ROS 



ROS 



ROSTAN, a town of Syria, in the pachalic of Damaf- 

 cus ; 45 miles N.N.E. of Damafcus. 



ROSTAYN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Bo- 

 leflau ; 4 miles N. of Aycha. 



ROSTEN, in the Materia Medica of earlier ages, a name 

 given to crab's eyes. 



ROSTER, in Military Language, a plan, or table, by 

 which the duty of officers, entire battalions, and fquadrons, 

 is regulated. 



ROSTGAARD, Frederick, in Biography, a learned 

 Danifh writer, was born at Kraagerup, in Seland, in the 

 year 1671. He was educated at Copenhagen, and in 1690 

 he undertook a tour through Europe ; in the courfe of 

 which he paid a vifit to the mod celebrated univerfities of 

 Germany, Holland, England, France, and Italy. After 

 his return in 1669, he was made private keeper of the re- 

 cords to his Danifh majefty, and in 1702 was ennobled and 

 appointed a counfellor of juflice. In 1721 he became chief 

 fecretary in the Danifh chancery, and after receiving a con- 

 fiderable penfion, he was nominated in 1735 a counfellor 

 of conference. He died in 1745, and bequeathed to the 

 library of the univerfity of Copenhagen a great many manu- 

 scripts and feveral printed books, confiding moftlv of hif- 

 torical works, with a large fount of Arabic and Perfian 

 types. He was author of a great number of works, among 

 which the following may be enumerated : " Delicix Poe- 

 tarum Danorum ;" " A Danifh Tranflation of Corneille's 

 Cid ;" " Projet d'une nouvelle Methode pour drefler le 

 Catalogue d'une Bibliothcque felon les Matieres avec le 

 Plan ;" " Enchiridion ftudiofi, Arabice cum Verfione La- 

 tina, edit, ab Hadrino Relando." He collected, with great 

 care, and at a confiderable expence, in various parts of 

 France and Italy, manufcripts of " Libanii Epiiloke," from 

 which the edition of J. C. Wolfius of Hamburgh was pub- 

 limed. It was through the exertions of Roftgaard that the 

 " Fragmentum Theotifcum Ifidori Hifpalenfis" was dif- 

 covered and publifhed in the fecond volume of the Danifh 

 Bibliotheque. He was the author of many Latin and 

 Danifh poems, and was employed for feveral years on a 

 Danifh Lexicon, as well as in colle&ing rare Arabic and 

 Greek manufcripts, and heraldic documents relating to the 

 Danifh nobility. Gen. Biog. 



ROSTOCK, in Geography, a fea-port town of Germany, 

 in the circle of Lower Saxony, and duchy of Mecklenburg, 

 on a lake which communicates with the Baltic. It contains 

 three churches and an univerfity, jointly founded by the 

 dukes and the town in the year 141 9, and privileged by a 

 bull of pope Martin V. afterwards confirmed by the emperor 

 Ferdinand I. But in 1437, the town fell under the ban 

 both of the emperor and pope, and the profefTors removed to 

 Griefswalde, whence they returned again in 1443. In 1487, 

 on account of a mifunderflanding between the dukes and the 

 'town, the univerfity was removed to Lubeck, but again re- 

 itored in 1492. The place has thrice fuffered from the pef- 

 tilence, and at the commencement of the reformation was 

 deferted by its profefTors and ftudents till the year 1530, and 

 in 1560 the emperor Ferdinand afforded it a new charter. 

 In purfuance of a convention made, in 1563, between the 

 dukes and the town, the former nominate and pay fifteen 

 profefTors, and the town nine. It was alfo agreed that the 

 dukes fhould annually contribute 3000 florins, and the town 

 500, towards the falaries of the profefTors. The magif- 

 tracy confids of three burgher-mailers, one fyndic, twelve 

 aldermen, one fecretary, and a prothonotary. It pofTeftes 

 the right of coining copper, filver, and gold, and therefore 

 has a mint. Both the civil and criminal jurifdiction are 

 vefted in the magillracy, with right of appeal to the two 



fupreme courts of juflice, except in thofe cafes where no 

 appeal is allowed. The town enjoys other confiderable pri- 

 vileges ; neverthelefs it is hereditarily fubjedt to the dukes, 

 in acknowledgment of which fubje&ion it annually pays 

 55 rixdollars, as an original tribute, and alfo 600 florins, 

 for the grant of an excife. The trade of this town is very 

 confiderable. In the year 12 18 it was admitted into the 

 Hanfeatic confederacy; 25 miles N.E. of Weifmar. N. 

 lat. 54 10'. E. long. 12 12'. 



ROSTOV, a town of Ruffia, in the government of Ja- 

 roflavl, fituated near a lake, to which it gives name : the fee 

 of a bifhop ; 36 miles S. of Jaroflavl. N. lat. 57 . E. 

 kng- 39° 54'- 



ROSTRA, in Antiquity, a part of the Roman forum, 

 wherein orations, pleadings, funeral harangues, &c. were 

 delivered. 



The roftrum was a kind of chapel, taken out of the 

 forum, and furnifhed with a fuggeflum, or eminence, called 

 more particularly the roftra, where the orators llood to 

 fpeak. 



It was adorned, or, as Livy fays, built, with the beaks of 

 fhips taken from the people of Antium, in a na-. al engage- 

 ment ; whence the name. 



There were two kinds of roilra ; rajlra Vetera and rojlra 

 nova. The latter was erefted by Auguitus, and decorated 

 with the prows of vefTels which he took at the battle of 

 Aclium. The firft were thofe already defcribed. 



ROSTRALIS Corona, Roftral Crown. See Crown. 



Rostralis Columna, Rojlral Column. See Column. 



ROSTRATA, in Zoology. See Toucan. 



ROSTRENEN in Geography, a town of France, and 

 principal place of a diftritt, in the department of the North 

 Coalts ; 20 miles S. of Guingamp. N. lat. 48 14'. W. 

 long. 3^ 15'. 



ROSTREVOR, a poll-town of the county of Down, 

 Ireland, fituate on the bay of Carlingford, and much fre- 

 quented for fea-bathing. Mr. Wakefield calls it the Brigh- 

 ton of Ireland, and it has been much admired for its ro- 

 mantic fcenery. It is a wooded bank, on a fmall arm of 

 the fea, and has behind it the Mourne mountains. It is 57^ 

 miles N. from Dublin, and 7^ from Newry. 



ROSTRIFORMIS Processus, in Anatomy, the fame 

 as coraeoides. 



ROSTRUM literally denotes the beak or bill of a bird. 

 This is a hard horny fubflance, confiding of an upper and 

 under part, extending from the head, and anfuering to the 

 mandibles in quadrupeds. Its edges are generally plain and 

 fharp, like the edge of a knife, or cultrated ; fometimes 

 ferrated, or jagged, or pectinated, or denticulated ; but al- 

 ways deftitute of real teeth immerfed in lockets. See Ana- 

 tomy of Birds. 



Hence the word is alfo figuratively applied to the beak, 

 or fore-part, of the head of a fhip. 



The roftrum, or fnout, in fiihes, varies very much in 

 figure, and ferves as a confiderable article of diftinction. It 

 is, 1. In fome plagioplateous, or deprefied, as in the pike, 

 &c. 2. In fome it is conic in fhape, as in the oxyrynchus, 

 &c. 3. In fome it is extended into along and fharp point, 

 as in the common ones. And, 4. In others it is triar.gular, 

 or nearly fo, as in the rays. See Fish. 



Rostrum is alfo ufed to fignify an inftrument, with 

 which paper is ruled for mufical compofitions. 



Rostrum, in Chemiftry, fignifies the nofe, or beak, of 

 the common alembic, which conveys the liquor diftilled into 

 its receiver. 



Rostrum is alio a fort of crooked fciffars, which the 



furgeons, 



