R A C 



R A (■ 



RACHIA, in Geography, a town of Iftiia ; 7 miles N.E. 



of Pedena. 



RACHIALGIA, in Medicine, a term given by Allruc, 

 and adopted by the nof')logiils, to denote certain colicky 

 pains in the bowels, which were (uppofed to originate from 

 the nerves of the fpine, and cfpecially the colic from the 

 poifon of lead, or Colica Piclonum ; which fee. The 

 word IS from pax' , the fpine, znd a\yr, pnln. See Sanvages 

 NofoL Meth. clafs vii. gen. 29. 



RACHIS, or rather Rhachis, in Botany, from p'^:;^!,-, 

 the back-hone, is the common ftalk, or receptacle, of the 

 florets, in the fpikelets of gralTes ; or of the fpikelets 

 themfelves in Lolium, Tnticnm, Secale, Hordemn, Rotlb'ollia, 

 &c. , The fame term is applied to the rib, or leaf-llalk, 

 of ferns, which is often winged or bordered. The Ra- 

 chis in both thefe inftances is frequently jointed ; by which 

 in the former, the ripe feeds of fuch grailes, wrapped 

 up m their huflvS, are the more readily difperfed. Tiie part 

 in quellion being in fome cafes fmooth, in others varioudy 

 hairy or bearded, affords excellent fpecific diftindlions ; wit- 

 nefs the genus Avena. 



RACHISAGRA, a term ufed by fome phyficians for 

 the gout in the fpine of the back. 



RACHITIS, in Medicine, from px^''. the fpine, (be- 

 caufe the fpinal marrow was fuppofed to be the feat of the 

 difeafe,) a malady corruptly termed in Engliflt the Rickets : 

 which fee. 



RACH-KOKE,in G^Ofr^/'/jy,oneof the Kunllkoi or Ku- 

 rilly iflands in the Eallern or Paciiicocean : dillant from Muf- 

 fyr, another of the faid iflands, about 1 20 verlts. Its length is 

 about20 verfts, and its breadth the fame, and it prefents the 

 appearance of a lolitary mountain rifing upwards from the 

 fea. It was formerly covered with verdure, with (helves of 

 rocks, where fea-fowl in great number made their nefts : 

 but thefe rocky (helves have been demoli(hed by the erup- 

 tion of fubterraneous fires, which (plit the fummit of the 

 mountain, throwing up vail quantities of (lones and a(hes ; 

 and fince that time, the ifland has always continued burning. 

 At this eruption thofe places on the (hore where formerly 

 they had thirteen fathom water, were filled up with rubbi(h 

 and afhes into (hoals and banks. 



RACHLIN, in Ancient Geography, the Ricina of Pto- 

 lemy, nearthe N.E. coall of Ireland, memorable as the re- 

 treat of Robert I. of Scotland. 



RACHOL, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, in 

 Soonda ; 16 miles S.S.E. of Goa. 



RACHORE, a dillricl or province of Hindooilan, in 

 Golconda, bounded on the N. by the Kiftnah, on the E. by 

 Canoul, on the S. by Adoni, and on the W. by Sanore. — 

 Alfo, a town of Hindooilan, and capital of the above- 

 mentioned province, on the .S. fide of the Kiftnah, and not 

 far above the conflux of the Toombuddra with it, and below 

 that of the Beemah ; belonging to the Nizam. It is four days' 

 journey from Adoni, reckoning a day's journey at 22 Britifh 

 miles in road diftance, and 17 or 18 geographical miles ; 

 91 miles S.W. of Hydrabad. N. lat. 16^ 24'. E. long. 

 78=2'. 



RACHOSIS, from pax w, lacero, a difeafe, in which the 

 'fcrotum is relaxed and excoriated. 



RACHOUP-, in Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in the circar of Gurry Mundella ; 20 miles S.S.W. of 

 Gurrah. 



RACHOURE, a town of Hindooftan, in Myfore ; 20 

 miles S. of Gurramconda. 



RACHOW, a town of Poland; 36 miles S.S.W. of 

 Lublin. 



RACINE, John, in Biography, an eminent French poet, 



was born in 1639. He was educated at the convent of 

 Port-Royal, near Paris ; after this he went through a 

 couric of philofophy at the college of Harcourt, and then 

 made his appearance before the public in an ode on the 

 king's marriage. This effort was, through the mtercft of 

 Colbert, rewarded with a preient and a fmall penfion. 

 Elated vvith the fuccefs that crowned his firft effort, he 

 determined to follow poetry as a profeffion ; and, rejetling 

 tiie offer of an uncle, a prior, who offered to refign his 

 benefice to Inm, provided he would enter into holy orders, 

 he fixed his refidence at Paris. In 1664 he brought upon 

 the ftage his firll tragedy, entitled " La Thcbaide ou les 

 Frercs enncmis." It was written in the manner of Cor- 

 neille, which he foon after quitted for one of his own ; a 

 judicious change;, fays a critic, fince the character! ft ics of 

 thefe two raafters of the French drama were extremely dif- 

 ferent. He next publidied his <' Alexandre," whicli was 

 followed by his " Andromaquc." About this time he 

 was prefentcd to the priory of Epinay, but not being in 

 orders, he was, after a law-fuit, obliged to quit. His 

 " Andromaque," which eftablidied his characler as a tra- 

 gedian, was foon followed by the comedy " Les Plaideurs," 

 which, though it obtained for him the praife of Moliere, and 

 was well received at court, was his only attempt in that 

 walk. Between the years 1670 and 1678, he publifhed his 

 " Britannicus," " Berenice," " Bajazet," " Mithridatc," 

 " Ephigene," and " Phasdre." His popularity and well- 

 earned reputation excited a ftrong party again it him : the 

 chagrin which he underwent from the artifices of his enemies, 

 and the over-fenfibility to criticifm, which led him to con- 

 fefs, in the confidence of friendfhip, that the worft critique 

 made upon his works caufed him more uneafinefs than the 

 greatelt plaudits had given him pleafure, infpired him with 

 the refolution of renouncing poetry and turning Carthufian. 

 He was, however, perfuaded to change his plan, and to 

 marry : he accordingly formed an alliance with the daughter 

 of a gentleman in the treafury of Amiens, by whom he had 

 fevera! children. At the fame time he ceafed to write for 

 the ftage, and thereby reconciled himlelf with his old 

 friends of the Port-Royal. Racine now became a courtier, 

 and obtained the lituation of gentleman in ordinary to the 

 king, to whom he Kiade himlelf very ufeful. He was alfa 

 appointed to the office of hiftoriographer-royal, in con- 

 jundlion with his friend Boileau, which they made a com- 

 plete finecure. He was prevailed upon by madame Main- 

 tenon to write a dramatic piece on a fcriptural fubject, for 

 the ladies of her foundation of St. Cyr, and his " Either" 

 was performed by them in 1689, with great applaufe, iu 

 the prefence of the whole court. He followed it with 

 " Athalie," adted by the fame ladies in 1691. Madamr 

 Maintenon, deeply affefted with the miferies of the people 

 in the latter years of Lewis's reign, engaged Racine to draw 

 up a memoir on the fubjeft. This he did m fo free a manner, 

 as to give great offence to the king, who happened to obtain 

 a fight of it from a lady to whom it had been lent. Racine. 

 was excluded from the court, a circumftance that fo preyed 

 upon his mind, that he fell into a ftate of melancholy, of 

 which he died in 1 699, at the age of 60. For a character 

 of this writer we (hall be indebted chiefly to the General 

 Biography. He was polite in his manners, with the affected 

 foftnefs of a courtier, which was, however, a mafic to his 

 adtual difpofition, for, in reality, he had much gall and 

 fpleen in his charadter. Rehgion, however, correded, in 

 a good mcafure, thefe defefts, and in all the relations of do- 

 meftic life he was exemplary. As a dramatic writer he is 

 fuppofed to have ranked with Corneille, though in many 

 points he even furpaffed him. His charadteriftics are tender- 



nefti, 



