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LEFT READ 445 READE a gas, liquid, or solid, or a mixture of these; as when sulphuric acid is added to chalk, the products of the reaction are sulphate of lime, water, and carbonic acid gas. In pathology, action of one kind in an- tagonism with action of another; action immediately following on action of a directly contrary character; or a state succeeding to a directly contrary one, as the exhaustion consequent on a paroxysm of fever. In physics, the action of one body on another one acting on it in the opposite direction. Reaction period, in physi- ology, the time that elapses between the application of a stimulus to the nerves, and the contraction of the muscles, fol- lowing it in consequence. Roughly speaking, it is for feeling one-seventh, for hearing one-sixth, and for sight one- fifth of a second. READ, JOHN MEREDITH, an Amer- ican jurist; born in Philadelphia, Pa., July 21, 1797; was graduated at the University of Pennsylvania in 1812; ad- mitted to the bar in 1818. He held a seat in the Pennsylvania Legislature in 1822-1823; was United States attorney for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania in 1837-1844; and served as chief-justice and attorney-general of Pennsylvania, and solicitor-general of the United States in 1860-1874. He was long a Democrat, and was prominent in the founding of the Free-soil branch of that party. He affiliated with the Republican party when it was formed, and in the presidential campaign of 1856 made an address on the "Power of Congress over Slavery in the Territories," which had much in- fluence throughout the country. In 1858, on the first victory of the Republi- can party in Pennsylvania, he was elected judge of the Supreme Court, by a majority of 30,000. In 1860 he was mentioned as a candidate for the presidential nomination with Abraham Lincoln for Vice-President, but early in that year Simon Cameron defeated the movement in the Pennsylvania Republi- can Convention. Several votes, how- ever, were cast for him in the Chicago Convention, though he exerted all his in- fluence in favor of Lincoln. He was the author of "Views on the Suspension of the Habeas Corpus" which became the basis of the law of March 3, 1863, authorizing the President to suspend the habeas corp^is act. His opinions are found in 41 volumes of reports. The best known of his numerous published addresses include "Plan for the Admin- istration of the Girard Trust" (1833) ; "The Law of Evidence" (18G4) ; "Jeffer- son Davis and His Complicity in the Vol. VII— Cyc Assassination of Abraham Lincoln" (1866) ; etc. He died in Philadelphia, Pa., Nov. 29, 1874. READ, OPIE, an American journal- ist; born in Nashville, Tenn., Dec. 22, 1852. He established and edited for many years the "Arkansaw Traveler." His studies of Arkansas life have been widely read, and include: "Len Gansett" (1888); "My Young Master"; "An Ar- kansaw Planter"; "Up Terrapin River"; "A Kentucky Colonel"; "On the Suwanee River"; "Miss Polly Lop, and Other Stories"; "The Captain's Romance"; "The Jucklins," a novel; "Bolanyo"; "A Yankee from the West"; "A Tennessee Judge"; "In the Alamo" (1900) "Mys- tery of Margaret" (1907). READ, THOMAS BUCHANAN, an American portrait-painter and poet; born in Chester co.. Pa., March 12, 1822. His most important works are: "Poems" (1847); "Lays and Ballads" (1848) "Tha Wagoner of the Alleghanies" (1862); and "Poetical Works" (1867). His best known poems are "Sheridan's Ride" and "Drifting." He also published : "Female Poets of America" (1848); "The Pil- grims of the Great St. Bernard," a ro- mance; "The New Pastoral" (1854), his most ambitious poem; "Sylvia; or, The Lost Shepherd" (1857); and "The Good Samaritans" (1867). He died in New York, May 11, 1872. CHARLES READE READE, CHARLES, an English novel- ist; born in Ipsden House, Oxfordshire, England, June 8, 1814. He was educated at Oxford. In 1843 he was called to the bar as a member of Lincoln's Inn, but 2d