R E 



R E A 



RAZE. See Tumb. 



Raze, in the Mun^ge. A horfe is faid to have razeJ, 

 whofe corner teeth ceal'e to be hollow ; fo that the cavity, 

 where the black, mark was, is filled up ; that is, wholly 

 difappears, and the age of the animal cannot be known 

 with any degree of certainty. See Mark. 



RAZI, in Biography, one of the furnames of the famous 

 MuH'ulman Mohammed Ben Omar Ben Khatid Rei, Al 

 Temini Al Bekri, a native of the city of ReY, in the Perfian 

 Irak, of which the word Razi is the appellative. He 

 was born in the year of the Hegira 543, correfponding 

 with 1 148 of the ChfilUan era, and became one of the moll 

 celebrated dodors. His knowledge was not confined to 

 the learning ufiially tauglil in the Mohammedan fchools, 

 but it comprehended likewife the fciences imported into 

 the Eall with the writings of the Grecian fages. He was, 

 moreover, a very eloquent preacher both in the Arabic and 

 Perfian languages. By thefe qualifications he acquired the 

 favour of feveral princes, particularly of a fultan of the 

 Gaurid dynally, who erefted a college for him in the city 

 of Herat in Chorafan. He was driven from this fituatioii 

 by the intrigues of Cadi Abdalmegid, of the feft of Kera- 

 mians, who contended that the deity was corporeal, and of 

 human (hape. Having challenged Razi one day to a 

 public difputation on the attributes of God, he was fo con- 

 founded by the fuperior reafoning of the latter in defence of 

 the divine fpirituality, that he became his bitter enemy, and 

 feized every opportunity of calumniating him to the fultan, 

 as a man who, under the cloak of philofophy, concealed 

 irreligious and impious notions. By his perfuafions, the 

 prince baniflied Razi from the city, but he foon repented 

 of his rath decree, and recalled him. This happened m the 

 year 606 of the Hegira. He was author of an " Introduc- 

 tion to the moll fnbtile Mylleries for the Ufe of Men ol 

 Genius," in which he explains the principles of the Mo- 

 hammedan philofophy ; and feveral other pieces. " Seledl 

 Aftronomical P.efearchcs" have been attributed to him, 

 but perhaps on infufiicient authority. 



Razi is alfo the furname of a celebrated philofopher, 

 chemill, and aftronomer, called Mohamed Ben Zakaria, a 

 native of the fame city as the preceding, who flouriflied 

 under the caliphate of Moftader of the dynafty of the 

 Abafiides. He died about the year 922 of the Chriftian era. 

 RAZIMIERZ, in Geography, a town of the duchy of 

 Warfaw, fituated between Slepezka and Pofen, where the 

 unfortunate count Patkul was broken alive on the wheel, 

 and impaled by order of Charles XH. of Sweden in 1708. 



RAZNIPNAIA, a fort of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Upha, on the Ural ; 56 miles S.W. of Orenburg. 



RAZOIS, Port, a port at the S.W. extremity of the 

 - coaft of Nova Scotia, and N.E. of cape Negro. 



RAZOR, a well-known edged inltrument ufedin fhavmg. 

 Heat appears to give a partial increafe of tenacity to a 

 razor's edge, probably becaufe the edge cools fafteft, con- 

 trails, and is ftretched. 



Kazor-BH/, in Ornithology, the common Englifh name of 

 the alca, a web-footed bird with no hinder toes, common on 

 our fea-fhores. See Alca Tarda. 



KAZoa.-Fi/h, in Ichthyology, the Coryphana novacula of 

 Linnarus, having the head and fins barred with blueifli lines. 

 See NovACULA. 



Razor IJland, in Geography, a fmall ifland on the coafl 

 of Brafil ; 12 miles S. of Rio Janeiro. 



RAZUDA, a town of Hindooftan, in Guzerat ; 40 

 miles E.S.E. of Chitpour. 



RE', an ifland in the Atlantic, near the weft coaft of 

 France, about 16 miles long, and 3 broad; feparated from 



the coaft of Vendee by th» ftraits of Breton, which are 

 about 7 miles wide. Tlie principal town is St. Martin de 

 Re. N. lat. 46^ 13'. W. long, i' 20'. 

 Re, in Comment, See Ree. 



Rk, in Grammar, Sec. an infeparable particle, or prepofi- 

 tion, prefixed to the beginning of words, to vary, double, 

 or otherwife modify their meaning. 



The modifieative re was firft introduced by the Latins, 

 from whom it is borrowed into moft of the modern tongues. 

 Prifcian derives it from retro, backwards ; others rather de- 

 rive retro from re ; others derive re from the Greek f sa, eafy ; 

 or from f'.a, I Jlow. 



The effedl of the re is various : ufually it fignifics again, 

 rurfum, a-jx ; as in r«-join, re-fign, rf-fume, rif-courfe, re- 

 bound, r^-cite, «-hear, r^-cognize, rr-compare, rc-double, 

 r«-linqui(h, &c. 



Sometimes it ftands for conlrA, a/li, agairifl ; as in re- 

 ludlance, r^-cumbent, rf-cline, &c. 



Sometimes for i;7rif, _^//><;r, ot),fr, t as in rf-dundant ; fome- 

 times for ■:rof'fii, longe, far, as in /-c-moving, &c. 



Re, in Mufic, the name of the fecond of the keys in the 

 three hexachords of Guido, G, C, and F. See SoLMISA- 

 TiON, Gammut, Hexachords, and Mltations. 



Re Alia Caccia, II, the Italian title of a comic opera, 

 taken from our " Miller of Mansfield." It was fet to mufic 

 for our opera-houfe in 1768, by Alefiandri, a young com- 

 poftr of promifing abilities. He was hulband of La Gua- 

 dagni, the original " Buona Fighuola" in Italy, and fifter 

 to Gaetano Guadagni, the celebrated finger. But the 

 Miller of Mansfield was firft formed into a comic opera for 

 Paris, by Sedaine, and fet by Monfigni, under the title of 

 " Le Roi et le Fermier," in 1762. 



Re Teodoro, II, a comic opera, founded on the adven- 

 tures and viciflitudes of the unfortunate Theodore, king of 

 Corfica. The mufic of this drama is one of the innumerable 

 inftances of the fertility of Paefiello's pen. It had been per- 

 formed all over Italy and Germany with the greateft ap- 

 plaufe, previous to its being brought on our ftage. The 

 mufic, that was not changed, is extremely original and 

 pleafing, particularly the jinales. There was a mixture of 

 airs by Corri, Mazzinghi, and Storace ; but befides deftroy- 

 ing the unity of ftyle, the certainty of there being merit of 

 fome kind or other in every compofition of Pacfiello, in- 

 clines lovers of mufic to lament that any of his airs fhould 

 be changed or omitted. 



REA, in Geography, a river of England, which runs 

 into the Tame, 3 miles N.E. of Birmingham. 



Rea, Lough, a lake of Ireland, in the county of Gal- 

 way, on the border of which is the town of Loughrea. See 

 Loughrea. 



REACH, in Sea Language, the diftance between any 

 two points on the banks of a river, in which the current 

 flows in a ftraight uninterrupted courfe. 



RE-ACTION, in Phyfics, the aftion by which a body 

 afted upon, returns the adtion by a reciprocal one upon the 

 agent. - 



The Peripatetics define re-aSion to be that which a paf- • 

 five body returns upon the agent, by means of fome quality 

 contrary to that received from it, in the fame part with 

 which the agent aftcd, and at the fame time ; as if water, 

 while it is heated by the fire, does at the fame time cool the 

 fire. 



It was known, even in the fchools, tliat there is no aftion 

 in nature without re-aftion ; and it was a maxim among 

 them, omne agens, agendo repatitur. 



But the equality of the attions was not known. Sir Ifaac 

 Newton eftablifhed it as one of the laws of nature, that 



»8ion 



