Ray - extracts John RAY, 1627-1705 (text from the 1st edition, 1883) John Ray, the founder of Botanical and, only in little less degree, of Zoological Science, was an alumnus of the…"}]} ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "BreadcrumbList", "itemListElement": [ { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 1, "name": "Home", "item": "https://ivu.org" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 2, "name": "IVU", "item": "https://ivu.org/" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 3, "name": "Resources", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 4, "name": "Interviews", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 5, "name": "History of the Vegetarian Societies", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 6, "name": "history", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 7, "name": "williams", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews.html" }, { "@type": "ListItem", "position": 8, "name": "The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705", "item": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2987-history-williams-ray.html" } ] } ``` ```json { "@context": "https://schema.org", "@type": "Article", "mainEntityOfPage": { "@type": "WebPage", "@id": "https://ivu.org/international-vegetarian-union/resources/interviews/2987-history-williams-ray.html" }, "headline": "The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705", "description": "The Ethics of Diet - John RAY, 1627-1705: John Ray John Ray - extracts John RAY , 1627-1705 (text from the 1st edition, 1883 ) John Ray, the founder of Botanical and, only in little less degree, of Zoological Science, was an alumnus of the University of Cambridge. 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