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. Rebus is also used by the chemical writers sometimes to signifysour milk, and sometimes for what they call the ultimate matter ofwhich all bodies are composed.

Rebus, in heraldry, a coat of arms which hears an allusion tothe name of the person; as three castles, for Castleton; three cups,for Butler; three conies, for Conisby ; a kind of bearings whichare of great antiquity.

REBUTTER, [from the Fr. boutcr, i. e. repellere, to put backor bar,] is the answer of defendant to plaintiff’s surrejoinder; andplaintiff’s answer to the rebutter is called a surrebutter; but it isvery rare the parties go so far in pleading.

RECAPI'I ULATION, is a summary, or a concise and tran-sient enumeration, of the principal things insisted on in the preced-ing discourse, whereby the force of the whole is collected into oneview. See Oratory.

RECEIPT, or RECEIT, in commerce, an acquittance, or dis-charge, in writing, intimating that the party has received a certainsum of money, either in full tor the whole debt, or in part, or onaccount. Receipts are subject to stamp-duties.

RECEIVER, in pneumatics, a glass-vessel for containing thething on which an experiment in the air-pump is to be made. SeePneumatics.

Receiver, Receptor, or Receptator, in law, iscpmmonlyunderstood in a bad sense, and used for such as knowingly receivestolen goods from thieves, and conceal them. This crime is fe-lony, and the punishment is transportation for fourteen years.

Receiver also signifies an officer ; of which there are severalkinds, denominated from the particular matters they receive, theplaces where, or the persons from whom, &c. 1. Receiver of the

fines is an officer appointed to receive the money of such personsas compound with the king, upon original writs sued out of chan-cery. 2. Receiver-general of the duchy of Lancaster is an officerbelonging to the duchy-court, who collects all the revenues, if ties,forfeitures, and assessments, within that duchy. 3. Receiver-general of the public revenue, is an officer appointed in everycounty, to receive the taxes granted by parliament, and remit themoney to the treasury.

RECENSIO, RECENSION, was an account taken by thecensors, every lustrum, of all the Roman people. It was a generalsurvey, at w hich the equites, as well as the rest of the people, wereto appear. New names were put upon the censor’s list, and oldones cancelled.

RECEPTACULUM, RECEPTACLE, in botany, one of theseven parts of fructification, defined by Ltnn.eus to be the basewhich connects or supports the other parts. See Botany.

RECHABITES, a kind of religious order among the ancientJews , instituted byJonadab the son of Rechab, comprehendingonly his own family and posterity. Their founder prescribedthem three things: first, not to drink any wine; secondly, not tobuild any houses, but to dwell in tents; and thirdly, not to sowany corn, or plant vines. The Rechabites observed these ruleswith great strictness, as appears from Jer. xxxv. 6, &c.

RECIPE, in medicine, a prescription so called because alwaysbeginning with the word recipe, i. e. take.

RECll’lANGLE, or RECIPIENT-ANGLE, a mathematicalInstrument, serving to measure re-entering and saliant angles, espe-cially in fortification. It usually consists of two arms, or rulers,AC, and BC, (Plate CLVL fig. 12,) rivetted together at C, andcapable of being opened and closed, like a sector. To lake anangle with it, they lay the centre of a protractor over the joint C,and apply its diameter to one of the rulers; then the degrees cutby the edge of the other ru er, shew the quantity of the angle.There are other forms of this instrument; that represented in fig.13 has a graduated circle, by which the angles may he readilymeasured by its index: and tig. 14 Is another kind composed offour equal rulers of brass, rivetted togetiier by their ends, so as toform a parallelogram ; and on one of the rulers is fixed a graduatedsemicircle, which measures the opposite angle of the parallelogram,by means of one of the rulers produced, so as to serve instead ofan index.

RECIPROCAL. See Mutual.

Reciprocal, in mathematics, is applied to quantities which,

multiplied together, produce unity. Thus, — and x, y and —,

y

are reciprocal quantities. Likewise—is said to be the reciprocal

of r, which is again the reciprocal of —.

Reciprocal Proportion. See Proportion, and Arith-metic .

Reciprocal Terms, among logicians, are those which havethe same signification ; and consequently are convertible, or maybe used, for each other.

Reciprocal Figure, in geometry, those which have the ante-cedents anil consequents of the same ratio, in both figures. Thus,in Piute C LVI. fig. 15, the side A : B :: C : D ; or 12 : 4 :: 9: 3;that is, as much as the side A, in the first rectangle, is longer thanB, so much deeper is the side C, in the second rectangle, than theside D in the first; and, consequently, the greater length of theone is compensated by the greater breadth or depth of the other;for as the side A is one-fourth longer than C, so B is one-fourthlonger than D, and the rectangles ot course equal; that is, A x D= BxC, or 12x3 = 4x9 = 36. This is the foundation ofthat capital theorem, viz. that the rectangle of the extremes isalways equal to that of the means; and, consequently, the reasonof the rule of three.

RECITAL, in law, means the making mention in a deed orwriting of something which has been done before.

RECITATIVO , or RECITATIVE, in music, is a kind ofsinging, that differs but little from ordinary pronunciation; suchas that in which the several parts ot the liturgy are rehearsed in ca-thedrals; or that wherein the actors commonly deliver themselveson the theatre at the opera, when they are to express some actionor passion; to relate some event; or reveal some design. SeeMusic.

RECKLINGHAUSEN , a town in the Lower Rhine, 26 milesS. S. W. of Munster, and 44 N. of Cologne.

RECKONING, or A SHIP’S RECKONING, in navigation,is that account whereby at any time it may he known w here theship is, and on what course or courses she is to steer in order togain her port; and that account taken from the log-board is calledthe dead reckoning. See Navigation.

RECLAIMING, or RECLAMING, in ancient English cus-toms, was a lord’s pursuing, prosecuting, and recalling, his vassal,who had gone to live in another place without his permission.

Reclaiming is also used for ihe demanding of a person, orthing, to be delivered up to the prince or stale to which it properlybelongs; when, bv any irregular means, it is come into another’s

possession.

Reclaiming, in falconry, is taming a hawk, &c. and makingher gentle and familiar. A" partridge is said to reclaim, when shecalls her young ones together, upon their scattering too muchfrom her.

RECLINATION OF A PLANE, in dialing. See Dialing.

RECLUSE , among the Papists, a person shut up in a smallcell of an hermitage, or monastery, and cut off, not only from allconversation with the world, but even with the house. This is akind of voluntary imprisonment, from a motive either of devotionor penance. The word is also applied to incontinent wives, whomtheir husbands procure to be thus kept in perpetual imprisonmentin some religious house. Recluses were anciently very numerous.They took an oath never to stir out of their retreat: and havingentered it, the bishop set his seal upon the door; and the reclusehad every thing necessary for the support of life conveyed througha window.

RECOGNITION, a term used in the English law-books forthe first chapter of the statute 1 Jac. I. by which the parliamentacknowledged that, after the deatli of queen Elizabeth, the crownhad rightfully descended to king James.

RECOGNIZANCE, in law, is an obligation of record, whicha man enters into before some court of record or magistrate dulyauthorised with condition (o do some particular act; as to appearat the assizes, to keep the peace, to pay a debt, or the like.

RECOIL, or REBOUND, is the starling backward of afire-arm after an explosion. See Projectile .

RECONNOITRE, [Fr.] in military affairs, implies to viewand examine Ihe state of things, in order to make a report thereof.

RECORD,