Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/113

* RHEtTMATISM. neck) is an affeotimi of the muscles of the side of the neck usually ilieunuitic. It is generally limited to one side, toward which the head is twisted. Ccrricodynia, involving the muscles of the back of tlie neck, is comparatively rare. Pleurodynia is applied to a rheumatic affection of the thoracic muscles. Pain is excited by forced breathing, coughing, or sneezing. It is often mistaken ior pleurisy or intercostal neuralgia, which it closely sinuilales. A very common form of muscular rheumatism is lumbacio (q.v.). For the efficient treatment of even mild cases of acute rheumatism rest in bed is imperative; indeed, in severe cases the ])atient cannot do otherwise than lie still. Local measures to re- lieve pain consist in wrapping the affected joints in cotton wool, upon which some anodyne lini- ment, such as belladonna or opium, or oil of wintergreen. may he sprinkled freely. The drugs now used internally consist of salicylic acid and its derivatives, with acetanilid, antipyrin, or morphine to relieve severe pain. It is agreed, however, among the best authorities that no medi- cine has much control over the course or duration of the disease. The diet should consist of milk chiefly, either alone or diluted with barley water, lime water, or vichy. Lemonade is beneficial as a drink. In acute muscular rheumatism hot poultices applied to the parts affected will afford great relief. The treatment of hunbago. wry- neck, pleurodynia, etc., is dealt with fully under those titles. Chronic rheunuitism is best treated locally by friction with stimulating liniments. Much relief is obtained both from pain and loss of function by exposure of the joints to super- heated air in a specially devised appai-atus. Elec- tricity and hydrotherapy (q.v.) are useful in improving the circulation and nutrition of the joints, internally the most constantly employed drug is potassium iodide. The alkaline waters may be taken habitually. The greatest attention must be paid to the general health, and good food, warm clothing, and tonics, particularly cod-liver oil. iron, arsenic, and strychnine, are necessary to prevent relapses and recruit the strength. BHEYDT, rit, or RHEIDT. A town in the Rhine Province, Prussia, on the Niers, 28 miles northwest of Cologne (Map: Prussia, B 3). It has a handsome new town hall, statues of Wil- liam I. and of Bismarck, and a fine Hohenzollern fountain in the market-place. It manufactures silks, woolens, velvets, machinery, cigars, paper, etc., and has dve-Avorks. Rheydt received muni- cipal privileges'in 1856. Population (commune), in 1800, 26,830; in 1900, 34,034. RHIN, raN, Bas- (Fr., Lower Rhine). A former frontier department of France, correspond- ing nearly to the present German administrative district of Lower Alsace in the Imperial territory of Alsace-Lorraine (q.v.). It was ceded to Ger- many in 1871 by the Treaty of Frankfort. RHIN, Haut- (Fr., Upper Rhine). A former frontier department in the east of France, with the exception of the Territory of Belfort (q.v.), since 1871 comprehended within the German Dis- trict of LTpper Alsace. The Territory of Belfort is often called Haut-Rhine. See Alsace-Lok- R.MXE. RHIND PAPYRUS. A mathematical manu- script written by an Egyptian scribe, Ahmes, who lived before B.C. 1700. It is now deposited in 97 RHINE. the British Museum. See Aiimk.s; Algebra; ElSEXLOIIK. RHINE. The principal river of Western Eu- rope. It rises in Southern Switzerland, and Hows in a general northwest direction through Western Germany and Holland, empty- ing into the North Sea after a course of 7tiO miles (ilap: Germany, 15 3). The Khine proiKT is formed in the Canton of (Irisons, Eastern Switzerland, by two main headstreams, the Vor- dcrrhein and the Ilinterrliein. The former is the larger of the two. It rises on the north slojie of the Saint (iotthard group within two miles of the source of the Rhone, at an altitude of 7600 feet, and passes northeast alon" the base of the Glarner Alps till it meets the llinterrhein coming from the .south from the glaciers of the Kheinwaldhorn. The ciind)ined stream, swelled by numerous mountain torrents to a width <if 45 yards, Hows northward, .separating Swilzerlaml from Liechtenstein and -Austria, and enters the Lake of Constance. It leaves the main body of tlio lake at the town of Constance, and passes into the Unter See (Lower Lake) a short dis- tance farther on. The Rhine now (lows westward, becomes narrow and very ra])id, finally (below Schaffhausen) plunging over a rocky precipice 70 feet high. Another and smaller fall is encountered at Zurzach. below which the Rhine receives its first great tributarv. the Aar, which brings to it the waters of North- western Switzerland. The river bed continues for some distance to be narrow and rocky with sever- al rapids. It continues its westward course to Basel, where it makes a sharj) turn to the north and enters wholly into German territory, having formed the boundary between Germany and Switzerland from the Falls of Schaffhausen to this point. At Basel the river is 1!) yards wide and is henceforth navigable without obstructions. It now flows on the boundary between Baden and Alsace through a wide and level flood-plain bordered by the Vosges Jlountains on the west and the precipitous and romantic Black Forest on the east. In this valley it ])asses Strassburg, just below which city it receives the III, which drains Upper Alsace. After forming for about 50 miles the boundary between Baden and the Palatinate it is joined at Mannheim by the Neckar from the east. It continues its course northward through Hesse, passing the town of Worms, and at Mainz receives the Main, its principal affluent from the right. At Mainz the river makes a short turn to the west, and then at Bingen an abrupt turn to the northwest. It now enters upon the most romantic and celebrated part of its course, reaching from Bingen to Bonn, a distance of about 80 miles, all through Prus- sian territory. Here the river is much narrowed and "winds between stee]) mountains ris- ing often from the water's edge. The heights are crowned bv the famous ruined castles and the slopes are "covered with vineyarils. this stretch be- ing well known for the Rhenish wines. The chief town on the Rhine in this part of the course is Coblenz, at the confluence of the Moselle, the largest 'tributary from the left. After passing the Siebengebirge at Bonn the river and its val- ley again 'viden out. and from Cologne to its m'outh the Rhine flows through a low. level country turiiing gradually westward as it enters Holland. The largest city on its banks below Cologne is Dusseldorf. A short distance below