REPORT 



Report (Lat. re, back ; portare, 

 to carry). Literally, to bring back, 

 but used especially in the sense of 

 bringing back an account of any- 

 thing, hence reporting for the press, 

 and the report of a company. It 

 means also something in the nature 

 of hearsay. The report of a gun is 

 the sound caused by the explosion. 

 See Artillery ; Ballistics ; Sound. 



Reporting. In journalism, the 

 writing of reports of public speeches 

 or descriptions of events of public 

 interest. Notable examples are the 

 reporting of parliamentary pro- 

 ceedings, trials in the law courts, 

 and cases in the police-courts. The 

 term is applied also to the official 

 reporting of Parliament (see Han- 

 sard). Reporters of legal trials are 

 often barristers. Newspaper re- 

 porting is of a most varied charac- 

 ter, and calls for equally varied 

 qualities on the part of the re- 

 porter. Usually, while on country 

 newspapers the reporter finds him- 

 self called upon to put his hand 

 to all branches of reporting, on 

 the great daily papers the work 

 is divided among descriptive 

 writers, who specialise in particular 

 branches of the work, and short- 

 hand writers, whose task it is to 

 record verbatim the utterances of 

 public speakers. 



Of recent years verbatim report- 

 ing has been reduced to a mini- 

 mum, and confined to the record- 

 ing of speeches of primary import- 

 ance or of trials of a sensational 

 character, the formal record of 

 which is introduced by a descrip- 

 tive summary. The work of the 

 average reporter has consequently 

 changed from a mechanical charac- 

 ter, in which accuracy was the 

 chief quality demanded, to one in 

 which the power of succinct de- 

 scriptive writing is of the first im- 

 portance. At the same time a 

 knowledge of shorthand on the 

 part of the reporter, though he 

 may not be called upon to practise 

 it very often, is occasionally in- 

 valuable. See Journalism ; News- 

 paper ; Shorthand ; consult also 

 Newspaper Reporting, J. Pendle- 

 ton, 1890 ; The Shorthand Writer, 

 T. A. Reed, 1892 ; The Reporters' 

 Gallery, M. Macdonagh, 1913 ; The 

 Reporters' Journal and The Re- 

 porters' -Magazine, monthlies pub- 

 lished in London. 



Repousse. Art of ornamenting 

 thin sheets of metal by hammering 

 out designs from the back of the 

 sheet. Practised by the Egyptians 

 and Etruscans, it reached its 

 highest perfection hi the 16th cen- 

 tury, in the time of Benvenuto 

 Cellini (q.v.), the Italian sculptor 

 and craftsman who was perhaps 

 its greatest exponent. In carrying 

 out the art a large number of small 



6565 



hammers of varying sizes and 

 weights are used, the handles of 

 the hammers being as elastic as 

 possible, in order that they may 

 respond to the lightest touch of the 

 craftsman. When the design has 

 been hammered out from the back 

 or the inner surface of the article, 

 the raised portions a-re generally 

 finished by gravers or chasers. As 

 the metal usually has been ham- 

 mered out very thin, a backing of 

 pitch is attached to provide a firm 

 bed for the engraver to work upon. 

 The metals which have chiefly 

 been used in the practice of this art 

 are gold which is peculiarly suit- 

 able silver, copper, tin, and lead. 

 Beautiful examples of repousse 



REPRESENTATION 



cratic government throughout the 

 civilized world. 



Representation in the modern 

 sense was unknown in the civiliza- 

 tion of the ancients. There the 

 citizen and freemen acted, when- 

 ever necessary, in person, but if a 

 choice had to be made, it was 

 usually done by lot or went by 

 seniority. Kings and priests may 

 be said to have represented the 

 people, but not in the modern 

 sense of the word. 



The existing system began pro- 

 bably in assemblies of the Church, 

 and appeared very soon in the 

 secular affairs of Teutonic peoples. 

 In England the reeve and four 

 men were summoned from each 



Repousse. Shield of hammered iron, Augsburg work of 1552. In the centre is 



the Medusa's head, and round the edge are a series of figures representing 



the apotheosis of Rome 



work are to be found in the mu- 

 seums at S. Kensington, London. 

 See Ewer ; Phoenicia ; consult also 

 A Manual of Instruction in the 

 art of Brass Repousse", T. J. 

 Gawthorp, new ed. 1907. 



Representation (Lat. re, again ; 

 praesentare, to present). In politics, 

 the method by which people en- 

 trust the duties of legislation and 

 government to men and women of 

 their choice. In theory it gives 

 them a greater freedom of action 

 than is enjoyed by mere delegates 

 or the holders of proxies. The re- 

 presentatives, as they are called, 

 are chosen by election in which the 

 vote of the majority is decisive, 

 and institutions based on this prin- 

 ciple are the foundation of demo- 



vill to answer for the state of that 

 community, and the principle was 

 quickly extended. The jury was 

 representative, and then came the 

 summons of knights of the shire to 

 Parliament and, a most important 

 step, their election to the county 

 court. These were representatives, 

 although the word itself was not 

 used for them until after 1600. 

 About the end of the 18th cen- 

 tury the ideas of the French Revo- 

 lution gave new form to the theory 

 of representation, and in the 19th 

 century almost every kind of local 

 authority became a body of elected 

 representatives. Previously, the 

 justices of the peace had been re- 

 presentatives, although not elected 

 ones, and before that time the lords 



