11 E A 



that of the mathematics, natural hidory, and natural philo- 

 fophy. Ill 1703 lie went to Paris, and lo dillingiiifiied liim- 

 felf in a few years, that in 1708 he was admitted into the 

 Academy of Sciences. From that time he entirely gave 

 himfelf up to the purfnits of natural hiltory in all its 

 branches, and few men have palled a life more actively and 

 uiefully employed. Utility was the conitant aira in all his 

 enquiries, even into the moft minute parts of nature ; and 

 experiment and oblcrvation were his perpetual guides. No 

 one furpafled him in the patient induitry with which he ob- 

 fcrved natural phenomena, or followed the procefles of art. 

 The Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences, from 1 709 to 

 1756, are enriched with his communications. The improve- 

 ment of nianufaftures was a great objeft of his attention. 

 In 1722 he pubhflied a work, entitled " L'Art de convertir 

 le Fer forge en Acier, et I'Art d'adoucir Ic Fer fondu," 

 which contained a minute and fcicntific account of the pro- 

 cefles employed in that branch of manufacture, with hints 

 for their improvement. He introduced into France the ma- 

 nufadurc of tinned iron, which article had before been im- 

 ported from abroad ; and he made a great many experiments 

 in the manufafture of porcelain, which contributed to its 

 perfedlion in France. He alfo performed numerous experi- 

 ments relative to the art of hatching chickens by artificial 

 heat, as praftifed in Egypt, an account of which he pub- 

 lilhed in two vols. 1752. M. Reaumur rendered his name 

 celebrated by his peculiar method of graduation on the 

 thermometer, which is lUU the only one ufed in France and 

 many parts of the continent. In this thermometer the 

 freezing point is marked zero, and the boiling point at 80". 

 (See Thermometer.) Some of the moll valuable of Reau- 

 mur's phyfiological experiments were thofe relating to the 

 concoftive powers ot the flomach in s;ranivorous and car- 

 nivorous birds, in which he clearly ellablirties the different 

 modes of aftion in thefe two clafles, I'iz. by trituration, 

 and by folution. In natural hiftory, he acquired the greatell 

 fame as an entomologift. Befides a number of curious 

 papers on this fubjeft in the Memoirs of the Academy, he 

 publilhed a very elaborate work, entitled " Memoires pour 

 fervir a Hiftoire Naturelle des Infeftes," in fix vols. 410. 

 1734 — 1742. This work was the labour of many years, 

 and the refult of innumerable obfervations made in his gar- 

 den, in which he kept infefts of all kinds, that he might 

 examine their generation, changes, and mode of life. Reau- 

 mur was a man of mueh private worth, of mild and amiable 

 manners, and correft morals. He died in 1757, at the age 

 of 75. He bequeathed his manufcripts, and cabinet of na- 

 tural philofophy, to the Academy of Sciences. 



REAUMURIA, in Botany, fo called in honour of the 

 OTeat French naturalill, Rene Antoine Ferchault de Reau- 

 rnur, principally known, as abotamft, by his examination of 

 the fruflification of fuc't, but chiefly celebrated as a philo- 

 fophical inquirer into the hiltory of infefts, and their tranf- 

 formations, to which the fpecific name of the original 

 fpecies, verm'tculata, evidently alludes. Linnaeus mentions 

 Hafl'elquiit as the author of the name Reaumuria ; of which 

 we can find no traces in his book, though the ipecimen of 

 the plant in the Linn^an herbarium, has fomc appearance 

 of having been gathered by this diftinguilhed Oriental 

 traveller. Is it pofiibie, that the Anonyma dubia, n. 15, 

 of his Iter Pala:llinum, 465, which his' editor Linnaeus 

 could not make out, can be the Reaumuna ? The defcrip- 

 tion is not inapplicable, except what concerns the ftamens 

 and ityle. Yet this does not make him the author of the 

 name, though it may poffibly account for Linnxus's men- 

 tion of him in conjunction therewith. The latter appears, 

 by hio manufcripts, to have once deftined V innkularh for 



R E A 



the generic appellation — Linn. Gen. 276. Schrcb. 371, 

 WiUd. Sp. PI. V. 2. 1249. Mart. Mill. Dia. V. 4. Ait. 

 Hort. Kew. V. 3. 327. Juff. 316. Lamarck Illuftr. 

 t. 489. Did. V. 6. 84.-Claf8 and order, Polyandria 

 Penlagynia. Nat. Ord. Sucailenia:, Linn. Ficoidea, Juff. 

 Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of five prominent, 

 ovate, pointed, permanent leaves. Cor. Petals five, ob- 

 long, equal, feflile, rather longer than the calyx, oblique, 

 or lobed, at tiie extremity. Nedtary of five double, fringed 

 fcales, at the meeting of the petals, attached to their lower 

 part. Stain. Filaments numerous, capillary, the length of 

 the calyx, iuferted into the receptacle ; Desfont. ; anther* 

 roundifh, incumbent. P'ljl. Germen fuperior, roundifli • 

 llyles five, thread-fhaped, ereft, approaching each other, 

 on a level with the ftamens ; ftigmas fimple. Perk. Cap- 

 fule ovate, of five cells, with five flat, at length reflexcd, 

 valves ; the partitions membranous, unconiieaed, deciduous. 

 Seeds feveral, ereft, oblong, entirely clothed with numerous, 

 filky, fimple hairs, twice their own length. 



Efl. Ch. Calyx of five leaves. Petals five, with ten 

 fringed fcales at their bafe. Capfule of five cells, with 

 five valves, and five deciduous partitions. Seeds feveral, 

 oblong, hairy. 



Obf. Specimens in feed, from profeffor Desfontaines, 

 have enabled us to reconcile his account, and that of Lin- 

 nasus, with the obfervation of Forfkall, that " the cap- 

 fule has only one cell," the partitions being deciduous, and 

 concealed among the hairy feeds. Not having examined the 

 nedfariferous fcales, we have, in adverting to Labillardiere's 

 and Hooker's plates of the fccond fpccies, made the de- 

 fcription fo general as to accord with both. 



I. R. venmcuhiia. Saltwort-leaved Reaumuria. Linn. 

 Sp. PI. 754. WiUd. n. I. For/lc. ^gypt. Arab. 101. 

 Desfont. Atlant. v. i. 431. Lamarck Illuftr. t. 489. 

 f. I. (Sedum ficulum maritimum vermiculatum, flore 

 Saxifraga; albse, fcmine villofo ; Bocc. Sic. 6. t. 4. f. C, 

 G. S. minimum arborefcens vermiculatum ; Lob. Ic. 

 3S0. Kali vermiculatum albo et amplo fedi rofei flore ; 

 Barrel. Ic. t. 888. Vermicularis frutex minor ; Ger. Era. 

 523; at lead the figure, which is that of Lobel. The de- 

 fcription accords rather with Salfolafruticofu, as cited by 

 Hudfon. ) — Leaves linear -awlftiaped, convex beneath. Calyx 

 entire. — Native of barren fandy ground towards the fea, 

 in Sicily, Barbary, Egypt, and Syria, flowering in fum- 

 mer. The habit of the plant is like a Tamar'iK, or Salfola. 

 Stem ftirubby, bulhy, much branched, round, fmooth, 

 whitifli, leafy. Leaves numerous, fcattered, felTile, from 

 a quarter to three qu;u-ters of an inch long, fpreading, 

 linear-awlfliaped, acute, fielhy, fmooth, glaucous ; convex 

 beneath ; flat above ; dotted on both fides with minute 

 deprefiions. Desfontaines compares the leaves to thofe' of 

 Sedum rejlexum. Flowers terminal, folitary, white, not un- 

 like thoie of Saxifraga Cotyledon, each encompafl'ed with 

 a number of imbricated floral leaves, like thofe of the 

 item or branch, but longer. Calyx-leaves ovate, with a 

 narrow, entire, membranous edge, and awlftiaped leaf-hke 

 point. Petals terminating in three flight lobes, well repre- 

 iented by Barrelier. Capfule brown, very fmooth, and 

 fomewhat ihining ; its valves rigid, reflexcd after the feeds 

 are difchargcd, and permanent. Seeds clothed with long, 

 tawny, ftiining hairs. Forflcall fays this plant is ufed at 

 Alexandria as a cure for the itch, being applied bruifed ex- 

 ternally, and taken internaUy in the form of a decoftion. 

 It is an elegant little flirub, well worthy of a place in our 

 gardens, or green-houfes, to which it is as yet a ftranger. 

 2. R. hyperhoides. Elliptic-leaved Reaumuria. Willd. 

 n. 2. Ait. n. i. Lamarck f. 2. (R. tinifolia; Salif. 



Parad. 



