RATH 



RATIONALISM 



587 



Rath, the Irish name for u prehistoric hill-fort. 

 See HILL-FORTS. 



Rathenow, a town of Prussia, on the right 

 tank of the Havel (here crossed by a stone bridge), 

 43 miles by rail W. by N. of Berlin. Optical in 

 struments, wooden wares, machinery, bricks and 

 tiles, are made. Pop. ( 1885) 13,072 ; ( 1895) 18,418. 



Ratllkeale, a town of Ireland, on the river 

 Deel, 19 miles SW. of Limerick by rail. Pop. 2549. 



Itallllill. a crescent-shaped island off the coast 

 of Antrim, 6 miles N. of Ballycastle. Measuring 

 <U by H miles, and 3398 acres in area, it has fine 

 cliffs, consists of columnar basalt and limestone, 

 and attains a maximum altitude of 449 feet. The 

 .~<>il in the valleys is fertile, but fishing is the 

 leading industry, the kelp-manufacture being quite 

 extinct. Kathfin is identified with the Hit- in in of 

 Ptolemy, Rir.nia of Plinv, and Raghlin or Ragherin 

 ( ' fortress of Ireland ') of later writers. St Columba 

 established a church here in the 6th century ; and 

 Bruce in 1306 took refuge in a castle, now a ruin. 

 Pop. ( 1841 ) 1039 ; ( 1891 ) 365. 



Ratihor. a town of Prussian Silesia, stands on 

 the left bank of the Oiler, 44 miles SSE. of Oppeln. 

 It is the chief town of the principality of Ratibor, 

 which, a sovereign duchy from 1288 to 1532, has 

 since 1742 been subject to Prussia. The town 

 manufactures tobacco, shoes, paper, glass, sugar, 

 furniture, &c., and has large ironworks. Pop. 

 (1875) 17,269; (1890)20,578. 



Ratich. WOLFGANG (sometimes called RATKE 

 or Latii.ised as RATICIIIUS), educationist, was born 

 at Holstein in 1571, based a new system of educa- 

 tion on Bacon's philosophy, which he expounded to 

 the German princes at Frankfort in 1612, and had 

 an opportunity of putting into practice at Kothen 

 in 1618, by favour of the prince of Anhalt. His 

 principle was the realistic one of proceeding from 

 things to names, and from the mother-tongue to 

 the study of foreign ones. But he got into bad 

 relations with the clergy and with his patron, 

 ami was actually imprisoned for eight months. A 

 second chance given him at Magdeburg in 1620 

 ended also in failure, and after some years of 

 ineffective wanderings he died at Erfurt in 1635. 



There are monographs on him by K range (1872), Storl 

 (1876), and Schumann (1876); and see & H. Quick, 

 Kuain on Educational Reformer! (1868; new ed. 1890). 



Ratio. See PROPORTION, FLUXIONS. 



Ration, in the British Army, is the allowance 

 of provisions granted to each officer on service and 

 in some colonies, and to each non-commissioned 

 officer and soldier at all times unless on furlough 

 or otherwise specially provided for. The ordinary 

 ration is J Ib. of meat, with 1 Ib. of bread ( ' best 

 seconds'), increased by J Ib. of meat when in camp 

 or abroad. Sometimes a grocery ration (tea or 

 coffee, sugar, salt, &c.) is also issued, ld. being 

 then deducted from the pay of the recipient. 

 When men are not supplied with bread and meat 

 rations an allowance of 6d. per diem is granted 

 them. The bread ration may be increased dur- 

 ing operations in the field, though not above 

 1J Ib. of bread or 1 Ib. of biscuit, and the officer 

 commanding may direct the issue in addition of 

 wine, spirits, or any other article of subsistence 

 equivalent thereto. The families of soldiers accom- 

 panying them abroad are allowed the following : 

 the wife (married under regulations), half a ration ; 

 each legitimate rhild under fourteen, quarter ration. 

 A ration of forage at home consists of 10 Ib. of oats, 

 12 Ib. of hay, and 8 Ib. of straw for each horse. An 

 extra 2 Ib. of oats is allowed in camp. Staff- 

 officers and mounted officers of infantry provide 

 their own forage except on active service, and are 

 granted a pecuniary allowance of about Is. 7d. 



(varying with the locality) per day to enable them 

 to do so. 



The full navy ration consists of the following 

 articles : Daily 1 Ib. of ship- biscuit or 1 Ib. of soft 

 bread, J pint of spirit, 2 oz. sugar, 1 oz. chocolate, 

 J oz. tea ; 1 Ib. fresh meat and 4 Ib. of fresh vege- 

 tables, when these are procurable ; otherwise, 1 Ib. 

 salt pork, with j pint split peas, or 1 Ib. of salt 

 beef, with 9 oz. nour, j oz. suet, and 1$ oz. of 

 currants or raisins. On alternate salt-beef days 

 2 oz. preserved potatoes. Weekly J pint oatmeal, 

 J oz. mustard, J oz. pepper, J pint vinegar. The 

 sailor's ration is issued free of any stoppage. 



Rationalism, as a system of belief regulated 

 by reason,' might be expected to mean the opposite 

 of irrationality, crass ignorance, and perverse pre- 

 judice ; and the growth of rationalism would then 

 mean the progress of civilisation, the development 

 of the intellectual and moral nature of men and 

 nations. It is nearly in this sense that Lecky uses 

 the word ; attributing to its wholesome influence 

 the decay of the belief in magic, witchcraft, and 

 other hideous superstitions, and the substitution of 

 a kindly tolerance in place of blind zeal for perse- 

 cution. 



But in ordinary English usage, general as well 

 as theological, the connotation of the word is 

 substantially different. It is generally employed 

 as a term of reproach for those who, without utterly 

 di'iiying or attempting to overthrow the foundations 

 of religion, make such concessions to the enemy as 

 tend to subvert the faith ; who admit the thin end 

 of a wedge that pressed home will rend and destroy 

 the fabric. They rely, more or less exclusively and 

 blameworthily, on mere human reason instead of 

 simply, frankly, and fully accepting the dicta of 

 the divine word. An atheist would not be spoken 

 of as a rationalist, nor would an irreligious, blas- 

 pheming freethinker. Rationalists in ordinary par- 

 lance are those who are more ' liberal ' or ' advanced ' 

 than the main body of the orthodox ; in especial 

 those who take a ' low ' view of inspiration, and 

 minimise or explain away the miraculous details of 

 the history of revelation and redemption. Ration- 

 alism is not so much a Inxly of doctrine as a mood 

 of mind, a tendency of thought shown in the 

 attempt to apply to religious doctrine, the sacred 

 story, and the sacred scriptures the same methods 

 of research and proof as are used in mere human 

 science and history, and the literatures of all times 

 and peoples. This feature is also recognised, 

 though with approval, by Lecky in his wider use 

 of the word: 'Rationalism,' he says, 'leads men 

 on all occasions to subordinate dogmatic theology 

 to the dictates of reason and conscience. ... It 

 predisposes men in history to attribute all kinds 

 of phenomena to natural rather than to miraculous 

 causes ; in theology to esteem succeeding religious 

 systems the expression of the wants and aspira- 

 tions of that religious sentiment which is implanted 

 in man ; and in ethics to regard as duties only 

 those which conscience reveals to be such. ' Ration- 

 alism, not being a system but a temper or drift 

 of mind, has different aims at different times ; 

 just as ' liberalism ' in politics was not the same 

 thing before 1832 as it came to be after, or in 1832 

 what it was in 1867, 1885, or 1890. Opinions are 

 heard in sermons and expounded in books by theo- 

 logical professors in 1891 without proving serious 

 stumbling-blocks to the majority, which in 1860 

 would by all but a small minority have been re- 

 garded as distinctly rationalistic. Thus, till lately 

 it was alarming rationalism to dispute the Mosaic 

 authorship of Genesis, the Solomonic authorship 

 of the Song of Songs, and the Davidic authorship 

 of any of the Psalms ; now the newer view is 

 assumed by many orthodox teachers. And in the 

 last quarter of the 19th century scholars earnestly 



