RAN 



the territory of Merfeburg ; lo miles S.S.E. of Merfeburg. 

 N. lat. 5i°i8'. E. long. I2°i4'. „. , ^ „. 



RANT, in the Drama, an extravagant flight ol palhon, 

 over(hooting nature and probability. 



Lea's tragedies abound with rants ; yet the wildeft of 

 them, it is obferved, have frequently met with applaufe on 

 the llage. _ 



We find inftances of rants, even m our leverelt poets. 

 Such, e. gr. is that in the beginning of Ben Johnfon's 

 Cataline, where the parricide, in fpeaking to Rome, fays, 

 " I'd plow up rocks, fteep as the Alps in dull ; and lave 

 the Tyrrhene waters into clouds, but I would reach thy 



head!" ^ „. , ^ 



RANTAMPOUR, in Geography, a circar of Hmdoof- 

 tan, in the country of Agimere, bounded on the N. by 

 Jyenagur, on the E. by Agra, on the S. by Kottah, and 

 on the W. by Oudipour and Sirowy. — Alfo, a town and 

 fortrefs, being the capital of the above named circar ; 86 

 miles E. of Agimere. N. lat. 28° 35'. E. long. 76° 58'. 



RANTZAU, John, in Biography, a general in the 

 Danifh fervice, was boriv in 1492, and at the age of 13 he 

 entered into the army. In 15 15 he began to travel into 

 foreign countries, vifiting in fucceflion England, Spain, 

 Germany, Italy, Greece, Syria, Paleitine, and other parts 

 oftheEaft. In 1517 he was knighted at Jerufalem ; and 

 upon his return to Denmark, was appointed to accompany 

 duke Chriftian, afterwards Chriftian III., on his tour to 

 Brandenburg, and other towns of Germany. When Fre- 

 deric I. accepted the crown of Denmark, he was promoted 

 to be a general in 1553, and entrufted with the command of 

 the troops in Holftein. He became greatly diflinguifhed in 

 his military charafter, and on various diplomatic concerns, 

 and died in 156J. As an author he is known by the fol- 

 lowing works : " A true and brief Account of the Wars 

 can-ied on in iJiJQ, by Frederic king of Denmark, and 

 Adolphus duke of Holilein," &c. ; " Defcriptio Cimbriae," 

 printed in Weftphalen's Monumenta inedita, torn. i. Gen. 

 Biog. 



Rantzad, in Geography, a county of Germany, in the 

 duchy of Holftein, about ten miles long and fix broad. It 

 takes its name from a feat feven miles N. of Eutyn. 



RANTZEN, a town of the duchy of Stiria ; 6 miles 

 N.W. of Muckrau. 



RANTZENBACH, a town of Auftria ; 6 miles 

 S.S.W. of St. Polten. 



RANVILLE, a town of France, in the department of 

 the Calvados ; 5 miles N.E. of Caen. 



RANULA, dim. of rana, a frog. This term is, in 

 Surgery, applied to a fwelling of the falivary duds under 

 the tongue. Whether the tumour is fo named from a whim- 

 fical fuppofition that it bears a refemblance to a frog, or 

 from its being fancied to obhge the patient to make a croak- 

 ing noife, in attempting to articulate, is a point which fur- 

 gical writers leave undetermined. The fwelling is round, 

 of a greyifti colour like an hydatid, foft, comprefiible, in- 

 dolent, and, in the early ftage, almoit tranfparent. At 

 firft, it is of about the fame fize as a nut, or cherry ; but, 

 by degrees, its volume becomes much more confiderable. 

 It is very frequently met with in young children : its occur- 

 rence in adults is more uncommon. It confilts of a fuccef- 

 five dilatation of the excretory tube of the fubmaxillary, or 

 elfe of the fubhngual gland, the orifice of which duft is by 

 fome caufe or another flopped up, or obliterated ; fo that the 

 confined fahva accumulates, becomes vifcid, and ceafes to 

 flow in the ufual manner. In proportion as the ranula in- 

 creafes, the incipient flate of it having been neglefted, its 

 enlarged fize raifes up the tongue, and forces it backward ; 



RAN 



the conlequence of which is, that roattication, deglutition, 

 and refpiration, are obdrufted. The voice becomes indif- 

 tinft, and hoarfe ; the motion of the tongue is reftrained ; 

 th'S organ cannot be put out of the mouth. By degrees, 

 the incifor and canine teeth of the lower jaw are loofened ; 

 the layer of mufcles, compofing the lower parietes of the 

 mouth, is deprefled ; and the fwelling, having attained a 

 confiderable fize, makes a very manifett prominence beneath 

 the chin. In this advanced ilage, that is to fay, when the 

 ranula has exilled ten or twelve years, as praftitioners occa- 

 fionally fee inllances of, the appearance of the fwelling k 

 quite altered from v/hat it origmally was. The tumour ii 

 now hard, elallic, painful, ulcerated, and, as it were, far- 

 comatous : it is as large as a turkey's egg, and not fituated 

 at the fide othe frxnum, but anteriorly under the tongue, 

 to which it is clofely adherent. The mouth emits a very 

 fetid fmell ; and the breathing is fo much obftrudted, that 

 the patient, through fear of fuft'ocating, is obliged to lie 

 with his mouth wide open, when he goes to lleep. 



While a ranula is recent, the fluid which it contains is a 

 vifcid fahva, refembling the white of egg, and fometimes of 

 rather a yellow colour. In time it is gradually changed, 

 becoming turbid and puriform ; and, in certain inftances, 

 foft, friable, greyifh concretions, from the fize of a pea to 

 that of an almond, commonly called falivary calcuh, are 

 found in the kind of cyft, which is produced by the dilata- 

 tion of the falivary duel. Thefe calculi eiientially confift 

 of a large proportion of the phofphate of lime, united with a 

 mucilaginous fubftance ; and concretions of the fame kind 

 frequently occur in the tonfils, and in the faUvary glands 

 themfelves, as well as their excretory dufts. Foreftus, 

 lib. xiv. obf. 26. p. 112. Blegney, Nouvelles Decovertes, 

 &c. tom. i. ann. 1679, p. 230. Mem. de 1' Acad, de Chi - 

 rurgie, tom. v. p. 464. Petit, CEuvres Pofthumes, &c. 

 tom. i. p. 188. Blafius, Obf. 14. p. 81. 



A ranula, whether recent or inveterate, cannot be cured 

 except by a furgical operation. The curative indication, 

 in the firft of thefe ftates, is to make an outlet for the fluid 

 accumulated in the tumour, and to make an opening fufB- 

 ciently capacious to let the fahva readily pafs into the mouth. 

 Merely making an incifion into the fwelling, or opening it 

 with a trocar, or a fcton drawn through it, are ftated to be 

 ineffedlual methods. The tumour does indeed fubfide as 

 foon as the aperture is made ; but the edges of the wound 

 grow together again, and the difeafe recurs. There is an 

 abfolute neceflity for firft making an incifion the whole 

 length of the fwelling, and then removing, with the aid of 

 fciilors and a pair of diftefting forceps, a portion of the 

 edges of the recent wound. This_ flight lofs of fubftance 

 prevents the return of the complaint, and always infures a 

 free paiTage for the fahva ; an advantage of which there is 

 no certainty in any other mode of proceeding. By this 

 flight operation, ranuls in children may be cured in the 

 courfe of a few days, without the leaft occafion for the ap- 

 plication of any dreffings whatfoever. It has been propofed 

 to dilate the contrafted orifice of the falivary duft with a 

 probe. (Mem. de I'Acad. de Chirurgie, tom. iii. p. 460.) 

 But this orifice is difficult of deteclion, and the fwelling can- 

 not be in this manner eafily emptied. M. Laflus feeras to 

 entertain doubts whether Warton's canal can ever be made 

 to refume its original ftate, after once being clofed. Patho- 

 logic Chirurg. tom. i. p. 405. 



When a ranula has exifted a long while, is attended with 

 confiderable hardnefs, and is of large fize, it is a tumour 

 which requires to be completely extirpated. A tranfverfe 

 incifion, parallel to the opening of the mouth, is to be made 

 in it through its whole extent. The furgeon is then to cut 



out 



