REGIOMONTANUS 



6339 



REGISTRATION 



Regiomontanus (1436-76). 

 German mathematician and astro- 

 nomer. Born at Konigsberg, in 

 Franconia 

 (hence his 

 Latin name), 

 June 6, 1436, 

 his real name 

 was Johannes 

 Muller. Edu- 

 c a t e d at 

 Vienna, he 

 became the ^ 



pupil of Georg ' 



i> 1 , ? Regiomontanus, Ger- 



Purbach, and man mathematician 

 with him 



translated the works of Ptolemy, 

 Apollonius, Archimedes, and Hero 

 of Alexandria. In 1533 was pub- 

 lished his De Triangulis Omnimodis, 

 a treatise on plane and spherical 

 trigonometry, and Algorithmus 

 Demonstratus, 1534. Regiomon- 

 tanus established an observatory 

 at Nuremberg and compiled tables 

 of eclipses and other astronomical 

 data. His help was requisitioned 

 by Pope Sixtus IV in connexion 

 with the reform of the calendar, 

 and he died in Rome, July 6, 1476. 

 He wrote many works on astro- 

 nomy and astrology. 



Register (L. Lat. registrum, 

 book of record ; ultimately from 

 regerere, to bring back). Written 

 account or record ; official list of 

 particulars, and especially the list 

 of persons entitled to vote at par- 

 liamentary and other elections. 



Parish registers of births, mar- 

 riages, and deaths were ordered to 

 be kept by the incumbent of every 

 parish in England and Wales by 

 Thomas Cromwell, Henry VIII's 

 minister, in 1538. Before this time 

 a certain amount of information 

 with regard to well-known person- 

 ages had been recorded in the 

 monasteries, and some of these 

 sporadic records still exist. But 

 the new order proved unpopular, 

 and in many cases the registers were 

 kept in so slovenly a fashion that 

 in 1597 Elizabeth ordered copies 

 to be sent to the bishop of the 

 diocese. More stringent regulations 

 for the accurate compiling of the 

 registers, and for their safe keeping, 

 were enacted by law in 1812, and 

 in 1837 came official registration by 

 a government department. 



Nevertheless, despite detects 

 and other hindrances to research, 

 parish registers have proved of 

 much value to students as affording 

 contemporary evidence of the 

 exact dates of births and deaths, 

 and also as throwing by way of 

 additional notes interesting side- 

 lights upon social life and other 

 matters which some old-time par- 

 sons thought well to set down in 

 their dry-as-dust, passionless re- 

 cords of the passing generations of 



men. Many parish registers have 

 been published for general infor- 

 mation by the Harleian, Parish 

 Registers, and other societies. (See 

 Mortality ; consult also The Parish 

 Registers of England, J. C. Cox. 

 1910.) 



Wills were registered at Doctors' 

 Commons, Knightrider Street, Lon- 

 don, B.C., until 1874, when they 

 were removed to Somerset House. 



British shipping was first regis- 

 tered in 1660 under the Navigation 

 Act. The regulations were amended 

 by legislation in the reigns of 

 George III and William IV. The 

 controlling Act is now the Mer- 

 chant Shipping Act, 1894, which 

 provides for the registration of 

 every British ship, except those of 

 15 tons or under, plying on the 

 rivers or coasts of the U.K., and 

 certain vessels of 30 tons or under 

 engaged in fishing or trading in and 

 about the Gulf of St. Lawrence. 

 (See Lloyd's Register.) 



The term register is also em- 

 ployed for the sliding or adjustable 

 plate for regulating the draught in 

 a fire-grate ; in printing, for the 

 exact correspondence of the letter- 

 press on both sides of a page ; of 

 the different colours in colour- 

 printing. See National Register. 



Register. (1) Division of the 

 human voice, arising from the na- 

 ture of the vocal cords, and evinc- 

 ing a difference of tone-quality. As 

 it is obvious that the tension of the 

 cords cannot be carried beyond a 

 certain point, the upward range is 

 continued by means of a change of 

 mechanism. Different teachers 

 have different names for these re- 

 gisters, the most common being 

 chest, head, and falsetto. These 

 terms accurately describe the re- 

 spective aspects of the vocal cords 

 in the successive registers, viz., 

 lower and upper thick, lower and 

 upper thin, and small. The aim of 

 the teacher is to blend the registers 

 so that the transition from one to 

 another is effected without that 

 abrupt change of quality, known 

 as a break. (2) Synonym for organ 

 stops. Registration means the in- 

 dication of stops which the com- 

 poser desires to be used. See Voice. 



Registrar OR REGISTRAKY. One 

 who keeps a register or record. In 

 Great Britain a registrar was for- 

 merly called a register. In England 

 there are registrars for the supreme 

 courts and county courts, district 

 registrars in large towns, registrars 

 for companies, building and friendly 

 societies, etc. A marriage certificate 

 may be issued by a registrar. See 

 Friendly Societies. 



Registrar-General. Official 

 who superintends the registration 

 of births, marriages, and deaths in 

 England and Wales. His head- 



quarters are at Somerset House, 

 London. The first registrar-gen- 

 eral was appointed in 1836, and in 

 1874 he took over the compilation 

 of vital statistics. To assist him 

 there are registrars all over the 

 country, who furnish particulars 

 about their respective districts. By 

 summarising these the registrar- 

 general is able to issue quarterly 

 returns of births, marriages, and 

 deaths, and a yearly blue-book. 



There is a registrar-general for 

 Scotland, his offices being at the 

 Register House, Edinburgh, and 

 one for Ireland at Charlemont 

 House, Dublin. The registiars- 

 general and their departments are 

 responsible for taking the national 

 census. Quite distinct from these 

 officials is the registrar-general of 

 shipping and seamen, whose offices 

 are on Tower Hill, London, E. He 

 keeps the general register of births 

 and deaths on board British ships. 

 See Birth Rate ; Death Rate. 



Registration. Act or fact of 

 registering. The word is used in 

 several connexions. In Scots law it 

 means the transcribing of docu- 

 ments in a public register, in order 

 that an exact copy may be pre- 

 served for use in the event of the 

 destruction of the original. 



The registration of births, mar- 

 riages, and deaths was made com- 

 pulsory in England and Wales in 

 1836, and came into force in 1837. 

 Before this time the only official 

 source of information on this sub- 

 ject was the parish register (q.v.). 

 By the Births and Deaths Regis- 

 tration Act, 1836, district regis- 

 trars have to send copies of regis- 

 ters of births, marriages, and 

 deaths to superintendent regis- 

 trars, by whom they are for- 

 warded to the registrar-general. 

 Subsequent legislation put the onus 

 of registering births on parents and 

 others, and of registering deaths on 

 relatives and others within certain 

 limits of time after the event. 

 As regards births the seven years' 

 limit is now revoked. Marriages 

 are recorded by the officiating 

 clergyman, or, in certain cases, 

 the registrar at the time of the 

 ceremony. The registration of 

 electors is a necessary preliminary 

 to the exercise of the franchise. 



REGISTRATION OF TITLE. All 

 deeds of title relating to land in 

 Middlesex and Yorkshire have to 

 be registered those of Middlesex 

 in the Land Registry, London ; and 

 those of Yorkshire in the Yorkshire 

 Registry. The object is to facilitate 

 inquiries into the title to land, so 

 that intending purchasers and 

 mortgagees may be less easily de- 

 frauded. Bills of sale must be regis- 

 tered in the supreme court. See 

 Copyright ; Land. 



