ABSTRACT
If John Ray’s Miscellaneous Discourses (1692) is a curious work, it is because the author sets out to demonstrate that the biblical story of the future dissolution of the world by fire can be substantiated and confirmed by natural historical facts. However, Popelard shows that Ray’s inquiry turns out to be severely hampered by his belief in the indisputable truth of the Bible. This chapter argues that, quite apart from its historical value as a characteristic example of late seventeenth-century natural theology, Ray’s treatise should also be read on account of its fine literary qualities. Not only is Ray’s disquisition peppered with graphic, quasi-novelistic descriptions of natural historical facts, including some spectacular accounts of natural disasters, but it is also endowed with a distinctly poetical quality. In addition to being one of the most accomplished botanists of his time, John Ray also had an artist’s eye for the beauty of nature. His Miscellaneous Discourses may therefore be cited as further evidence of the complex dialectics of science and literature in the early modern period.
