7

+

5 c..5235987;

which, multiplied by 6, gives 3.141592, &c. for the length of the femi-periphery of a circle whose radius is 1. RECTIFICATION, in chemistry, is nothing but the repetition of a distillation, or fublimation feveral times, in order to render the fubftance purer, finer, and freer from

aqueous or earthy parts.

The perfection of rectifying fpirits, according to Dr. Shaw, depends upon finding out a fimple method of separating all the oil and water from it; and, he obferves, that the great affinity betwixt the effential oil and fpirit, is the phyfical caufe of the difficulty found in the rectification of brandies. He recommends the way of working from a fpirit largely diluted with water, into water again; whereby the effential oil would, at one operation, be doubly feparated. See the articles DISTILLATION, ALCOHOL, SPIRIT, &c.

RECTIFIER, in navigation, an inftrument confifting of two parts, which are two circles either laid one upon, or let into, the other, and fo faftened together in their centers, that they represent two compaffes, one fixed, the other moveable; each of them divided into the thirty-two points of the compafs, and three hundred and fixty degrees, and numbered both ways, from the north and the fouth, ending at the east and west, in ninety degrees.

The fixed compafs reprefents the horizon, in which the north and all the other points of the compafs are fixed and immoveable. See HORIZON.

The moveable compaís reprefents the mariners compafs, in which the north

VOL. IV.

and all other points are liable to varia tion. See COMPASS.

In the center of the moveable compass is faftened a filk thread, long enough to reach the outside of the fixed compafs. But, if the inftrument be made of wood, there is an index inflead of the thread.

Its ufe is to find the variation of the compaís, to rectify the course at fea; having the amplitude or azimuth given.

RECTIFIER, in the diftillery, the perfon whofe employment it is to take the coarfe malt-fpirit of the malt-filler, and rediftil it to a finer and better liquor. The art of the rectifier, according to Dr. Shaw, might be entirely fet afide, if the maltkiller could make his fpirit perfect at the fecond operation; which feems very practicable, if the malt-ftillers could be got to forfake their old track. The great things to be recommended for the improvement of their art, would be firft the brewing in perfection, and fecondly the keeping their wash after the manner of ftale beer, till it has entirely loft its maltflavour, and acquired a pungent, acid vinofity; and then, thirdly, leaving out the lees, to diftil with a well regulated fire. It is fcarce to be thought how pure a fpirit is to be obtained from malt this way but the great art would be, the finding a way to make malt-liquors artificially ftale, bright, and flavourless, though otherwife vinous. RECTIFYING the globe. See GLOBE. RECTILINEAR, in geometry, right

lined; thus figures whofe perimeter confifts of right lines, are faid to be rectilinear.

RECTITUDE, rectitudo, in philofophy, refers either to the act of judging or of willing; and therefore whatever comes under the denomination of rectitude is either what is true or what is good; thefe being the only objects about which the mind exercises its two faculties of judging and willing.

Moral reftitude, or uprightnefs, is the chufing ani purfuing thofe things which the mind, upon due enquiry and attention, clearly perceives to be good; and avoiding thofe that are evil. RECTO, in law, ufually termed a writ of right, is of fo high a nature, that while other writs in real actions are only for the recovery of the poffefion of the lands, &c. in queftion. this writ tends to recover both the feifin and the property by which means both the rights of 15 X poffel

poffeffion and property are tried together. There are two kinds of this writ, a writ of right patent, fo called because it is fent open; it lies for him that has the fee fimple in the lands, &c. fued for, against a tenant of the freehold at least the other is a writ of rightclofe, and lies where a perfon holds Jands or tenements by charter in antient demefne, in fee-fimple, fee-tail, for term of life, or in dower, and is diffeifed. This writ is directed to the king's manors, or to the lord of an antient demefne, commanding him to do right in his court.

Recto, or right, is also prefixed to the title of feveral other writs: as 1. Recto de advocatione ecclefia, which is a writ of right that lies where a perfon has right of advowfon in fee to him and his heirs; and the incumbent dying, a ftranger prefents his clerk to the church; and he, not having brought this action of quare impedit, &c. within fix months, has fuffered the ftranger to ufurp upon him. 2. Relo de dote, a writ of right of dower, which lies for a woman who has received part of her dower, and demands the remainder against the heir of her deceased husband, or his guardian. 3. Recto de dote unde nihil habet, a writ of right that lies where a husband having lands or tenements, has affigned a dower thereof to his wife, on which account fhe is driven to fue the heir, or his guardian, for her thirds. 4. Recto quando dominus remifit, is a writ of right which lies where lands, &c. in the fignory of any lord, are demanded by a writ of right. Thus if the lord hold no court, cr, at the prayer of the demandant or tenant, fend his writ to the king's court, to carry the caufe thither, this writ iffues for the other party. 5. Recto de rationabili parte, a writ of right patent, that lies between privies in blood; as brothers in gavel kind, fifters, or other coparteners for land in fee-fimple, demanding a certain portion of it to hold in feveralty. 6. Recto fur disclaimer, a writ which lies where a lord, in the court of common pleas, avows upon his tenant, and the tenant difclaims to hold of him; upon which the lord may bring this writ.

RECTOR, a term applied to feveral per

fons whofe offices are very different: as, 1. The rector of a parish is a clergyman that has the charge and cure of a parith, and poffeffes all the tyther,

&c. 2. The fame name is alfo given to the chief elective officer in feveral foreign univerfities, particularly in that of Paris. 3. Rector is alfo ufed in several convents for the fuperior officer who g>verns the house; and the jefuits give this name to the fuperiors of fach of their houfes as are either feminaries or colleges. RECTORY, a parish-church, parsonage, or fpiritual living, with all its rights, tythes and glebes.

Rectory is alfo fometimes ufed for the rector's mansion or parfonage-house. RECTUM, in anatomy, the third and last of the large inteftines, or guts. See the article INTESTINES.

The rectum is in length about three hands breadth, and its diameter about three fingers. It has its beginning at the lowest vertebræ of the loins, and at the lower end is the anus. See ANUS.

It is connected to the os facrum, the os coccygis, and the urinary bladder in men ; but in women to the vagina uteri. The coats of the rectum are more thick and fleshy than thofe of any other of the intestines it has in general no valves, but it has feveral ruga: the abfence of valves here, is to prevent the expulfion of the foeces from being retarded. RECTUS, in anatomy, a name common to feveral pair of mufcles, fo called on account of the ftraightness of their fibres, as, 1. The rectus major anticus, which arifes from the tranfverfe apophyfes of the five lower vertebræ of the neck, and is inferted in the os occipitis. 2. The rectus minor anticus, called, by Cowper, mufculus annuens; this arifes from the anterior furface of the atlas, or first vertebra of the neck; and lies concealed, as it were, under the former, till it is at length inferted a little behind it, into the os occipitis: thefe two pair of muscles ferve to move the head forward. The rectus major poticus, one of the extenfors of the head, which has its origin from the fpinofe apophyfis of the epitrophæus, and is inferted into the os occipitis. 4. The rectus minor pofticus, which is alfo one of the five extenfors of the head, has its rife from the pofterior part of the atlas, and its end under the former. 5. The rectus lateralis, which ferves to bend the head on one fide, has its origin from the upper furface of the tranfverfe apophyfis of the atlas: from this it afcends ftrait with a fhort body, bus confiderably thick; and is inferted partly into the os

3.

occipitis, and partly into the temporal bone, near the incilure of the mastoide process. 6. The rectus tibiæ, one of the four extenfors of the leg, which has its origin from the anterior and inferior fpine of the ileum.

RECTUS IN CURIA, in law, one who ftands at the bar, and no man objects any thing against him. So alfo when a perfon who has been outlawed has reverfed the outlawry, and can partake of the benefit of the law, he is faid to be rectus in curia.

RECURRENTS, in anatomy, a name given to feveral large branches of nerves Tent out by the par vagum from the upper part of the thorax to the larynx. See the article NERVES. RECURRENT VERSES, are the fame with thofe called reciprocal. See the article RECIPROCAL. RECURVIROSTRA, in ornithology, a genus of the fcolopaces order of birds, the beak of which is of a depreffed or fatted figure, and is pointed at the extremity, and bent upwards: it is about the fize of our common lapwing, or a little larger; its colour is variegated, black and white; the figure of its beak is extremely fingular, being long, black throughout, flatted, and appears to be of a coreaceous fubftance rather than of a horny one, like that of the beaks of other birds; and its bending upwards in a part of a circle is alfo fingular. See plate CCXXIX. fig. 2.

There is another fpecies common in England, with a yellow breaft, about the fize of the common pigeon. RECUSANTS, fuch perfons as acknowledge the pope to be the fupreme head of the church, and refufe to acknowledge the king's fupremacy; who are hence called popish recufants. These are in England charged with double taxes, not merely as romanifts but as recufants. RECUSATION, the defiring a judge to refrain from judging in a certain caufe, on account of his kinfhip, capital enmity, &c. to one of the parties.

By the french law, kinship within the fourth degree, whether of confanguinity or alliance, is deemed a legal cause of recufation; as alfo the judge's being godfather, &c, of one of the parties. RED, in phyfics, one of the fimple or primary colours of natural bodies, or rather of the rays of light. See the articles COLOUR, LIGHT, and RAY. The red rays are thofe which of all others

are the leaft refrangible hence, as Sir Ifaac Newton fuppofes, the different degrees of refrangibility arife from the different magnitudes of the luminous particles whereof the rays confift, the red rays, or red light, is concluded to be that which confifts of the largest particles. Authors diftinguish three general kinds of red: one bordering on the blue, as columbine, or dove-colour, purple, and crimfon. Another bordering on yellow, as flame colour and orange; and between these extremes is a medium, partaking neither of the one nor the other, which is what we properly call red. Mr. Boyle obferves that red is an obvious, and generally a pleafing colour; and that antiently it was cuftomary to present red objects to elephants, to render them more fierce; and that the fame colour irritates turky-cocks. He oblerves alfo, that among the feveral changes of colour which bodies acquire, or difclofe, by digeftion, it is very remarkable to find a redness rather than any other colour in most tinctures; and even in the more grofs folutions made of almost all concretes that abound either with mineral or vegetable fulphur, though the menftruum employed about thefe folutions or tinctures be never fo limpid.

RED, in dying, is one of the five fimple or mother colours; fome reckon fix kinds or cafts of red, viz. fcarlet red, crimfon-red, madder-red, half-grain-red, lively-orange-red, and fcarlet of cochi neal: but they may be all reduced to the three following, according to the three principal drugs which give the colours : viz. the kermes, cochineal and madder. See the articles KERMES, COCHINEAL, and MADDER.

For the scarlet and crimson reds, fee the articles SCARLET and CRIMSON. Madder-red is made with madder, to which fome add realgal and arfenic; others common falt, or other falts, with wheat flour; or agaric, with spirit of wine, galls, or turmeric. The halfgrain is made with agaric and bran water; half-fcarlet-grain, half madder, and fometimes turmeric. As to the lively orange-red, the stuff must be firft put in yellow, then in a liquor made of goatshair, which has been boiled feveral times with madder, and now diffolved over the fire with certain acids, as urine, tartar, &c.

Befides thefe reds, which are good and allowed colours, there is also a brazil15 X 2

red,