463
RAV
II AT
is placed, so as to project one or two inches above the fluid ; andthat one rat may find on the former, a place of refuge. These pre-paratory measures being taken, the boards as well as the top ofthe cask should now be furnished with proper bait, in order to in-duce them to repeat their visits. No sooner does one of thesemarauders plunge through the section of the parchment into thevessel, than it retreats to the brick or stone, and commences itslamentations for relief. Nor are its whining notes uttered in vain :others soon follow, and share the same fate ; when a dreadful con-flict begins among them, to decide the possession of the dry asy-lum. Battles follow in rapid succession, attended with such loudand noisy shrieks, that all the rats in the neighbourhood hasten tothe fatal spot, where they experience similar disasters. Thus,hundreds may be caught by a stratagem, which might be greatly-facilitated by exposing a living rat taken in a trap, or purchasedfrom a professional rat-catcher. Nay-, if if it be true, that a wholeinhabitable island on the western coast of Scotland he infested ^with these destructive vermin, we are of opinion, that they couldthus be speedily exterminated ; and that the carcases of such ani-mals as have hitherto been considered as useless, inight be advan-tageously employed for the purposes of manuring the barren soilof those inhospitable regions.
RATAFIA, a liquor, prepared from the kernels of apricots,and several other kinds of fruits. Ritafia of cherries is preparedby broking the cherries, and putting them into a vessel whereinbrandy has been long kept ; then adding to them the kernels ofcherries with strawberries, sugar, cinnamon, white pepper, nut-meg, cloves ; and to 20lb. of cherries, ten quarts of brandy. Thevessel is left open ten or twelve days, and then stopped close fortwo months before it he tapped. Ratafia of apricots is preparedtwo ways, viz. either by boiling the apricots in white wine, addingto the liquor an equal quantity of brandy, with sugar, cinnamon,mace, and the kernels of apricots; infusing the whole for eight orten days; then straining the liquor, and putting it up for use: orelse by infusing the apricots, cut in pieces, in brandy, for a dayor two, passing it through a straining bag, and then putting in theusual ingredients.
HATCH, or RASH, in clock-work, a sort of wheel havingtwelve fangs, which serve to lift up the detents every hour, andmake the clock strike. See Clock .
RATCHETS, in a watch, are the small teeth at the bottomofthefusy, or barrel, which stops it in winding up.
RATE, a standard or proportion, by which either the quantityor value of a thing is adjusted.
Rates, in the navy, the order or classes into which the ships ofwar are divided, according to their force and magnitude. Theregulation, which limits the rates of men of war to the smallestnumber possible, seems to have been dictated by considerationsof political ceconomy, or of that of the simplicity of the service inthe royal dock-yards. The British fleet is accordingly distributedinto six rates, exclusive of the inferior vessels that usually attendon naval armaments ; as sloops of war, armed ships, bomb-ketches,Are-ships, and cutters or schooners, commanded by lieutenants.Skip* of the first rate mount 100 cannon, those of the second ratecarry 90 . Ships of the third rate carry from 64 to 80 cannon,and those of die fourth rate mount from 60 to 50 guns upon twoflecks, and the quarter-deck. All vessels of war, under the fourthra te, are usually comprehended under the general name of fri-gates, and never appear in the line of battle. They are dividedinto the 5th and 6th rates ; the former mounting from 40 to 326 u ns, and the latter from 28 to 20.
RATEEN. See Ratteen.
RATENAU, a town of Brandenburgh , in the Middle Marche,seated on the Havel, 15 miles N. W. of Brandenburg . Lon. 13.
49 - E I-at. 52. 46. N.
BATENBURG, a town of Germany , in Tyrol, with a castle,seated on the Inn. Lon. 12. 5. E. Lat. 47. 30. N.
RATHCORMUCK. a town of Ireland, in Cork ; 12 miles-• of Mallou, 14 miles North of Cork , and 111 S. S. W.of■Dublin .
RATH LIN, an island of Ireland , 7 miles from the N. coast;
I {V' e r s , lon K’ and 1 broad. Lon. 6. 6. W. -.Lat. 53. 20. N.
.1 HA I I BOR, a principality of Silesia, bounded on the N. by
»«, at j f PPP e l n > E- by Poland , S. by Teschen, and W. by Ja-Rerndorf. J ’
Ratibok, the capital of the above, 15 miles N. E. of TrOp-paw-, and 75 S. E. of Breslau .
RATIFICATION , [ ratijicatio , Lat.] an act approving of,and confirming, something done by another in our name. Thisword particularly used in our laws for the confirmation of aclerk in a benefice, prebend, &c. formerly given him bv thebishop, &c. where the right of patronage is doubted to be in theking.
RATtO, in arithmetic and geometry, is that relation of homo-geneous tilings which determines the quantity of one from the. quan-tity of another, without the intervention of a third. Ratio is oftwo kinds, viz. arithmetical and geometrical ; in the former thequantities increase or decrease by one common difference ; but inthe latter by one common-multiple. Thus, 2,4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 141Sec. is an arithmetical precession, in which the ratio is 2; and I,3,9,27, 81,243, 729, &c. is a geometrical progression, in whichthe ratio is 3. See Arithmetic, Algebra , and Proportion. ■
RATIOCINATION. See Logic , and Reasoning.
RATION, or RATTAN, in the'army, a portion of ammuni-tion, bread, drink, and forage, distributed to each soldier in thearmy, for his daily subsistence, Sec. The horse have rations ofhay and oats when they cannot go out to forage. The rations ofbread are regulated by weight.
RATIONAL is applied to integral, fractional, and mixed num-bers : thus we say rational fraction, rational integer, and rationalmixed number, for the explanation and doctrine of which, seeArithmetic , and Number. Rational is applied to the true ho-rizon, in opposition to the sensible or apparent one. See Ho-rizon. Rational is also applied to quantity, ratio, &c. SeeQuantity, Ratio, &c.
RATIONALE, a solution, or account of the principles of someopinion, action, hypothesis, phenomenon, or the like. See thearticles Principle, Phenomenon, See. Hence rationale is thetitle of several hooks.
Rationale is also the Latin name for an ancient sacerdotalvestment, worn by the high priest, under the old law, being apiece of embroidered stuff, worn on the breast, about a spansquare.
RATISBON , an ancient, large, rich, and strong city inBavaria, free and imperial, 55 miles S. E. of Nuremberg , 62N. of Munich , and 195 \Y. of Vienna. Lon. 12. 3. E. Lat. 48,59. N.
RATLINES, or RATLINS, as the sailors call them, thoselines which make the ladder-steps to go up the shtouds and put-tocks ; hence called the ratlins of]the shrouds.
RATOATH, a town of Ireland, in the county of Meath , andprovince of Leinster ; 12 miles E. of Trim, and 12 N. W. ofDublin .
RATOLFZEL, a strong town of Germany, in Suabia , near theW. end of the lake Constance .
RATI EEN, or RATTEN, in commerce, is a thick woollenstuff, quilled, woven on a loom with four treddles, like serges andother stuffs that have the whale or quilling.
RATTLE, among the ancients, a musical instrument of thepulsative kind, called by the Romans, crepitaculunl.
RATTUS , in zoology, the trivial name of a species of rats.See Mus.
RATZEBURG , or RATZEMBURG, a late principality ofGermany, in Lower Saxony , and duchy of Lawenburg. It ex-tends 10 miles every way. The soil is fertile.
Ratzebukgh, Ratzemburg, or Ratzenburgh, an ancienttown in the above country, 20 miles S. ot Lubec, and 30 N. E, ofLauenbtirg. Lon. 10. 58. E. Lat. 53.47. N.
RAYA, a palatinate of South Prussia , the late Great Poland,and present duchy of Warsaw , is bounded on the N. by that ofBlosko, on the E. by that of Mazovia , outlie S. by. that of San-domirz, and W. by that of I.encieza.
Rava, the capital of the above, 45 miles S. of Blosko, and 50S. W. of Warsaw .
RAVELIN, in fortification, was anciently a flat bastion placedin the middle of a curtain. See Fortification .
RAVELLO , a sea-port-town of Naples, in Principato Citra,11 miles W. S. W. of Salerno , and 25 S. E. of Naples. Lon.14.41. E. Lat. 40. 36. N.