Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/297

 REUNION EEUSS 281 the German scholar were committed to the flames. An appeal was made to Pope Leo X., who referred the whole matter to the bishop of Spire, and that prelate declared Reuchlin innocent, and ordered the monks to pay the expenses of the investigation. Hoogstraaten appealed to the pope, who issued a mandate to suspend the proceedings against Eeuchlin. The opening of the reformation prevented the matter from being revived ; but the contest re- sulted really in favor of the advocates of clas- sical literature, the study of Greek and Hebrew from that time becoming general among the Germans. (See EPISTOL^; OBSCCBOEUM VIBO- EUM.) In the war between Franz von Sickin- gen and TJlric, duke of Wiirtemberg, Reuchlin was obliged to leave Stuttgart, and in 1520 was made professor in the university of Ingol- stadt by Duke William of Bavaria. He re- ceived an invitation to go to Wittenberg, and recommended in his place his cousin Philip Melanchthon. Although suspected of a lean- ing toward Protestantism, he never renounced his connection with the Roman Catholic church. When in 1522 the plague broke out in Ingol- stadt, he retired to Tubingen with the intention of devoting himself wholly to his studies, but soon sickened and died. Among his philologi- cal works are Hicropcedia, sive Grammatical, GrcBca (Orleans, 1478) ; Breviloqum, sive Dic- tionarium singulas Voces Latinas fireviter Ex- plicans, which has been called the first Latin dictionary (Basel, 1478) ; Rudimenta Hebraica (Pforzheim, 1506) ; and De Accentibus et Or- thographia Hebrceorum Libri III. (Hagenau, 1518). His edition of the seven penitential psalms (Tubingen, 1512) is thought to have been the first Hebrew work printed in Ger- many. For the system of Greek pronuncia- tion which he established, and which is known as iotacism or Reuchlinism, see GEEECE (LAN- GUAGE AND LITEEATUEE), vol. viii., p. 209. See Johann Reuchlin, sein Leben und seine Werjce, by Ludwig Geiger (Leipsic, 1871). REUNION, lie de la, an island in the Indian ocean, belonging to France, between lat. 20 60' and 21 24' S., and Ion. 52 56' and 53 34' E., 120 W. S. W. of Mauritius and about 410 m. E. of Madagascar; area, about 970 sq. m. ; pop. in 1868, 212,536, about one sixth whites, and the rest chiefly negroes and cool- ies. The island is formed of two volcanic mountain ranges. The high central plateaus are known as la plaine des Psalmistes and la plaine des Cafres. The highest and north- ernmost peak, the Piton des Neiges, is more than 10,000 ft. high. In the south is the Piton de Fournaise, an active volcano, about 7,000 ft. high ; the Gros Morne volcano is extinct. The climate is salubrious despite the great summer heats, violent hurricanes, and fevers. A girdle road finished in 1854 extends over 100 m. in the interior of the island. There are no navigable rivers, but many torrents and several lakes. The staple product is su- gar, besides which the chief exports are mo- lasses, coffee, cacao, and cloves. Horses, cat- tle, grain, rice, wines, beer, oils, salt fish, and other articles are imported. The chief com- merce is with France. Since August, 1873, all foreign goods except tobacco are liable to only the same duties as those from France. The arrivals in 1873 comprised 185 French and 21 foreign vessels, and the total trade with France is estimated at about 36,000,000 francs. The island was discovered in 1505 by the Portuguese Mascarenhas, whose name it bore till 1642, when the French took it and called it Bourbon. The English occupied it from 1810 to 1815, when it was restored to France. It was called Reunion during the revolution and the first empire, and Bourbon from the restoration till 1848, since which it has again been called Reunion. Slavery was abolished in 1848. The island is administered by a governor and a council of 30 members, the latter elected by the resident French. It is divided into the arrondissements du Vent and sous le Vent. The chief towns are St. Denis, the capital, St. Paul, and St. Benoit. ItEtS, a city of Catalonia, Spain, in the prov- ince and 11 m. W. of the city of Tarragona; pop. about 25,000. It is situated on a gently sloping plain near the base of a low mountain range, and was formerly fortified. It consists of an old and a new town, the former dating from 1151, and the latter from the last cen- tury. There are 11 public squares and several subterranean aqueducts. The parish church of San Pedro is a stately Gothic pile with an im- posing tower. Outside the town are two sanc- tuaries, one of which contains a gorgeous im- age of the Virgin, which is visited by large numbers of worshippers. The city has over 100 cotton and silk factories, and numerous oil mills, distilleries, and soap and earthen- ware factories. The commercial prosperity of Reus dates from the establishment there of English manufacturers in 1750. REUSS, a river of Switzerland, tributary to the Aar, rising in the canton of Uri, near Mt. St. Gothard, within the small district where the Rhine, Rhone, and Ticino also have their source. It flows, fed by glaciers, in a north- erly direction into the lake of Lucerne, and after leaving it follows a winding course, at first N. N". W. to the junction of the Emme, then 1ST. E., and then crosses in a N. N. W. di- rection the canton of Aargau, joining the Aar at Windisch, east of Bragg. The total length of the river is about 100 m. Above Lake Lu- cerne it falls 4,500 ft., with many magnifi- cent cascades; below it is navigable. The new road (built 1820-'32) over the St. Got- hard crosses the Reuss eight times, one of the bridges being the celebrated Devil's bridge. (See DEVIL'S BBIDGE.) REUSS, a territory of central Germany, be- tween lat. 50 and 51 K, and Ion. 11 and 13 E., enclosed by Saxe-Meiningen, Prussian Sax- ony, Saxe-Weimar, Altenburg, the kingdom of Saxony, and Bavaria ; area, 443 sq. m. ; pop.