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RAISIN brandy, a name given by our dif tillers to a very clear and pure spirit, procured from raisins, fermented only with water. Thus treated, they yield a fpirit fcarce at all diftinguishable from fome of the wine-fpirits; for there are as many kinds of wine-fpirits, as there are of grapes. The coarfer the operation of diftilling is performed in this cafe, the

nearer will be the resemblance of the winefpirit; that is, there will be most of this flavour in the fpirit, when as much as can be of the oil is thrown up with a galloping heat. Dr. Shaw obferves, that the diftillers are very fond of the winefpirit, with which they hide and disguife the taste of their naufeous malt, and other fpirits; and in defect of that spirit, this of raifins, made in this coarfe manner, will go almost as far. It is indeed furprifing how extensive the use of these flavouring fpirits is, ten gallons of raisinfpirit, or fomewhat lefs of the wine-spirit, being often fufficient for a whole piece of malt fpirit, to take off its native flavour, and give it an agreeable vinolity, It is no wonder therefore, that the diftillers and ordinary rectifiers are fo fond of this, as it is a good cloak for the defeets and imperfection of their processes. When raifin brandy is intended for common use, the fire should be kept flower

and more regular in the diftillation, and the fpirit, though it hath lefs of the high flavour of the grape, will be more pleafant and more pure. RAITING, or RATING, the laying of flax, hemp, timber, &c. when green, in a pond or running water, to feason, and prepare it for future ufes.

RAKE of a fhip is all that part of her hull which hangs over both ends of her keel. That which is before, is called the fore-rake, or rake-forward; and that part which is at the fetting on of the ftern-pott, is called the rake-aft, or af terward.

RAKE of the rudder, is the hindermoft part of it.

RAKE, among hunters, the same with rag. See the article RAG.

RAKE, in mining, the fame with vein. See the article VEIN.

RAKEE, in falconry, a term applied to a hawk that flies out too far from the fowl. RAKING, of an horfe, is drawing the or dure with the hand out of the fundament, when he is coftive, and cannot dung: in doing which the hand should be anointed with butter or fallad-oil.

An horfe is also faid to rake, when being fhoulder-fplaid, or having ftrained his fore-quarters, he goes fo lame as to drag one of his fore-legs in a femi-circle. RAKING TABLE, or RAKED TABLE, 2mong architects, is a member hollowed in the fquare of a pedeftal, &c. See the article CAVETTO and SCOTIA,

RALLYING, in war, reaffembling or calling together troops broken and put to flight.

RAM, in zoology, the male of the sheep
kind. See the article SHEEP.
RAM, in astronomy, the fame with aries.
See the article ARIES.

Battering RAM, in antiquity, a military engine ufed to batter and beat down the walls of places befieged.

The battering ram was of two forts, the one rude and plain, the other compound, The former feems to have been no more than a great beam which the foldiers bore on their arms and fhoulders, and with one end of it by main force affailed the wall. The compound ram is thus defcribed by Jofephus it is a vast beam, like the mait of a fhip, ftrengthened at one end with a head of iron, fomething refembling that of a ram, whence it took its name. See plate CCXXVII. fig. 1. This was hung by the middle with ropes to another beam, which lay acrofs two

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body immenfely greater, and requiring vaftly more hands to work it: for three men will manage a cannon, which fhall do as much execution as the above battering-ram wrought by 1000. The ram, whofe force is here calculated, is taken at a mean; being bigger than fome, and less than others, of thofe uled by the antients.

pofts; and hanging thus equally balanced, it was by a great number of men drawn backwards and pushed forwards, ftriking the wall with its iron-bead. Plutarch informs us, that Mark Anthony, in the Parthian war, made ufe of a ram fourfcorce feet long and Vitruvius tells us, that they were fometimes an hundred and fix, and fometimes an hundred and twenty feet in length; and to this perhaps, the force and ftrength of the engine was in a great measure owing. The ram was managed at one time by a whole century of foldiers, and they being fpent, were fconded by another century, fo that it played continually without any intermiffion.

In order to calculate the force of the battering-ram, R, (plate CCXXVII. fig. 1.) fuppofe it to be 28 inches in diameter, and 180 feet long; and confequently its folid content 750 cubic feet; which, allowing 50 pounds for each foot, will weigh 37500 pounds: and fuppofe its head of caft-iron, together with three iron hoops, &c. to be 3612 pounds. Now all these weights added together, make 41112 pounds, equal the weight of the whole ram; which will require 1000 men to move it, fo as to cause it to strike against the point L of the wall AHIGE, each man moving a weight of 41 pounds. The quantity of motion produced by this action, when the ram moves one foot in a fecond, may be expreffed by the number 41112; which motion or force compared with the quantity of motion in the iron-ball B, fhot out of the cannon C, will be found equal to it: for a cannon ball is known to move as fatt as found for about the space of a mile; and if you multiply 36 pounds, the weight of the ball, by 1142, the number of feet which found moves in one fecond, you will have the number 41112 for the quantity of motion or force, in the ball B ftriking at L. And if, after a few strokes given by the batteringram, the mortar or cement is fo loosen. ed, that the piece of the wall A DDFE is at last by a stroke of the ram carried forward from F to K, and fo beaten down; the fame thing will be peformed by a cannon-ball, after an equal

number of ftrokes.

RAM'S HEAD, in a fhip, is a great block belonging to the fore and main-halliards. It has three fhivers in it, into which the halliards are put, and in a hole at the end of it are reeved the ties.

RAMADAN, a folemn feafon of fafting among the mahometans, kept in the ninth month of the arabic year. This faft confifts in abftaining from meat and drink, and from lying with their wives each day, from the railing of the fun till the stars appear; and is of fuch ftrict obligation, that none is excufed from it; for the fick, and all others who cannot obferve it in this month, are obliged to faft another entire month inftead of it. So fuperftitious are the mahometans in the obfervance of this lent, that they dare not wash their mouths, or even fwallow their fpittle. The men are, indeed, allowed to bathe themfelves, on condition they do not plunge the head under water, left fome drops enter by the mouth or ears, &c. but as for the women, they are frily forbid bathing, for fear of taking in water at the pudendum. However, they frequently feait all night. The mahometans call this month holy, and believe, that as long as it lafts, the gates of paradife are open, and those of hell fhut.

RAMAGE, the boughs or branches of

trees.

RAMAGE-FALCON, or HAWK, one that is
wild and coy, as having been long
among the boughs preying for itself.
All falcons retain this name when they
have left the aery; being fo called in
May, June, July and Auguft. These
are very rarely reclaimed.
RAMAGE-VELVET. See VELVET.
RAMBERVILLERS, a city of Germany,
in the dutchy of Lorrain: east long. 6°
30', north lat. 48° 20′.
RAMEKINS, a fortrels of Zeland, one
of the United Provinces, fituated five
miles fouth of Middleburg.
RAMERA, a town of France, in the pro-
vince of Champain, eighteen miles north-
eaft of Troyes.

This fhews how advantageous the in-
vention of gunpowder is; fince we are
thereby enabled to give fuch a prodigious
velocity to a small body, that it fail
have as great a quantity of motion as a RAMIFICATION, the production of

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pepper-bird, and several other fpecies, See the articles TOUCAN, &c. RAMSEY, a market-town of Huntingtonfhire, ten miles north-eaft of Huntington.

boughs or branches, or of figures refembling branches. RAMILLIES, a fmall town in the auf trian Netherlands, in the province of Brabant, ten miles north of Namur. RAMMER, an inftrument used for driving down ftones or piles into the ground; or for beating the earth, in order to render it more folid for a foundation. RAMMER of a gun, the gun-stick, a rod ufed in charging of a gun, to drive home the powder, as alfo the fhot and the wad, which keeps the fhot from rolling out, The rammer of a great gun is ufed for the fame purpose. It has a round piece of wood at one end, and the other is ufually rolled in a piece of sheepfkin, fitted to the bore of the piece, and is ufed to clear her after he has been difcharged, which is called fpunging the piece.

RAMPANT, in heraldry, a term applied to a lion, leopard, or other beast that stands on his hind legs, and rears up his fore feet in the posture of climbing, fhewing only half his face, as one eye, &c. It is different from faliant, in which the beaft seems springing forward as if making a fally. See plate CCXXVII. fig. 3. RAMPART, in fortification, is an elevation of earth round a place capable, of refifting the cannon of an enemy; and formed into baftions, curtins, &c. See FORTIFICATION, BASTION, &c. A rampart ought to be floped on both fides, and to be broad enough to allow room for the marching of waggons and cannon, befide that allowed for the parapet which is raised on it: its thicknefs is generally about ten or twelve fathom, and its height not above three, which is fufficient to cover the houses from the battery of the cannon. The rampart is encompaffed with a ditch,

and is fometimes lined or fortified on the infide, otherwife it has a berme. See the article BERME.

Upon the rampart foldiers continually keep guard, and pieces of artillery are planted there for the defence of the place. RAMPART, in civil architecture, is ufed for the space left between the wall of a city, and the next houses. RAMPHASTOS, in ornithology, a genus of birds, of the order of the pice, the beak of which is remarkably large, and without any visible noftrils: the toes are the fame in number and the fame way placed as in the parrot. See PARROT.

This genus comprehends the toucan, the

RAMSEY, an ifland in the irish channel, on the coast of Pembrokeshire: west long. 5° 20', north lat. 51° 55'. RAMSGATE, a port-town of Kent, fituated between the north and fouth Foreland, eight miles fouth-eaft of Canterbury. RAMUS, in general, denotes a branch of any thing, as of a tree, an artery, vein, &c.

RANA, the FROG, in zoology. See the article FROG.

RANA PISCATRIX, the FROG.FISH, in ichthyology, a fish of a very irregular figure, not unlike that of a tadpole; its body being very inconfiderable in proportion to the vaft fize of its head, which has a very large mouth furnished with fharp teeth, and furrounded with fleshy tubercles; and on the under part of the body there are two fins resembling a mole's feet. See plate CCXXVII. fig. 4. It is the fame with the lophius. See the article LOPHIUS. RANA, or RANULA. See RANULA. RANCHIERA, a port-town of Terra Firma, fituated in weft long. 72°, north lat. 11° 34'.

RANCID, denotes a fatty fubftance that is become rank or mufty; or has contracted an ill smell by being kept close. RANDIA, a genus of plants, the clafs of which is not yet fully afcertained: its flower is monopetalous, and of the shape of a faucer; the limb is divided into five fegments: the fruit is an oval, unilocular capfule, containing numerous compreffed feeds, furrounded with a pulp. RANDOM SHOT, in gunnery, is a fhot made when the muzzle of a gun is raised above the horizontal line, and is not defigned to fhoot directly, or point blank. The utmost random of any piece is about ten times as far as the bullet will go point blank. The bullet will go fartheft when the piece is mounted to about 45% above the level range. See GUNNERY. RANFORCE RING. See the article REINFORCED RING.

RANGE, in gunnery, the path of a bullet, or the line it defcribes from the mouth of the piece to the point where it lodges. If the piece lie in a line parallel to the horizon, it is called the right or level range; if it be mounted to 45°, it is said

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