R E L 



purpofes, fuch as monaltcries, churches, hofpitals, and all 

 other places where charity is extended to tli« relief of the 

 poor and orphans, or for the ufe or exercife of religion. 

 See " Notitia Monallica," or " A ftiort Hillory of the rc- 

 igious Houfes in England and Wales," by Tainier, 8vo. ; 

 in which, according to the alphabetical order of counties, 

 is accurately given a full account of the founders, the time 

 of foundation, tutelar faints, the order, the value, and the 

 diffolution ; with reference to printed authors and MSS. 

 which preferve any memoirs relating to each houfe ; with a 

 preface of the inititution of religious orders. Cowtl. 



Religious Impojlors. See Impostors. 



Religious Order. See Order. 



Mod military orders pretend likewife to be religious ; as 

 thofe of Malta, who make vows, &c. See Malta. 



RELINQUISHMENT, in Lanv, is a forfaking, aban- 

 doning, or giving over. It hath been adjudged, that a 

 perfon may relinquifti an ill demand in a declaration, &c. 

 and have judgment for that which is well-demanded. 



RELIQUA, the remainder or debt, which a perfon 

 finds himfelf debtor in, upon the balancing or liquidating 

 ail account. 



Hence rellquitary, the debtor of a reliqua ; as alfo a 

 perfon who only pays piece-meal. 



The term reliqua is pure Latin. 



RELIQUiE, Relics, in Antiquity, the afties and bones 

 of the dead, which remained after burning their bodies ; 

 and which they very religioufly gathered, and put into urns, 

 and afterwards depofited in tombs. See Relics. 



RELIQUARY, a (hrine or call<et, in which the relics 

 of a dead faint are kept. 



RELIQUE. See Relics. 



RELIQUIA, in Natural Hi/lory, a term ufed to exprefs 

 the foflile remains of certain fubftances found in different 

 parts of the earth. In the article Petkifactions we have 

 given the Linnsan divifion of the fifth clafs of minerals, 

 and a pretty full defcription of the eight genera into which 

 it is divided. In this place we (hall prefent our readers with 

 a very brief view of Mr. Martin's " Syftema Rcliquiorum." 

 He confiders the regnum foflile, or foflile kingdom, to be 

 divided into five clafles, viz. 



I. Reliquia, or foflile remains from animals or plants. 

 II. Terra:, earths. 

 ill. Salia, falts. 

 IV. Inflaramabilia, inflammable fubft^ces. 



V. Metalla, metallic fubllances. 

 The reliquia he divides into two orders, viz.. animal and 

 'vegetable remains ; of the formeJ' he gives eight genera ; of 

 the latter only one genus, which are as follow : 



Order I. Reliquia Animalia. 



Innatii, 



Genus I. Mammodolithus, or remains of Mammalia. 



2. Ornitholithus, - - Birds. 



3. Amphibiolithus, - - Amphibia. 



4. Ichthyolithus, - - Fiflies. 



5. EnthoHthus, - - Infeds. 



6. Helmintholithus, of the parts of worms not 



fabricated. 



Fabricaia. 



7. Conchyliothus, or remains of Teilacea. 



8. Erifmatolithus, of fulciments, or fabricated 



fupports of worms. 



Order II. Reliquia Vegetalia. 

 9= Phytolithub, the remains of Plants. 



R E L 



Mr. Martin has given certain fundamental priaciplet,, oa 

 which he conceives the (tudy of reliquia may be fcientifically 

 condufted : thefe are as follow. 



1. All natural bodies without life found on or beneath 

 the furface of the earth, and which arc not fufceptible of pa- 

 trefaftion, belong to the folfile kingdom, and are either reli. 

 quia or minerals. Foflils are ufually denominated "bodies 

 dellitute of an organic llrufture :" now though it be ad- 

 mitted that all foflils are, according to the common accepta- 

 tion of the term, unorganized, they are not dellitute of 

 the ftrufture which dillinguiflies an organized body. This 

 being admitted, it follows that a line muil be drawn between 

 animal and vegetable matter recently buried in the earth, 

 and which has acquired a genuine foflile character. This 

 hnc will depend perhaps on putrefaftion, to which even or- 

 ganic fubftances, after they have become foflile, are no longer 

 fubjcft. 



2. An organic llrufture, whether of a plant or animal, 

 is the eflence of an extraneous foflil or reliquium. By 

 this alone it is charafterifed, or diftinguiflied from a mi- 

 neral. 



3. It is the organic/orni alone on vvhich the arrangement 

 of reliquia muft be founded. Every fyftem of natural 

 bodies Ihould aflume for its bafis but one principle, and 

 this fliould be drawn from the moll ellential charafteriftics 

 of the bodies under arrangement. It is on tliis account 

 the form is pointed out as furnifliing the only genuine prin- 

 ciple, on which the claflitication of reliquia can be elta- 

 bliflied. 



4. The primary divifions of the arrangement, viz. orders, 

 genera, &c. fliould agree with fuch natural divifions of 

 plants and animals as are determinable by the form of the 

 foflile fubjefts. 



5. The fpecific differences in reliquia depend on the fpe- 

 citic differences of form in the original bodies. One fpecies 

 of plant or animal can give but one real or genuine fpecies 

 of extraneous foflil. For if the effence of the reliquium be 

 an organic form, its other aff'eftions, arillng from fubllance, 

 mode, and foil, are accidental, and cannot be ufed as fpecific 

 diftinftions, which muft always depend on fomething efl'ential 

 to the body which we wifli to difcriminate. Form, there- 

 fore, raufl furnifli fpecific differences of reliquia, and it of 

 courfe follows that there will be as many genuine fpecies of 

 reliquia, as there are genuine fpecific forms in the animal 

 and vegetable prototypes or originals : and that the number 

 of foflile fpecies are not increafed by a feparation of parts, 

 or other accidental circumftances to which the original 

 bodies may have been fubjedled during their change into 

 foflils. 



6. Specific diftinftions of reliquia being founded only on 

 the organic form, it follows, that their geological and mine- 

 ralogical affeftions, with their modal diverfities, merely cha- 

 radlerife fpecimens. 



7. The fpecific defcriptions of reliquia are to be given 

 according to the principles of botany and zoology. Thofe 

 of the fpecimens, according to the principles of mineralogy 

 and geology. The ejfential form of the reliquium muft be 

 diftinguiflied from the accidental, that is, the form of the 

 original body, from that which has arifen in the foflil from 

 the mode of mineralization, the conftituent fubftance, and 

 the foil of the fpecimen. 



8. The nomenclature of reliquia fliould manifeft the ex- 

 tent of the prefent ft ate of knowledge with refpeft to the 

 original bodies. 



To what has been faid, we fliall add an account of our 

 author's " Delineations of Reliquia." 



The leading parts in the delineation of a reliquium are 

 4 O 2 the 



