REVIVAL OF LEARNING 



REVOLVER 



679 



Tennents was generally designated the Great 

 Awakening. The beginning of this revival seems 

 to have had no connection with the Methodist 

 movement in England, although subsequently they 

 became connected through Whitefield's visits to 

 North America. There were revivals at Cambus- 

 lang in 1742, and at Moulin in Perthshire in 1798- 

 1800. A very extensive revival in Wales resulted 

 in the formation of the Welsh Calvinistie Methodist 

 Church, but was not confined in its effects to those 

 who became connected with that church. Local 

 revivals also in some instances attended the ministry 

 of evangelical ministers of the Church of England ; 

 and in America there were revivals in 1796, in 

 1812-15, and again in 1827-32. In 1839 the 

 attention of all Scotland was drawn to a religious 

 movement at Kilsyth, originating in the preach- 

 ing of Mr William C. Burns (q.v.), and this was 

 followed by similar occurrences in a number of 

 other places, more or less evidently connected with 

 it. The great American revival of 1859-61 began 

 in New England, particularly in Connecticut 

 And Massachusetts, and rapidly extended to New 

 York and over the middle and western states. It 

 was not generally attended with scenes of great 

 excitement ; strong but calm religious feeling 

 was ite general characteristic. It spread all over 

 the United States, and it was believed that in a 

 single year half a million converts were received 

 into the churches. A similar movement took place 

 in Ireland, and rapidly extended over the whole 

 north, and subsequently to Scotland, Wales, and 

 some parts of England. As a rule it was free 

 from excitement, and characterised by little else 

 than the intensity of religious feeling displayed. 

 Another remarkable revival, which extended over 

 the greater part of Great Britain in 1874-75, origi- 

 nated in the efforts of two American evangelists, 

 Messrs Moody and San key, and was characterised 

 by the almost entire absence of sensationalism. 

 The Salvation Army carries on its work_largely 

 by methods known as revivalistic. Revivals of 

 religion have occurred also in other parts of the 

 world. Though evangelical Christians generally 

 recognis* revivals as in the main divine works of 

 .grace, they ajjree in deploring the extravagances 

 and irregularities that have not unfrequently 

 accompanied them and done grievous harm to the 

 cause of religion. 



See Fleming's Fulfilling of the Scripture (1681); Ed- 

 wards, The Work of God in Northampton, Afauachiuettt 

 (1736); Robe's Narrative (1742); Pringle, Surprising 

 Accountt of the Revival of Religion in the United States 

 (1802); lectures on the subject by Sprague (1833) and 

 Finney (1835); Mrs Lundie Duncan, H istitr, y of Revival* 

 of Religion in the British /faj(1840); Fish, Hand'xmk 

 of Revivalt (1874) ; Porter, Remvalt of Religion ( 1877 ) ; 

 < )verton's Evangelical Revival of the 18th Century ( 1886 ) ; 

 and the journals and biographies of the \Vesleys, White- 

 field, the Haldanes, and other eminent evangelists. 



Revival of Learning. See RENAISSANCE. 



Revolution, any extensive change in the con- 

 stitution of a country, suddenly brought about. 

 The most important events in modern history speci- 

 fically known under this name are the English 

 revolution of 1689 (Guizot by ' Revolution ' means 

 the 'Great Rebellion') ; the American revolution of 

 1776; the French revolution of 1789; the revolu- 

 tion of 1830 ( ' the July revolution '), which deposed 

 Charles X. and raised Louis- Philippe to power; 

 the revolution of 1848 ('the revolution of Febru- 

 *ry'), which established the second republic; and 

 the revolutions by which the existing South Ameri- 

 can republics (including that of Brazil in 1890, and 

 of Chili in 1891) were established or are from time 

 to time modified. The revolutionary period par 

 excellence is the years 1848 and 1849. The French 

 change of constitution in 1871 U not usually spoken 



of as a revolution, though in effect it was one. For 

 the Revolutionary Tribunal, see DANTON. 



Revolver, in Firearms, is a weapon having 

 barrels or chambers which revolve upon a com- 

 mon centre, and are tired in turn by one lock 

 mechanism. Revolving firearms date from the 

 commencement of the 17th century, when hand-guns 

 having two or more barrels were mounted to turn 

 upon an axis, and so arranged that the powder- 

 pans came successively under the action of the 

 lock ; the barrels were not rotated by pulling the 

 trigger, but were turned by the hand. The cele- 

 brated Marquis of Worcester invented several such. 

 In 1815 Le Norman, a Parisian gunsmith, produced 

 a pistol with five barrels, Devisme one with seven, 

 but neither proved successful. The ' Marietta, ' made 

 with from four to twenty-four barrels, was the first 

 to become popular, although from its weight, cum- 

 brous mechanism, and short range, it could have 

 been of little use except at close quarters. This 

 pistol was the precursor of the ' pepper-box ' pistol, 

 to which it was closely allied ; the barrels of both 

 were bored in a solid mass of metal, and made to 

 revolve as the hammer was raised to full cock. 

 Not so old as the principle of revolving barrels, 

 but still an invention of past generations, is that 

 of a revolving chamber or breech-piece, pierced 

 with cylindrical apertures to contain the charges, 

 and so arranged that each chamber came succes- 

 sively into line with the barrel and lock common 

 to all. E. H. Collier in 1818 patented an im- 

 proved carbine with three revolving chambers, 

 which appears to have been an efficient weapon. 

 Colonel Samuel Colt produced his world-renowned 

 revolver in 1835. This consists of a rille barrel, 

 a revolving cylinder with six or seven chambers, 

 each furnished with its own nipple and cap, and 

 a lever trigger, which operates the mechanism 

 required to turn the chaml>ers and fire the weapon. 

 The double-action revolver, is one in which by 

 simply pulling the trigger the hammer is raised 

 and released, and the chambers turned ; whilst 

 in the single-action revolver the hammer is raised 

 by the thumb of the firer and released by the 

 trigger. Breech-loading revolvers are of two kinds 

 the solid frame revolver, which requires the 

 empty eases to be forced out by a diminutive 

 ramrod (generally attached to the pistol by a 

 swivel), and the self-extracting revolver, of which 

 there are many kinds. The regulation pistol of the 

 British army is that illustrated here. By pressing 



Webley's Revolver Pistol (Mark I.). 



the lever, e, the bolt securing the top of the hinged 

 frame is released, and the barrel turning upon the 

 hinge raises the chambers, whilst the extractor- 

 rod coming into contact with a spur-lever, flips 

 out the fired cases and returns into position ; the 

 chambers are thus exposed for loading, and upon 

 the barrel being raised tlie breech-bolts snap home, 



