Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/107

* KHAPSODISTS. Each recitation was known as a 'rhapsody,' and hence this term is often applied to the separate books of the Iliad and the Oili/ssei/. The most important source of information concerning the rliapsodists is Plato's lull. BHAPSODY (Lat. rhapsodia, from Gk. l>a'y, Kramrria tri<nidr(i and Krameria Ixinti. Half-shrubby plants of the natural order Poly- galacea'. natives of the cold sterile tablelands of the Andes in Peru and Bolivia. Their roots have been used medicinally as an astringent and tonic. When powdered and mixed with orris root or charcoal the roots are used as a tooth-powder. Rhatany root is exported chiefly from Lima, Peru. It is extensively' employed in Portugal to color wines, the coloring matter in the roots being known as rhatanic acid. KHA'ZES. The Latin name of Abu Bekb M0H.MMED IBN Zakariy.y al-Razi. The most important of the media?val Mohammedan physi- cians. He was born about the middle of the ninth century in the Persian city of Rai. Up to his thirtieth year he devoted himself to music, and then took up the stud.y of medicine at Bna'dad. He became the head of a hospital at his native place and later at Bagdad. After hrs reputation was made he traveled, visiting different courts. He died either in 923 or 932. Much of Rhazes's knowledge was drawn from Greek sources, but he was more than a mere borrower and is famed as the first to describe smallpox and measles (in his book AI- Jordan ical-hasbn, several times translated into Latin, and into English by Green- hill, London, 1848). He is said to have written more than two hundred works ; the most famous was the Kitah al-tihh al-Mansuri, a general treat- ise on medicine in 10 books. The Kitab al-hfiici {liber continentis), a cyclopaedia of medicine, was edited from his papers after his death. Both these works were translated into Latin in the fif- teenth centurj^ Consult: Wiistenfekl, Gesc/itc/ife drr arabisclien Aer~te vnd. Xaturforscher (Got- tingen, 1840) ; Leclere, Histoire de la medecine arabc (Paris, 1876). EHE'A (Lat., from Gk. T^a). A Greek god- dess representing the productiveness of nature and anciently Identified with C'ybele. She was the daughter of L'ranus and G.-ea, wife of her brother Cronus, and mother of Zeus. Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia. and Demeter. She had an ancient place of worship in Crete, where she gave birth to Zeus on Jlount Ida. RHEA, or REA SILVIA. In Roman tradi- tion, a Vestal virgin, the daughter of the Alban Numitor, and mother of Romulus and Remus, by Mars. When Amulius usurped the throne, the infants were exposed and Rhea Silvia was con- demned to be buried alive for breaking the vow of chastity required of the Vestals. She was also called Ilia. Vol. XVII.— 7. 91 BHEA. KHEA (Lat., from Ok. 'IVo, daughter of Ura- nus and Ga^a). The generic and English iiaiiicnfa family of South .mcrican ralite birds allied to the ostrich, from which they dilTer in having the feet three-toed, and each toe armed with a idaw; also in being more completely fcalliered on the head and neck; in having no tail; and in having the wings belter devclopeil and phimeil, and l<'r- minated by a hook<'il spur. The wings are. in- deed, more ellicient than in any oilier of the Ralita^ although infit for llight. Rheas are known to Brazilians as 'ema' and to Argentineans as ' nandu,' 'avestruz,' or 'ehueke.' There are two species, of which the best known {Rhea Americana) is considerablv smaller than the ostrich, standing aboit three feet high. It is uniform gray, except on (he back, which has a browu tint. The male is larger and darker NANDU {Rbea, Americiia&). colored than the female. The back and rump are furnished with long feathers, much inferior to those of the ostrich in beauty as plumes, but marketable as material for dust-brooms and the like. The skins are made u|) into rugs, of which large numbers are fabricated in the neighborhood of Jlcndoza, Argentina. The rhea inhabits the great grassy plains of South .uicriea. southward of the equator, and abounds on the banks of the La Plata and its more southern tributaries. It is genei-ally seen in small groups, usually asso- ciated with guanacos, and eating grass, seeds, berries (especially of Empetrum). worms, snails, and almost anything else it can swallow. It runs with great celerity, using its wings in aid. It is polygamous, one male securing possession of two or more females, which lay their eggs together in a mere hollow, where, when 20 or 30 are gathered, they are incubated by the cock. A smaller and more recently discovered spe- cies {Rhea Darieini) has light brown plumage, each feather tii)ped with white. It inhabits Patagonia, and extends northward along the base of the .Vndes to the edge of Peru, and dif- fers from the other in many particulars. A third species has been catalogued, but it is now considered a dark, local race (variety Macro- rhyiieha) in Northeastern Brazil of the ordinary nandu.