Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/367

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hanging from it fo deep, that it would contain a man's hand ; from the middle of the pofterior plica of the neck., there arifes another, which palling backward, is loft before it reaches the body. The moulders are thick and heavy, and have each a fold pafling downward. The body is vcry^ large and thick, and ftands out at the fides like that of a cow with calf. The legs are very thick and ftrong, they are round, and fome- what fmaller downwards than in the upper part ; and when the creature ftands upright they bend inward at the knee, fo that they are nothing like ftrait. In fome quadrupeds the fetlock bends to the weight of the animal, but in this crea- ture there is no appearance of any fuch bending, fo that he feems to ftand upon four ftumps, efpecially when viewed behind. He has three hoofs upon each foot forward, but the back part is a great mafs of flefh, rough like the reft of the fkin; and the fole of the foot is very plump and callous in the furface, but eaiily yielding to the preffure from the foftnefs of the fubjacent flefh. Its fhape is like that of a heart, with a blunt apex before, and a broad bafe behind. The tail is very fmall in proportion to the fize of the ani- mal, not exceeding feventeen or eighteen inches in length, and but thin or flender ; it is very rough, and has a kind of twift or ftricture towards the extremities, ending in a fiat mafs ; this gave occafion to fome authors to compare the whole tail to a fpatula; on the fide3 of this flat part there grew a few fhort, but very thick and ftrong black hairs, but thefe grow much longer in the more advanced ftate of the creature; and are not round, like other hairs, but flat, like fmall pieces of whalebone. The creature has no other hair about it, except a very fmall quantity at the edge of the ears. See Tab. of Quadrupeds, N° 13 and 14. The penis of the male rhinoceros is of a very remarkable ftructure, being inclofed in two cafes. The female differs in nothing from the male except in the pudenda, which are ihaped like thofe of a cow.

The fkin of the rhinoceros is thick, and feems almoft impe- netrable ; it feels like a piece of board of half an inch thick. It is covered in all parts, more or lefs, with a fort of incruf- tations, refembling fcales. Thefe are fmall on the neck, and largcft of all in the fhoulders and hips ; between the folds of this thick fkin, the cuticle, which is left bare, is foft, and eafily penetrable. The fcabby incruftations of the fkin have been called fcales, by fome writers ; but this is a very wrong term, for they have nothing of the nature of fcales, nor any thing of regularity in them. The creature is of the retromingent, and therefore probably of the retrogenerative kind ; the penis, when erect, is not more than nine, or at the utmoft ten inches long, and is curved backward at the end. This was the defcription of the rhinoceros fhewn in England at this time, and of all the others that have been feen in this part of the world as to the general characters ; but though thefe creatures, which we have feen, have but one horn, it is very certain, that there is a fpecies of rhinoceros which has two. Martial has men- tioned a rhinoceros, as fhewn in the amphitheatre at Rome, which had two horns ;. but his commentators fuppofing the copies erroneous, have been at great pains to alter it, fo as to make it exprefs what they had feen or heard of, that is a rhinoceros only with one horn : but it appears, from almoft indifputable teftimony, that there not only is in nature fuch a rhinoceros with two horns, but that fuch were fhewn in the public fports at Rome, and therefore "the text feems to have been very right, and the commenta tors in the wrong. The creatures we have ken have in- deed only had one horn ; and the accounts of travellers, and the great number of horns preferved in the cabinets of the cu- rious, which are all fingle, feem to prove this; but though the rhinoccrofes of Afia are all one horned, yet it is certain, that there is a kind found in Africa which has two horns, and not lefs certain, that the Romans had beafts from this laft part of the world as well as the other. Peter Kolbe, his voyage to the Cape of Good Hope, defcribes rhinocerofes, which he faw, and which had a horn on the nofe, and ano- ther clofe behind it. Sir Hans Sloan's mufeum affords two horns of a rhinoceros, Handing juft as this author has de- fcribed them, which are ftill fixed to the fame integument, and we are convinced of the Romans being acquainted with this fpecies, from a brafs medal of Domitian, which has on ft a rhinoceros, with two horns on the nofe placed in this manner.

Kedi, who has been very fagacious in difcovering the falfity of many of the pretended medicines taken from animal. >'et gives us, on the teftimony of his own experience, an account of fome very remarkable virtues in the parts of the rhinoceros. The blood he aflures us is excellent in colics and in dyfenteries. The decoction of the fkin, he aflures us, .„ a grand ftomachic antidote, and the horns are very valuable and ak-xipharmic. Redi's Efperience. hinoceros avis, the rhinoceros bird, a name given by au- thors to a fpecies of Indian raven, called by others corvus in- a ", cl >"iu£us. The beak of which is frequently brought over into Europe.- 6

It is a very ugly bird, and of a very rank fmell. It much exceeds the European raven in bignefs, and its head and neck

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are very thick. Its eyes are very large, and its beak of a very remarkable figure, having a large and thick horn like protuberance on its upper part. The whole beak is benrhke a bow, not hooked at the end like the beaks of the hawk, &c. It is of a yellowifh white below, and on the upper part toward the head is of a fine gay red, and the reft of a yellowim white : the upper chap, is ferrated. The horn grows out from the head with this and runs along it, and bends up at its extremity ; its upper and under part are red, its middle yellow. The bird feeds on carrion, and the guts of dead animals. Jldrsuand de Avibus. RHINOPTES, a word ufed by the antients to exprefs a per- fon, who from an ulcer in the great canthus of the eye, laying open the paffages to the nofe, can fee through his noftrih RHIPTASMOS, a word ufed by the antients, to exprefs a reftleflhefs and frequent toiling about, a very common lymp- - torn in fevers. RHIZAGRA, the name of a chirurgical infrrument ufed- to extract the ftumps of teeth.

RHIZOPHORA, in botany, the name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants, defcribed under the name of mangles' by Plumier, the characters of which are thefe: the pcrianthium is erect, and is compofed of one leaf, divided into four oblong fegments. The flower is erect, and is compofed of one petal, divided into four fegments, and is fhorter than the cup. 1 he ftamina are twelve erect filaments, alternately fhorter one than the other, and the anthers are fmall. The germen of the piftil is fubulated; there is fcarce any ftyle ; theitigma is acute, and the receptacle is of an oval figure ; this becomes fiefhy, and contains the bafe of the feed. The feed is fingle, and extremely long ; it is of a clayated figure, and pointed at the end. There is fome variation in the number of the ftamina in this plant; they are always, how- ever, of fome number between eight and twelve, thefe be- ing the higheft and lowelt extremes. Linncei Gen. PI. p. 207. Plumier Gen. 15. Hort. Mai. Vol. 6. p. 37, 32.

RHODIOLA, in botany, the name given by Linnasus to a genus of plants, commonly called rhodia. The characters of which are thefe : it produces two kinds of flowers, the one hermaphrodite, acting as male flowers ; the other fimply female. In the male flower, the cup is a concave erect pe- rianthium, divided into four obtufe fegments, and not falling with the petals. The flower confifts of four petals, which are oblong, obtufe, erecto-patent, and twice as long as the fegments of the cup : thefe fall foon after they are open : they have four erect nectaria, furrounded with a thin rim, and fomewhat fhorter than the cup. The ftamina are eight pointed filaments, longer than the petals of the flower. The anthers are fimple. The piftil has four oblong and pointed germina. The ftyles and ftigmata are very imper- fect. The fruit that fhould fucceed thefe is very abortive. In the female flower the cup is of the fame kind with that of the male. The flower is compofed of four rude, erect, and obtufe petals, of the fame fize with the fegments of the cup, and remaining with it. The nectaria in this flower are the fame with thofe of the male. The piftil has four oblong pointed germens, which go off into fo many ftrait fimple ftyles, crowned with obtufe ftigmata. The fruit confifts of four corniculated capfules, which are univalve, comprefied inwards, and opening in that part. In thefe capfules are contained a number of feeds of a roundifh fhape. Linneei Gen. PI. p. 498.

RHODITES lapis, the rofejlone, in natural hiftory, the name given by authors to a kind of ajhoites, or jlar-jhne, in which the figures more reprefent rofes than ftars : they are in both owing to comlloide bodies immerfed in the ftone ; which, according to their various fpecies, afford a different figure, when cut tranfverfely, in the cutting the ftone into plates for ufe. See Astroites and Star^ow.

RHODIUM marmor, a name given by the antients to a mar- ble brought from Rhodes ; it was of a good white, but in- ferior to the Parian, and was ufed by the Romans in their public buildings, and fometimes in ftatuary.

RHODOMELON, a name given by the antients to a con- fection made of rofes, quinces, and honey, ufed as a grateful aftringent and detergent in many cafes.

RHODOPUS gallimda, in zoology, a name given by fome authors to the bird more ufually known by the name tringa. Gejher de Avid. Sec the article Tringa.

RHOITES, the name of a medicine among the antients, which is a fort of rob of the juice of pomegranates. Diof- corides defcribes it as the fimple juice of the fruit, evapo- rated over the fire to the confiftence of an extract; but Pau- lus ./Egineta gives the receipt to be three parts juice of pome- granate, and one part honey, boiled to the evaporation of a third part. So that the rhoites of Diofcorides was a true rob of pomegranates ; the other, rather honey of pome- granates, like our honey of rofes.

RHOMB. See the article Rhombus, Cycl. and Suppl

RHOMBO, the name of a peculiar fifh of the rhombus, of

_ turbotkind, called rhombus aculeatus by Aldrovand, Gefner,

and other authors. It is a large fifh, of an afh coloured

green on the back, and white on the belly- it has no fcales ;

G g g but