RHOENGEBIRGE RHYME. 



8G5 



paces. Several miles below this place, at a point 

 called Malpertuis, it again almost entirely disap- 

 pears under the rocks. 



RHOENGEBIRGE; a range of mountains in 

 Germany, extending from Kaltennordheim to 

 beyond Bischofsheim, about thirty miles in length ; 

 it traverses the north-west of Bavaria, and part of 

 Hesse Cassel, approaching the Thuringian forest 

 on the north, and the Spessart towards the south. 

 The highest summit is the Kreutzberg, 2800 feet 

 high. 



RHUBARB (rheum) a genus of plants, mostly 

 inhabiting the interior of Asia. It belongs to the 

 family polygoneee, together with the docks, which 

 it somewhat resembles. It is one of the few genera 

 which have nine stamens, the enneandria of Lin- 

 naeus. The roots and leaves are remarkably large, 

 and the flowers inconspicuous, but disposed in very 

 ample panicles. The seeds are provided, at the 

 angles, with a membranous wing. The roots of 

 all are mildly purgative, combined with tonic and : 

 strengthening properties ; that of the officinal j 

 rhubarb (R. palmatum) is considered the most effi- ! 

 cacious, but there is no great difference in this j 

 respect. The officinal or true rhubarb grows wild 

 along the frontiers of China, near the great wall, 

 upon a chain of mountains which stretches from the 

 Chinese town Sini to lake Kokonor, near Thibet. ! 

 It is easily distinguished by having the leaves 

 divided into acute lobes; the roots are very large, 

 yellow, and branching ; the stem is of moderate 

 iieight, cylindrical, smooth, and striated, provided at 

 base with a great number of large, petiolate leaves ; 

 these are divided into five or seven lanceolate, 

 acute segments, each of which is again subdivided, 

 and are green and rough above, a little whitish and 

 pubescent beneath, and traversed with large yel- 

 lowish nerves ; their leaf-stalks are very long, and 

 grooved; the flowers are small, yellowish-white, 

 and are disposed in numerous upright panicles ; 

 the seeds are blackish-brown, and triangular. It 

 is usual with the Chinese, when the roots have 

 been taken from the ground, cleaned, and pared, 

 to cut them in slices and lay them upon long tables, 

 taking care to turn them three or four times a day, 

 experience having taught that if exposed to a free 

 current of air, they become light, and lose a por- 

 tion of their strength. After the fourth day, they 

 are perforated and strung upon cords, in such a 

 way as not to touch each other, and are suspended 

 to dry in the shade, either upon trees or in tents. 

 In about two months, the roots have lost seven 

 eights of their weight, and are fit for market. 

 Winter is the proper season for taking up the roots. 

 Formerly rhubarb was brought from China, through 

 Tartary, to Ormutz and Aleppo, thence to Alexan- 

 dria, and even to Vienna. This was called Turkey 

 rhubarb. Now it is brought by sea from Canton 

 and Ormuz. All the rhubarb of commerce is ob- 

 tained from the chain of mountains above men- 

 tioned. 



It is only within a few years that the officinal 

 rhubarb has been successfully cultivated on a large 

 scale in Europe. It is most readily multiplied by 

 planting pieces of the root containing eyes, thirty 

 or more of which are afforded by a root four or five 

 years old : half an inch of the root is sufficient to 

 ensure the shooting of these eyes. They are 

 planted a little before the opening of the spring, 

 after leaving them exposed to the air for a day, in 

 order that cicatrices may be formed : they should 

 be placed in quincunx order, about six feet apart, as 

 the leaves occupy a very great space ; but as, for 

 the two first years, they do not fill this space, some 

 other crop may be raised between them. It is an 



injudicious practice to cut away the leaves, and 

 hinders the growth of the roots; but to cut or 

 break the stems, about a foot from the ground, is 

 very often advantageous. The plant may remain 

 in the ground all winter, but during severe frosts 

 should be covered with straw or dry leaves. A 

 deep soil, and one where sand does not predomi- 

 nate, seems best adapted to its culture ; but it suc- 

 ceeds in every soil that is not arid or watery ; 

 neither does it fear shade or a northern exposure ; 

 in dry weather, watering is advantageous, but long 

 rains are very injurious. The roots are taken from 

 the ground only after the fourth or fifth year, but 

 sooner in a dry and warm soil than in a moist ami 

 cool one ; when taken up too soon, their substance 

 is soft, and will lose eleven twelfths of its weight 

 in drying; on the other hand, if left too long in 

 the earth, the roots become hollow, or even rot in 

 the centre. The time for removing them is in the 

 autumn, after the leaves are perfectly dry. The 

 stocks live ten or twelve years in a good soil, and 

 only half as long in one which is less adapted to 

 them. The rhubarb of commerce is brownish-yel- 

 low externally, saffron-yellow within, and variegated 

 with white and reddish streaks. The odour is dis- 

 agreeable, and the taste bitter, astringent, slightly 

 acrid, and nauseous. Its properties are, at the 

 same time, tonic and purgative. It is administered 

 in powder, in mixtures, or formed into pills, or the 

 root may be chewed in substance. The value of 

 the annual import of this article into Great Britain 

 is said to exceed .225,000. The bark of rhubarb 

 has been used for tinctures, and is found, in every 

 respect, as efficacious as the best part of the roots, 

 and the seeds possess nearly the same qualities. 

 The leaves impart an agreeable acidity, somewhat 

 similar to that of sorrel ; and a marmalade is made 

 from the fresh stalks, by stripping off the bark, and 

 boiling the pulp with an equal quantity of sugar. 



The common garden rhubarb (R. rhaponticunt] 

 has obtuse, smooth leaves, with hairy veins beneath. 

 It was first brought into Europe about the year 

 1610, and is chiefly in request for the stalks of the 

 leaves, which, when young, are used for pies and 

 tarts. The root has occasionally been sold for the 

 rhubarb of commerce, and for a long time was 

 supposed to be identical with it. The rheum ribes 

 is remarkable for having the seeds enveloped in a 

 succulent and reddish pulp. It grows on the 

 mountains of Syria and Persia, and is, besides, cul- 

 tivated on an extensive scale in those countries, on 

 account of the agreeably acid flavour of the leaves, 

 leaf- stalks, and young stems. These are sold con- 

 stantly in the markets, and are eaten either in a 

 crude state, with salt or vinegar, or are preserved 

 in wine, or with sugar. 



RHUMB, in navigation ; a verticle circle of any 

 Ejiven place, or the intersection of such a circle 

 with the horizon ; in which last sense rhumb is the 

 same as a point of the compass. 



Rhumb-line ; a line prolonged from any point of 

 the compass, on a nautical chart, except from the 

 four cardinal points. 



RHUNKEN. See Ruhnkenivs 



RHUS. See Sumac. 



RHYME, in poetry ; the correspondence of 

 sounds in the terminating words or syllables of 

 verses. The vowel and the final articulations or 

 consonants should be the same, or nearly the saAe, 

 in sound. The initial consonants may be different. 

 Languages which have not, like the English, a 

 great variety of shades between the Italian sounds 

 of a, e, i, o, u, admit only pure rhymes ; that i* t<> 

 say, the corresponding syllables must have exactly 

 the same vowel sound. English verse is much lr^ 



