Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/351

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fermented only with water. Thus treated, they yield fpirit fcarce at all diftinguifhable from fome of the wine fpirits; for there are as many kinds of wine fpirits, as there are of grapes. The coarfer the operation of diftilling is performed in this cafe, the nearer will be the refembiance of the wine fpirit ; that is, there will be moft oi this flavour in the fpirit, when as much as can be of the oil is thrown up with a galloping heat.

The di {tillers are very fond of the wine fpirit, with which they hide and difguife the tafte of their naufeous malt, and other fpirits; and in defect of that fpirit, this of raj/ins, made in this coarfe manner, will go almoft as far. It is indeed furprifing how extenfive the ufe of thefe flavouring fpirits is, ten gallons of raifm fpirit, or fomewhat lefs of the wine fpirit, being often fufficient for a whole piece of malt fpirit, to take off its native flavour, and give it an agreeable vinofity. It is no wonder, therefore, that the diftillers, and ordinary rectifiers, are fo fond of this, as it is a good cloak for their defects, and the imperfection of their pro cefles.

When raifin brandy is intended for common ufe, the fire

fhould be kept flower and more regular in the diftillation,

and the fpirit, though it hath lefs of the high flavour of the

grape, will be more pleafant and more pure. Shaw's Effay

on Diftillcry.

RAKE (Cyd.) — Rake, in the manege. A horfe rakes, when

being fhoukler-fplait, or having ftrained his fore-quarter, he

goes fo lame, that he drags one of his fore legs in a femi-

circle ; which is more apparent when he trots, than when

he paces.

Rake, in mining, fs the fame with a vein. See Vein.

RAM, {Cyd.) aries, in zoology, the male of the fheep kind.

See the article Ovis. Ram head, on board a fhip, the name of a great block be- longing to the fore and main halliards. It hath in it three fliivers, into which the halliards arc put, and at its head the tycs are reeved into an hole made there for that pur- pofe. RAMADAN {Cycl.) — The ramadan happens at different fea- fons of the year, and when it is in the fummer, is very hard on the labourers, who are not allowed to drink, but only to wafli their mouths. This month once in thirty- three years is in every feafon of the year, the Turkifh month being lunar, and they beginning at the day they can fee the moon; whereas the Jews begin their account from the day the moon makes, which is a day before the Turks. Pococks Egypt, p. 184. &AMAG, a word ufed by fome of the chemical writers to

exprefs afhes. KAMAGY, falcons. See the articles Brancher and Fal- con. ' RAMAI, in natural hiftory, a name given by many old writers to bole armenic. RAMALIS vena, a name given by fome anatomical authors

to the vena -porta. RAMED, a name given by fome chemical writers to rhu-

barb. RAMESAN", an oriental term for a month of falling, very

religioufiy ohferved among the Turks. See Ramadan. RAMEX, a word ufed by fome as a name for a hernia, o.

rupture. RAMIGRI, a word ufed by fome writers as a name for co

lophony. ,,

RAMINGUE, in the manege. A horfe gets this name that isrefty, and relifts or cleaves to the fpurs ; that is, defends himfclf with malice againft the fpurs; fometimes doubles the reins, and frequently yerks to favour his difobedience. See the articles Ticklish and Double. RAMOSE leaf, in botany. See Leaf. RAMPIN, in the manege. See Toe-. &AMPION, in botany. See Rapunculus. RAMULOSE leaf, ramulofum folium, among botanifts. See

the article Leaf. RAMUS, {Cyel.) in the anatomy of plants, a name given to the fij-ft or lateral branches, which go off from the pe- trolium, or middle rib of a leaf. The fubdivifions of thefe are called furcuU, and the final divifions of thefe, into the moft minute of all, are by fome called capillamenta ; but in general, both thefe kinds are comprehended under the name of juradns. Act, Erudit. 1722, RAN, in our old writers, is ufed for open or public rob- bery, fo manifeft that it cannot be denied. Ran dlcitur operta rapina qua negari non poUjl. Lamb. 125. Leg. Canut. c. 58. Hence it is to this day vulgarly faid of one, who takes the goods of another injuriotifly and vio- lently, that he has taken or matched all he could rap and R Avr' ^ crms °^ ^ aWi Blount, Cowel J^ANA, the frog, in zoology, a very well known animal of jhe amphibious kind, the characters of it are; that the body is naked, and is in one part of its life furnifhed with a tail.

i he feet of the frog are webbed, for the better fwimming, and it has very ftrong mufcles in the hinder part of its body to alTrit it j n leaping. The lungs of the frog are Suppl. Vol. II. & '

RAN

different from thofe of all other animals ; they are only a fort of membranaceous bladders, with feveral tubercles, by means of which they refemble the fruit of the firs' or pines : thefe, when once inflated, do not Immediately be- come flaccid, as in other animals, but remain in that fhte as long as the creature pleafes. The creature can remain a long time under water, and has been kept fo for feveral days by tying it down, and received no hurt from it. It is a very long lived animal ; and even if its belly be opened, and the inteftincs, and all the vifecra, taken out, it will continue its leaping, and all its other motions, as if nothing- had happened to it, for a confidcrable time ; but if the- nerve of one of the hinder legs be cut, it lofes all power of ufing that limb on the inftant. Ray's Synop. Quad p. 247.

1 he frog differs from al! creatures in the manner of its ge- neration. It no way refembles any of the quadrupeds in this particular, and though in fome fort it approaches to the nature of fifhes, yet it differs from them alio in many things. The egg of the frog is a fmall black fpot, enve- loped in a mucilaginous fubftance ; in this egg is contained the embryo frog> which, on the breaking of the eg"- in batching, comes forth in form of a tadpole. This young animal is for fome time nourifhed by the gelatinous matter which envelops the eggs, but it docs not confume the whole of it ; for the particles of water making way by degrees into it, divide its parts, and it foon becomes expanded, frees itfelf from the living animals, and floats on the fur- face of the water, or at a fmall depth in it, in form of a thin cloud : this, though it now no longer ferves for food to the young creature, is however of fome fervice to it, ferving it as an afylum, or place of reft and fafety, when tired with fwimming.

The egg of the frog therefore is, in fome degree, analo- gous to that of an infect of the winged kind, which is to go through a metamorphofis before it arrives at its perfect ftate ; for it -hatches into the tadpole, as the ego- of a butter- fly into a caterpillar, and arrives at that its ultimate ffate, after a determinate time fpent in the other. In this it-dif- fers from the generation of fifhes, the eggs of whofe (pawn hatch into perfect fifhes, which go through no change ; and it differs from all in the gelatinous fubftance, which en- velops the egg, and ferves as the firft food to the fcetus. The eggs are indeed, when nicely examined, found to be enclofed in a double liquor, a more pellucid and thin one within the gelatinous one, which ferves as the general co- vering to the whole feries of eggs ; and it is this thin one which it principally feeds on when firfl hatched, and which ferves to the fame purpofes as the white of an eey in the fowl kind.

There is alfo an opinion that the male fperm of the frog is depofitcd on the (pawn of the female after it is laid. Ra^s Syn. Quad. p. 249.

Rana arborea y the tree frog, in zoology. See Ranuncu- lus viridts.

R/WApifcatrix, the toad fijh, frog f/h, or, as it is called by fome, the fea devil, a very remarkable fpecies of fifh, of a middle nature between the cartilagineous and bony fillies. In fhape and figure it refembles a tadpole. Its head is ex- tremely large, being equal, or more than fo, to the reft of the body, and of a circular figure. The opening of its mouth is furprifingly great, and its lower jaw is above a finger longer than the upper. Both jaws, but particularly the under one, are armed with a great number of long and iharp teeth, and the longer ones of the under jaw are all moveable inwards. The back is flat, and of a blueifh green colour, mottled with a few white fpots. The eyes are pearly In the iris, and a tranfverfe ftreak of white is drawn acrofs the pupil. In the upper part of the head, at half a finger's breadth diftance from the angle of the upper jaw, are placed two briftles, the fore one is fix fingers long, the hinder one four ; and in the middle of his back, lower down, are three more, which ferve in the place of fins. Over the upper jaw there are, on each fide, two Iharp thorns, and there are thorny tubercles all about the eyes; and on the middle of the back, not far from tb,e tail, there is a fin with tea rays. The tail is not forked, but the rays are branched, and all ftand out a little beyond the fin, and arc hooked. In the under part of the body, juft under the throat, there are two fins like a mole's feet, each compofed of .five rays, or fingers. There are two others on the edge of the body, and the extremity of all thefe, as alfo of the tail 5 is black. It has only three bron- chia? on one fide. It has either no noftrils, or elfe they are hid within the head, and has a fort of membranous rim running all round the commiffurcs of its fides and belly. Its flefh, when boiled, taftes like that of the frog. See Tab. of Fifties, N° 8. and milughby\ Hift. Pifc. p. 85.

RANGE, in natural hiflory. See Cibdelqplacia.

RANGIFER, the rein deer, an animal very common in all the northern nations, and called by fome authors iarandus and machlls. It is of the fhape of a ftag, but its body is thicker, and its whole make much more" robuft and ftrong. The breaft is thick, covered with very long hairs. The legs C c c very