RICHTHOFEN 



RICORD 



713 



Sartor Resartus and French Revolution are steeped 

 in the spirit of Jean Paul, and show how greatly he 

 fascinated the imagination of the rugged Scotsman. 

 The best editions of Jean Paul's Werke are the editions 

 of 1860-62 (34 vols.), 1H79 (60 parts), and 1882 et seg. 

 (Kiirschner's Deutsche National-Literatur series). The 

 best complete Life, that by Nerrhch (Berlin, 1889), is 

 marred to some extent by the Hegelian speculations of 

 the writer. The more important biographical sources 

 are Wnhrheit am Jean Paul's Leben, his Autobiography 

 (182(5). continued by Otto and Forster (1827-33); 

 Spazier's Biat/raphincher Kommentar zu Jean Paul's 

 Werken ( 5 volg. 1833 ) ; Vbrster's Denkwiirdigkeiten 

 (4 vols. 1863); Correspondence between Jean Paul and 

 Otto (4 vols. 1829-33), Charlotte von K alb (1882), Jacobi 

 (1*28), and Voss (1833); and Fr. Vischer's Kritixche 

 G'iiuie (new series, vol. vi 1875). In English the best 

 accounts are contained in Carlyle's Miscellaneous Essays 

 (vols. i. and iii.) ; De Quinoey's AnalfCla of specimen 

 passages translated (vol. XL of Collected Works); and 

 Life of Jean Paul F. Richter (1845). Lady Chatterton 

 published a collection of translated extracts in 1859. 



Richthofen, FERDINAND, BARON VON, traveller 

 and geographer, was horn at Karlsruhe in Silesia, 

 on 5th May 1833, was educated at Breslau and 

 Berlin universities, and at the Geological Institute 

 of Vienna (1856), and in 1860 accompanied a 

 Prussian expedition to eastern Asia,. The next 

 twelve years he spent in travelling through Java, 

 Siam, Burma, California, Sierra Nevada, and 

 China and Japan (1868-72). After his return to 

 Europe (1872) he was appointed president of the 

 Berlin Geographical Society (1873-78), professor of 

 Geology at Bonn (1875), and of Geography at 

 Leipzig (1883) and at Berlin (1886). His reputa- 

 tion as a geographer is built principally upon his 

 great work on China (Berlin, 4 vols. 1877-81 ), and 

 upon Die Metallproduktion Kaliforniens (1865), 

 The Natural System of Volcanic Hocks (San 

 Francisco, 1867), Aiifgaben vnd Methoden der 

 heutigen Otoyrap/Ut (1883), and numerous articles 

 in geographical journals. Died in 1888. 



Ric'inus. See CASTOR-OIL. 



Rickets (according to Skeat, akin to A.S. 

 wrinyan, 'to wring'), or RACHITIS (Dr Glisson's 

 pseudo-Greek coinage in 1650 from Gr. rhachis, 

 ' the spine, "because a peculiar form of spinal curva- 

 ture results therefrom), is a disease of children, 

 chiefly characterised by the imperfect development, 

 softness, and consequent distortion of some or many 

 of the bones. The bones thus affected consist of a 

 sort of gelatinous tissue, which will bend without 

 breaking ; and they are so soft that they may be 

 cut with the knife. Though so soft, they are 

 thickened, especially at the parts where growth 

 normally takes place most rapidly ; the enlarge- 

 ment of the wrists, ankles, &c. which results has 

 leil to the term 'double-jointed,' often applied to 

 those suffering from the disease. The weight of 

 the Imdy and the traction of the muscles acting on 

 bones thus constructed cause them to bend, and 

 the thighs or shins are abnormally arched, or the 

 spine is curved, or, in slighter cases, only the 

 normal form of the ankle is modified. In aggra- 

 vated cases the chest is so affected as to give rise 

 to the condition known as 'pigeon-breasted;' the 

 lower jaw in imperfectly developed, and the teeth 

 project ; and the pelvis becomes so altered in form 

 as, in the case of girls, to render future childbear- 

 in^' in the highest degree perilous. Rickets is 

 exclusively a disease of childhood, and rarely begins 

 later than the second year. It appears to be caused 

 by unhealthy surroundings, particularly defective 

 or improper food, and insufficient light and air. 

 It is therefore much more common among the 

 poorer classes, and in towns. It is not due in 

 most cases to the want of lime-salts in the food, 

 but to the want of power in the child's system to 



assimilate them. In some of the large cities of 

 Europe one-third or even a larger proportion of the 

 children brought to the out-patient departments of 

 hospitals are more or less affected. It is a very 

 chronic disease, and if at all severe leaves its mark 

 on the bones for life. It is very rarely fatal of 

 itself ; but affected children are much less able than 

 others to resist attacks of other diseases ( bronchitis, 

 diarrhoea, hooping-cough, measles, &c.). In Ger- 

 many this malady is, under an old misapprehen- 

 sion, called the 'English disease.' 



The treatment must be mainly directed to the 

 improvement of the general health. Free exposure 

 to pure bracing air, sponging with sea- water, or sea- 

 bathing if the little patient can bear it, an abund- 

 ance of suitable and nourishing food, cod-liver oil, 

 iron, and quinia include all that need be said about 

 general treatment. The administration of lime- 

 salts seems to do little good, though it might 

 naturally be thought the one thing needful. 

 While the bones are still soft great care must 

 be taken to keep the child in such attitudes 

 as will cause the least possible strain upon the 

 affected parts. When the bones have become ossi- 

 fied in faulty positions surgical interference may 

 often be useful in producing amelioration of the 

 condition. 



Rickman, THOMAS, an English architect, was 

 born at Maidenhead in Berkshire in 1776. He was 

 undecided as to a calling, being in succession 

 chemist, grocer, corn-factor, and insurance agent. 

 But he seems to have always had a love for archi- 

 tecture, and to have studied it carefully. Having 

 sent in a design for a church that proved successful 

 in a government competition, he settled at Bir- 

 mingham as an architect. He designed a great 

 number of Gothic churches and chapels e.g. in 

 Birmingham, Hampton Lucy, Bristol, Preston, 

 Carlisle, &c. , many country-houses, and the New 

 Buildings of St John's College, Cambridge. He died 

 in March 1841. His Attempt to discriminate the 

 Styles of A rchitecture in England from, the Con- 

 quest to the Keformation ( 1817 ; 6th ed. by J. 

 H. Parker, 1862) is still a standard authority. 



Rickmaiiswortll, a town of Hertfordshire, at 

 the confluence of the Colne, Gade, and Chess, 4 

 miles W. by S. of Watford. It has a church 

 (rebuilt in 1890) with interesting monuments ; and 

 near it is Moor Park, the seat ofthe ill-fated Duke 

 of Monmouth. Pop. of parish ( 1881 ) 6211 ; ( 1891 ) 

 7672. See R. Bayne's Historical Sketch ( 1870). 



Ricochet, in Artillery, is the bounding of a 

 shot along the ground which takes place when a 

 gun is fired low. Intentional ricochet firing was 

 first introduced by Vauban at Philipsburg in 1688, 

 l>elieving it to have great actual and moral effect 

 in clearing the face of a ravelin, bastion, or other 

 rather long line of fortification. 



Ricord. PHILIPPE, a French physician, was 

 born on 10th December 1800, at Baltimore, U.S. 

 He came to Paris in 1820, and after 1828 delivered 

 there two annual courses of lectures at the Pitie 

 on surgical operations, and was appointed surgeon- 

 in-chief to the hospital for venereal diseases. This 

 post be held till his retirement in October 1860. 

 He died on 22d October 1889. Ricord won a world- 

 wide reputation in the specialty which he had 

 chosen, a reputation which he owed to his combi- 

 nation of accurate physiological and pathological 

 knowledge, manual dexterity as a surgeon, and 

 felicitous inventiveness and resource as a physician. 



The more important of his numerous works are On the 

 Employment of the Speculum ( 1833 ) ; Treatise on Venereal 

 Maladies ( 1838 ) ; On Blennorrhagic Ophthalmia ( 1842 ) ; 

 Iconoyraphical Clinic of the Venereal Hospital ( 1841-66); 

 Letters on Syphilis (3d ed. 1863) ; and Lectures on Cancer 

 (2ded. 1860). 



