R A I 



eafily, and without much driving ; for if too tight fitted it 

 miijht when wet bi.rll the ilone. Tiiele phigs are each to 

 receive an iron fpike or large nail, with a flat point and long 

 head, adapted to lit the counter-funk notches in the ends ot 

 two rails, and thereby to fallen them down in the proper 

 pofition, or fituation in which they are to lie. 



With regard to the rails, they Ihould be of the lloutell 

 caft-iron, one yard in length each, formed with a flanch on 

 the inner edge, about two niches and a half high at the ends, 

 and three and a lialf in the centre ; and (hapcd in the bell 

 manner to give ftrcngth to the rails, and keep the wheels in 

 their track. The folcs of the rails, for general purpoles, 

 fhould not, he thinks, be lefs than four inches broad ; and 



Jl A I 



virtues, are well known to our country, after a refidencc in 

 it ot more than tiilrty years, is honourably mentioned by 

 Ernll Ludwig Gerber, the continuator of WaltlK-r's Mu- 

 fical Lexicon, in 2 vols. 8vo., 1792. He lays, that this 

 exprellive and pleafing performer on the violin, and agree- 

 able compofer for his inftrumcnt, was born in Italy, a 

 fcliolar of Barbella, fettled at Amtterdam in 1 772, where 

 he remained the principal violin during twelve years, having 

 fucceedcd the famous Lccatelli. He had publiflied nine dif- 

 ferent works for violins at Berhn and Amlterdam, before the 

 year 1785. About the year 1773 he arrived in London, 

 fince which time he has publiihed many pleafing compoh- 

 tions, particularly his " Battaglia," which is the bed imi- 



the thicknefs proportioned to the work they are intended tative inllrumental mufic of that kind that has come to our 

 for On railways for heavy burdens, great ufe, and long knowledge. 



- ■■ ■ " ■ '' -"-- RAIMPOUR, in Geography, a town of Hindooltan, in 



Rohilcund ; 30 miles S. of Bereilly. 



RAIN, a town of Hindooftan, in Guzerat, on the gulf 

 of Gutch ; 45 miles W. ot Noanagur. — Alfo, a town of 

 Bavaria; 16 miles N. of Augfburg. N. lat. 48'' 37'. E. 

 long. 10'^ 52'. 



Rain, or Old Rain, a town of Scotland, in Aberdeen- 

 thire, near which are t'hc remains of a palace of the former 

 bilhops of Aberd' -n ; eight miles S.E. of Inverary. 



Rain, the dilliUation of water which deicends from ti.e 

 atmofphere in drops of various fizes. By thiscircumilance 

 rain is dillinguiihed from dew or fog ; in the former of 



duration, the rails (hould be very itout, weighing 4olbs., 

 or, in fome cafes, nearly half an hundred weight each. For 

 railways of lefs confequence, lefs weight of metal will do ; 

 but it will not be prudent to ufe them of lefs than 3olbs. 

 weight each, in any fituation expofed to breakage above 

 ground. But it is obferved that in mines, and other works 

 under ground, where very fmall carriages only can be em- 

 ployed, very light rails are ufed, forming what are called 

 train roads, on a fyftem introduced by Mr. Carr ; and thele 

 kinds of light railways have been much ufed above ground 

 in Shropihire, and other counties where coals and other mi- 

 nerals are obtairted 



It is added, that in fixing the blocks and rails great atten- which the drops are fo fmall, that they are qui'e invifible ; 



and in the latter, though they are of a larger fize, they 

 fcem to have Uttle more fpecific gravity than the atmofphere 

 itlelf, and may therefore be reckoned hollow fpherules ra- 

 ther than drops. 



Rain is, apparently, a precipitated cloud ; as clouds ai'e 

 nothing but vapours raifed from moifture, waters, &c. 



And vapours are demonftratively nothing elfe but little 

 bubbles or veficulae detached from the furface of the terra- 

 queous globe by the power of the folar or lubterrancous heat, 

 or fome other caufe. Thefe veficuls, being fpecifically 



tion 15 required to make them firm. No earth or foft ma- 

 terials (hould be ufed between the blocks and the bed of Imall 

 ftones or gravel, on which the rails muft all be fixed by an 

 iron gage, to keep the fides at a regular diltance, or parallel 

 to each^other. The beft width of road for general purpofes 

 is four feet two inches between the flanches of the rails ; the 

 wheels of the carriages running in tracks about four feet fix 

 inches afunder. Rails of particular forms are necefl'ary 

 where roads branch out from or interfeft each other ; and 

 where carriage roads crofs the railways ; and, at turnings of 



the railways, great care is required to make them perfectly lighter than the atmofphere, are buoyed up by it, until they 

 eafy. The rails of the fide forming the inner part of the arrive at a region where the air is in a juft balance witli them ; 



curve Ihould be fixed a little lower than the other ; and 



the rails ihould be fet a little under the gage, fo as to 



bring the fides nearer together than in the llraight parts : 



thefe deviations in level and width to be in proportion to the 



ftiarpnefs of the curve. The blocks and nils being fixed and 



fpiked fait, nothing more remains to be done than to fill the 



horfe-path, or fpace between the blocks, with good gravel, 



or other proper materials ; a little of which muft alfo be put 



on the out fide of the blocks to keep them in their proper 



places. This gravel Ihould always be kept below the fur- 

 face of the rails on which the wheels are to run, to keep the 



tracks of the wheels free from dirt and obftruftions. The 



form of the rails muil be fuch as will free them from dirt if 



the oravelling is kept below their level. 



And in the conftrufling of the carriages great attention 



to avoid friftion is neceflary, particularly in the formation 

 of the wheels and axles, which muft be adapted to the fort 

 of railways and kind of loading ; but for which general 

 direftions cannot be given in a narrow compafs. It is pro- 

 bable that this valuable invention may alfo be applicable to 

 many other purpofes in agriculture or manufadlures, as it 

 becomes more fully underftood, and the facilities which it af- 

 fords are better known. Sec Canal. 



RAIMALPOUR, \n Geography, a town of Hindooftan, 

 in Vifiapour ; 15 miles E. of Sattara. 



RAIMONDI, Ignatius, in Biography. This worthy 

 mulical profefl'or, whofe performance, charadler, and private at the bottom of the hill the drops are much larger, and 



the 



and here they float, tiU by fome new agent they are con- 

 verted into clouds, and thence either into rain, fnow, hail, 

 mill, or the like. 



But the agent in this formation of the clouds into rain, and 

 the vapours into clouds, has been much controverted. Some 

 philofophers have fuppofed that the cold, which conftantly 

 occupies the fuperior regions of the air, chills and condenfes 

 the veficula:, at their arrival from a warmer quarter ; con- 

 gregates them together, and occafions feveral of them to 

 coalefce into little malies : and by thefe means their quantity 

 of matter increafing in a greater proportion than their fur- 

 face, they become an overbalance to the thin air, and ac- 

 cordingly defcend in rain. 



Dr. Derham accounts for the precipitation thus ; that 

 the veficulas being full of air, when they meet with a colder 

 air than that they contain, this internal air is contradled into 

 a lefs fpace ; and confequently the watery (hell, or cafe, 

 is rendered thicker, fo as to become heavier than the 

 air, &c. 



It has, however, been objefted to this hypoth^Tis, that 

 rain often happens in very warm weather ; and though it be 

 allowed, that the condenfation may be owing to the cold 

 of the upper regions, yet the drops acquire a confiderable 

 increafe of fize as ttiey defcend. E.G. On the fummit of a 

 hill they are fmall and occaCon only a drizzling fhower } 

 but in defcending the hill it bt comes more confiderable, and 



