RANGE RANK. 



sometimes even into ground not covered by water, 

 HIM! pass the winter in profound lethargy. The 

 female lays annually from &ix to twelve hundred 

 eggs ; and frogs can live a great number of years 

 if they escape their enemies, serpents, pikes, 

 vultures, storks, &c., which destroy immense 

 quantities of them. In France they are much used 

 t'nr food, and in Germany also. The continental 

 physicians employ their flesh, variously prepared, 

 in the treatment of a number of diseases. There 

 re numerous species of this animal. The green 

 frvg (rana esculenta) is about two or three inches 

 long, without reckoning the hinder feet. it 

 abounds in stagnant waters on the continent of 

 Europe and in Asia, but is less common in England 

 than the rana temporaria. It seldom comes to 

 l;md. and never removes from the banks of streams, 

 ponds, or lakes. The rana temporaria, or common 

 frog of England, is tolerably abundant throughout 

 Europe, prefers wooded and mountainous situations, 

 and frequents meadows and gardens during fine 

 weather. It is generally found on land in summer. 

 At the approach of winter, it retires into fountains 

 and ponds of pure water, but does not bury itself 

 in the mud at the bottom. The rana clamitans, 

 found in Carolina, of an obscure colour, is the live- 

 liest of all known frogs. It croaks continually, 

 in id never removes far from the shore. The rana 

 pipient, or bull frog, is the largest species of this 

 genus, being three or four inches broad, and six or 

 eight in length, without including the feet ; with 

 the limbs extended, it measures about eighteen 

 inches. It inhabits North America, particularly 

 the southern part of the United States. Its cry is 

 very deep and hoarse . It is very fond of young 

 ducks and goslings, which it swallows whole. On 

 level ground, it makes leaps of from six to eight 

 feet. The rana gruniens, if distinct from the pre- 

 ceding species, is fully as large. It is found in the 

 West Indies, and is said to be able to clear, with a 

 leap, a wall five feet high. The rana paradoxa is 

 found at Surinam, and in other countries of South 

 America. As the adult animal is less than the 

 tadpole, in consequence of the loss of an enormous 

 tail, and of some envelopments of the body, some 

 observers formerly supposed that the animal passed 

 from the frog to the tadpole state, and was subse- 

 quently transformed into a fish; this error, how- 

 ever, is completely refuted. 

 RANGE. See Trappe, La. 

 RANELAGH ROTUNDA and GARDENS; 

 near Chelsea, built and opened for musical perfor- 

 mances, in 1742. Degenerating into a scene of 

 licentiousness, it was shut up in 1803, since which 

 the buildings have been wholly demolished. 



RANGE, in gunnery ; the path of a bullet, or 

 the line it describes from the mouth of the piece to 

 the point where it lodges. Range is also the dis- 

 tance to which a bomb or cannon ball is thrown 

 from a piece of artillery by the explosion of gun- 

 powder. The flight of a shot is distinguished by 

 artillery men into two different ranges, of which 

 the first is called the point-blank, and the second 

 the random shot. To these also may be added the 

 ricochet, or rolling and bounding shot. The point- 

 blank range is the extent of the apparent right 

 line described by a ball discharged from a cannon. 

 The random shot is when, by letting the breech 

 down upon the bed of the carriage, the ball is 

 carried to its greatest possible distance, and de- 

 scribes a curve in its flight. The ricochet is fired 

 by elevating the piece from three to six degrees, 

 and only charging it with a quantity of powder 

 sufficient to carry the shot along the face of the 

 works attacked. The shot thus discharged, so as 



to go just over the parapet, rolls and bounds about, 

 killing, maiming, or destroying all it meets in its 

 course, creating much more disorder, by going thus 

 slowly, than if thrown from the piece with greater 

 violence. As one of the effects of the bomb results 

 from its weight, the range of mortars is extremely 

 different from that of cannon, because the former 

 is not pointed at a certain object, like the latter, 

 but inclined to the horizon at a certain angle, so 

 that the bomb, being thrown up obliquely, may fall 

 upon the place intended : hence it appears that the 

 mortar has no point-blank range, or, at least, that 

 no use is made of it. Ricochet signifies duck and 

 drake a name given to the bounding of a flat stone 

 thrown almost horizontally into the water. It was 

 the opinion of engineers formerly, that, by charging 

 the pieces high, the ball was thrown to a greater 

 distance: hence the pieces were charged with two 

 thirds, or even the whole weight of the shot, in 

 order to impel it with greater velocity ; but it has 

 been discovered since, that the half or one third of 

 the weight of the ball is the fittest charge for the 

 piece. It may not be amiss to observe here, that 

 the range of cannon is greater in the morning and 

 at night than at noon, and in cold than in hot 

 weather. The reason is, that, at these times, the 

 air being less heated, gives less way to the dilata- 

 tion of the powder, which being, by these means, 

 confined, as it were, to a smaller sphere of action 

 must have a stronger effect in proportion. When 

 the lengths of cannon are proportionable to the 

 height of the charge, the shot will be discharged 

 with the same velocity, whatever the calibre may 

 be. The greatest distance to which a shell can be 

 thrown, with the strongest charge, is little more 

 than about 1800 or 2000 fathoms. 



RANGER ; an officer of a forest, appointed to 

 drive the deer back from the purlieus, to prevent 

 trespasses, &c. 



RANGOON (formerly Dagoon) ; a city of Bir- 

 mah, in Pegu : 600 miles south-east of Calcutta; 

 Ion. 96 9' E.; lat. 16 47' N. It is the principal 

 port of the Birman empire, situated on a branch of 

 the Irrawaddy, or Ava, called the Rangoon river, 

 thirty miles from the sea, and was founded" in the 

 year 1755, by Alompra, king of Birmah, who had 

 taken the country from the king of Pegu. The 

 river is commodious for building ships, and the 

 forests of Birmah and Pegu yield teak wood. The 

 population has been estimated at 30,000, but is not 

 more than 12,000. It was taken by the English in 

 1824, but restored. The American Baptist mis- 

 sionary society has a mission here. 



RANK. In the article Ceremonial of European 

 Powers, we have spoken of the former and present 

 arrangement of rank among them. As to the dis- 

 tinctions of rank among individuals, these will 

 always be more marked in proportion as the gov- 

 ernment of a country is arbitrary, and the civic- 

 spirit dead. The Roman and Byzantine imperial 

 courts exhibit a striking instance of the importance 

 attached to these distinctions, when compared with 

 the vigorous period of republican Rome. In Russia, 

 the most absolute government in Europe, the people 

 are divided into fourteen classes ; and whoever be- 

 comes a member of one of the eight highest, receives 

 nobility for himself and family. The rank of all 

 these classes is estimated with reference to military 

 degrees ; thus a doctor of medicine, if we are right- 

 ly informed, is equal in rank to a captain of infantry. 

 In a country where the mania for titles is carried 

 to such excess as in Germany (see Counsellor, Cere- 

 monial, and the note to article Majesty), it may 

 easily be imagined that there must have been an 

 abundance of contested questions respecting rank. 



