RAM 



RAM 



pofitioii as belonging equally to logic. Following chiefly RAMLEAH, a mountain of Arabia, in the province of 



the example of Cicero, he divides his treatifc on Dialeftica Nedsjed, extending from S.W. to N.E. about zco miles • 



into two parts ; the firfl of which treats of the invention of the S.W. extremity being 8o miles E. of Kalaat el 



arguments, the fecond of judgments. Arj 



jumcnts he de- Moilah. 



lives not only from what the Ariftotehans call middle terms, RAMLER, Charles-William, in Biography, a cele- 



but from any kind of propofitions, which, conncftcd with bratcd German poet and profelfor of belles lettres at Berlin 



another, may ferve to prove any adertion. Of thefe lie was born at Colberg in the year 1725. He was didin- 



eniimeratcs various kinds. .ludgmeats he divides into -guiflied at a very early period by his poetical genius* and 



axioms, or felf-evident propofitions, and " dianoea," or in 



deduftious by means of a fcries ot arguments. Both thefe 

 he divides into various clafl'es ; and illuftrates the whole by 

 examples from the ancient orators and poets. 



In the logic of Ramus, many things are borrowed from 

 Ariltotle, and only appear under new names ; and many 

 others are derived from other Grecian fources, and parti- 

 cularly from the dialogues of Plato, and the logic of the 

 Stoics. WhiHl the author has the merit of turrriiig tlie art 



uiflied at a very early period by his poetical genius ; and 

 1 1754 publifhed a poem, entitled " The Game of Chefs," 

 which dilplayed a conhderjhle (hare of genius. In I "58 he 

 tranflaled the abbe Batteaux's Treatife on the Belles 

 Lettres, which he adapted to the genius of his native lan- 

 guage, and added fome difTertations on the German ftyle 

 and verfiiication. In the followintr year he publifhed, in 

 conjundion with Leding, tiie cj)igrains of Logan, an 

 author who, notwithilauding his great merit, had been fuf- 

 fered to remain in obfcurity. In 1760 he publiflled " Sacred 



of reafoning from the futile fpeculations of the fciiools to Cantatas," which were followed, during the next 20 years, 



forenfic and common ufc, his plan is defeftive in confining by a great number of other publications, chiefly poetical, 



the whole dialedlic art to the fingle objcft of difputation, of which a liil is given in the General Biography. In the- 



and in omitting many things which refpedl the general cul- year 1780 Rainier turned his attention to fcveral of the old 



ture of the underltanding, and the invelligation of truth. German poets, and publifhed at Leipfic the Epigrams of 



Defeftive as the fyftem of Ramus is, lord Bacon (Augm. 

 Sc. 1. vi. c. 2.) has pafied too fevere a cenfure upon him, 

 and others have concurred in it : for he is unquelUonnbly 

 entitled to great commendation for having, at the period in 

 which he lived and wrote, with fo much lirmnefs and per- 

 feverance, adertcd the natural freedom of the human under- 

 ftanding. The logic of Ramus obtained great authority in 

 the fchools of Germany, Great Britain, Holland, and 

 Franee ; and fcience derived ultimate advantages from the 

 conteits which were maintained between the followers of 

 Ramus and tliofe of the Stagyrite. But the fame of Ramus 

 vaniflied before that of Des Cartes. Brucker's Phil, by 

 Enfield, vol. li. 



RAMLA, in Geography, the original jir'wiathea, a town 



Wernike, Opitz, Tfcherning, Andrew Gryphius, and 

 Adam Olearius. He was fo fuccefsful in polifliing the 

 works of others, and gave fuch proofs of his tafle and cri- 

 tical talents, that Goze, one of the mofl. diflinguifhed Ger- 

 man amatory poets, allowed him full liberty in his laft will 

 to retain or reject fuch parts of his poems as he might think 

 proper. In 1782-3 he publifhed at Berlin a tranflation of 

 the jjoetical pieces in the different volumes of the Spedator, 

 which he followed, in the fubfequcnt ten years, by a v?riety 

 of other works on different fubjctts ; among which may be 

 mentioned " A tliort Introduftion to Mytliology, in two 

 Parts." Ramler has been flyled the German Horace ; and 

 his biographer fays, tiiat though his verfes difplay perhaps 

 lefs boldnefs and fimplicity tlian thofe of tlie Romany they 



of Paleft;ine, dillaut one-third of a league from the village of equal them in fublimity, and furpafs them in harmony. It 



Loudd, or the ancient Lydda and Diofpolis. This town is has been remarked to tlie honour of Ramler, that he at- 



almofl in as ruinous a ftate as Loudd itfelf. Within its tached to him Frederic the Great, and his fuccefl'or, by his 



boundaries nothing is found but rubbifli ; neverthelefs, the poetical talents : from the latter he had a confiderable pen- 



aga of Gaza refides here in a ferai, the floors and walls of fion paid him during the clofing years of his life. Ramler 



hich are tumbling down. He maintains about lOO horfe- was one of the directors of the national theatre at Berlin, 



men, and as many Barbary foldiers, who are lodged in an 

 old Cliriftian church, the nave of which is ufed as a liable, 

 and in an ancient kaii, which is difpated with tiiem by the 

 fcorpions. The adjacent country is planted with lofty olive 

 trees, difpofed in quincunces. Amidlt thefe plantations, 

 which are decaying, are found dry w-ells, cifterns fallen in, 

 and vafl vaulted refervoirs, which prove that, in ancient 

 times, this town mull have been upwards of i-l league in 

 circumference. At prefent it fcarcely contains 200 fa- 

 milies. The little land, which is cultivated by a few of 

 them, belongs to the mufti, and two or three of his relations. 

 The reft; content themfelves with fpinning cotton, which is 

 chiefly purchafed by two French houfes eft;abli(bed there. 

 At Ramla there is alfo a foap manufactory, the produce of 

 which is almoil wholly fent to Egypt. In 1784 the aga 

 built here a wind-mill, which, fays Volney, is the only one 

 I have feen in Syria or Egypt, tliough they are faid to have 

 been invented in thefe countries. The only remarkable an- 

 tiquity at Ramla is the minaret of a ruined mofque on the 

 road to Yafa. By an Arabic infcription, it appears to h.Hve 

 been built by Sai-el-din, fnltan of Egypt. From the fum- 

 mit, for it is very lofty, the eye difcerns the whole chain 

 of mountains, which begins at Nablous, and fkirting the 

 plain, lofes itfelf toward the fouth. Volney's Travels in 

 Egypt and Syria, vpl. ii. 

 Vol.. XXIX. 



and profcflbr of the belles lettres in the fchool of the corps 

 of cadets ; but the latter office he refigned in 1 790. Gen. 

 Biog. 



RAMME, in Geography, a rivei of the Juchy of Die- 

 men, which jniris tlic Olte, near its fource. 



RAMMED Earth Buildings, in Rural Economy, are 

 fuch as are raifed with fome fort of earthy material. This 

 mode of building with earthy materials is fuppofed by fome 

 to have been known at a very early period, and has been 

 long pratlifed with fuccefs in the fouthern parts of France, 

 efpecially about Lyons, though but little underflood in any 

 other part of Europe until lately. This method has, how- 

 ever, appeared to have fo many advantages, that it was 

 made trial of in different places in this country ; and the re- 

 fult has been fo favourable, that the praftice feems to de- 

 ferve the attention of the proprietors of land, in all fitua- 

 tions where buildings are to be credled on a cheap and 

 economical plan. In order to facilitate the knowledge of 

 the art, Mr. Holland has prefented the public with the 

 method of performing the bufinefs, in a paper, tranflated 

 from a French work on the fubjeft, inferted m the firfl vo- 

 lume of Communications to the Board of Agriculture, in 

 which he fays that the French writer, M. Francois Coin, 

 teraux, remarks, that the pofliblhty of raifing the walls of 

 lioufes two or even three ftories high, with earth only, 

 J D which 



