RAD 



RAF 



F a ship, is hollowed away, that the 

 planks may join the closer. 

 RABBIT. See LEPUS. 

 RACCOON. See Uusus. 

 RACE, in genealogy, a lineage or ex- 

 traction continued from father to son. 



RACEMUS, in botany, a term that 

 properly signifies a cluster of grapes : but 

 scientifically it is used to signify a mode 

 of flowering, in which the flowers placed 

 along a common foot-stalk are furnished 

 with proper foot-stalks, proceeding as 

 lateral branches from the common flower- 

 stalk. This is exemplified in the vine and 

 current tree. 



RACK, an infernal engine of torture, 

 furnished with pullies and chords, &c. for 

 extorting confession from criminals. This 

 instrument is happily banished from al- 

 most every civilized state of the world. 

 The trial by the rack was never known 

 to the law of England. It was proposed 

 in the privy council to put Felton, the 

 assassin of the Duke of Buckingham, to 

 the rack, in order to discover his accom- 

 plices; but the judges, being consulted, 

 unanimously declared, that no such pro- 

 ceeding could be admitted by the laws of 

 England. 



RACK, AHAC, or AKUAC, in commerce, a 

 spirituous liquor made by the Tartars of 

 mare's milk, which is left to be sour, and 

 afterwards distilled twice or thrice. Rack 

 is also a spirituous liquor which the Eng- 

 lish get from Batavia or Malacca, of 

 which there are three sorts, the one be- 

 ing extracted from the cocoa-tree, the 

 second from rice, and the third from 

 sugar; but the first is the best, and most 

 in use. It is made of the blossom bunch 

 of the cocoa-tree ; for which purpose 

 they tie the bunch while it is still wrap- 

 ped up within its cod, or membrane, with 

 a piece of packthread, and then with a 

 a knife make a cross cut in that bunch, 

 a little above the place where it is tied, 

 and adapt a pitcher to it to receive the 

 liquor, which is called toddy, and is 

 vinous, palatable, and sweet : others use 

 a bamboo-cane instead of a pitcher. Hav- 

 ing thus drawn the liquor, they let it fer- 

 ment, and afterwards distil it. 



RACK rent, the full extended yearly va- 

 lue of the land, &c. let by lease, payable 

 by tenants for life or years. 



RACKET, a kind of bat to strike the 

 ball with at tennis ; usually consisting of 

 a lattice or net-work of catgut strained 

 very tight in a circle of wood, with a shaft 

 or handle. 



RADIANT, or RADIATIXG point, in op- 

 VOL. V 



tics, is any point of a visible object from 

 whence rays proceed. 



RADIATION, the act of a body emit- 

 ting or diffusing rays of light all round, a* 

 from a centre. 



RADICAL, in general, something that 

 serves as a basis or foundation. In gram- 

 mar, we give the appellation radical to 

 primitive words, in contradistinction to 

 compounds and derivatives. Algebraists 

 also speak of the radical sign or quanti- 

 ties, which is the character expressing 

 their roots. 



RADICAL vinegar,\n chemistry. When 

 acetate of copper, reduced to powder, is 

 put into a retort and distilled, there 

 comes over a liquid at first nearly colour- 

 less and almost insipid, and afterwards a 

 highly concentrated acid. The distilla- 

 tion is to be continued till the bottom of 

 the retort is red hot. What remains in 

 it then is only a powder of the colour of 

 copper. The acid product, which should 

 be received in a vessel by itself, is tinged 

 green by a little copper which passes 

 along with it; but when distilled over 

 again in a gentle heat, it is obtained per- 

 fectly colourless and transparent. The 

 acid thus obtained is exceeding pungent 

 and concentrated. It was formerly dis- 

 tinguished by the names of radical vine- 

 gar, and vinegar of Venus; it has since 

 been found to be acetous acid combined 

 with a new dose of oxygen, and is called 

 acetic acid. 



RADICLE. See PLANTS. 



RADIUS, in geometry, the semi-diam- 

 eter of a circle, or a right line drawn 

 from the centre to the circumference. In 

 trigonometry, the radius is termed the 

 whole sine, or sine of 90 degrees. 



RADIX, or root, in mathematics, is a 

 certain finite expression or function, 

 which being evolved or expanded, ac- 

 cording to certain rules, produces a 

 series. See SERIES. That finite expres- 

 sion or radix is the value of the infinite 

 series : thus ^ = .3333, &c. = .1111, 

 &c. In the same way 



_ 



l - 1 + i - 1 + l, &c. 



RAFT, a sort of float, formed by an 

 assemblage of various planks or pieces of 

 timber, fastened together side by side, so 

 as to be conveyed more comm odiously 

 to any short distance in a harbour or road 

 than if they were separate. The timber 

 and plank, with which merchant ships 

 are laden, in the different parts of thre 



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