J'.'l 



RABBIT-RAi 



1. In catr of pttrmion u where a corporation does 

 an act inconsistent with the nature and destructive of 

 the ends of UK- grunt ; tlie perversion, however, must 

 be such as to amount to an injury to the public, who 

 are interested in tin- franchise. '2. In case of nturjMi- 

 Iton, as where a corporation exercises a power which 

 it has no right to exercise ; there is in such case no 

 question as to injury to the public. 



In England, corporations are the creations of the 

 crown, and on dissolution their franchise's revert to 

 the crown ; they may. however, be granted anew to 

 the old <vr|Hirator.s or to others. In the l.'niteil States, 

 corporal iiin.s are the creatures of the Legislature, MM 

 on dissolution their franchises revert to tin- State. The 

 Legislature has the same powers with respect to fran- 

 chises as the English crown. (T. it.) 



K. 



RABBIT. The derivation of this name is by no 

 means clear. The old Dutch robbe, 

 1M i 199 tne Walloon robftte, and a local French 

 Am Heu ) form rabelte, names for the European 



rabbit or the hare, are no doubt allied 

 to this word. As to whether there is any connection 

 between these names and the Portuguese robot), 

 "short-tailed," or the Spanish rabito, " a short tail," 

 from rabo, "a tail," there is much room to doubt; 

 and the rapidly progressing science of strictly histori- 

 cal and documentary philology can alone settle the 

 questions. 



It is well known that all the so-called rabbits native 

 to North America are in reality hares. (See HARE.) 

 The hares live and breed almost entirely in formt or 

 rude nests, rather than in burrows, like the true rab- 

 bits. Moreover, the young at birth have a well-de- 

 veloped coating of hair ami can sen ; while the true 

 rabbits are born blind ami hairless. The only true 

 rabbit known in North America is the common do- 

 mesticated rabbit introduced Iron) .''.urope. Thus far, 

 this animal has scarcely become naturalized in this 

 country. Yet in Australia and New Zealand it has 

 bred so rapidly in the wild state as to have become an 

 intolerable pest and nuisance. There are parts of this 

 country, like the Pacific States and the wanner parts 

 of the South, where the climatic conditions are such 

 as would seem favorable to the naturalization, on a 

 hurtful scale, of the common rabbit ; and reports 

 have been printed of places in the (lull 1 States in 

 which the animal is to be found in what might be 

 called a half-wild condition. It is to some extent 

 naturalized in tropical and South America. Among the 

 hares miscalled rabbits in our country attention may 

 be called to the so-called "lack-rabbits" or Jackass 

 rabbits of the Far West. The large and very long- 

 eared Texan hare (Lepai Texanus) appears to have 

 been the first to receive this title. L. callotis of the 

 South-west, and L. iirteniixue and A. CbttbntMMof 

 the Pacific slope, are about equally remarkable with 

 the Texan hare, in respect to development of the ears. 

 But at present the name is generally given to L. cam- 

 ptttrit, the prairie-hare. One of our rabbit*. /./ix 

 Biirdii, from the llocky Mountain region (prohalily 

 only a variant form of the prairie hare) is, according 

 to very respectable authority, distinguished among 

 mammals as the only known species in which both 

 male and female regularly produce milk and suckle 

 their young. If this observation be correct, the 

 anomaly may possibly be due to the scantim -ss of local 

 MOM, and the long duration of the summer 

 tiroiiiihts, which might very naturally reduce the se- 

 cretion of milk in the female to such an extent as to 

 call for a subsidiary supply from the male parent. 

 Many exceptional ease.-, of male lactation, even in the 

 human species, have been reported ; and there is no 

 known reason why the male mammary gland, whieh in 

 its structural elements is identical with that of the 

 female, might, not, under appropriate conditions, 

 afford milk. (c. W. Q.) 



1 1 \ 1 ; I KS. See HYDROPHOBIA. . 

 RACCOON. Thi* familiar American animal is 



well described in the ENCYCLOPEDIA BRITANNICA. 

 s the true raccoon, however, there are found 

 v YV '". tne ^ out u -western parts of the 

 * 6 202 (p 209 United States and in MeXttO two in- 

 Atu~Kep) terest mg mammals, tiassaritastutit and 



B. tiitnuchraxti, to which recent ar- 

 thors give the name raccoon fox. The structure and 

 other peculiarities of these creatures clearly mark 

 them off from every other family of carnivorous 

 mammals, and their true position has been much dis- 

 puted. At present they are by common consent 

 placed by themselves in a family, Jinxxtirididir ; and 

 they are generally assigned to a place among the Arc- 

 t'liili-a or bear-like animals. Among their popular 

 ' names are coon-bear and civet. The ringed tail, ar- 

 boreal habit, and playful, sociable disposition in cap- 

 tivity all prove a relationship to the raccoons; and in 

 some parts of the country the raccoon fox is consid- 

 ered as a true raccoon which it very certainly is not. 

 The head and ears have a decidedly fox-like ap- 

 pearance. This little animal is easily tamed and 

 soon becomes a great favorite in the frontiersman's 

 cabin. The females are very much smaller than the 

 males, and the males are smaller than the true rac. 



RACINE, a city of Wisconsin, the scat of Racine 

 co., is on the W. shore of l^ike Michigan. (iU 

 miles N. of Chicago and 23 miles S. of Milwaukee. 

 It is the second city of the State in population mid 

 commerce. TheChicago and Northwestern and tho 

 i Chicago, Milwaukee, and St. Paul Railroads as well as 

 steamers on the lake in summer afford freight and 

 travelling facilities. The city is on a plateau about 

 I 45 feet above the level of the lake, and is divided 

 into two sections by Root River, across which there 

 i are five swing-bridges. It has a court-house, a hand- 

 I some post-office building, a line city-hall, 2 hospitals, 

 | 3 hotels, 3 national banks. L'S churches, 2 daily and 6 

 weekly newspapers. Besides the public schools, 

 which have ti large buildings, there are excellent pri- 

 vate academies and the Church University of the 

 North-west, which is under Protestant Kpi.-eopal con- 

 trol. This institution was founded in 1S.12 and was 

 formerly known as Racine College. Taylor Orphan 

 Asylum has a fine building about two miles from the 

 heart of the city. The lumber trade of Racine is 

 very large. Its manufactures comprise agricultural 

 implements, pump-, wai/ons, cordage, furniture, fan- 

 ning mills, boots and shoes, rublicr clothing, refriger- 

 ators, baskets, hardware, and wire Work. It has also 

 flour-, woollen-, and flax-mills, boiler-works, linseed oil- 

 works, etc. Racine was settled in ls:U by (iilbert 

 Knapp. chartered as a village in 18-11. and incorporated 

 as a city in is Is. Its assessed valuation in 1886 

 was $8,287,400; its public debt $183,500 and its 

 yearly expenses about $150,000. The city is lighted 

 with gas and electric light, has street railways, two 

 parks and water works and two artesian wells. It 

 has twice suffered from large firc-s. in ISi',0 the loss 

 being $150,000, and in 1882 being $800,000. In 1883 

 a destructive cyclone passed over the northern part of 

 the city. There is a paid fire department, efficient 

 and well supplied with apparatus. The population 



