Page:Imperialdictiona03eadi Brandeis Vol3b.pdf/47

REN despatched on active duty as an officer of engineers. He was not long in earning his promotion by distinguished service under Lord Clive; but the highest military rank he ever attained was that of major, as he was soon afterwards appointed to the important and lucrative office of surveyor-general of Bengal. His first publication, a "Chart of the Bank and Currents of Cape Agulhas," brought him into prominent notice as a geographer. It was followed by his Bengal Atlas, and an account of the Ganges and Burrampooter rivers; the latter being inserted in the Philosophical Transactions. He was elected fellow of the Royal Society immediately on his return to England, which took place soon after his marriage in India to a daughter of Dr. Thackeray, master of Harrow school. He then published his memoir of a map of Hindostan, assisted Dr. Vincent in his commentary on Arrian's Voyage of Nearchus, and contributed many valuable papers to the Asiatic Researches and the Asiatic Register. In 1798 he assisted Mungo Park in arranging his African travels, and illustrated the work by a map. His most celebrated performance—"The Geography of Herodotus," appeared in 1800. The research and acuteness displayed in this work are rendered the more remarkable by the circumstance that Major Rennel was ignorant of the Greek language, and conducted his investigations through the medium of Beloe's translation of Herodotus. A second edition of this book was published in 1830 by his daughter, soon after the author's death. That event occurred on the 29th of March, 1830, having been precipitated by an accidental fracture of the thigh, which, at the major's very advanced age, could not be remedied. Among his papers were found a memoir on the general currents of the Atlantic ocean, accompanied by a series of charts, and a work on the ancient and modern geography of Asia. The last-named had been prepared for publication by royal command, and on the representation of Lord Grenville a sum of money was granted by the king in aid of the publication. The book was brought out in 1831 in two volumes, edited by Mrs. Rodd, the author's daughter, with the assistance of Lieutenant-colonel Leake. Besides the works already enumerated Major Rennel published in 1792 the "Marches of the British armies in the Peninsula of India during the campaigns of 1790-91;" in 1793, "Observations on a Current that often prevails to the westward of Sicily;" in 1814, "Observations on the topography of the plain of Troy;" and in 1816, "Illustrations (chiefly geographical) of the history of the expedition of the younger Cyrus from Sardis to Babylonia, and the retreat of the ten thousand Greeks, with an inquiry into the best method of improving the geography of the Anabasis," &c. All these works are characterized by great ability and candour.—R. H.  RENNEL,, an eminent divine, was born at Winchester in 1787, and received his education at Eton and King's college, Cambridge. Immediately after he entered into orders he was appointed assistant preacher at the Temple. In 1816 he was presented to the vicarage of Kensington, and in the same year he was appointed christian advocate to the university of Cambridge. In 1823 he was promoted to the mastership of St. Nicholas hospital, and a prebend in the church of Salisbury. He died 30th June, 1824.—D. W. R.  RENNIE,, the great engineer, was born at Phantassie, near East Linton, in the county of East Lothian, on the 7th of June, 1761, and died in London on the 4th of October, 1821. His father, the owner of a small estate, died in 1766, and was succeeded by his eldest son, George. The natural bent of John Rennie's mind towards mechanics was strengthened and cultivated by his frequent visits, when a schoolboy, to the workshop of that skilful millwright Andrew Meikle (q.v.), which happened to stand near Phantassie. He was educated first at the parish school of Prestonkirk, and afterwards at the high school of Dunbar, where under Gibson, a teacher of great ability, he studied mathematics and natural philosophy with such success as to be able to act as Gibson's substitute for six months, about the year 1778. He spent the three years from 1780 till 1783 at the university of Edinburgh, studying natural philosophy under Robison, and chemistry under Black; and during the whole of that period he occupied his vacations in learning the practice of mechanics from Meikle. In 1784 he was employed to design and construct his first engineering work, a bridge near Edinburgh; and in the course of the same year he was engaged as an assistant by Boulton and Watt, to superintend the erection of the Albion mills in London, well known in the history of the steam engine as the first instance in which that prime mover was employed to drive mills or machinery on a great scale, and in the history of machinery and millwork in general, as affording some of the earliest examples of the substitution of iron for wood in mechanism. The Albion mills were burned in 1791, and on their site Rennie afterwards founded an engine work. He now rapidly rose to the head of the engineering profession, Amongst his earlier works may be mentioned the Hull docks, the Kennet and Avon canal, the Rochdale canal, and the Royal canal of Ireland. In 1799 he was consulted on the subject of the drainage of the Lincolnshire and Cambridge fens, and he pointed out and applied with much success the two principles which should regulate such undertakings, namely, to intercept and divert by independent channels the waters of the higher country, and to drain the lower country by large and low channels, capable of acting partially as reservoirs as well as drains. Applying his knowledge to the theory of the construction of arches, he designed many bridges with consummate skill, scientific and practical, some of stone, and some of iron. Amongst his stone bridges may be mentioned Kelso bridge over the Tweed (1803), and the justly celebrated Waterloo bridge over the Thames (opened in 1817), and above all, London bridge, which stands at the head of the stone bridges of the world for strength, stability, and beauty. Although Rennie designed the last of those works, he did not live to execute it; it was completed after his death by his younger son, Sir John Rennie. In the designing and constructing of cast-iron arched bridges he showed equal skill, as Southwark bridge (opened in 1819) attests. Of his dock and harbour works may be mentioned London docks; the East India docks, of which he was engineer along with Ralph Walker; Holyhead harbour; and Sheerness docks. He proposed an admirable plan for a government dockyard at Northfleet, which has never been executed. He invented the dredging machine, improved the diving bell, and was the first to use retaining walls with a curved batter. In 1805 he was appointed chief or consulting engineer of the Bell Rock lighthouse (a work which will be further mentioned under the head of, the engineer by whom it was first projected). He made most important contributions to mechanical science by his experiments on the strength of materials. His greatest work was the Plymouth breakwater, which he projected in 1806, and commenced in 1811; and although it was not completed until 1848, twenty-seven years after his death, it is strictly speaking his work in every respect: for all its partial failures were caused by deviations from the principles of his plan, and its success by a return to them. The engineering works of Rennie are marked throughout by the impress of that scientific knowledge which he combined with sound practical skill. This is most conspicuous in the designs and structure of his bridges; but in other works also it can clearly be traced. He was a fellow of the Royal Society, to whose Transactions he contributed largely, and of other scientific bodies. He was honourable and upright in his professional dealings, and excellent in his private character. About 1790 he married Miss Mackintosh of Inverness; six of their children survived him. He was succeeded in his mechanical business by his eldest son, ; in his civil engineering business by his younger son. Sir .—(See Sir John Rennie's Account of the Plymouth Breakwater; Smiles' Lives of the Engineers.)—W. J. M. R.  RENNIGER or RHANGER,, born in Hampshire in 1529, was educated at Magdalen college, Oxford, where he obtained a fellowship. A protestant, he had to fly the country on the accession of Mary, but on his return was appointed a chaplain to Queen Elizabeth; archdeacon of Winchester in 1575. He died in 1609. Besides publishing some theological works, Renniger was a copious writer of Latin verse.—W. J. P.  RENOUARD,, a distinguished librarian and bibliopolist, was born in Paris in 1765, and died in 1853. During the period subsequent to the revolution of 1830 he was elected maire of the eleventh arrondissement of Paris. He is known better through his editions of various French and Latin authors than for any active part he took in the politics of his time. They are remarkable for their elegance and typographical correctness. Many of them are embellished with engravings by the Desennes, Moreau, and Prudhon, and may be recognized by the monogram of an anchor surmounted by a cork. His principal works are, "Catalogue de la Bibliothèque d'un Amateur," 1819; "Annales de l'Imprimerie des Aides, ou l'Histoire des trois Manuces et leurs Editions," 1826, 3 vols. 8vo; "Annales de l'Imprimerie des Estienne," 1837 and 1843.—W. J. P. 