R O H 



ful influence on vegetation, efpecialty on certain plants, and, 

 above all, on the Somalata, or moon-plant. (See Soma- 

 lata.) This mode of interpretation, Mr. Wilford adds, 

 may ferve as a clue to the intricate labyrinth of the Puranas, 

 which contain all the hiftory, phyliology, and fcience of 

 the Indians and Egyptians, difguifed under fimilar fables. 

 See Purana. . . . . 



ROHITZ, in Geography, a town of Stina, in which is 

 a medicinal fpring ; 20 miles E. of Cilley. 



ROHL, a fmall ifland in the gulf of Finland. N. lat. 

 59 55'. E. long. 26° 26'. 



ROHL A, a river of Bohemia, which runs into the 

 Egra, near Carlfbad. 



ROHN, a town of Germany, in the county of Henne- 

 berg ; two miles N.N.W. of Salzungen. 



Rohn. See Pulo Ron, and Poolaron. 



ROHND, a town of Bengal ; 15 miles N. of Toree. 



ROHOB, a town of Judea, in the tribe of Afher, men- 

 tioned in the books of Jofhua and Numbers. To this 

 place Mofes fent twelve men to reconnoitre the land of 

 promife. It was afligned to the Levites of the family of 

 Gerflion. . . 



ROHOSSETZ, a town of Bohemia, in the circle ot 

 Boleflaw ; eight miles N.W. of Turnau. 



ROHR, a town of the duchy of Stiria ; nine miles W. 

 of Gnaa. — Alfo, a river of the duchy of Bremen, which 

 runs into the Wefer near Carlfburg. — Alfo, a town of Ger- 

 many, in the principality of Culmbach ; five miles S.E. of 

 Culmbach— Alfo, a town of Germany, in the county of 

 Henneberg ; two miles E. of Mcinungen. 



Rohr, Inn, a town of Auftria ; 10 miles N.W. of 

 Neuitadt. 



ROHRBACH, a town of Germany, belonging to the 

 priory of Odenheim; 10 miles W. of Heilbronn. 



ROHRBECK, a town of Saxony, in the principality 

 of Querfurt ; two miles S. of Juterbock. 



ROHRIA, in Botany, a genus of Schreber^s, has been 

 fuppofed, by De Theis, to commemorate Julius Bernard 

 von Rohr, a German botanical writer of the middle of the 

 1 8th century, whofe works are little known out of his own 

 country. We rather prefume, with profeflor Martyn, that 

 the author of this name had in view a more recent, and very 

 eminent, practical botanitt, long reiident in South America, 

 Julius Philip Benjamin von Rohr, perhaps a relation of the 

 former, whofe discoveries are often mentioned by Vahl, and 

 who has written on Quajfia amara, the culture of Cotton, 

 and other fubje&s. Thunberg has alfo a Rohria, adopted 

 from Vahl ; which having been previoufly called Berckheya, 

 by Ehrhart, is now retained under the latter name in Willd. 

 Sp. PI. v. 3. 2269.— Schreb. Gen. 30. Willd. Sp. PL 

 v. 1. 186. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. (Tapura? Aubl. 

 Guian. v. I. 126. Ju(T. 419. Lamarck Illuftr. t. 122.) 

 — Clafs and order, Triandria Monogynia. Nat. Ord. un- 

 certain, Juff. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth inferior, of one leaf, bell-fhaped, 

 in^five deep, ovate, concave, obtufe, fringed, coriaceous 

 fegments, the two interior ones rather longeit. Cor. Petals 

 five, ereft, longer than the calyx, the two uppermoft rather 

 largeft, the three lower fmalleit ; claws narrow, dilated at 

 the bafe, woolly on the infide, a little bent outwards under 

 the border ; which in each petal is ovate, ereft ; in the 

 larger petals hooded inwards ; in the fmaller expanded and 

 bluntifh. Slam. Filaments three, one between the two larger 

 petals, two at their fides, connected below with their claws, 

 all thread-lhaped, longer than the corolla, woolly at the in- 

 fide ; anthers roundifh, ereft, directed inwards. Pijl. 

 Germen fuperior, turbinate, downy ; ftyle thread-fhaped, 



R O I 



villous, the length of the ftamens ; ftigmas three, revolute. 

 Perk, and Seeds unknown. 



Eff. Ch. Calyx bell-fhaped, in five deep fegments. 

 Petals five, unequal. Stigmas three, revolute. 



Obf. Schrebcr doubted whether his plant were the fame 

 with Aublet's, becaufe the latter defcribes the corolla as 

 monopetalous, and the three long ftamens as accompanied 

 by two fiiort ones befides. This lad circumftance may be 

 accidental ; the corolla feems more material. The flowers 

 however are fo minute, that Schreber, having feen them in 

 a dried (late only, might eafily be miftaken. As he is the 

 author of the name Rohria, we prefer his defcription, as 

 Aublet's plant, if different, mult have another generic ap- 

 pellation. 



I. R. petioliflora. Willd. n. I. (Tapura guianenfis ; 

 Aubl. Guian. v. 1. 126. t. 48 ?) — The plant of Aublet 

 was found in forefts, near the Serpent mountain, in Guiana, 

 flowering in Auguft. It is a fhrub, 12 feet, or more, in 

 height, with many flexible, roundifli, fmooth branches. 

 Leaves alternate, on fhort thick flalks, elliptic-lanceolate, 

 pointed, entire, fmooth and Alining, about four inches long ; 

 paler beneath. Of Jltpulas we can perceive no traces in 

 Aublet's fpecimen, except a flight intrafoliaceous abrupt 

 border. Flowers yellow, fmall, five, feven, or more to- 

 gether, on very fhort (talks, fpringing from the fummit of 

 each footjlalk, at the bafe of the leaf. 



We prefume Schreber received his fpecimens from von 

 Rohr; and as they agreed with Aublet's in the very re- 

 markable mode of inflorefcence, and muft have come from 

 the fame country, there can be little reafon to fufpect any 

 real difference. 



ROI des Viohns, or king of the fidlers, in France. 

 Each profeffion, or incorporated company, had formerly a 

 fuperior, who was dignified with the title of king. The 

 mafons, carpenters, barbers, lawyers' clerks, crofs-bow-men, 

 the principal foldiers called ribands, even the poets, and 

 many other orders of men, had their particular kings ; but 

 their exaftions and tyranny, by degrees, occasioned the 

 abolition of thefe phantoms of fovereignty. 



The minftrels, religious obfervers of ancient ufages, were 

 the lait to relinquifh this precious relic of antiquity. The 

 king at arms, and king of the minitrels, were the only fur- 

 viving raonarchs of their calling. But the firft has few 

 tributaries, and his functions are only exercifed occafionally ; 

 the other, on the contrary, was always in power, and pre- 

 tended to exercife his empire over the whole realm. 



The hiftory of the firft kings of the minftrels is unknown ; 

 it is only recorded that, after the deceafe of Conftantin, the 

 famous violin ol the 17th century, the crown palled, in 

 1630, to Dummoir I., then to Dummoir II., who relin- 

 quished the crown by a voluntary abdication, occafioned by 

 an anarchy, in 1685. Louis XIV. faw with indifference 

 the extinction of this royalty, and declared that it was not 

 his intention it fhould be reflored. 



This monarchy had been long agitated by internal troubles, 

 and civil and foreign wars. The dancing-mafters, ori- 

 ginally incorporated with this company, had been 50 years 

 foliciting its extinction ; indignant at being united with fuch 

 vile artizans, who difhonoured their faculty by playing at ale- 

 houfes (cabarets) and places of debauchery ; or if not 

 totally filenced, that one of the firings of their fiddles 

 fhould be cut off, and they reduced to their ancient level, 

 and be allowed to play on no inftrument but the three- 

 ftringed rebec. 



They had commenced a fuit againft the city dancing- 

 mafters, and obtained a folemn fentence againft them, Ja- 

 nuary 14th, 1667. No company was ever more difcordant, 

 11 more 



