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Rh which the air-way has become blocked by a child having sucked hot water from the spout of a kettle or teapot, or in the case of obstruction by the swelling of the acute inflammation of laryngitis or of diphtheria. Should the air-way through the larynx become narrowed by the presence of a growth which does not diminish under the influence of iodide of potassium, the question may arise as to whether it should be dealt with by splitting the thyroid cartilage and holding the wings apart, or by the removal of the whole larynx. For such growths are often malignant. If the wide infection of the lymphatic glands of the neck suggests that no radical operation should be undertaken, a bent silver tube may be introduced below the growth (tracheotomy) in order to provide for the entrance of air. This will get over the difficulty of breathing, but it cannot, of course, do more than that.

Acute laryngitis is very often due to diphtheria. The symptoms are those of laryngeal obstruction, together with constitutional disturbances of various kinds. The old-fashioned nurse called the disease “croup”—a term devoid of scientific meaning (see ). In an ordinary catarrhal case, leeches and fomentation's may suffice, though sometimes tracheotomy or incubation is called for. But if bacteriological examination shows the presence of diphtheritic bacilli, antitoxin must at once be injected. (See also .)

RESPITE (O. Fr. respit, modern répit, Lat. respectus, regard, consideration, respicere, to look back at), properly a delay, given for the further consideration of some matter, hence relief. In law the term is used of the postponement of the immediate execution of the law in criminal cases, e.g. by binding a convicted prisoner over to come up for judgment when called upon, or when a case is “respited” from one quarter sessions to another. The word is loosely used in the sense of a (q.v.).

 RESPOND, in architecture, the term given to the half-pier or semi-detached column at the end of a range of piers or columns carrying an architrave or arcade. In Greek temples the respond is known as the anta. The term is also given to the wall pilaster which in Roman and Renaissance work is frequently placed behind the detached columns forming the decoration of a Wall.

 RESPONDENT (from Lat. respondere, to answer), strictly, one who answers; in law one called upon to answer a petition or other proceeding. In a matrimonial cause the defendant in the suit is called the respondent. The defendant to a quarter sessions appeal is called the respondent, and so generally in appeals is the party, whether plaintiff or defendant, against whom the appeal is brought.

 REST (O. Eng. rast, reste, bed, cognate with other Teutonic forms, e.g. Ger. Rast, Rüste, rest, and probably Gothic Rasta, league, i.e. resting or stopping place), a cessation from active or regular work, hence a time of relief from mental or manual labour. Specific meanings are for an interval of silence in music, marked by a sign indicating the length of the pause; for the forked support with iron-shod spike carried by the soldier till the end of the 17th century as a rest for the heavy musket; and for the support for the cue in billiards to be used when the striking ball is out of reach of the natural rest formed by the hand. In the medieval armour of the horsed man-at-arms, and later in the armour of the tournament, a contrivance was fixed to the side of the body-armour near the right arm-pit, in which the butt-end of the lance was placed to prevent the lance being driven back after striking the opponent at full charge; hence a knight, as a preliminary to the charge, “laid his lance in rest.” This “rest” is arshortened form of “arrest,” to check, stop, as is seen by the French equivalent, arrêt. Further, “rest,” that which remains over and above, is derived from the French rester, to remain over, Lat. restare, to remain, literally, to stay behind. The principal specific use of this word is in commerce for the balance of undivided profit; it has thus always been the term used by the Bank of England for that which in other banks and companies is called the “reserve” (Hartley Withers, The Meaning of Money (1000). D. 298). The Bank of England “rest” is never allowed to fall below £3,000,000 (see ).

 RESTIF, NICOLAS EDME (1734–1806), called, French novelist, son of a farmer, was born at Sacy (Yonne) on the 23rd of October 1734. He was educated by the Jansenists at Bicétre, and on the expulsion of the Jansenists was received by one of his brothers, who was a curé. Owing to a scandal in which he was involved, he was apprenticed to a printer at Auxerre, and, having served his time, went to Paris. Here he worked as a journeyman printer, and in 1760 he married Anne or Agnes Lebégue, a relation of his former master at Auxerre. It was not until five or six years after his marriage that Restif appeared as an author, and from that time to his death, on the 2nd of February 1806, he produced a bewildering multitude of books, amounting to something like two hundred volumes, many of them printed with his own hand, on almost every conceivable variety of subject. Restif suffered at one time or another the extremes of poverty and was acquainted with every kind of intrigue. He drew on the episodes of his own life for his books, which, in spite of their faded sentiment, contain truthful pictures of French society on the eve of the Revolution. The most noteworthy of his works are Le Pied de Fanchette, a novel (1769); Le Pornographe (1769), a plan for regulating prostitution which is said to have been actually carried out by the Emperor Joseph II., while not a few detached hints have been adopted by continental nations; Le Paysan perverti (1775), a novel with a moral purpose, though sufficiently horrible in detail; La Vie de mon père (1779); Les Contemporaines (42 vols., 1780–1785), a vast collection of short stories; Ingénue Saxancour, also a novel (1785); and, lastly, the extraordinary autobiography of Monsieur Nicolas (16 vols., 1794–1797; the last two are practically a separate and much less interesting work), in which at the age of sixty he has set down his remembrances, his notions on ethical and social points, his hatreds, and above all his numerous loves, real and fancied. The original editions of these, and indeed of all his books, have long been bibliographical curiosities owing to their rarity, the beautiful and curious illustrations which many of them contain, and the quaint typographic system in which most are composed. In 1795 he received a gratuity of 2000 francs from the government, and just before his death Napoleon gave him a place in the ministry of police, which he did not live to take up.

Restif de la Bretonne undoubtedly holds a remarkable place in French literature. He was inordinately vain, of extremely relaxed morals, and perhaps not entirely sane. His books were written with haste, and their licence of subject and language renders them quite unfit for general perusal.

The works of C. Monselet, Réiif de la Bretonne (1853), and P. Lacroix, Bibliographie et iconographie (1875), J. Assézat's selection from the Contemporaines, with excellent introductions (3 vols., 1875), and the valuable reprint of Monsieur Nicolas (14 vols., 1883-1884), will be sufficient to enable even curious readers to form a judgment of him. His life, written by his contemporary Cubieres-Palmezeaux, was republished in 1875. See also Eugen Diihren, Rétif de la Bretonne, der Mensch, der Schriftsleller, der Reformator (Berlin, 1906), and a bibliography, Rélif-Bibliothek (Berlin, 1906), by the same author.

RESTOUT, JEAN (1692–1768), French painter, born at Rouen on the 26th of March 1692, was the son of Jean Restout, the first of that name, and of Marie M. Jouvenet, sister and pupil of the well-known Jean Jouvenet. In 1717, the Royal Academy having elected him a member on his work for the Grand Prix, he remained in Paris, instead of proceeding to Italy, exhibited at all the salons, and filled successively every post of academical distinction. He died on the 1st of January 1768. His works, chiefly altar-pieces (Louvre Museum), ceilings and designs for Gobelin tapestries, were engraved by Cochin, Drevet and others; his diploma picture may still be seen at St Cloud.

His son, (1732–1797), won the Grand Prix in 1758, and on his return from Italy was received into the Academy; but his refusal to comply with rules led to a quarrel with that body. Roland appointed him keeper of the Garde Meuble, but this piece of favour nearly cost him his life during the Terror. The St Bruno painted by him at Rome is in the Louvre.