REG 



REC 



tV blow-pipe a white arsenical smoke, 

 w r th an arsenical anil suiphurous odour, 

 and gives a bine flame. It consists of 

 arsenic and sulphur in the proportions of 

 80 of the former, and 20 of the latter. 



REASONING, the exercise of the fa- 

 culty of the mind called reasoning; or it 

 is an act or operation of the mind, de- 

 ducing some unknown proposition from 

 other previous ones that are evident and 

 known. 



REAUMURIA, in botany, so named in 

 honour of Rene Antoine Ferchault de 

 Reaumur, a genus of the PclyandriaPen- 

 tagynia class and order. Natural order 

 of Succulents. Ficoideae, Jussieu. Es- 

 sential character: calyx six-leaved; pe- 

 tals five; capsule one celled, five-valved, 

 many-seeded. There is but one species, 

 tiz. *R vermiculata, an annual plant, and 

 a native of the coasts of Egvpt, Syria, and 

 fc cily. 



RECEIPTS, are acknowledgments in 

 writing of having received a sum of mo- 

 ney, or other value. A receipt is either 

 a voucher for an obligation discharged, or 

 one incurred. Receipts for money above 

 40*. must be on stamps ; but on the back 

 of a bill of exchange or promissory note, 

 which is already stamped, they are good 

 without further duty. Writing a receipt 

 on a stamp of greater value than the law 

 requires, incurs no penalty, and the re- 

 ceipt is good ; but if on a stamp of a lower 

 value, or on unstamped paper, then a re- 

 ceipt is no discharge, and incurs a pe- 

 nalty. The stamp acts are very strict in 

 making every written acknowledgment 

 of the receipt of money, however framed, 

 subject to a stamp, and the party liable to 

 a penalty for want of compliance with 

 the act. * The word " settled" to a bill is 

 a receipt; and also a name at the back of 

 a check ; or at least these can neither of 

 them be produced, nor any other writ- 

 ing, to show a payment made, unless ac- 

 companied with a stamp. 



RECEIVER, in pneumatics, a glass 

 vessel for containing the thing on which 

 an experiment in the air-pump is to be 

 made. See PNEUMATICS. 



RECEIVER. Receiving stolen goods, 

 knowing them to be stolen, is an high 

 misdemeanor at the common law ; and 

 by several statutes is made a transporta- 

 ble felony, and, in some particular in- 

 stances, felony without benefit of clergy. 

 In some cases the receiver may be pro- 

 secuted without prosecuting the thief, 

 and he may be a witness against the re- 

 ceiver. 



RECEPTACLE, in botany, one of the 



seven parts of fructification, which, ac- 

 cording to Linnaeus, is the base which 

 connects or supports the other parts. A 

 proper receptacle obtains different names 

 from the parts of the fructification which 

 supports and connects. When both 

 flower and fruit are supported by it, it is 

 generally stiled the receptacle of the 

 fructification. \Vhen the receptacle sup- 

 ports the parts of the flower only, it is 

 called the receptacle of the flower. In 

 such cases, the seed-bud or fruit, which 

 is placed below the receptacle of the 

 flower, has a proper base of its own, 

 which is distinguished b> the name of re- 

 ceptacle of the fruit. There are simple 

 flowers, which have the seed-bud placed 

 above the receptacle of the flower, the 

 fruit has a separate receptacle ; this is 

 exemplified in the magnolia, tulip-tree, 

 &c. The term receptacle is often used 

 to signify the base to which the seeds are 

 fastened within their inclosure, as in the 

 deadly night-shade. 



RECIPE, in medicine, a prescription 

 or remedy, to be taken by a patient ; so 

 called because always beginning with the 

 word recipe, i. e. take ; which is generally 

 denoted by the abbreviature 1$, , For the 

 rules proper to be observed in forming 

 recipes, see MATEUIA MEDICA, &c. 



RECIPROCAL terms, among logicians, 

 are those which have the same significa- 

 tion ; and consequently are convertible, 

 or may be used for each other. 



RECIPROCAL, in arithmetic, is the quo- 

 tient arising by dividing 1 by any number 

 or quantity, thus the reciprocal of 2 is $ of 



5, it is i and generally of a it is- . hence, 



the reciprocal of a vulgar fraction is found, 

 by barely making the numerator and de- 

 nominator mutually change places ; thus, 

 the reciprocal of is 2 = 2 ; of | it is | ; 



of - it is -. Hence any quantity being 



b a 



multiplied by its reciprocal, the product 

 is always equal to unity ; thus, ^ X f = 1 ; 



. a b a b 



s, in geometry, those 

 which have the antecedents and conse- 

 quents of the same ratio, in both figures. 

 Thus, in two rectangles, the side A : B : : 

 C : D ; or 12 : 4 : : 9 : 3 ; that is, as much 

 as the side A, in the first rectangle, is 

 longer than B, so much deeper is the 

 side C, in the second rectangle, than the 

 side D in the first ; and, consequently, the 

 greater length of the one is compensated 



