II H E 



R If E 



alio fome difeafes peculiar to eaftern countries, as the ignis 

 perJlcus, vera medinenfis, &c. ; and he firlt noticed the 

 difeafe called fpina ventofa. Rhazes had the reputation of 

 being a (kilful alehemift ; the art of chemiitry, in faft, ori- 

 ginated with the Arabians, and Rhazes is the firft, as Dr. 

 Freind lias (hewn, who mentions the ufe of chemical pre- 

 parations in medicine. He has a chapter on the qualifications 

 of a phyfician ; and a lingular tract on quacks and impoftors, 

 in which he has pourtrayed that clafs of pretenders to the 

 lite ; and his detail of their pretentions fhews that they -were 

 at leait as numerous, and ingenious in their contrivances of 

 cheatery, as in more recent times. 



Rhazes lived to the age of eighty, and loft his fight : he 

 died in the y^ai - 9^2. His works that have come down to 

 us, through the medium of tranflations in Latin, are, I. A 

 fort of common-place book, entitled " Continens," or 

 " Libri Continentes." 2. A much more perfeft work, the 

 " Libri Decern, ad Almanforem," publifhed at Venice, 

 15 10. 3. Six books of aphonfms, publifhed under the 

 title of " Liber de oecretis, qui Aphorilmorum appellatur," 

 Bonouix, 14S9. 4. A tratt on the fmall-pox, often tranf- 

 lated, and printed with the title of " De Peftilentia ;" the 

 belt tranilation is by Channing, London, 1766. Freind's 

 Hiit. of Phyfic. Eloy Duft. Hift. de la Med. 



RHAZUNDA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia,. 

 in the interior of Media, between " Sanais" and " Veneca," 

 according to Ptolemy. 



RHEA, a town of Afia, in Margiana, according to 

 Ptolemy. 



Rhea, in Mythology, one of the titles of Cybele, de- 

 rived from pui, 1 Jlo-w, on account of that abundance of be- 

 nefits which (he difpenfes. 



Rhea was, according to Diodorus Siculus, one of the 

 eight great divinities ol Egypt; the other feven being the 

 Sun, Saturn or Chronos, Jupiter, Juno, Vulcan, Velta, and 

 Mercury. Chronos, fays this hiitorian, having married 

 Rhea, became, according to fome, the father of Ofiris and 

 Ifis, and, according to others, of Jupiter and Juno. The 

 children of Rhea, by Saturn, were, according to fabulous 

 hiitory, Vella, Ceres, Juno, Pluto, Neptune, and Jupiter, 

 the father of gods and men ; but that god learning from an 

 oracle delivered by Coclus and Terra, that one of his chil- 

 dren fhould dethrone him, devoured them as Rhea brought 

 them forth, which threw her into extreme diftrefs. So that 

 when (he was near her time of being delivered of Jupiter, 

 fhe confultcd her parents to know in what manner (lie might 

 refcue him from the cruelty of his father, and by their ad- 

 vice fhe fecretly withdrew into Crete, where (lie was deli- 

 vered, and prelented Saturn with a (tone wrapped about 

 with fwaddliug clothes, which he (wallowed. Jupiter being 

 c;rown up, refcued Catlus from the chains with which Saturn 

 had loaded him ; and Coclus, in return for his fervice, gave 

 him thunder, by which he became the fovereign of gods and 

 men. Rhea was one of the names under which the earth was 

 worfhipped. 



Rhea Sylvia, was the mother of Remus and Romulus ; 

 and in order to give dignity to their origin, the fable reports 

 that her uncle Amulius got into her cell, and her father Nu- 

 mitor propagated the ftory that the twins (he brought forth 

 had been begotten by the god of war. 



Rhea, in Ornithology, a fpecies of the ftruthio or oftrich, 

 «he fame bird with the nhan-duguacu of the Brafilf. See 

 Struthio. 



RHEBAN, in Ancient Geography, a river of Afia, in 

 Bithynia. According to Arrian, the fource of this river was 

 on mount Olympus, and its mouth in the Euxine fea, near 

 that of Pfilhs. 



RHECHIUS, a river of Greece, which difchargeo* 

 itfelf into the fea near Theiialonica. At the mouth of this 

 river Juftinian erefted a fort called " Artemifa." 



RHEDA, in Geography, a.townof Germany, the capital 

 of a lordfhip, in the county of Lingen ; 10 miles N. ol 

 Lippcrltadt. N. lat. 51° 47'. E. long. 7- 50'. 



Riieda, a town of Holland, in Guelderland, on the 

 Kiel ; feven miles N. of Arnheim. 



RHEDONES, in Ancient Geography, a people of Gaul, 

 in Armorica, according to Ceiar and Ptolemy. 



RHEEDIA, in Botany, called Vanrheedia by Plumier, 

 in honour of a moft illullrious promoter of the itndy of 

 Eaft Indian plants, Henry Van-Rheede Van-Draakenitein, 

 to vvhofe judgment and munificence, while governor of Ma- 

 labar towards the latter part of the 17th century, the pub- 

 lication of that fplendid work the Hortus Malabaricus, in 

 1 2 folio volumes, is owing. — Linn. Gen. 260. Schreb. 348. 

 Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. .Tuff. 258. Lamarck IUuftr. t. 457. 

 (Vanrheedia; Plum. Gen. 45. t. 18.) Clafs and order, 

 Polyandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. Gutliferte, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. CaU none. Cor. Petals four, feffile, obovate, 

 concave, (preading. Slam. Filaments numerous, thread- 

 fhaped, longer than the corolla ; anthers oblong. Pijl. 

 Germen fuperior, ovate ; ftyle cylindrical, the length of 

 the ftamens ; (tigma funnel-lhaped. Peric. Berry ovate, 

 thin, of one cell. Seeds three, very large, ovate-oblong, 

 marked with fimple or branched lines. 



Eff. Ch. Petals four. Calyx none. Berry fuperior, 

 with three feeds. 



i. R. lateriflora. Linn. Sp. PI. 7 19. (Vanrheedia folio 

 fubrotundo, fruttu lute-o ; Plum. Ic. 255. t. 257.) — Native 

 of South America. A tree known only to Plumier, whofe 

 figure reprefents it with large, oppofitc, ftalked, ovate, en- 

 tire leaves ; axillary tufts of numerous, rather {md\\,jlo<wers ; 

 and ovate pendulous fruit, about two inches long. Jufiieu 

 doubts whether the calyx be really wanting. 



Linnanis does not appear to have ever had a fpecimen of 

 this plant ; nor can we account for h!\> linking out (in 

 Mant. 401.) the obfervation in his Sp. Pi. for which he has 

 fubitituted, in Sylt. Veg., the following defcription, taken 

 from fome Ea(t Indian fpecimen, as his original manufcript 

 (hews, and certainly foreign to the true Rheedia. " A tree, 

 with jointed, compreffed, even, downy branches. Leaves 

 oppofite, ftalked, lanceolate, entire, fmooth. Foot/la/is 

 Ihort, downy. Flower-Jlalis axillary, about three together, 

 three cleft, three-flowered." 



Willdenow has omitted this genus, in its proper place, nor 

 have we difcovered what he has done with it. 



RHEGADORA, in Ancient Geography, a town of Afia, 

 in Cappadocia. 



RHEGI ANUM, a town of Lower Moefia, on the bank 

 of the Danube. Ptolemy. 



RHEGIAS, a town of Afia, in Syria : according to 

 Ptolemy it was in Cyrrheitica, between Ariferia and Ruba. 



RHEGIUM, or Regium, (Reggio), a town of Italy, 

 at the extremity of Brutium, in the itrait of Sicily. In the 

 time of Dionyfius the tyrant, the inhabitants of Rhegium 

 formed a league againft him, which terminated in a treaty 

 in the year 354. A difference afterwards occurring be- 

 tween them, he befieged the town and took it, after about 

 eleven months, in 365. The conduct of Dionyfius during 

 this fiege was in the highett degree favage and brutal. 

 Rhegium afterwards became fubjeft to the Romans ; but a 

 legion, encouraged by the example of the Mamertins of 

 Meffma, revolted in 472, and took polfeffion of the city. 

 After ten years' poiftffion, it was befieged by the Romans, 

 and thofe who efcaped the deltru&ion of the liege, to the 

 3 amount 



