R AI 



612 



RAM 



pieces of timber which lie horizontally 

 from post to post. Similarly the upper 

 and lower part of the banister of a 



"air-case are called hand-rail and foot- 

 rail. 2. In framing, those pieces 



which lie horizontally are called rails; 

 and those which are perpendicular are 



stiles. 3. In thips, planks nailed for 



ornament, or security, on the upper- 

 works ; also curved pieces of timber, ex- 

 tending from the bows to the continua- 

 tion of the stern, to support the knee of 



the head. 4. In ornithology, rail is a 



name of the Rallus crex, Lin., or corn- 

 crake ; called also the Quail-king, because 

 it arrives and departs with those birds, and 

 leads a solitary life on the same grounds. 

 5. In engineering, &c., see RAILWAY. 



RAIL'ROAD, ) An improved description 



RAIL'WAY. j of roadway, first used 

 about 1680, under the name of tram-way 

 and tram-road ; being formed of tram- 

 plates of wood. Cast-iron tram-plates 

 were next employed ( 1 738) ; then wrought- 

 iron (1786) ; and, at length, wrought-iron 

 edge rails were adopted in the collieries 

 of the north, of England, and are now 

 everywhere used in the construction of 

 railways in this and other countries. The 

 steam-engine was applied to railways 

 about 1808, but only to drag the waggons 

 up ascents by a rope, the engine being 

 stationary. Thirty miles an hour, in- 

 cluding stoppages, seems to be about the 

 average speed upon the public lines of 

 railway ; but the limit of velocity does 

 not appear to be yet known ; but it is 

 somewhere beyond 60 miles an hour. 



RAIL'WAY, ATMOSPHERIC. A system of 

 locomotion on railways, in which atmo- 

 pheric pressure is employed as the 

 motive power. 



RAIL'WAY-LINK. See DRAW-LINK. 



RAIL'W AY-SLIDE. A contrivance on rail- 

 ways, for shifting a carriage from one 

 Hne of rails to another. It consists of a 

 platform upon wheels, and having upon 

 it two or more pairs of rails of the same 

 gauge as those of the line, so that a car- 

 riage, being upon the platform , may be run 

 off conveniently upon the line of rails. 



RAIN'BOW. A circular image of the 

 sun, variously coloured. It is thus pro- 

 duced : the solar rays entering the drops 

 of falling rain are refracted to their 

 further surfaces, and thence, by one or 

 more reflections, transmitted to the eye. 

 At their emergence from the drop, the 

 rays are separated into their prismatic 

 colours, and are thus exhibited to an eye 

 properly placed to receive them. The 

 Jjunar rainbow is a similar, but less usual, 

 phenomenon, caused by the refraction of 

 the moon's rays. 



RAIN'-GACGE. An instrument contrived 

 to measure the quantity of rain which 

 fills on a given surface of a locality; 



called also an ombrometer and pluviome- 

 ter (q. v.) 



RAI'SERS. Among joiners, th upright 

 boards of the front of the steps of a flight 

 of stairs. 



R.U'SING. In carpentry, pieces which 

 lie under the beams, over the posts or 

 puncheons, by the side of the house. 



RAI'SIXS. The dried fruit of the vine. 

 Raisins are produced from various spe- 

 cies of the vine, and take names accord- 

 ingly, as muscatels, blooms, sultanas, &c 

 They are also named from the place of 

 their growth, as Smyrnas, Valencias, &c. 

 The duties on raisins vary according to 

 the quality, from 30 per cent, on the best, 

 to 130 on the worst! 



RA'JAH (Sanscrit). A title of dignity in 

 India, equivalent to king, prince, or 

 chieftain. 



RAKE. 1. An instrument used in agri- 

 culture, containing a series of teeth or 

 prongs affixed at right angles to a cross- 

 head. The tool is made light, and all 

 wood when it is intended for collecting 

 hay, but the cross-head and teeth are 

 usually iron when designed for combing 

 seed-beds in gardens, &c. The harrow is 



a rake upon a large scale. 2. The rake 



of a ship is that part of the hull which 

 hangs over both ends of the keel. 



RV'KING. In architecture, a term ap- 

 plied to mouldings whose arrises are in- 

 clined to the horizon. 



RA'KINO TEMPLE. In architecture, a 

 member hollowed in the square of a pe- 

 destal, &c. 



RAM. l.In zoology, the male of the ovine 



genus, called in some parts a tup. 2. In 



astronomy, the English name of the sign 



Aries. 3. An engine of war. See BAT- 



TERiNG-RAM.^^-4. A hydraulic machine. 

 See WATER-RAM. 



RAM'ADAN, J The great fast or Lent of 



RHAM'ADAN. / the Mohammedans. 



RAMAYA'NA. The oldest of the two 

 great Sanscrit epic poems, describing the 

 life and actions of Rama and his wife Sita. 



RAM'EST, Lat. ramentum. A species of 

 pubescence of plants, consisting of hairs 

 in form of flat strap-like portions, resem- 

 bling shavings, seen on the leaves of some 

 species of begonia. 



RAM'ISTS OR RAM'EANS. The partisans 

 of Ramus, a professor of rhetoric and phi- 

 losophy at Paris, in the reign of Henry II. 



RAMOLLIS'SF.MEJJT, Fr. from ramollir, to 

 soften. A term applied in pathology to 

 any morbid softening of the texture of an 

 organ, as the brain in hydrocephalus. 



RAMP. 1. A cavity on the upper side of 

 hand-rails, formed over risers, or over a 

 half or quarter space, made by the sudden 

 rise of the steps above. 2. In fortifica- 

 tion, ramps are gentle slopes made for the 

 cannon to be drawn up and down by and 

 to facilitate communication, raised either 



