R A C 



Rack, Sheep, a fort of long narrow crib, fixed upon 

 wheels, for containing hay for flicep, having a lid or co- 

 vering on the top. It is very ufeful in bad weather, in the 

 winter feafon, as preventing the hay from being walled, and 

 admitting the flieep to feed conveniently. 



RACKAMA, in Geography, a lake of Syria, fouth of 

 Hella and the ancient Babylon, is about 30 miles long, and 

 flows into the Euphrates. 



RACKEBY, a town of Sweden, in WcR Gothland; 

 40 miles N.E. of Uddevalla. 



RACKET, a kind of bat for ftriking the ball at tennis ; 

 confifting ufually of a lattice, or net-work, of cat-gut, 

 Itrained very tight over a circle of wood, with a handle or 

 (haft of a moderate length. 



The word is formed from the French raquetle, which 

 Menage derives from the Latin reletla, a diminutive of rete, 

 net ; whence alfo retlcum, and reticulum. 



Pafquier obfcrves, that anciently they ufed no rackets at 

 tennis, but played with the palm of the hand : and hence he 

 conje&ures it is that the French call tennis play, jeu de 

 paume. He adds, that rackets were not introduced till a 

 little before his time. 



Racket is alfo a machine which the favages of Canada 

 bind to their feet, to enable them to walk more conimo- 

 dioufly over the fnow ; made much in the manner of a 

 tennis-racket. 



Its figure is a lozenge, of which the two obtufe angles 

 are rounded off. It is bound about with very fine thongs 

 of leather, and the mefhes of it are much fmaller and clofcr 

 than thofe of our rackets. 



In the middle is fitted a kind of fhoe, lined witV wool, 

 or hair ; to be tied on to the ankle : by which means the 

 feet are prevented from finking in the fnow. Rackets 

 oblige the perfon to take very long fteps, and, as we fay, 

 to walk a great pace, to keep them from knocking againft 

 , each other. 



" Racket, in Geography, a river of New York, which 

 runs into the St. Lawrence, N. lat. 45° 13'. W. long. 



74° 42'- 



RACKIBIRN, the name of a fmall ifland on the N.W. 



coaft. of Ireland, fituated near Tiellen head, in the county 



of Donegal. N. lat. 54° 39'. W. long. 8° 44'. 



RACKING, in Sea Language, denotes the fattening of 

 two oppofite parts of a tackle together, fo as that any 

 weighty body fufpended by it (hall not fall down, although 

 the rope, which forms the tackle, (hould be loofened by 

 accident or negleft. This expedient is chiefly pradlifed 

 when the boats are hung up to the (hip's fide in the niglit, 

 in an open road or bay, lelt the rope of the tackle (hould be 

 untied by the inattention of fome of the crew, by which ac- 

 cident the boat might be confiderably damaged, and pro- 

 ^Dably loR or dafhed to pieces. Falconer. 



Racking Fruit Liquor, the operations of fining and 

 drawing it off. See Cyder. 



RACKLIA, in Geography, a fmall rocky ifland in tlie 

 Grecian Archipelago, inhabited by two or three poor monks, 

 who take care of a few (heep and goats. N. lat. 36° 53'. 

 E. long. 25° 38'. 



RACKNITZ, a town of the duchy of Carinthia ; 

 3 miles S. of Saxenburg. 



RACKOON, or Raccoon, the urfus lotor of Linnaeus, 

 in Zoology, the name by which we commonly know an 

 American animal, called coati by the Brafilians. It is 

 {omething fmaller than the beaver, and is of the (hape of 

 the beaver m the body, and its legs are as fhort as in that 

 creature. The face, cheeks, and chin are white j the upper 



Vol.. XXIX. 



R A C 



part of 1 lie body is covered with liair, long, foft, and thick ; 

 black at tlie ends, whitifli in tlie middle, and afli-coloured 

 at the root. Sometimes from this mixture of colour the 

 back appears plainly grey ; and Marcgrave mentions another 

 fpecies, which is of a deep yellow or ochre colour. 



The head is very like that of the fox in (Jiape ; but that 

 the ears are fliorter, roundifh, and naked, and it has from 

 the forehead to the nofe a dufky line. The eyes are large, 

 and furrounded witii two broad patches of black ; the nofe 

 is black and (liarp-pointcd ; its tail is very bufliy, and annu- 

 lated with bk;,k. Its feet are each divided into five flender 

 toes ; by the help of which it climbs trees as expertly as a 

 monkey, nnd ufes the fore-feet as hands, to reach up its 

 food to its mouth. It is a very cleanly animal ; and if there 

 be water near, it always waflics its food, be it what it will, 

 before it cats it. It feeds on vegetables, but is alfo ver)' 

 fond of eggs, and will even feize birds if it can catch them. 

 It is alfo very fond of fweet things and ftrong liquors, and 

 will get exceilively drunk : at low-water it feeds much on 

 oyflers, watching their opening, and with its paw fnatching 

 out the fifli, and is fometimes caught in the (hell. It i.- 

 very common in the warm and temperate parts of America, 

 in the mountains of Jamaica, and in the ifles of Maria in the 

 South fea, and is a creature eafily tamed. It is hunted for 

 its flcin ; the fur, next to that of the beaver, being excellent 

 for making hats. Ray and Pennant. 



RACLER, Fr., to fcrape, to rafp, or file 3 hard body. 

 It is faid, in derifion of a bad performer on the violin, or 

 any other indrument played with a bow, that he fcrapes or 

 rafps the (Irings ; becaufe, in faft, he draws a harfli and 

 difagreeable tone from his initrument, which refembles that 

 produced by fcraping or filing a hard body. Even good 

 players on the violin fometimes fcrape a little in the forte 

 parts of their performance. Suppl. to Encycl., i ft edit. 



RACLERGUNGE, in Geography, a town of Bengal; 

 50 miles N.W. of Burdwan. 



RACONIGI, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Stnra, containing four gates, with as many fauxbourgs, 

 well peopled. The king of Sardinia had a palace here. 

 The police is conduced by fifteen counfellors, from whom 

 two fyndics are chofen every four months, who aft as baihffs 

 or mayors of the town. It has two pariihes, and feveral re- 

 ligious houfes. The inhabitants are induftrious, and much 

 employed in making gauzes and filk fluffs ; 6 miles N. of 

 Savigliano. 



RACOPILUM, in Botany, from pV.xo-, a rent in a gar- 

 ment, or a -wrinkk, and ^lAo;, a hat or cap, the name of one 

 of Paliflat de Beauvois's genera of moffes, whofe veil is torn 

 at the fide. It ought to be written Rhacopilum. 



RACOUBEA, a name of Aublet's, of wkich we find 

 no explanation. See Ho.malium. 



RACOW, Catechifm of, in Eccleftafiical Hiflory, a fyftem 

 of theology compiled by the moft eminent Socinian doftors, 

 andfirft publiflied at Racow, or Rakow, in Poland, in the year 

 1609, with a dedication to our king James I. This cate- 

 chifm, or a tranflalion of it, was committed to the flames in 

 England, in the year 1653, by order of parliament. A new 

 edition of it, correfted and enlarged, was pubhlhed at Stauro- 

 polls, in 1684. The Socinians confider this catecjiifm as the 

 great flandard of Socinianifm, and an accurate fummary of 

 the doftrine of that feft. However, Mofheim obferves, 

 that it is, in reality, no more than a colleftion of the po- 

 pular tenets of the Socinians, and by no means a jull repre- 

 fentation of the fecret opinions and fentiments of their doc- 

 tors. Hence he fays it never obtained among them the au- 

 thority of a public confeflion or rule of faith ; and hence 

 the doftors of that feft were authorifed to correft and con- 



T t tradia 



