Three physico-theological discourses, concerning I. The primitive chaos, and creation of the world. II. The general Deluge, its causes and effects. III. The dissolution of the world, and future conflagration. Wherein are large discussed, the production and use of mountains; the original of fountains, of formed stones, and sea-fishes bones and shells found in the Earth; the effects of particular floods, and inundations of the sea; the eruptions of vulcano’s; the nature and causes of earthquakes. Also an historical account of those two late remarkable ones in Jamaica and England

London: William Innys, 1713. THIRD EDITION. Engraved frontispiece portrait of the author plus 4 additional copper-engraved plates, engraved initials, head- and tailpieces. Early half-calf and marbled boards, spine repaired using the original backstrip; interior excellent. A fine copy. Third edition. The first printing of 1692 was nearly an afterthought of a short discourse Ray had written on “dissolution of the world,” primarily a revision of his earlier work on the wisdom of God. He included at the last minute the two additional “digressions” on the Deluge in the days of Noah and the creation of the world. That first printing sold out immediately, and a second edition, expanded from 255 to 406 pages, was printed. This third edition is basically the same as the second, with the portrait and 4 plates of ancient coins and fossils.

Ray provides a truly scientific viewpoint of creation which, at the time, followed Genesis word for word. He attempts to explain the discovery of fossils (fish, plant, animal) around the world in places where they logically should not exist (fish fossils in the Alps, for example). His intention was to oppose those who believed that fossils, or “formed stones,” created as a result of the Deluge were “primitive productions” of nature which imitated shells, supporting the position that they were once living things. He also treats the cause of earthquakes and volcanoes as natural products of the earth.

Ray (1627-1705), a scholar and naturalist, was noted for botanical classification as important and original as those of Linnaeus. His unwillingness to be simply a compiler, and his investigation of anything that was curious or rare makes his work especially valuable for today’s scientific approach to folklore and dialect.

DSB XI, pp. 313-318; Geikie, The founders of geology, pp. 73-75; Keynes, 81.