644 



HACK 



RACINE 



are certainly two, iMW-.il.lv three, but not more 

 than four species of raccoon, which are restricted 

 to the American continent. In North America 

 we meet with the 'coon ' (I'roryun lotor), no called 

 from the habit of soaking il- ((MM! in water. This 

 animal prefers open woods, and is a good climber, 

 making its home in trees. The raccoons, however, 

 descend to the ground to search for their food, 

 which consists chiefly of aquatic animals, li-h, 

 cravtish, ami various shellfish ; they will also 

 feed upon corn. These animals are annmi; the 

 must strictly nocturnal of mammals; they hiliernate 

 lining the winter. In South America occurs P. 

 iiiii-riruriit, and a well-marke<l variety which may 

 be a distinct species, and has been named /'. 

 niyrtnr* on account of its dark-coloured feet. For 

 the Raccoon I)og, see I)oo. 



Race. See BREED, SPECIES, ETHNOLOGY. 

 Race, CAPE. See NEWFOUNDLAND 

 Racehorse. See HORSE, HORSKRACING. 

 Raceme. See INFLORESCENCE. 

 Racemic Acid. See TARTARIC ACID. 



Rachel. Ei. ISA ( properly ELISA RACHKI.FKI.IX), 

 a great tragic actress, wns born of poor itinerant 

 Jewish parents at Mtinf, in the Swiss canton of 

 Aargiui. 24th March 1821. At last the family 

 .I at Lyons, and here Rachel and her sister 

 Sarah used to sing for chance gratuities in the 

 streets and cafes. About 1830 the household was 

 transferred to I'aria, and here Etienne Choron gave 

 her her first lessons in singing, Saint Aulaire in 

 dcelamation ; but later it was Samson from whom 

 she learned most. Mademoiselle Mara divined her 

 genius, but it was not till Veron and Jules Janin 

 hail written glowing criticisms that she took the 

 iilaygoing world of Paris by storm. She made her 

 first appearance at the Gymna.se in the Vrmltenne 

 in 1837 with but moderate success, but on 12th 

 .1 line 1 838 she appeared as Camille in Lea Hontrea at 

 the Theatre Fran9ais. From this time forward, in 

 tlie great parts supplied by the classic master- 

 pieces of Corneille, Racine, and Voltaire, she shone 

 <\ i' limit a rival; her fame may be said to have 

 cidminated in her ap|icarance as Phedre in Racine's 

 tragedy iii 1843. In Atlrienne Lenntvretir, a piece 

 expn-ssly written for her by MM. Legonve and 

 Scrilie, she had also immense success, though in 

 other more modern parts her |Mipularity was some- 

 what less. The furore excited in Paris in 1848 by 

 her public recitation of the .J/<irv> ////. will con- 

 tinue to connect her name with the history of the 

 Revolution. In 1H4!) she made the tour of the 

 French province* : In-fore or afterwards she also 

 viited London, Belgium where Charlotte Bronte 

 saw her Berlin, and St Petersburg, everywhere 

 meeting with enthusiastic, applause. Her health 

 now liegan to fail ; in IH55, in the course of a pro- 

 fessional visit to America, it altogether gave way, 

 and she returned utterly prostrated. A residence 

 at Cairo failed to restore her to strength ; and on 

 the 3d January 18.58 she died at Can net. near 

 Toulon. As an artist, within the limits prescribed 

 by her genius, Rachel has prolialily never been 

 quite equalled. Of the burning intensity which 

 characterised her rendering of passion in its fiercer 

 concentrations no words can give an adequate 

 image. 'She does not act she suffers,' one 

 observer well said of her. Her I'hi-dre by com 

 limn consent her masterpiece was an a|HH:alypse 

 of hum. in agony, not to lie forgotten by anyone 

 who ever witnessed it. In character Raehef was 

 neither exemplary nor altogether amiable. She 

 gave her first love to a Jew, who used her shame 

 fully, publishing her letters after the ruiiture; in 

 1844 she liore a son to Count \Valewski, liimself a 

 on of NajMtleon by a Polish mother. In her pm 



fessional relations she was notoriously grasping 

 and avaricious, although she could be royal in her 

 munificence. She lavished her love upon her 

 family, and heaped tlieni with the wealth that 

 she had gained. Her immense popularity enabled 

 her to dictate her own terms to managers, and of 

 this power she is said to have availed herself with- 

 out scruple or generosity. She made over four 

 millions and left one and a half million of francs. 

 Her elder sister Sarah (died 1877) failed as an 

 actress, but lived to make a fortune by the sale 

 of the cosmetic ' eau des fees. ' 



See J. Jtnin, Barhtl tt la Trayedic (1858) ; D'Heylli, 

 Raehel faprfi m Corrttpondancc (1882); and the Life 

 by .Mrs Arthur Kennard ( 1885). 



Racllis (Cr., 'backbone'), in Botany, the 

 primary floral axis, an elongation of the stem or 

 of a branch, from which arise the flower -stalks 

 ( peduncles ), or to which the flowers are iinined iatcly 

 affixed. 



Racine, capital of Racine county, Wisconsin, 

 is situated on Lake Michigan, and on both sides of 

 Root River, which is crossed by five swing luidgcs, 

 and whose month here forms an excellent hailmr. 

 By rail the city is 62 miles N. of Chicago and -J.'t 

 S. of Milwaukee ; and in summer there are daily 

 steamers to Chicago and the north. Racinecontaius 

 a handsome post-office and city hall, a hospital, 

 the Taylor Orphan Asylum, and the University oj 

 the North-west ( Episcopalian, founded in 1S.VJ. and 

 formerly called Racine College). A large trade is 

 carried on in lumber, and, besides flax, flour, and 

 woullen mills, boiler-work*, and linseed oil works, 

 there are manufactories of ploughs, pumps, wagons, 

 fanning- mills, hardware, wire-work, cordage, 

 furniture, refrigerators, boots and shoes, rublwr 

 clothing, &c. Pop. ( 1880) 16,031 ; { KHKi | ;*>. HfcJ. 



Racine, JEAN, the greatest tragic dramatist of 

 France, was born at La 1-Vite Milon, in the modern 

 department of Aisne, in December 1639, and was 

 baptised on the 22d of that month. His lather a- 

 a procitrcur or solicitor by profession, and held, 

 like his father l>efore him, the oflice of comptroller 

 of salt at La Ferte. His mother died while he was 

 still a child, whereupon his father married again, 

 but soon after died also. The l>oy was taken care 

 of by his maternal grandfather, and was sent for 

 his education to the college of Beauvais, whence 

 he passed to Port Royal in Octolier 1655, licing, 

 indeed, closely connected, both on the father's and 

 mother's side of the family, with the famous abbey. 

 Here he studied hard under the especial care of 

 Claude Lancelot, Nicole, and Le Maine, and at an 

 early age discovered a faculty for verse-making 

 and, still worse, a liking for romance that caused 

 his good teachers no small uneasiness, lie was 

 almost nineteen when he left Port Royal to pursue 

 the course of philosophy at the College d'Harcomt, 

 and here he appears to some extent to have ex- 

 changed the severity of his Jansenist upbringing 

 fur the libertinism of the world of his day, as well 

 as to have first felt the attraction of the life of 

 N'at uialK he became estranged from his 

 Port Royal friends, who saw spiritual ruin in his 

 \vorldlincss and his intimacy with the abhorred 

 actors and actresses. Meantime he had written an 

 ode, La Xymtifie de la Seine, on the marriage of 

 Louis XIV., finished one piece ami begun another 

 for the theatre, and made the acquaintance of La 

 Fontaine. Chapelain, and other men of letters. 

 About this time he lived awhile under the care 

 of his cousin, N. Vitart, fifteen years his senior, 

 and gave him some kind of assistance in his work 

 us financial secretary to the Due de Luynes. Many 

 letters of this period to Vitart, the Ahlie Le 

 Vasseur, and La Fontaine are extant, and show- 

 how the lessons of Port Royal were fading into 



