Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 20.djvu/291

Rh R A O R A P 273 most temperate countries in the northern and southern hemispheres, and, while they extend into arctic and ant- arctic regions, they show little or no tendency to inhabit tropical countries except on the higher mountains. Several are natives of Great Britain, occurring in pastures, while the water-buttercups, denizens of pools and streams, vary greatly in the character of the foliage according as it is submersed, floating, or aerial, and when submersed varying in accordance with the depth and strength of the current. The ranunculus of the florist is a cultivated form of R. asiaticus, remarkable for the range of colour of the flowers (yellow to purplish black) and for the regularity with which the stamens and pistils are replaced by petals. The common or lesser celandine is the R. Ficaria of the botanist, remarkable for its tuberous root-fibres. The species are all more or less acrid. RAOUL ROCHETTE, DESIRE (1783-1854), French archaeologist, was born in 1783 at St Amand in the depart- ment of Cher, and received his education at Bourges. In 1813 he was called to the chair of history in the College de Louis-le-Grand at Paris. About four years afterwards he was translated to the similar chair in the Sorbonne. The first result of his labours, published in 1815 under the title of Histoire Critique de V fitablissement des Colonies Grecques, in 4 vols. 8vo, was favourably received by the public. In 1819 he was appointed superintendent of antiquities in the Bibliotheque at. Paris, an office which he held till 1848. To this was added in 1826 the pro- fessorship of archaeology at the Bibliotheque, a result of which may be seen in his excellent Cours d 'Archeologie (1828). In the following year (1829) appeared his Monu- ments Inedits, and if this great work is now less frequently referred to than in former years it is because the path which it indicated has been steadily followed out by others, and with more complete results than was possible in his day. A still valuable and interesting work is his Peintures Inedites (1836). So also his Peintures de Pompei (1844) remains a splendid monument of the enterprise with which he sought to render attractive the study of archaeology. He was a frequent contributor to the Annali of the Roman Institute, the Journal des Savants, and the Academie des Inscriptions, and often engaged in disputes with his con- temporaries in matters on which time has for the most part proved him to have been right. At his death in 1854 Raoul Rochette was perpetual secretary of the Academy of Fine Arts and a corresponding member of most of the learned societies in Europe. RAOUX, JEAN, French painter, was born at Montpellier in 1677 and died at Paris in 1734. After the usual course of training he became a member of the Academy in 1717 as an historical painter. His reputation had been previ- ously established by the credit of decorations executed during his three years in Italy on the palace of Giustiniani Solini at Venice, and by some easel paintings, the Four Ages of -Man (National Gallery), commissioned by the grand prior of Vendome. To this latter class of subject Raoux devoted himself, nor did he even paint portraits except in character. The list of his works is a long series of sets of the Seasons, of the Hours, of the Elements, or of those scenes of amusement and gallantry in the representation of which he was immeasurably surpassed by his younger rival Watteau. After his stay in England (1720) he lived much in the Temple, where he decorated several rooms. His best pupils were Chevalier and Mont- didier. His works, of which there is a poor specimen in the Louvre, were much engraved by Poilly, Moyreau, Dupuis, &c. See Marietta, Abeccdario Arch, de T Art Franqais ; Dussieux, Les Artistes Franqais ci Vfitrangcr ; Soulie, Musee de Versailles ; De Chennevieres, Peintrcs provinciaux. RAPANUI, or EASTER ISLAND (Paascheylandt, Oster- insel, lie de Pdques, <fec.), the WAIHTJ or TEAPI of Cook, an island in the eastern part of the South Pacific, lying in 27 8' S. lat. and 109 25' W. long., 1000 miles east of Pitcairn. It is rudely triangular in shape, with its hypo- tenuse 12 miles long running north-east and south-west, and its three angles marked by three volcanic peaks. The coasts have no natural harbours of any importance, and landing is difficult. There is no lack of fertile soil, and the climate is moist enough to make up for the absence of running water. At one time the island would appear to have been wooded, but it now presents only a few bushes (Edwardsia, Broussonetia, &c.), ferns, grasses, sedges, &c. The natives keep a few goats and a large stock of domestic fowls, and the French house which now owns a large part of the island feeds about 10,000 sheep. It is doubtful whether Rapanui (i. c., Great Rapa) was discovered by Davis iu 1686, though it is sometimes marked Davis Island on our maps. Admiral Roggeveen reached it on 6th April 1722 ; in 1744 Captain Cook discovered it anew, and it has since been visited by La Perouse (1776), Kotzebue (1816), Beasby (1826), &c. At the time of Roggeveen's discovery the island probably contained from 1500 to 2000 inhabitants of Polynesian race, who, according to their own tradition, came from Rapa Iti (Little Rapa) or Oparo, one of the Tibuai or Austral group. The remarkable colossal statues which give a unique archseo- logical interest to Rapanui have been described under POLYNESIA, vol. xix. p. 428 ; figures of them will be found in Pinart's valuable paper in the Tour du Monde (1878, No. 927). RAPE OIL. This important fatty oil, known also as " sweet oil," is obtained from seeds of cultivated varieties of the cruciferous genus Brassica, the parent form of the whole apparently being the wild navew, B. campestris (Lin.), the B. pr&cox of De Candolle. From the same stock, it is generally assumed, have sprung the Swedish turnip and the common turnip ; but the oil-yielding plants have developed in a special direction and are exclusively culti- vated for the oil they yield. Under the general name " rape oil " is included the produce of several plants having distinct and fairly constant characters, and one of these oils COLZA (q.v.) is a very well-known commercial variety. In Germany, where the production of rape oil centres, three principal oil-seeds colza (Kohlsaat), rape, and riibsen are well recognized. Colza is the produce of the parent stock B. campestris and is the form principally cultivated in France and Germany. Rape seed, the variety produced by B. campestris, var. napus, and riibsen seed, yielded by B. campestris, var. rapa, are extensively cultivated in the valley of the Danube and eastwards through Persia into India. These plants are principally distinguished from each other by the colour of their radicle leaves and the form of inflorescence, but also by the size and appear- ance of the small ovoid seeds. The seed of the colza is ruddy brown, rape is blue-black, and riibsen is almost black in colour. It has been found that 1000 seeds of colza weigh 29 '3 grains, the same number of riibsen weighing 34'5 grains and of rape 71'75 grains. Each, of these plants has summer and winter, or annual and biennial, varieties ; and as there are numerous intermediate forms in cultivation the varieties merge into each other. The oil yielded by these seeds is, in physical and chemi- cal properties, practically the same, the range of fluctua- tions not being greater than would be found in the oil of any specific seed under similar varying conditions of pro- duction. Colza seed is, in general, the richest in oil, and the winter varieties of all the seeds are more productive than the summer varieties. In summer rape and riibsen the proportion of oil averages from 30 to 35 per cent., the winter seeds have from 35 to 40, and winter colza contains from 40 to 45 per cent. Newly pressed rape oil has a dark sherry colour with, at first, scarcely any perceptible smell ; but after resting a short time the oil deposits an XX. -35