It II A 



REZ, a river of Ruffia, which runs into the libit. N. 

 lat C7° ?o'. E. long. 62 34'. 



REZEMICO, a town of Italy, in the department of 

 the Lario ; 20 miles N. of Como. 



REZITZA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 Polotfk; 72 miles N.N.W. of Polotfk. N. lat. 56 25'. 



REZZATO, a town of Italy, in the department of the 

 Mela ; 4 miles E. of Brefcia. •■_.,.. , 



REZZLE, a term provmcially figmfying the weezle. 



RHA, in Botany, ? x, or f*. of Diofcondes, " which 

 feme," fays he, " call ,W is defcribed by that ancient 

 writer as the produce of the countries above the Bofphorus, 

 from whence it was brought to Greece. " The root 13 

 black externally, like the Greater Centaury, but fmaller, 

 and internally of a more reddifh hue, deftitute of odour, 

 loofe, fungous, and rather light." He proceeds to de- 

 fcribe its flavour and virtues. The plant of Diofcondes 

 has generally been fuppofed one of the rhubarbs of the 

 (hops, which acquired, fubfequently to his time, the name 

 of Rha-larbarum, becaufe it was procured from countries 

 deemed barbarous by the Greeks and Romans. What pre- 

 cifefpecies of Rheum (fee that article) it might be, we pie- 

 fume not to determine. Sometimes it has been termed Rha- 

 penticum ; though the latter appellation has alio been be- 

 llowed on a fpecies of Centaurea, which Dodonaeus and 

 others have thought to be the true ancient Rha, or 

 Rheum, and which Linnaeus, therefore, names Centaurea 



Rhapotitica. ... ', 



RHAAD, in Ornithology, a fpecies of Otis ; which lee. 



RHA BARB A RUM, in Botany. See Rha. 



RHABDOIDES, T>»S$o£«S>i?, formed from p 'xC2°;, rod, 

 or flair, and «3o,-, form, in Anatomy, a name given the 

 fecond true future 0/ the fkull, called alfo the fagittal fu- 

 ture. . j . , 



RHABDOLOGY, or Rabdology, in Arithmetic, a 

 name fometimes given to the method of performing the two 

 mod difficult and operofe rules, viz. multiplication and 

 divifion, by the two eafieit, viz. addition and fubtraciion, 

 by means of two little rods or laminae, on which are in- 

 fcribed the Ample numbers, and which are to be fhifted ac- 

 cording to certain rules. 



Thele rods are what we popularly call Nttper s bones, 

 from their inventor, a Scottiffi baron, who hkewife in- 

 vented logarithms. For their defcnption and ute, lee 



Niei'kk'j Bona- . , , , ,.• . .. 



RHABDOMANCY, an ancient method of divination, 



performed by means of rods or (laves. 



Whence its name, from the Greek p'aO),-, rod, and fuu- 



teix, divination. , '^ ., . . 



St Jerom makes mention of this kind of divination, in 

 his commentary on Hofea, ch. iv. I2 . The fame he finds 

 airain in Ezekiel, xxi. 21,22. . 



If it be the fame kind of divination that is mentioned in 

 the two paflages, rhabdomancy muft have been alfo the 

 fame fupcrRition with belomancy. 



In elTeft, the two arc ordinarily confounded. 1 He 

 Seventy themfelves tranflate the D'VR of Ezekiel, by 

 , a rod; though in Itrianefs it fignifies an .arrow. 



This however is certain : the inflruments of divination 

 mentioned by Hofea arc different from thofc of EzelueL 



In the former it is Wp, etfo, 1>pQ. mallo, his wood, his 

 (lalT; in the latter, CjiVP' Ij, ' i 'f""' arrows. Though It 

 "is poffible they might ufe rods or arrows indifferent y ; or 

 the military men might ufe arrows, and the reft rods. It 

 appears by the laws of the Fnfones, that the ancient in- 

 habitants of Germany praftifed rhabdomancy 1 he bey- 



R H M 



thians were likewife acquainted with the ufe of it ; and 

 Herodotus obferves \lib. iv.) that the women among the 

 Alani fought and gathered together fine ftraight rods or 

 wands, and 11 fed them in the like fuperitition. 



RHABDONALEPSIS, 'PaQov Av«x4.-, among the 

 Greeks, the Reception or Elevation of the Rod, a feitival 

 kept every year in the ifland of Cos, at which the priefts 

 carried a cyprefs-tree. 



RHABDOPHORI, "PaSSo^*, among the Greeks, 

 officers appointed to preferve peace and good order, and to 

 con-eft the unruly at their public games. 



RHABDUS, 'PctSSoc, among the Ancients, the iron rod 

 with which the boys rolled the trochus. 



RHACHIT1S, in Surgery. See Rachitis and Ric- 

 kets. 



RHACOMA, in Botany, a name adopted by Linnaeus 

 from Piiny, and applied to the genus called by Browne 

 Croffopetalum, but which proves not dillinft from Myginda ; 

 fee that article. The real Rhacoma of Pliny appears, by 

 his copious account of its characters and qualities, to be 

 fome kind of rhubarb (fee Rha and Rheum) ; nor do we 

 pretend to account for the Linnaean application of the 

 name. 



RHACOSIS, from p'oxos, a rag, in Surgery, a ragged, 

 excoriated, and relaxed (fate of the fcrotum. 



RHADAMANTHUS, in Mythology, one of the three 

 judges or fovereigns of Hades, or the invifible world, to 

 whom was affigned Tartarus, as Erebus was to Minos, and 

 Elyfium to iEacus. He was the brother of Minos, and the 

 fon of Jupiter and Europa ; and is faid to have been pre- 

 ferred to the honour of prefiding over Tartarus, on account 

 of the diftinguifhed wifdom and juttice of his adminiitration. 

 According to Plato, jEacus judged the Europeans ; and 

 Rhadamanthus, who had left Crete, and fixed his rcfidence 

 in Afia, had the Afiatics for his lot, among whom were alfo 

 comprehended the Africans. The item Rhadamanthus fu- 

 perintends in Tartarus the execution of the fentences which 

 his brother Minos pronounces, after making the fatal urn 

 in which are contained the deftinies of all mortals. The 

 office of Rhadamanthus is defcribed by Virgil, iEneid, 

 lib. iv. 



« Gnoffius hxc Rhadamanthus habet duriilima regna 

 Caltigatque auditque dolos, fubigitque fated, 

 Qiwequifque apud fuperos, furto laetatus inam 

 Diltulit in feram commiffa piacula mortem." 

 RHADAMISTUS, in Entomology, a fpecies of Scara- 

 laus ; which fee. It inhabits Tranquebar. 



RHADEN, in Geography, a town of Weftphaha, in the 

 principality of Mindcn ; i$ miles N.W. of Minden. 



RHADES, a town of Africa, in the kingdom of 

 Tunis, anciently called « Adcs ;" fix miles S.E. of Tunis. 



RHjETEUM, or Rheteum, in Ancient Geography, a 

 promontory in the vicinity of Troy, on which was erected 

 a tomb to Ajax, mentioned by Strabo (1. 13.) and other 

 ancient writers. Horace indeed fays (Sat. 1. 2.) that this 

 hero remained without burial; but he deviates from the 

 truth, in allufion to that incident in the tragedy of. Ajax, 

 where Sophocles feigns that Agamemnon was unwilling to 

 allow the honours of burial to be conferred upon him, but 

 that he yielded at length to the importunate mtreaties of 



Teucer. . , " - 



RHiETI A, a country of Europe, which occupied part ot 

 the Alps, and was fituatcd to the north of Italy, and to the 

 call of Helvetia. It is not eafv to alcertain its limits to the 

 north, but we may fay that it waa boumfcd in that quarter 

 by Vmdelicia | and, in general, that it correfponded to the 

 ' country 



