RESURRECTION MEN 



6577 



RETAINING WALL 



Edouard de Reszke, 

 as Mepbistopheles 



Resurrec- 

 tion Men. 



Term used for 

 the men who 

 made a practice 

 of disinterring 

 dead bodies, 

 usually those 

 just buried. 

 They did this 

 in order to sell 

 them to medical 

 students and 

 others for dis- 

 seating pur- 

 poses. In Eng- 

 land the prac- 

 tice was very 

 prevalent b e- 

 tween about 

 1760 and 1840. 

 They were 

 known as body 

 snatchers. See 

 Body Snatch- 

 ing ; Burke and 

 Hare. 



Resuscitation (Lat. resuscitare, 

 to raise again ). Revival of the appa- 

 rently dead. Such are those who 

 are apparently lifeless from the 

 effects of shock, e.g. electrical, suffo- 

 cation, asphyxiation, syncope, etc. 



The commonest form of appar- 

 ent lifelessness is that due to syn- 

 cope or fainting. In such cases the 

 feet should be raised and the head 

 lowered. The recumbent position 

 in all cases requiring resuscitation, 

 indeed, is one of the first things 

 which should be obtained. This 

 should be followed by the loosening 

 of any tight articles of clothing, 

 e.g. collar, corsets, etc., which may 

 impede respiration, and plenty of 

 air should be allowed to reach the 

 patient. In serious cases the heart 

 action may be stimulated and re- 

 spiration increased by sprinkling 

 the face with water, or by the ap- 

 plication of spirits of camphor or 

 weak ammonia or smelling salts to 

 the nostrils, and by giving a small 

 dose of brandy or other spirit. In 

 extreme cases artificial respiration 

 (q.v.) and stronger restoratives 

 must be resorted to in order to 

 restore the sufferer. 



Those suffering from electric 

 shock should be revived by arti- 

 ficial respiration, and heat should 

 be applied to the limbs. Brandy, 

 strychnine, and other stimulants 

 should be administered. In cases of 

 poisoning from coal gas and car- 

 bonic dioxide, artificial respiration 

 should be tried, and oxygen ad- 

 ministered when possible. 



Resuscitation of newly born 

 babies cannot be attempted by the 

 ordinary methods of artificial re- 

 spiration. The baby must have 

 air first of all introduced into its 

 lungs, the best way being by direct 



insufflation from the mouth of the 

 nurse, or other person present. JSee 

 Drowning; First Aid. 



Reszke, FJDOUAKD DE (1855- 

 1917). Polish singer. Brother of 

 Jean de Reszke, he was born in 

 Warsaw, Dec. 23, 1855, studied 

 singing at Milan and Naples, and 

 became a leading bass at the 

 Theatre Italien, Paris, 1876, later 

 joining the Opera there. His bass 

 voice had fine quality and training, 

 and he acquired dramatic abilities. 

 Along with his brother he appeared 

 regularly at Covent Garden from 

 1888-1900, and his Wagnerian 

 parts and his Mephistopheles were 

 among his chief successes. He 

 taught singing in London, 1907, 

 and later in Warsaw and Paris, 

 and died on May 29, 1917. 



Reszke, JEAN DE (1850-1925). 

 Polish singer. Born at Warsaw, 

 Jan. 14, 1850, he was educated at 

 Warsaw Uni- 

 versity, and 

 studied singing 

 in Italy. He 

 appeared as a 

 baritone in 

 opera in Ven- 

 ice, 1874, Lon- 

 don, 1875, and 

 Paris, 1876. 

 Turning tenor, 

 he made a sen- 

 sation by his 

 performance in 

 Madrid, 1879, 

 and in Paris, 

 1883, in Hero- 

 diade, and Le 

 Cid of Mas- 

 senet, and from 

 1888-1900 performed regularly at 

 Covent Garden. His tenor voice 

 was singularly pure and well con- 

 trolled, and his Wagnerian per- 

 formances were specially memor- 

 able. He played in the Paris 

 Opera before retiring through ill- 

 health, 1904. He died April 3,1925. 



Retainer. Fee of a nominal 

 amount paid to a barrister in 

 order to retain his services either 

 generally, or for a particular case. 

 A barrister so retained has a right 

 to be briefed at a fee proportioned 

 to his rank and standing at the 

 bar, and once he has accepted a 

 retainer he cannot 

 accept a brief for 

 the other side, no 

 matter how tempt- 

 ing a fee they may 

 offer him. A brief 

 fee, which is of 

 substantial 

 amount, is fre- 

 quently, though 

 wrongly, d e - 

 scribed as a re- 

 tainer. See Bar- 

 rister; Brief. 



Jean de Reszke, 

 as Lohengrin 



Retaining Wall. Strongly built 

 wall of masonry, brickwork, con- 

 crete, or reinforced concrete, in- 

 tended to hold up earth around 

 an excavation or cutting, or along 

 a sea front, or the banks of a river 

 or canal. In engineering practice, 

 retaining walls are often of large 

 dimensions, as in railway and dock 

 construction. In building con- 

 struction, retaining walls are chiefly 

 required for holding up the earth 

 around cellars and basements. 



The form of cross section 

 adopted for retaining walls varies 

 considerably according to circum- 

 stances. Some of the forms most 

 frequently used for solid walls are 

 shown in Figs. 1 to 4. Fig. 1 repre- 

 sents a rectangular section, which 

 is only suitable for very low walls 

 owing to the wasteful employment 

 of material. Figs. 2 and 3 are more 

 economical sections, one having a 

 vertical face and the back con- 

 structed in offsets, and the other 

 having a sloping or battered face 

 with a vertical back. Fig. 4 shows 

 a wall with sloping face and offset 

 back, the footings being inclined 

 with the object of increasing re- 

 sistance to forward sliding. 



A retaining wall may fail (1) by 

 sliding on the plane of any horizon- 

 tal joint; (2) by overturning about 

 the front edge of any horizontal 

 joint ; (3) by crushing at the front 

 edge of any horizontal section. 

 For the scientific design of a re- 

 taining wall, it is necessary to 

 know the amount of earth pressure, 

 its point of application, and its 

 line of action. 



A simple rule given by Sir 

 Benjamin Baker provides that the 

 width of the base for average 

 groumi shall be one-third of the 

 height from the footings to the 

 top of the wall, that a thickness of 

 one-fourth of the height with a 

 batter of 1 or 2 ins. per foot on the 

 face is sufficient with favourable 

 backing and foundation, and that 

 under no ordinary conditions of 

 surcharge or heavy backing is it 

 necessary to make a retaining wall 

 on a solid foundation more than 

 one-half of its height hi thickness. 



The foregoing rule is not suitable 

 for reinforced concrete retaining 



Retaining WalL Examples o! various types. See text 



D 8 



