REALSCHULE 



Real property, on the death of 

 the owner interested, goes to his 

 heir. Other property passes to 

 his administrator to be divided 

 among his next of kin. In real 

 property is included land held 

 for a freehold or copyhold estate. 

 Certain rights arising out of land are 

 also real, as rights of fishery, rights 

 of way, profits a prendre. The title 

 deeds of real property are them- 

 selves real. So are advowsons, 

 tithes, dignities, certain offices, 

 e.g. the office of hereditary earl 

 marshal of England. But a lease 

 for years is not real, but personal 

 property. See Land Laws. 



Reals chule. . Name given in 

 Germany to a class of secondary 

 schools wherein science, modern 

 languages, and modern subjects 

 generally are taught to the ex- 

 clusion of the classics. The older 

 German public schools were the 

 gymnasia, wherein the teaching 

 was, and is, very largely classical, 

 and as a revolt against this real- 

 schulen were established in the 18th 

 century. To-day they train boys 

 for business life, the usual course 

 being for six years, while there are 

 Oberrealschulen for those who wish 

 to take up mathematics or science 

 at a university. Before the Great 

 War, those who had passed through 

 a realschule were only expected to 

 serve for one year in the army. 



Ream. Measure of paper. It 

 consists of 480 sheets, or 20 quires. 

 The perfect, long, or printer's ream 

 contains 516 sheets, the surplus 

 to make up for waste ; a news ream, 

 for printing newspapers, is 500 

 sheets. The word is derived from 

 the Arabic word rizmah, a bundle. 



Reaping. Method of cutting 

 grain. In early times all grain was 

 cut by the reaping hook. Machine 

 cutting, introduced in the 19th 

 century, has now superseded hand 

 work, except where the crops have 

 been badly laid by storms. 



With a self-delivery reaper, 

 horse-drawn, and a five-foot cutter 

 bar, reaping, in any but the 

 smallest fields, should proceed at 

 the rate of about half an acre an 

 hour. In this case six to eight 

 persons will be required to tie the 

 crop and two to do the stacking. 

 If cutting can be done around the 

 field, the rate will be greater and 

 more hands required. The binder 

 is heavier of draught and slower 

 than the reaper, but effects a great 

 economy in labour. Where a binder 

 is used two or three hands only are 

 required for stooking. In the case 

 of wheat and oats reaping should 

 always begin before the crop is 

 fully ripe. Barley is the only crop 

 which should be dead ripe. 



The reaping machine, in its sim- 

 plest form, is closely allied to the 



Rear-Admiral's cap 

 badge 



mower. The cutting is effected in 

 both cases by a rigidly fixed cutter 

 bar beyond which is fixed a small 

 travelling wheel to preserve the 

 balance. Early reapers allowed 

 the cut grain to fall behind the 

 track. The sheafer, which employs 

 a reciprocating rake, is an 

 American invention first brought 

 to England in 1862. The self- 

 delivery reaper is more complicated, 

 and is provided with revolving 

 sails that press the corn against 

 the fingers, and when cut throw it 

 clear at the side, free from the 

 horse walk. The self-binder is still 

 more elaborate, and provided with 

 an arrangement by which succes- 

 sive sheaves are tied up and de- 

 posited at the side. See Agricul- 

 ture; Canada; Crops; Wheat. 



Rear- Admiral. Officer of the 

 British navy, the lowest of flag 

 rank. He is distinguished by the 

 broad gold 

 band with 

 one narrow 

 gold band, 

 and curl 

 above it upon 

 the cuff. Rear- 

 admirals are 

 the next in 

 rank above 

 commodores, 

 1st and 2nd class, and equivalent 

 to major-generals in the army and 

 to air vice-marshals in the R.A.F. 

 See Admiral, colour plate. 



Rear Guard. Troops detached 

 as a rear screen for the protection 

 of 'a force on the move in hostile 

 country. Like the advanced guard, 

 it consists of infantry, artillery, 

 engineers, and cavalry, but a rear 

 guard should be very strong in the 

 mounted arms when the enemy is 

 in pursuit, and the main body is 

 not in a condition to fight. The pur- 

 suing troops must be kept at a 

 distance, and yet the rear guard 

 must avoid being itself cut off from 

 its main body. A rear guard by 

 making a great show of strength 

 induces the enemy to waste time 

 in arranging a formal attack. See 

 Flank Guard ; Main Body ; Main 

 Guard; Patrol. 



Reason (Fr. raison ; Lat. ratio). 

 Mental faculty and process of 

 drawing conclusions from premises. 

 It embraces the collective ideas and 

 judgements which are common to 

 all men and are distinguished by 

 certain characteristics from the 

 ideas and judgements which are the 

 result of experience. The principles 

 of reason are necessary, since they 

 are the conditions of thought, and 

 it is impossible to imagine their 

 contrary ; and universal, since they 

 are applicable to all real or possible 

 cases under the same conditions. 

 The generally accepted principles 



REBEC 



are : identity (q.v.), A is A ; suffi- 

 cient reason (q.v.); contradiction, 

 A is not not- A, a thing cannot be 

 other than what it is ; the excluded 

 middle, A is either B or not-B, a 

 thing must be either one thing or 

 another ; substance, the permanent 

 element underlying the manifold 

 and shifting phenomena ; causality, 

 everything has a cause. 



Reason, as contrasted with in- 

 stinct, denotes the mental faculties 

 which distinguish men from other 

 animals ; it is also used as the 

 opposite of insanity. The word is 

 also applied to the faculty which 

 enables us to apprehend intuitively, 

 without analysis, certain truths, 

 which are related to particular 

 judgements as a reason to the conse- 

 quence. Kant defines intuitive 

 reason as the faculty which sup- 

 plies the principles of knowledge a 

 priori ; pure reason is the faculty 

 which supplies the principles of 

 knowing anything entirely a priori; 

 practical reason is the source of a 

 priori moral principles. Under- 

 standing, as opposed to reason, is 

 discursive. See Cause ; Logic ; 

 Metaphysics ; Rationalism. 



Reaumur, RENE ANTOINE FER- 

 CHAULT DE (1683-1757). French 

 physicist and naturalist. Born at 

 La Rochelle, 

 Feb. 28, 1683, 

 he went to 

 Paris in 1703 

 to study math- 

 ematics and 

 physics, and 

 became a mem- 

 ber of the 

 Academy of 

 Sciences, 1708. 

 He made a 

 study of the properties of iron and 

 steel, and also invented a method 

 of tinning iron, that is still em- 

 ployed, experimented in arti- 

 ficial incubation, and wrote much 

 on marine animals, insects , etc. He 

 gave his name to the Reaumer 

 thermometer, in which the boiling 

 point of water is 80. He died Oct. 

 17, 1757. See Thermometer. 



Rebate. In commerce, an allow- 

 ance or discount deducted in cases 

 of prompt payment, or of proved 

 inferior quality or short delivery of 

 goods ordered. The term is also 

 used for the deduction made from 

 excise duties, licences, income tax, 

 etc., under certain conditions. In 

 carpentry, rebate is an alternative 

 term for rabbet (q.v.). See Discount 

 Rebec. String instrument of 

 Oriental origin, played with a bow 

 First mentioned in the 8th century, 

 it seems to have died out about 

 the middle of the 17th century. Its 

 shape was that of a pear cut in half 

 longitudinally. In the Middle Ages 

 there were different sizes, forming 



B. A. F. de Reaumur, 

 French physicist 



