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RAVENGLASS, a town of Cumberland in England, be-tween the rivers lit and Esk. I.on. 0. 5. E. Lat. 54. 20- N.
RAVENNA, in ancient geography, a noble city of GalliaCispadana ; a .colony of Thessalians, on the Adriatic, in a boggysituation, which proved a natural security to it.
RAVENSBURG, a free and imperial town of Germany , inAlgow, in the circle of Suabia . Lon. 9. 46. E. Lat. 47.44. N.
RAVENSTE1N, or RAVESTEIN, a town of Batavia, andcapital of a late county so named, in the department of the Dom-mel and Scheldt, and late province of Dutch Brabant : seated onthe Meuse, 10 miles S. W. of Nimeguen .
RAUSCHENBERG, a town in Hesse ; 4 miles N. ofMarburg, and 32 S.S. W. of Cassel.,' 0 Lon. 26. 32. E. Lat. 50.41. N.
RAUWOLFIA, in botany, a genus of the pentandria mono-gytiia class and order. Natural order, Contorts. Contorted;berry succulent, two-seeded. There are four species.
RAY, John, a celebrated botanist, the son of Mr. Roger Ray,n blacksmith, born at Black Notly in Essex , in 1628. He re-ceived the first rudiments of learning at the grammar-school atBraintree; and in 1644 was admitted into Catharine-hall Cam-bridge, from whence he afterwards removed to Trinity college inthat university. He took the degree of M. A. and became atlength a senior fellow of the college ; but his intense applicationto his studies having injured his health, he was obliged to exercisehimself by riding or walking in the fields, which led him to thestudy of plants. In 1660 he published his Catalogus Piantarumcirca Cantabrigiam nascentium, and was ordained deacon andpriest. In 1661, he made a tour through Britain along with Mr.Willoughby, in search of rare plants : and in 1662, accompaniedhim in a tour through Holland, Germany, France, and Italy ;and on his return was made F. R. S. In 1672, Mr. Willoughby'dying left Rav one of his executors, and tutor to his sons, with60/. a-vear for life. For their use he composed his NomcnclatorClassicus, in 1672. In 1673, he married a daughter of Mr. Oak-ley, of Launton, Oxfordshire ; and published his ObservationsTopographical and Moral , ,Scc. made in foreign countries; to whichwas added his Catalogus Stirpium in exteris llegionibus observa-tarum ; and about the same time, his Collection of unusual or localEnglish words, which he had gathered up in his travels through thecounties of England. In 1697, he published, The Wisdom ofGod manifested in the Works of the Creation, 8vo. The rudi-ments of this work were read in some college-lectures; and anothercollection of the same kind he enlarged and published under thetitle of Three Physico-Theological Discourses, concerning theChaos, Deluge, and Dissolution of the World, Svo. 1692. Hedied in 1705. He was modest, affable, and communicative ; andwas distinguished by his probity, charity, sobriety, and piety. Hewrote a great number of other works ; tiie principal ot whichare, 1. Catalogus Piantarum Angliie. 2. Dictionarioluni Trilinguesecundum Locos communes. 3. Historia Piantarum, Species,liactemis editas, aliasque insuper noviter multas inventas et de-scriptas complec.tens, three vois. 4. Methodus Piantarum nova,cum Tabulis, Svo. and several other works on plants. 5. Svnop-sis Methodica Aniinalium, Quadrupedmn et Serpentini Generis,Svo. 6. Synopsis Methodica Avium et Piscium. 7. llistoriainsectorum, Opus posthumum. 8, Methodus Insectorum. 9.Philosophical Letters, &c.
Ray, in optics. See Light , and Optics.
Rays. Inflected, those rays of light which, on their near ap-proach to the edges of bodies, in passing by them, are bent out ofr.heir course, being turned either from the body or towards it.This property of the rays of light is generally termed diffractionoy foreigners, and Dr. Hooke sometimes called it deduc-tion.
Rays, Pencil op, a number of rays issuing from a point of anobject, and diverging, in the form of a cone.
Rays, Reflected, those rays of light which, after falling uponthe body, do not go bey ond the surface of it, but are thrown hackagain.
Rays, Refracted , those rays of light which, after falling uponany medium, enter its surface, being bent either towards or from aperpendicular to the point on which they fell.
1 13 miles S. E. of Chelmsford, and 34 E. of London . Lon. 0. 40.E. Lat 51.37. N.
RAYNAL, William Thomas, the celebrated Abbe, was bornin 1712; educated, among the Jesuits , and had even become amember of their order; but was expelled for denying the supremeauthority of the church. He afterwards associated with Voltaire ,
! Dalembert, and Diderot , and was by them employed to furnish thetheological articles for the Encyclopedic . In this, however, hetook the assistance of the Abbe Y von, to whom he did not giveabove a sixth part of what he received; which being afterwardsdiscovered, he w’us obliged to pay Yvon the balance. His mostcelebrated work is his political and Philosophical History of theEuropean Settlements in the East and West Indies ; which hasbeen translated into all the languages of Europe , and much ad-mired. This work was followed in 1780, by another, in\iluledThe Revolution of America, in which the Abbe pleads the causeof the Americans with zeal. The French government raised aprosecution against him for the former of these works ; upon whichlie returned to Berlin , where Frederic the Great afforded him anasylum, (although the Abbe had not treated that monarch with theutmost politeness in these works. The chid trait in Raynal’s cha-racter was his love of liberty ; but when he saw the length towhich the French revolutionists were driving matters, he made! one great effort to stop them in their career. In May 1791, he| addressed a letter to the Constituent National assembly, in whichafter complimenting them upon the great tilings they had done,lie cautioned them against the dangers of going farther. He livednot only to see his forebodings of public calamity realized, but tosillier more than his share of it. After being stripped ot all hisproperty, which was considerable, by the robbers of the revolution,lie died m poverty, in March, 1796. in the 84th year of his age.Besides the works above mentioned, he wrote, 1. A History of theParliament of England ; 2. A History of the Statholderate ; 3.The History of the Divorce of Catharine of Arragon, by HenryVIII . About the time of his death, he was preparing a newedition of all his works, with many alterations; and he is said tohave left among his MSS. A History of the Revocation of theEdict of Nantes , in 4 vols. but during the bloody reign of Ro-berspierre he burnt a great number of his MSS.
RAZOR, an instrument employed for the purpose of removingthe hair from the human beard or tiead. As shaving is to manypersons a painful operation, cullers have applied all their skill anuingenuity, to remedy such inconvenience. Hence strops, andwashes, or soaps of a peculiar nature, have been contrived, with aview to facilitate that process; and some artists have so far suc-ceeded, as to produce excellent instruments. Much depends uponthe manner in which the razor is managed. The hone, therefore,ought first to he wiped perfectly clean, after which a few drops ofsweet oil must be poured on it. The operator should next placehis thumb and fore-finger sideways, on the part of the heel, inorder to take firm hold both of the blade and ot its handle : one sideof the razor is next to be laid fiat across the hone, in such a maiKtier that its shoulder (or the part contiguous (o the heel,) may touchthe nearest part of the stone. The razor is now drawn towards theperson, somewhat circularly, and with a slight pressure, till he ar-! rives at the point. When such side has been thus passed for a lewtimes, the opposite one is to be conducted in a similar manner, till! the edge uniformly assumes a wiry appearance. Lastly, both sides! are to be moved a few times across the hone, from the heel to thepoint; in order that a perfect regularity may be produced in every,part of the edge. The razor, being thus honed, must now bedrawn obliquely, from the point to the heel, across a strop, thatI is perfectly flat ; and which is furnished with two leathers on theL smoothing side: after this operation, it is fit for immediate use.! It deserves, however, to he mentioned, that those boasted pow'i! (lets, or im' luous preparations for giving a fine edge to razors,i consists merely ol crocus martis, or the red calx of vitriol,
! which is spread on the strop by mixing it with a little oil ortallow.
llE-ACTION, in physiology, is the resistance made by al|bodies to the action or impuse of others, that endeavour to changeits state, whether of motion or rest, &c. See Physics.
READING, the art of delivering written language with pro-priety, force, and elegance.
Reading, in geography, a town of Berkshire , in England,
pleasantly