RIB 



R I U 



liquor that Separates fpontaneoufly is a moit agreeable jelly. 

 The juice of red currants, with fugar, is a common bever- 

 age at Paris, where it is generally preferred to orgeat or 

 lemonade. Dr. Cullen clalTes this fruit with the alimentary 

 plants, and being generally and exclufively confidered as 

 fuch, it was not received in the Britifh catalogues of the 

 Materia Medica till that publifhed in a late collection of the 

 London Pharmacopeia : but it is omitted in the lall edition. 

 The medicinal qualities of red currants appear to be fimilar 

 to thofe of the other fubacrid fruits, which are efteemed to 

 be moderately refrigerant, antifeptic, attenuant, and aperient. 

 Hoffman and Boerhaave had great confidence in the efficacy 

 of thefe fruits in obftinatc vii'ceral obftruAions. They may 

 be ufed with confiderable advantage to allay third in moit 

 febrile complaints ; to leffen an increafed fecretion of bile ; 

 and to correft a putrid and fcorbutic ftate of the fluids, efpe- 

 cially in fanguine temperaments ; but in conftitutions of a 

 contrary kind they are apt to occafion flatulency and in- 

 digeftion, 



The ribes nigrum, or black currant, has berries larger than 

 thofe of the red ; and betides poffeffing the properties in 

 common with the " fruttus acido-dulces," they are alfo 

 faid to be peculiarly ufefiil in fore throats ; and to manifelt 

 a diuretic power in a very confiderable degree. In cafes of 

 inflammatory angina, they may be advantageoufly employed 

 to anfwer the fame intentions as gargles, and from their 

 efficacy in this refpeCt they have acquired the name of 

 " Squinancy berries," but the proofs of their diuretic powers, 

 feem to want confirmation. With refpeel to their former 

 application and utility we may obferve, that the black cur- 

 rant jelly in common domeftic life is rendered lefs efficacious 

 by having too much fugar in its preparation. The fruit 

 both of this, and of the red currant, afford a pleafant wine ; 

 and that made of the former is mentioned by Haller, " ex eo 

 optimum vinum fieri non deterius vinis verioribus viteis, 

 quando annuum eft." The leaves of the black currant are 

 extremely fragrant, and have been recommended for their 

 medicinal virtue, which Bergius Hates to be " mundificans, 

 pellens, diuretica." An infufion of thefe leaves is faid to 

 have the tafte of green tea, and when prepared from the 

 young leaves, is to fome people very agreeable. The offici- 

 nal preparations of the black currant berries in the late 

 London Pharmacopeia (but omitted in the lait edition) were 

 the " Syrupus ribis nigri," and the " Succus ribis nigri 

 infpifl'atus." Woodv. Med. Bot. See Currants. 



RIBIERS, in Geography, a town of France, in the de- 

 partment of the Higher Alps, and chief place of a canton, 

 in the diltricl of Gap ; four miles N.W. of Sifteron. The 

 place contains 130 1, and the canton 3939 inhabitants, on a 

 territory of 180 kiliometres, in nine communes. 



RIBNA, a town of Ruffia, in the government of Ko- 

 livan, on a rivei; of the fame name; 112 miles S.E. of 

 Krafnoiarfk. 



RIBNIK, a town of Silefia, in the principality of 

 Ratibor ; 1 3 miles E. of Ratibor. N. lat. 50° 3'. E. long. 

 1 8° 30'. — Alfo, a town of European Turkey, in Walachia, 

 on the Alaut ; 44 miles S. of Hermanlladt. N. lat. 45 

 19'. E. long. 24 8'. — Alfo, a town of European Turkey, 

 in Walachia, on the Ribnik, otherwife Rymnick, as it is 

 called by the Ruffians ; the fee of a Greek bilhop. From 

 a fevere battle fought here in 1789, between the Auftrians 

 and Ruffians againit the Turks, Suwarrow, who commanded 

 the Ruffians, and defeated them, was created by the emperor 

 Leopold, a count of the empire, inverted witli the order of 

 St. Andrew, and honoured with the title of Rymnifki by 

 the emprefs Catharine ; 100 miles S. of Jaffi. N. lat. 45 

 36'. E. long. 27°4'.— Alfo, a river of Walachia, which 



runs into the Siret, near Dubravitza, on the borders of 

 Moldavia. 



RIBNITZ, a town of the duchy of Mecklenburg, 

 fituated on a large lake, near the mouth of the ReckenitZ ; 

 12 miles N.N.E. of Roftock. N. lat. 54^ 17'. E. long. 

 .2° 3;'. 



RIBNITZY, a town of Poland, in the palatinate of 

 Braclaw ; 64 miles S. of Braclaw. 



RIBNO, a town of Pruffia, in the province of Obcrland ; 

 15 miles N.N.E. of Ortelfburg. 



RIBNOI, a town of Ruffia, in the government of 

 .Taroflavl ; 40 miles W.N.W of Jaroflavl. N. lat. 57 1 ' 45'. 

 E. long.^39- 14'. 



RIBS, in Anatomy, the bones forming the fides of the 

 chert, attached to the fpine behind, and terminating in front 

 in portions of cartilage, fome of which are fixed to the 

 rternum, the others not. The former are called true, the 

 latter falfe ribs. They are defcribed in the article Lung 

 of this Cyclopaedia. 



Ribs, Fraflures of the, in Surgery. See Fracture. 



Ribs of Fiji.-*. There is a very great variety in the fliape 

 and other peculiarities of the ribs of fifh. They are in fome 

 fmooth, and flattened fideways, as in the cyprini ; in others 

 they are rounded, as in the cotti and gadi. In the cyprini 

 the feveral fpecies have from thirteen to nineteen ribs on a fide, 

 and the vertebrae are from thirty-feven to forty-nine in number, 

 differing greatly in number in the feveral ipecies of the fame 

 genus. The ribs in many filh adhere to the vertebrae, by 

 means of cartilages, and feem only continued parts of them ; 

 but in others they are free and loofe, and do not fo much as 

 touch the vertebra:. We find inrtances of the firft fort of 

 ftru£hire in the cvprini, falmons, &c. and of the other in 

 the perch, the gadi, and the pleurone&ae. In the fpinofe 

 fifties, the laft vertebra always is terminated by a pair of 

 broad apophyfes placed perpendicularly, and touching one 

 another, and by means of cartilages thefe are fixed to the 

 bones of the tail. Artedi Ichthyolog. See Anatomy of 

 Fish. 



Ribs, a figurative expreffion for the timbers or frames of 

 a (hip, arifing from the comparifon of it with the human 

 body, as the keel with its keelfon, to the back-bone, and 

 the timbers to the ribs ; for the former unite and fupport the 

 whole fabric, fince the item and ilern-frame, which are 

 raifed on the ends of the keel, may be faid to be a continu- 

 ation of it, and ferve to connect and inclofe the extremities 

 by the hawfe-pieces forward, and the tranfoms abaft, as the 

 keel forms and unites the bottom by the floor-timbers. 

 The idea, if carried further, may in a manner reprefent the 

 mufcular parts of the human fabric ; for the wales, clamps, 

 and thickltuff, at the different heads of the timbers, are as fo 

 many mufcles or rtrong ligaments to conneft the ribs together, 

 while the planking of the bottom and top-fides, which is 

 thinner, may be compared to the ikin or covering of the 

 whole ; and hence planking is often termed, Jhimming the 

 ftiip. 



Ribs of a Parrel, ftiort flat pieces of wood hollowed on 

 the back, having a hole near each end, through which the 

 parrel rope is reeved. See Parrel. 



Ribs, among Jewellers, the lines or ridges which dif- 

 tinguifh the feveral parts of the work, both of brilliants and 

 rofes. 



RIB-WORT, in Botany. See Plantain. 



RICA, among the Romans, a veil with which the ladies 

 covered their heads. 



RICiE, piMf, furgical bandages for the head. 



RICARD, Dominic, in Biography, was born at Tou- 



loufe in 1741, and entered into the congregation of the 



5 Chriftian 



