RET 



which had before been expelled from them, by the adtion of 

 the charged prime conductor upon them, and which returns 

 to its former place in the inflant when that adtion or elallic 

 preffure ceafes. When the fecond conductor and the inf- 

 lated perfon are placed in the denfeft part of the electrical 

 atmofphere of the prime conductor, or juft beyond the 

 ftriking diftance, the effects are ftill more confiderable ; the 

 returning ftroke being extremely fevere and pungent, and 

 appearing confiderably (harper than even the main ftroke it- 

 felf, received diredlly from the prime conductor. Lord 

 Mahon, in the application of this experiment, and of the 

 dodtrine deduced from it, obferves, that perfor.s and animals 

 may be deftroyed, and particular parts of buildings may be 

 confiderably damaged, by an eledtrical returning ftroke, 

 occafioned even by iome very diftant cxplofion from a thunder 

 cloud ; poffibly at the diftance of a mile or more. It is 

 certainly eafy to conceive (fays a very ingenious anonymous 

 writer, in his reflections on this fubjedt) that a charged ex- 

 tenfive thunder cloud mult be productive of effedts fimilar 

 to thofe produced by the prime conductor. Like the con- 

 ductor, while it continues charged, it will, by the fuper- 

 induced elaftic eledtrical preffure of its atmofphere, drive 

 into the earth a part of the eledtrical fluid naturally belong- 

 ing to the bodies whicli are within the reach of its widely 

 extended atmofphere, and whicli will, therefore, become 

 negatively eledtrical. This portion, too, of their eledtric fire 

 will, on the explofion of the cloud at a diftance, and the 

 ceffation of its aftion upon them, fuddenly return to them, 

 fo as to produce an equilibrium, and reftore them to their 

 natural ftate. But the effedts are not fo great, nor the 

 danger fo terrible, as the noble author feems to apprehend. 

 If the quantity of eledtric fluid naturally contained, e. gr. in 

 the body of a man, wereimmenfe or indefinite, hislordlhip's 

 eftimate between tha effedts producible by a cloud, and 

 thofe caufed by a prime conductor, might be admitted ; 

 but furely an eledtrified cloud, how great foever may be its 

 extent and the height of its charge, when compared with 

 the extent and charge of a prime conductor, cannot expel 

 from a man's body (or any other body) more than the 

 natural quantity of eledtricity which it contains. On the 

 fudden removal, therefore, of the preffure by which this 

 natural quantity had been expelled in confequence of the 

 explofion of the cloud into the earth, no more (at the 

 utmoft) than his whole natural ftock of electricity can re- 

 enter his body, provided he be fo fituated, that the return- 

 ing fire of other bodies muft neceffarily pafs through his 

 body. But we have no reafon to fuppofe that this quantity 

 is fo great, as that its fudden re-entrance into his body 

 fhould deftroy or even injure him. 



In the experiment above defcribed, the infulated perfon 

 receives into his body, at the inflant of the returning ftroke, 

 not only all that portion of his own natural electric fire which 

 had been expelled from it, but likewife tranfmits through 

 it, at the fame inflant, in confequence of his peculiar fitua- 

 tion, all the eledtric fire of which the largeft fecond con- 

 ductor had been robbed, and which muft neceffarily repafs 

 through his body, to arrive at that conductor. To render 

 the cafe fomewhat parallel in natural electricity, the man's 

 body muft be fo peculiarly circumftanced, fuppofing him 

 to be in a houfe, that the eledtric matter which has been ex- 

 pelled from the houfe into the earth, by the preffure of an 

 extenfive thunder cloud, could not return back into the 

 building, on the explofion of the cloud at a diftance, with- 

 out palfing through his body : a cafe not likely to happen, 

 unlefs the houfe were infulated (like the fecond condudtor 

 in the preceding experiment), and his body became the chan- 

 nel through which alone the houfe could have its eledtric 



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matter reftored to it. It appears much more probable, that 

 the eledtric matter returns to the houfe through the fame 

 channels by which it before infenfibly paffed out, and with 

 equal filence, though more fuddenly. In the cafe of a man 

 who is abroad, and in an open field, during the time of an 

 explofion ; as he is unconnected with other maffes of matter 

 above him, no more than the precife quantity of eledtric 

 fire, which had been before expelled from his body, will 

 fuddenly return into it at the inflant of a diftant explofion ; 

 and that this quantity is not very large, may be inferred from 

 many confiderations. Allowing, therefore, the exiftence of 

 the returning ftroke, as fufficiently afcertained, and well il- 

 lullrated, in a variety of circumftances, by the author's ex- 

 periments, the magnitude and danger of it are not fo alarm- 

 ing as he apprehends. Lord Mahon's Principles of Elec- 

 tricity, &c. 4to. 1779, p. 76 — 113 — 131. Monthly Re- 

 view, vol. lxii. p. 436—442. 



RETURNO Habendo, or Returnum averiomm, in Law, 

 a writ which lies for him who has avowed a diltrefs made of 

 cattle, and proved his diftrefs to be lawfully taken ; for the 

 return of the cattle diftrained unto him, whicli before were 

 replevied by the party diftrained, upon furety given to pur- 

 fue the action. 



The fame writ is granted when the plaint or adtion is re 

 moved by recordare or accedas ad curiam, into the court of 

 common pleas ; and he whofe cattle were diftrained makes 

 default, and does not profecute his adtion. See Replevy. 

 RETURNUM Averiorum, a judicial writ, the fame 

 with rctorno habendo. 



Returnum Irreplegiahile, a judicial writ, fent out of the 

 common pleas to the fheriff, for the final rellitution or re- 

 turn of cattle to the owner, unjuftly diftrained damage 

 feafant, and fo found by the jury before juftices of affize in 

 the county, or otherwife through default of profecution. 



RETUSAV1, in Geography, a name formerly given to a 

 fmall ifland of Ruflia, in the gulf of Finland, on which the 

 town of Cronftadt (lands, and now called the ifle of Cron- 

 fladt ; 20 miles W. of Peterfburg. This is only remark- 

 able for an excellent haven, flrongly fortified, the chief fla- 

 tion of the R.uflian fleet. 



RETUSUM Folium, in Botany, a retufe, or abrupt, 

 leaf, terminates bluntly, with a broad (hallow notch, as in 

 Rumex dtgynus, or Mountain Sorrel. See Leaf. 



RETWEYER, in Geography, a lake of Bavaria, in the 

 bifhopric of Bamberg; 6 miles N.E. of Vilfeek. 



R£TZ, John- Francis-Paul de Gondi, Cardinal de, 

 in Biography, a celebrated political character, was born at 

 Montmirel in 1 6 14. His father, who was general of the 

 gallies, obliged him, againft his inclination, to embrace the 

 ecclefiaflical profeflion. He paffed through his courfe of 

 itudy with dittindtion, and was made a dodlor of the Sor- 

 bonne in 1643, in which year he was nominated coadjutor 

 to the archbifhop of Paris. In his condudt and charadter 

 he fet at defiance public opinion, and engaged in almoft 

 every fpecies of debauchery : he fought feveral duels, and 

 delighted in political intrigue. According to Voltaire, he 

 was, at the age of twenty-three, eager in carrying on a con- 

 fpiracy againft the life of cardinal Richelieu. The mimltry 

 of Mazarin, however, was the period in which he moil en- 

 gaged as a partifan, and he engaged deeply in all the cabals 

 which produced the petty civil war of the Fronde. He im- 

 pofed upon the people by a feigned devotional ferioufnefs in 

 performing his prelatical functions, and affected the greateft 

 zeal for the privileges of the clergy and the good of the 

 public. He was among the moft violent oppolers of the 

 court, and once took his feat in the parliament with a poniard 

 in his pocket, the handle of which being feen, it was neatly 



obferved 



