Neither has nature been contented with admitting only one apparent deformity into the structure of this part of her offspring: the prodigal bill of the toucan incloses a tongue apparently as useless and extraordinary. It is not fleshy nor cartilaginous, like that of other birds, but exactly resembles a feather shut up in a large case. The feathers of the toucan are greatly admired by the Brazilians; they make them up into articles of dress, and wear them only on extraordinary occasions. The feathers of the throat are of a bright and lively orange, and are in request in Europe for making muffs. Notwithstanding the deformity of his bill and his tongue, the toucan wears a splendid dress: this circumstance, with his other peculiarities, have procured him the honor of being placed among the constellations of the south. From the singular conformation of the tongue of these birds one would imagine that they are mute: they make, however, a considerable noise; their long repetition of a hissing sound is often heard at a great distance. The savages attribute great healing virtues to this extraordinary tongue : and employ it as a medicine in almost every disease. The nostrils of this class of birds are almost imperceptible, being concealed among the feathers upon the base of the beak, in most kinds; though in others, discernible upon the naked rostrum. The feet resemble those of the parrot tribe, having two toes before and two behind, but of a disproportionate length. The legs of the toucan are bare of feathers, but covered with scales that feel soft to the touch. These birds are spread over all the warm climates of America; and, being very sensible to cold, never quit them. They remove at different seasons, after ripe fruit, but are rather wanderers than migratory birds. They delight in marshy grounds, and feed principally upon the fruit of the palm tree. They swallow their food whole, their large beak being of no service in breaking it. Though the toucan perches on the tops of very tall trees, his flight is heavy, and executed seemingly with great effort. Although he is continually in motion, yet his large beak gives him a grave and serious aspect. The whole of this genus build in the holes of trees, that have been scooped out by the woodpecker: they lay only two eggs. When taken young they are easily tamed; and can be even brought to hatch their eggs within a house. When in their natural state no bird defends its young better; they sit in their cavity, placing their large rostrum at the entrance; and should the monkey, or any other plunderer approach, he generally meets with such a reception, as prevents him from returning. The hole at which these birds enter is commonly so small, that their large bill nearly fills it; by this means they are more effectually guarded against birds, serpents, and other assailants. RANA. The generic name for that class of animals in the Linnæan system, of which the frog and the toad are the principal species. RANCIDITY. In Chemistry. Fixed oils are liable, by keeping, to undergo a change well known by the name of rancidity. They become thick, acquire a brown color, an acrid taste, and a disa greeable smell. The oil thus altered converts vegetable blues into red, and of course contains an acid. It is believed that this change is owing to the alteration of the foreign substances present in oils, or to the action of those foreign bodies upon the oily matter itself. Several of the fixed oils, when newly extracted, let fall, on standing, a quantity of mucilaginous matter; and from the experiments of Scheele, it appears probable that they always retain less or more of a similar principle. RANDOM. The shot made from a piece not designed to shoot directly forward. RANGER. In England, an officer whose duty it was to walk through the forest and present all trespasses at the next forest court: as the forest laws are now but little in use, the duty of the ranger is not of the same importance as formerly. RANK. In Domestic Policy, the situation which one man holds in respect to another: this is particularly defined in regard to the nobility in England, as also in all offices of state, as also in the officers of the army and navy. In Military Tactics, the straight line which the soldiers of a battalion or squadron make, as they stand side by side. RANUNCULUS. A perennial, much cultivated in gardens, bearing a flower of a globular shape; also the botanical name of a genus of plants, of which the globe ranunculus, the crowfoot, and the spearwort, are the principal species. RARE. In Physics, the opposite of dense, is said of a body that is very porous, whose parts are a great distance from each other, and which is supposed to contain but little matter under a large bulk. RAREFACTION. In Physics, the act whereby a body is rendered rare, that is, brought to possess more room, or appear under a larger bulk, without accession of any new matter. The cause of this effect is generally considered to be caloric, or the elementary fire. RASH. An eruption of the skin. It consists of red patches on the skin, diffused irregularly over the body. Portions of the cuticle are often elevated in a rash, but the elevations are not acuminated. The eruption is usually accompanied with a general disorder of the constitution, and terminates in a few days by cuticular exfoliations. RATAN. A genus of palms, but widely dif fering in habit from the rest of that family, and, in this respect, somewhat resembling the grasses. The species have all perennial, long, round, solid, jointed, unbranching stems, extremely tough and pliable, often ascending among the branches of trees, but without prickles or tendrils. They grow in profusion along the banks of rivers in tropical Asia and the neighboring islands. All the species are very useful, and are applied to various purposes; the fruit and young stems of all furnish nutriment, | East India, as Mr. Buchanan remarks, vultures and a drink is obtained from the liquid which are frequently seen feeding in the company of dogs flows from wounds made in the spadix. and jackalls-not upon the carcasses of brutes, but (horrible to relate!) upon the dead bodies of men and women. One species is even cultivated for its fruit, which is about the size of a walnut, and covered with scales. Certain species furnish cables, cords and withes of exceeding strength; others are split into RAY. In Optics, a beam of light, emitted from strips for making the seats and backs of chairs, a radiant or luminous body. Rays are defined, baskets, and other light and elegant articles of fur- | by Sir Isaac Newton, to be the least parts of light, niture; those which are larger and firmer, and whether successive in the same line, or contemwhose joints are more distant, afford elegant walk-porary in several lines. For that light consists of ing sticks; in short, the economical purposes to which the various species of ratans are applied, are very numerous, even in northern climates. A trade in ratans, to considerable extent, is carried on from several of the East India islands to China, which is the principal market for them. RATEEN, or RATTEEN. In Commerce, a thick woollen stuff, quilled, woven in a loom with four treddles, like serges that have the wale or quilling. Some are dressed and prepared like cloths; others left simply in the hair; and others, where the hair or knap is frized. They are chiefly manufactured in Holland, France, and Italy. The frize is a sort of coarse rateen; and the drugget is a rateen half linen, half woollen. RATIO. In Arithmetic and Geometry, is that relation of homogeneous things, which determines the quantity of one from the quantity of another, without the intervention of a third. RATIONALE. The account or solution of any phenomenon or hypothesis, explaining the principles on which it depends, and every other circumstance. RATTLESNAKE. An animal of the serpent kind, having a tail furnished with a rattle, which it shakes when angry. It inhabits rocky and mountainous places in North America, and although its bite is poisonous, yet it does not attack any one unless provoked. RAVEN, or CROW. A bird of all climates. He can bear the heats of the most sultry regions, and can also bear the most pinching cold: all weather seems indifferent to him, and the most loathsome food sustains him; yet he sometimes lives near a hundred years. He is generally of a glossy black; but in the polar regions, is sometimes seen of a milk white. A raven may be tamed and trained for catching other birds; he may be taught to fetch and carry like a dog; he may be learned to speak like a parrot, but his voice is hoarse; and he may be taught to sing. They have an ingenious stratagem for breaking the shells of shell fish. When they are fishing by the seashore, they carry a mussel or other shell fish, high up in the air, and then dash it down upon a rock; by which means the shell is broken, and they obtain the food it contains. When ravens are enjoying their chosen repast, one of them keeps guard, and gives warning on the approach of danger. This they do by turns; relieving each other at short intervals. Ravens and dogs sometimes feed together, amicably, upon the same carcass. In parts of both kinds is evident, since one may stop what comes this moment in any point, and let pass that which comes presently after: now the least light, or part of light, which may be thus stopped, he calls a ray of light. RAYS OF THE SUN. It has been found by experiment, that there is a very great difference in the heating power of the different rays of light. It appears, from the experiments of Dr. Herschel, that this heating power increases from the middle of the spectrum to the red ray, and is greatest beyond it, where the rays are invisible. Hence it is inferred that the rays of light and caloric nearly accompany each other, and that the latter are in different proportions in the different colored rays. They are easily separated from each other, as when the sun's rays are transmitted through a transparent body, the rays of light pass on seemingly undiminished, but the rays of caloric are intercepted. When the sun's rays are directed to an opaque body, the rays of light are reflected, and the rays of caloric are absorbed and retained. This is the case with the light of the moon, which, however much it be concentrated, gives no indication of being accompanied with heat. It has also been shown that the different rays of light produce different chemical effects on the metallic salts and oxides. These effects increase on the opposite direction of the spectrum, from the heating power of the rays. From the middle of the spectrum, towards the violet end, they become more powerful, and produce the greatest effect beyond the visible rays. From these discoveries it appears that the solar rays are of three kinds: 1. Rays which produce heat; 2. Rays which produce color; and, 3. Rays which deprive metallic substances of their oxygen. The first set of rays is in greatest abundace, or are most powerful towards the red end of the spectrum, and are least refracted. The second set, or those which illuminate objects, are most powerful in the middle of the spectrum. And, the third set produce the greatest effect towards the violet end, where the rays are most refracted. The solar rays pass through transparent bodies without increasing their temperature. The atmosphere, for instance, receives no increase of temperature by transmitting the sun's rays, till these rays are reflected from other bodies, or are communicated to it by bodies which have absorbed them. This is also proved by the sun's rays being transmitted through convex lenses, producing a high degree of temperature when they are concentrated, but giving no increase of temperature to the glass itself. By this method the heat which proceeds from the sun can be greatly increased. Indeed, the intensity of temperature produced in this way is equal to that of deavor to imitate the inflexions, accent, and emphasis, of natural speech. the hottest furnace. This is done, either by reflecting the sun's rays from a concave polished mirror, or by concentrating or collecting them by the refractive power of convex lenses, and direct-in narration and recital, was first introduced in the ing the rays thus concentrated on the combustible body. REACTION. In Physiology, the resistance made by all bodies to the action or impulse of others, that endeavor to change its state whether of motion or rest. REAGENT. The name given by chemists to such bodies as serve to detect the component parts of others; thus the infusion of galls is a reagent which detects iron by a dark purple precipitate. REALGAR. A metallic substance of a red color, more or less lively, and transparent, and often crystallized in brilliant needles. It is formed by a combination of arsenic with sulphur. REAPING MACHINE. An implement of husbandry for cutting down grain, instead of reaping with a sickle. REASONING. The exercise of the faculty of the mind called reasoning; or it is an act or operation of the mind, deducing some unknown proposition from other previous ones that are evident and known. REBATE AND DISCOUNT. A rule in arithmetic, by which discounts upon ready money payments are calculated. RECAPITULATION. Recapitulation is a summary of the preceding discourse; or a concise, transient enumeration of the principal things insisted on at large in it; by which the memory of the hearer is refreshed, and the force of the whole collected into one view. Recitative, so called because its true province bes year 1660, by Signor Emilia del Cavaliere, at Rome, and was so powerfully recommended by its effect as to be speedily adopted in other parts of Italy, and, by degrees, through the rest of Europe. The force and beauty of this species of composition will ever, in a considerable degree, depend on the character of the language in which it is used; as that is more or less accented and melodious, so the more or less natural and striking will be the effect of the recitative. The ancient Greeks, whose language itself was melody, recited all their poetry in a kind of recitative, and from the musical tones of their syllables they could, as it were, sing in speaking. But all the modern languages, not excepting even the Italian, are too distant from that inusical sweetness to admit of that melodious intonation, and we are consequently obliged either to sing or to speak; we cannot do as it were both at the same time: and it is this distinction which has rendered recitative, or artificial declamation, so necessary to the moderns: the transition from air to natural speech would in our oratorio, serious opera, or cantata, be too abrupt not to offend and disgust the ear. There is no province of musical composition in which genius and science have an ampler scope for their fairest and fullest display than in recitative; nor upon success in which connoisseurs more highly reckon, because they know there is none in which excellence is more difficult of attainment. In Italy it is sufficient to excel in recitative to be ranked with the most illustrious of their composers, and some masters have been immortalized for their talents in this species of writing. But however highly we may with justice reckon upon the beauty and value of good recitative, though it be nothing less than a species of unIn order to constitute a good repetition or re- measured melody, highly impassioned and strongly capitulation, it must be short and concise: it is expressive, and forms an union between the air also convenient to recite things in the same order and the words at once gratifying to the ear and in which they were first laid down; but sometimes consonant to the feelings, and always introduces a repetition is made, by running a comparison be- the song by which it is succeeded with a heightentween the speaker's own argument, and those of ed and interesting effect, yet it ought nevertheless the adverse party, and placing them in opposition to be sparingly employed, and should never conto each other; and this method Cicero takes in tinue longer at a time than the contexture and busithe conclusion of his third oration upon the Agra-ness of the scene absolutely demands. rian law. In some cases, when the discourse is very long, and the arguments insisted on have been many, the orator only mentions such things which he thinks of least consequence, by saying that he omits or passes over them, till he comes to what is of greater moment, which he represents more fully. RECIPROCAL TERMS. In Logic, terms which, having the same signification, are convertible, as man and rational animal; for man is a rational animal, and a rational animal is man. RECITATIVE. A species of musical recitation forming the medium between air and rhetorical declamation, and in which the composer and performer, rejecting the rigorous rules of time, en Most vocal composers, from Emilia down to those of the present day, do not appear to have been sufficiently attentive to this necessary brevity, nor sufficiently aware that however beautiful and interesting recitative may be in itself, when duly limited, it becomes wearisome the moment it exceeds a certain length, and by previously fatiguing the attention, not only enfeebles its own intended effect, but defeats the grand object of advantageously preparing the ear for the approaching melody. RECKONING, or SHIP'S RECKONING. The account kept of a ship's way, by which it may be known at any time where she is; the account taken from the logbook is called the dead reckoning. obtain the requisite information. Reconnoitering not unfrequently brings on engagements, and considerable bodies of troops often march out to cover the reconnoitering party, and to make prisoners if possible, in order to obtain information from them. The bad success of Napoleon in his last campaigns has been partly ascribed, with much probability, by French writers themselves, to the unceasing activity of the Cossacks, which in many cases, prevented the aids-de-camp of the French emperor from obtaining the information which they were commissioned to seek, and induced them to supply from their own invention the deficiencies in their observations. RECLUSE. Among the Roman Catholics, is a much on his aids-de-camp, as he cannot go everyperson shut up in a small cell of a hermitage or where himself; nor is he allowed to expose himmonastery, and cut off, not only from all conversa-self, so much as is necessary, on some occasions, to tion with the world but even with the house. This is a kind of voluntary imprisonment, from a motive either of devotion or penance. The word is also applied to incontinent wives, whom their husbands procure to be thus kept in perpetual imprisonment in some religious house. Recluses were anciently very numerous. They took an oath never to stir out of their retreat; and, having entered it, the bishop set his seal upon the door; and the recluse had every thing necessary for the support of life conveyed through a window. If he was a priest, he was allowed a small oratory with a window, which looked into the church, through which he might make his offerings at the mass, hear the singing, and answer those who spoke to him; but this window had curtains before it, so that he could not be seen. He was allowed a little garden, adjoining to his cell, in which he might plant a few herbs, and breathe a little fresh air. If he had disciples, their cells were contiguous to his, with only a window of communication, through which they conveyed necessaries to him, and received his instruction. If a recluse fell sick, his door might be opened for persons to come in and assist him, but he himself was not to stir out. RECOGNISANCE. A bond or obligation acknowledged in some court, or before some judge. RECORDER. A person whom the chief magistrates of any city or town corporate, having jurisdiction and a court of record within their precincts, associate with them for their better direction in legal proceedings. He is usually a person experienced in the law. RECTIFIER. In Navigation, an instrument consisting of two circles, either laid one upon, or let into the other, and so fastened together in their centres, that they represent two compasses, one fixed, the other movable; each of them divided into the thirty-two points of the compass, and thirty-six degrees, and numbered both ways, from the north and south, ending at the east and west in ninety degrees. The fixed compass represents the horizon, in which the north and all the other points of the compass are fixed and immovable. The movable compass represents the mariner's compass; in which the north and all other points are liable to variation. In the centre of the movable compass is fastened a silk thread, long enough to reach the outside of the fixed compass. But, if the instrument be made of wood, there is an index instead of the thread. Its use is to find the variation of the compass, to rectify the course at sea; having the amplitude or azimuth given. RECOIL, or REBOUND. The resilition, or flying backward of a body, especially a firearm. This is the motion by which, upon explosion, it starts or flies backwards; and the cause of it is the resistance of the ball and the impelling force of the powder, which acts equally on the gun and on the ball. It has been commonly said by authors, that the momentum of the ball is equal to that of the gun with its carriage together; but this is a mistake; for the latter momentum is nearly equal to that of the ball and half the weight of the powder together, moving with the velocity of the ball. So that, if the gun, and the ball with half the powder, were of equal weight, the piece would recoil with the same velocity as the ball is discharg- RECUPERATORS. Among the ancient Roed. But the heavier any body is, the less will its mans, were commissioners appointed to take cogvelocity be, to have the same momentun, or force; nizance of private matters in dispute between the and therefore so many times as the cannon and subjects of the state and foreigners, and to take carriage is heavier than the ball and balf the pow-care that the former had justice done them. It der, just as many times will the velocity of the ball be greater than that of the gun; and in the same ratio nearly is the length of the barrel before the charge, to the quantity the gun recoils in the time the ball is passing along the bore of the gun. RECONNOITER. Reconnoiter means, in military language, to inform one's self by ocular inspection of the situation of an enemy, or the nature of a piece of ground. It is one of the most important departments of the military art, and must precede every considerable movement. A penetrating eye, an acute ear, a calm and sagacious judgment, and much knowledge of military operations, are indispensable for reconnoitering with advantage. The commanding general always reconnoiters himself, but he must of course rely came at last to be used for commissioners, to whom the prætor referred the determination of any affair between one subject and another. RED. In Physics, one of the simple or primary colors of natural bodies, or rather of the rays of light. The red rays are those which are of all rays the least refrangible: hence, as Sir Isaac Newton supposes the different degrees of refrangibility to arise from the different magnitudes of the luminous particles whereof the rays consist, the red rays, or red light, is concluded to be that which consists of the largest particles. Authors distinguish three general kinds of red; one bordering on the blue, as colombine, or dovecolor, purple, and crimson; another bordering on yellow, as flame-color and orange; and between | sail comprehended in the reef is then laid smooththese extremes is a medium, partaking neither of ly over the yard, in several folds, and the whole is the one nor the other, which is what we properly completed by tying the points about the yard, so call red. as to bind the reef close up to it. Acids generally turn black, blue, and violet into red; and red into yellow; and yellow into a very pale yellow. Alkalis change red into violet, or purple; and yellow into feuillemort, or dead leaf-color. Terrestrial and sulphureous matters become red by extreme heat; and some at length black, as we see in brick, red bole, red chalk, slate, &c. All these, when vitrified by a burning glass, become black. Lobsters become red by a moderate fire; and by a violent one, black. Mercury and sulphur mixed and heated over a moderate fire, make a beautiful red, called artificial cinnabar. REFINING. In general, is the art of purifying a thing; including not only the essaying or refining of metals, but likewise the depuration or clarification of liquors. REFLECTION. In Mechanics and Physics, the return or progressive motion of a moving body, occasioned by some obstacle which hindered it from pursuing its former direction. Reflection of rays of light, in catoptrics, is their return after approaching so near the surface of bodies, as to be thereby repelled or driven hackwards. Reflection is also used, figuratively, for an operation of the mind, whereby it turns its view backwards, as it were, upon itself, and makes itself and its own operations the object of its disquisition; and by contemplating the manner, order, and laws, which it observes in perceiving ideas, comparing them together, reasoning, &c. it frames new ideas of those discovered relations. REDUCTION OF METALS. In Chemistry. All metals, even the few that resist the action of heat and air, undergo a similar change when exposed to acids, especially the sulphuric, the nitric, and the muriatic, or a mixture of the two last. All metals, by these means, may be converted into powders, which have no resemblance to the metals from which they were obtained. These powders were formerly called calces; but at present they are better known by the name of oxides. They are of various colors, according to the metal and the treatment, and are frequently manufactured in large quantities to serve as paints. When these oxides are mixed with charcoal powder and heated in a crucible, they lose their earthy appearance, and are changed again into the metals from which they were produced. Oil, tallow, hydrogen gas, and other combustible bodies, may be often sub-ed him incapable of that severe and patient econstituted for charcoal. By this operation, which is called the reduction of the oxides, the combustible is diminished, and indeed undergoes the very same change as when it is burnt. In the language of Stahl, it loses its phlogiston; and this induced him to conclude that metals are composed of carth and phlogiston. REFORMATION. It was from causes seemingly fortuitous, and from a source very inconsiderable, that all the mighty effects of the reformation flowed. Leo X. when raised to the papal throne, found the revenues of the church exhausted by the vast projects of his two ambitious predecessors, Alexander VI. and Julius II. His own temper, naturally liberal and enterprising, render omy which the situation of his finances required. On the contrary, his schemes for aggrandising the family of Medici, his love of splendor, his taste for pleasure, and his magnificence in rewarding men of genius, involved him daily in new expenses; in order to provide a fund for which, he tried every device, that the fertile invention of priests had fallen on, to drain the credulous multitude of their wealth. Among others, he had recourse to a sale of indulgences. REEF. In Nautical Affairs, a certain portion of a sail, comprehended between the top or bottom, and a row of eyelet holes parallel thereto. The According to the doctrine of the church of intention of the reef is to reduce the surface of the Rome, all the good works of the saints, over and sail in proportion to the increase of the wind; for above those which are necessary towards their own which reason there are several reefs parallel to justification, are deposited, together with the infieach other in the superior sails, whereby they may nite merits of Jesus Christ, in one inexhaustible be still farther diminished, in order to correspond treasury. The keys of this were committed to St. with the several degrees of the gale. Thus the Peter, and to his successors the popes, who open topsails of ships are usually furnished with four it at pleasure, and by transferring a portion of this reefs, and there are always three or four reefs, superabundant merit to any particular person, for parallel to the bottom on those mainsails and fore- a sum of money, may convey to him, either the sails, which are extended upon booms. The top- pardon of his own sins, or release for any one in sails are always, and the courses generally, reefed whose happiness he is interested, from the pains with points, which are flat braided pieces of cor- of purgatory. Such indulgences were first indage, whose lengths are nearly double the circum-vented in the eleventh century, by Urban II. as a ference of the yard. These, being inserted in the recompense for those who went in person upon eyelet holes, are fixed in the sail by means of two the meritorious enterprise of conquering the Holy knots in the middle. In order to reef the topsails Land. They were afterwards granted to those with more facility and expedition, they are lower- who hired a soldier for that purpose; and, in ed down and made to shiver in the wind; the ex-process of time, were bestowed on such as gave tremities of the reef are then drawn up to the money for accomplishing any pious work, enjoined yard arms by the reef-tackle where they are se- by the pope. Julius II. had bestowed indulgences curely fastened by the ear rings. The space of on all who contributed towards building the church |