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RITTER RIVERS. 



His younger brother used to say, that while David 

 was employed in the fields, lie repeatedly observed 

 i In- h-iicrs,' and even the plough with which lie had 

 tx-en working, marked over with mathematical 

 fi: iins. The construction of a wooden clock ex- 

 h'lhited the first evidence of his mechanical talents. 

 \\ uli little time at his command, with but two or 

 three books, and without the least instruction, he 

 acquired M> considerable a knowledge of the mathe- 

 matical sciences, as to be able to read the Principia 

 of Newton. He also planned and executed an in- 

 strument, in which his mathematical knowledge, 

 mid his mechanical skill, were equally required. 

 This instrument was an orrery. Two orreries were 

 made by his own hands. One belongs to the uni- 

 versity of Pennsylvania ; the other to the college 

 of Princeton. In 1769, he was named one of the 

 committee, appointed by the American philosophi- 

 cal society, to observe the transit of Venus over the 

 sun's disk, which happened June 3 of that year. 

 In 1779, he was appointed by the legislature of 

 IVnnsylvania, one of the commissioners for adjust- 

 ing a territorial dispute between that state and Vir- 

 ginia ; and the success of this commission is ascrib- 

 ed, in a great degree, to his skill and prudence. In 

 1786, he was employed in fixing the northern line, 

 which divides Pennsylvania from New York. In 

 1769, he was employed in 'settling the limits be- 

 tween New York and New Jersey ; and, in 1787, 

 he was called upon to assist in fixing a boundary 

 line between the states of Massachusetts and New 

 York. Mr Rittenhouse was elected a member of 

 the. American academy of arts and sciences, at 

 Boston, in 1782, and of the royal society of London, 

 in 1795. In 1791, he was chosen the successor ot 

 doctor Franklin, in the presidency of the American 

 philosophical society. All his philosophical com- 

 munications were made through the medium of the 

 Transactions of this society, and the list of his pa- 

 pers, printed in the three first volumes, shows his 

 eeal for science and the fertility of his genius. In 

 1777, doctor Rittenhouse was appointed treasurer 

 of Pennsylvania, in which office he continued until 

 1789. In 1792, he was appointed, by the general 

 government, director of the mint of the United 

 States. The mechanical skill of doctor Rittenhouse 

 rendered him a highly useful officer. In 1795, he 

 was obliged to resign in consequence of the state 

 of his health. His constitution, naturally feeble, 

 had been rendered still more so by sedentary labour 

 and midnight studies, and he died on the twenty- 

 sixth of June, 1796. Immediately after his decease, 

 the American philosophical society decreed him the 

 honour of a public eulogium ; and this duty was 

 executed in the ablest manner by doctor Rush. In 

 1813, a large volume of memoirs of his life was 

 published by his relative, William Barton. 



RITTER, JOHN WILLIAM, a distinguished natural 

 philosopher, was born in 1776, at Samitz, near 

 Hainan, in Silesia, and died, in 1810, in Munich. 

 He distinguished himself by the study of galvanism; 

 but excessive labour, exhausting experiments, a 

 bad wife, and consequent intemperance, brought 

 him early to the grave. His works, which are of 

 uncommon importance, as far as galvanism is con- 

 cerned, are, Contributions to the better understand, 

 ing of Galvanism (Jena, 1801, 2 vols.) ; Proof that 

 a continual Galvanism accompanies the Process of 

 Life (Weimar, 1798) ; Physico-Chemical Treatises 

 (Leipsic, 1806, 3 vols.) ; Fragments of the Papers 

 of a young Philosopher (Heidelberg, 1810, 2 vols.); 

 all in German. He contributed many articles to 

 Gilbert's Annals of Physics, and Voigt's Magazine 

 of Natural Science. 



KITZEBUTTEL ; a bailiwick under the juris- 



diction of Hamburg, between the mouths of ilu; 

 Elbe and Weser, with 3900 inhabitants. Its chief 

 place is Ritzebuttel, a borough, one mile south irom 

 Cuxhaven; lat. N. 53 52' 8" ; Ion. E. 8 41' UV. 

 It has 1500 inhabitants. Travellers wait here i<> 

 embark at Cuxhaven. 



RIVERS are to be traced to springs, or to the 

 gradual meltings of the ice and snow which perpe- 

 tually cover the summits of all the most elevated 

 ranges of mountains upon the globe. The union of 

 various springs, or of these meltings, forms rivulets: 

 these last follow the declivity of the ground, and 

 commonly fall, at different stages, into one great 

 channel, called a river, which, at last, discharges 

 its waters into the sea, or some great inland lake. 

 The declivities along which descend the various 

 streams that flow into one particular river are called 

 its basin & term, therefore, which includes the 

 whole extent of country from which the waters of 

 the river are drawn. As mountainous regions 

 abound in springs, we find that most rivers, more 

 especially those of the first class, commence from a 

 chain' of mountains ; each side of a chain also has 

 its springs, and the rivers which originate on one 

 side flow in the opposite direction to those which 

 rise on the other. As it is the property of water 

 to follow the most rapid descent that comes in its 

 way, the courses of streams point out the various 

 declivities of the earth's surface, and the line from 

 which large rivers flow in contrary directions (Ger- 

 man JVasserscheide), generally marks the highest 

 parts of the earth. In European Russia, where the 

 rivers are very extensive, there is, however, a sin- 

 gular exception to this rule, the line which separates 

 the sources of those rivers being very little above 

 the level of the Baltic, or of the Black sea. 



It has been observed, by some writers, that the 

 extent of a river is in proportion to the height of 

 the range of mountains from which it descends. 

 This is, in a certain degree, true, because the greater 

 the bulk of the mountains, the more numerous the 

 springs and torrents which they furnish ; but the 

 relation between the extent of a river and the sur- 

 face of its basin is much closer and more invariable. 

 Even this is not sufficiently comprehensive.; for it 

 is evident that the size of a river depends upon 

 three circumstances the surface of its basin ; the 

 abundance, or otherwise, of that surface in springs; 

 and the degree of humidity possessed by the climate 

 of the region from which it draws its supplies. As 

 many springs, however, are formed by the rains, 

 the second of these circumstances will, in some 

 measure, vary with the last. By an attention to 

 these remarks, the causes of the great size of the 

 South American rivers will be apparent. The 

 peculiar position of the Andes, with respect to the 

 plain of that continent ; the fact, that by very far 

 the largest proportion of its running waters are 

 drained off in one general direction (towards the 

 Atlantic) ; the multiplicity of streams that intersect 

 the country ; and the humidity of the climate all 

 contribute to that result. The Andes being placed 

 so near the coast of the Pacific, the rivers which 

 flow from them into that ocean are small ; while 

 those which flow on the other side, having such an 

 immense space to traverse, are swelled into a most 

 majestic volume before they reach the Atlantic. 

 The physical circumstances of the old continent are 

 unfavourable to the accumulation of such vast bodies 

 of water as the rivers of South America. Europe 

 is not of sufficient extent ; Africa is oppressed by 

 scorching climate, and abounds in *.andy deserts ; 

 in Asia, the atmosphere generally is not so moist, 

 while the more central position, for the most part., of 

 the great mountainous range of that continent, und 



