Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 2.djvu/570

 RAI

953 )

RAI

For the Sizes or Scantlings of Rafters, tis provided by A£E of Parliament, chat principal Rafters from 12 Foot 6 Inches> to 14 Foot 6 Inches long, be 5 Inches broad a-top, and 8 at the bot- tom* and 6 Inches thick.

Thofe from 14, 6 to 18, <51ong, to be Inches broad at the Foot and 7 a-top, and 7 thick.

And thofe from 18, 6, to 21, 6, to be 10 Inches broad at the Foot, 8 a-top, and 8 Inches broad.

Single Rafters, 6 Foot 6 Inches long, to be 4 and 3 Inches in their Square. Thofe 8 Foot long mult be 4 £ and 3 $ Inches fquare.

RAFFLING, a Game with three Dice, wherein he who throws the greateft Pair, or Pair-Royal, in three Calls, wins. See Game and Gaming.

The Raffle is properly the double or triplet. A Raffle of Aces, or Duces, carries it againft meet Points.

Raffling is alfo ufed when a Company of Perfons club to the Purchafe of a Commodity ; and he that throws the higheft on die Dice takes it.

The Word probably comes from the bafc Lat'm, risfare, to rife, plunder, take all away.

RAG, or Rake, among Hunters, is a Company, or Herd of young Colts.

RAGGED Hawk, in Faulconry, is anHawk that hath its Fea- thers broken. See Hawk.

RAGGULED, or Raguled, or Ragged, inHe- [Jllll! raldry, is applied to an Ordinary, Ex. gr. a Croft, P'-j whofe Out-Lines are jagged or knotted, as in the Fi- gure adjoining. He beareth Sable, a Crofs Ragguled, Or, by the Name of Sunvay.

Ragged dittos from indented, in that the latter is regular, and this former not.

The Bearing is very Anticnt : Julius Cafir gave for his Badge, a Boar's Head, on a ragged Staff.

Ragguled is fometimes alfo ufed in the Senfe of Truncated, or Couped, and applied to a Branch ihat is faw'd from the Tree; or a Stock faw'd from its Root.

RAGMAN's-jRo/A or rather RagimundV-Ro//, a Roll or Lift denominated from its Audior Ragimund, aLegatin Scotland, who calling before him all the beneficed Peribns in that Kingdom, caufed them, upon Oath, to give in the true Value of their Be- nefices; according to which they were taxed in the Court of Rome.

This Roll, among other Records, being taken from the Scots by our King Ed-ward I. was re-delivered to them in the Begin- ning of Edward Illd's time.

RAGOuT, orRAGOo, a Sauce, or Seafoning, to roufe or recover the Appetite when languishing or loft.

The Term is French-, but naturaliz'd.

The Term is alfo ufed for a high-feafon'd Dim, prepared of Flefh, Fifh, Greens, or the like, by Hewing them with the Ad- dition of Bacon, Salt, Pepper, Cloves, and the like.

We have Ragoos of Beef, of Cray-Filli, of Giblets, of Afba- ragus, of Endive, of Cocks-Combs, of Gammon, of Celery, &c

The Ancients had a Ragout call'd Garum, made of the Putrefied Guts of a certain Fifh, which they kept till it diflblved by meer Force of Corruption, into a Sanies: This was held fach a valuable Dainty among them, that Pliny oblerves, its Price cqualfd that of the richeft Perfumes.

RAJA, an r?;iw?z Term, ufedfora Kind of Idolatrous Princes, the remains of thofe who ruled there before the Conqueft of the Moguls.

Theieare fomc Rajas who ftill retain a kind of Sovereignty in the Mountains : The Indians call them Rai, the Rerfans, plu- rally, Raijan ; our Travellers, Rajas, or Ragias.

The chief Lords of the Moguls, viz. the Vice-Roys, Gover- nors of Provinces, and Chief Miniftersof State, F. Catrott ob- ferves, are call'd Omhras ; and the Idolatrous-^ ajas-> or Indian Lords, who o-overned petty States before the Conqueft of their Country, hold the lame Rank at Court with the Omhras.

All the difference is, that the Children of the Rajas fucceed their Fathers in the mew of the Sovereignty left them ; whereas the Children of the Mahometan Lords lofe all in loling their Fathers.

The Indians account four Ages from the Beginning of the World ; and in the fecond, which lafted 1296000 Years, they hold the Rajas or Kcbatrys had their Rife ; chafte, noble, &c. though inferiour to the Bramans. See Braman.

Vice then began to creep into the World; Men only lived to 300 Years, and their Stature was reduced, &c. Lett. Edit. & Cur.

RAIL, in Architecture, is applied varioufly ; particularly, to thofe pieces of Timber, &c. which lie Horizontally between the Pannels of Wainfcot; to thofe that lie over and under Ballufters in Balconies, Stair-Cafes, &c. and to the pieces of Timber that He horizontally from Poft to Poft, in Fences with Pales or without.

RAIN, a very frequent and ufeful Meteor ; defcending from ■above in form of Drops of Water. See Meteor, and Drop. Rain is, apparently, a precipitated Cloud ; as Clouds are no- thing but Vapours rais'd from Moifture, Waters, &c. See Cloud.

And Vapours are demonftratively nothing elfe but little Bub- bles or VeJHu.<e detach'd from the Waters, by the Power of the folar, oriubteiraneousHeat, or both. See Vapour.

Thefe VeficuU being ipecifically lighter than the Atmofphere, are buoyed up thereby, till they arrive at a Region where the Air is a juft Balance with them ; and here they float, till by fome new Agent they are converted into Clouds, and thence either into Rain, Snow, Hail, Mift, or the like. See Snow, Hail, &c.

But the Agent in this Formation of the Clouds into Rain, &c. is a little controverted ; the generality will have it the Cold, which conftantly occupying the fuperiour Regions of the Air, chills and condenfes the Vefcula, at their Arrival from a warmer Quarter; congregates them together, and occafions feveral of them to coalefce into little Mafles : By this Means their Quantity of Matter increafmg in a greater Proportion than their Surface, they become an overload to the light Air, and accordingly de- fcend in Rain.

Mr. Derham accounts for the Precipitation, hence; that the VeficaU being full of Air, when they meet with a colder Air than that they contain, their Air is contracted into a lefs Space, and coniequently the watery Shell or Cafe render'd thicker, fo as to become heavier than the Air, &c. See Cold.

Others only allow the Cold a Part in the Action, and bring in the Winds as Sharers with it ^ indeed 'tis clear, that a Wind blowing againft a Cloud wiil drive its Vepeula upon one another; by which means feveral of them coalefcing as before, will be en- abled to defcend ; and the effect will be ftiil more conliderable if two oppoiite Winds blow towards the fame Place. Add to this, that Clouds already furm'd, happening to be aggravated by freili Acceflions of Vapour continually afcending, may thence be enabled to defcend. See Wind.

Yet the grand Caufe, according to Robault, is ftill behind : That Author conceives it to be the Heat of the Air, which af- ter continuiug for fome time near the Earth, is at length carried up on high by a Wind, and there thawing the fnowy Villi, or Flocks of the half-frozen VeficuU, reduces them into Drops; which coalefcing, defcend and have their Diffolution perfected in their Progtefs through the lower and warmer Stages of the At- mofphere.

Others, as Dr. Clark, &c. afcribe this Defcent of the Clouds rather to an Alteration of the Atmolpheie, than of the Fefcula;- and fuppofe it to arife from a Diminution of the Spring or elaftic Force of the Air. Sec Elasticity.

This Eiafticity which depends chiefly or wholly on the dry ter- rene Exhalations, being weakened; the Atmofphere finks under its Burthen ,• and the Clouds fall, on the common Principle of Pre- cipitation. See Precipitation.

Now, the little FeficuU by any, or all, of thefe Means, being once upon the Defcent, will perlift therein, notwithftanding the Increafe of Refiftence they every Moment meet withal in their Progrefs through ftill denier and denfer Parts of the Atmof- phere.

For, as they all tend towards the fame Point, viz. the Cen- tre of the Earth, the further they fall the more Coalitions will they make; and the more Colalitions, the more Matter will there be under the fame Surface, the Surface only increafmg as the Squares, but the Solidity as the Cubes; and the more Matter un- der the fame Surface, the lels Friction or Refiftence there will be to the fame Matter. See Barometer.

Thus if the Cold, the Wind, <£rc. happen to act early enough to precipitate the Vefcula?, e're they are arrived at any conlidera- ble Height; the Coalitions being few in fo fhort a Defcent, the Drops will be propouionably (mall; and thus is forni'd what we call Deiv. See Dew.

If the Vapours prove more copious, and rile a little higher, we have a Mifl or Fog. See Fog.

A little higher ftill, and they produce zfinrM Rain, &cc.

If they neither meet with Cold nor Wind enough to con- denfe or dilllpate them; they form a heavy, thick, dark Sky; which laft, fometimes feveral Weeks. See Weather.

Hence we ?nay account for many of the Phenomena of the Weather; e. gr. why a cold, is always a wet Summer; and a warm a dry one? Becaufe the Principle of Precipitation is had in the one Cafe, and wanting in the other.

Why we have ordinarily moft Rain about the Equinoxes ? Becaule the Vapours arife more plentifully than ordinary in the Spring, as the Earth becomes loofen'd from the brumal Confti- pacions; and becaufe as the Sun recedes from us in Autumn, the Cold increafmg, the Vapours that had linger'd above during the Summer Heats, are now difpatch'd down, <&c.

Why a fettled, thick, clofe Sky fcarce ever Rains till it have been fijft clear? Becaufe the equably diffufed Vapours muft firft be condens'd, and congregated into feparate Clouds, to lay the Foundations of Rain; by which means the reft of the Face of Heaven is left open, and pervious to the Rays or the Sun, &e. See Weather.

For other Phenomena of Rain, as they relate to the Wea- ther-Glafs, fee Barometer.

As co the Quantity of Rain that falls' ; its Proportion in feve- ral Places at'the fame Time, and in the fame Place at feveral Times; we have Store of Obiervations, Journals, <&-c. in the Memoirs of the French Academv, the Philof. Iranfatl. &c. an

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