RECAPITULATION 



65 1 1 



RECHAB1TES 



Recapitulation. Biological doc- 

 trine of development. According 

 to this doctrine organisms, in order 

 to survive and succeed in the same 

 environments as those of their 

 parents, must closely resemble 

 those parents, and this close re- 

 semblance can only be obtained by 

 the development of the offspring 

 along similar lines. The child 

 treads in the footsteps of its parent,( 

 and the steps from embryonic life 

 to adult development must be very 

 similar to those taken by the par- 

 ent previously. In other words, it 

 recapitulates the parental develop- 

 ment. If it does not do so, the 

 result is an individual unlike the 

 parent, and therefore unsuited to 

 its environment, and as such it will 

 inevitably perish. 



Recca OR REKA. River of the 

 Carso in Italy and Yugo-Slavia. 

 It is noted for its waterfalls and 

 caves. Its subterranean course 

 runs from Canziano for 20 m., when 

 the stream re-issues at San Gio- 

 vanni with a width _of 200 ft. and a 

 depth of 6 ft. as the Timavo, and 

 flows 1 m. to the Gulf of Trieste. 



Receipt. Acknowledgment of 

 payment. It is not necessary in 

 English law. A debtor cannot 

 refuse to pay what he owes unless 

 the creditor gives him a receipt. At 

 the same time, if the creditor 

 should so refuse, and the debtor 

 declines to pay, and the creditor 

 sues for his money, the judge will 

 probably make the creditor pay 

 the costs because of his unreason- 

 able conduct. A receipt is prima 

 facie evidence of payment ; but 

 the person who gave it is always at 

 liberty to show, if he can, that al- 

 though he gave a receipt he did 

 not receive payment ; or that there 

 ia a mistake. The receipt is not 

 conclusive against him, although 

 the court would require very strong 

 evidence to decide against an un- 

 conditionally worded receipt. A 

 receipt for money of 2 or over 

 must bear a twopenny stamp. 



Receiver. Receptacle for con- 

 taining fluids. In chemistry, it is a 

 vessel for receiving the products of 

 distillation or decomposition, for 

 containing gases, or for use in con- 

 junction with an air pump. An- 

 other receiver is a cylindrical steel 

 reservoir fitted to a railway car- 

 riage for containing gas under 

 pressure for lighting purposes. An 

 air receiver is a boiler-shaped steel 

 reservoir, into which air is forced 

 at high pressure by an air com- 

 pressor. It is an essential acces- 

 sory in every compressed air in- 

 stallation, and acts as a power 

 reservoir and an elastic buffer 

 between the compressor and the 

 pneumatic appliances served. A 

 telephone receiver is the instru- 



ment in telephony which magnifies 

 sounds and enables the listener to 

 hear what is spoken into the 

 transmitter. For a description of 

 its working see Telephone. 



Receiver. In English law, (1) 

 a person appointed by the court to 

 hold property of any kind, and 

 preserve it for the benefit of those 

 persons who are ultimately held to 

 >be entitled to it. As soon as a 

 receiver is appointed, he has pos- 

 session of the property, and it is a 

 contempt of court to interfere with 

 his possession. Receivers are ap- 

 pointed in partnership actions, to 

 preserve and realize the partner- 

 ship property, collect the debts, 

 etc., also in actions by debenture 

 holders to realize their security, 

 and in a large variety of other cases 

 where it is beneficial to the parties 

 to take the custody and control 

 of assets out of the hands of the 

 holder, and place it in the hands 

 of an impartial and responsible 

 person. Generally, a receiver is 

 required to give security, to 

 ensure that he will faithfully carry 

 out his duties. (2) A person ap- 

 pointed by a mortgagee or deben- 

 ture holder under a power in the 

 deed to receive the rents and pro- 

 fits of the mortgaged property, and 

 after paying expenses, to pay what 

 is due to the mortgagee. (See 

 Official Receiver.) 



To receive property knowing it 

 to have been stolen (including pro- 

 perty acquired by false pretences, 

 or extorted by threats) is a high 

 criminal offence. By English law 

 it is a felony, punishable by penal 

 servitude (3 to 14 years), or impri- 

 sonment up to 2 years with or 

 without hard labour. The English 

 law allows evidence to be given, 

 on a trial for receiving, that [the 

 prisoner is in possession of other 

 property stolen within the previous 

 twelve months ; and it also per- 

 mits the prosecution to prove that 

 within the previous 5 years the 

 prisoner has been convicted of a 

 crime involving fraud or dis- 

 honesty. This forms a striking 

 exception to the English rule that 

 a prisoner on his trial shall not be 

 prejudiced by the jury being in- 

 formed of other crimes he has com- 

 mitted. The reason for the ex- 

 ception is that persons accused of 

 receiving generally set up the 

 defence that they had no reason to 

 suspect that the goods were stolen. 



Receivers of wrecks are appoint- 

 ed under the Merchant Shipping 

 Act, 1894, in all parts of the United 

 Kingdom to take charge of flotsam, 

 jetsam, and all wreckage cast up 

 by the sea. If no owner claims it, 

 such wreckage belongs to the 

 crown. A receiver of wrecks has 

 power to sell at once small parcels 



of wreckage (up to 5) and perish- 

 able goods, retaining the money 

 for the owner or the crown. 



Receiving Order. Legal pro- 

 ceeding necessary for a bankruptcy. 

 When, in Great Britain, a person 

 presents his own petition in 

 bankruptcy, or a successful peti- 

 tion is presented against him by a 

 creditor, the first step to be taken 

 is to protect his assets. Accord- 

 ingly a receiving order is made, 

 the effect of which is to vest the 

 whole of the bankrupt's property 

 in the Official Receiver until such 

 time as the creditors and the court 

 shall decide what is to be done. 

 After this receiving order is 

 made, the bankrupt can no longer 

 deal with his property, nor can 

 anyone else. For example, a 

 judgement creditor cannot proceed 

 with an execution. The order does 

 not extend to the debtor's personal 

 earnings ; but it includes all other 

 property, whether in possession or 

 reversion. See Bankruptcy. 



Receptacle. Something that re- 

 ceives or contains something else, 

 e.g. a box or chest. In botany, re- 

 ceptacle refers 

 1 to the axis of 

 the flower, to 

 which the se- 

 pals, petals, 

 stamens, and 

 pistil are at- 

 t a c h e d. See 

 Flower. 



Recessional 

 (Lat. recedere. 

 to withdraw ). 

 Short poem by 

 Rudyard Kip- 

 ling. Published in 1897, it was 

 included six years later in the 

 collection of his poems entitled The 

 Five Nations. With its fervent yet 

 dignified simplicity it may be said 

 to have become a classic, and 

 though parts of it are often quoted 

 to other ends, the spirit that 

 breathes through it is that of its 

 religious title. 



Rechabites. Religious order 

 of the Hebrews. Founded by 

 Jehonadab, son of Rechab (2 

 Kings x, 15-28), who assisted 

 Jehu to destroy the worshippers of 

 Baal, the sect or clan calling them- 

 selves " sons of Rechab " main- 

 tained the religion of Jehovah in 

 purity, abstaining from wine, 

 settling nowhere, having no pos- 

 sessions, but living in the land as 

 "strangers" (Jer. xxxv, 6-7). At 

 the approach of Nebuchadrezzar 

 they took refuge in Jerusalem, and 

 were held up to the Jews by Jere- 

 miah as models of devotion and 

 piety. The term was revived in 

 the 19th century by a society 

 of total abstainers known as the 

 Independent Order of Rechabites. 



Receptacle, of the 



wild rose, shown 



at R 



