It U M- 



RUM 



and furnifh leaves in the latter end of fummer and in the au- 

 tumn. The fecond fort is readily railed in this way. They 

 afterwards only require to be kept clean, and to have the 

 feed-items cut down in the fummer, as well as the rank leaves 

 in the autumn, that more full fupplies of frefh leaves may 

 be afforded. 



And the third and fourth forts may be raifed alfo from 

 feeds in the fame way, and the former from offsets of the 

 root planted out in the autumnal feafon ; when they grow 

 rery readily. 



The laft fort is eafily increafed by cuttings of the young 

 (hoots in the fpring and fummer months, being planted in 

 pots at the former feafon, plunging them in a hot-bed ; but 

 in the latter they fucceed without artificial heat, either in 

 pots or the natural ground, being occafionally (haded and 

 watered ; when they become well rooted by the autumn. 

 The third and fourth forts afford variety in the clumps and 

 borders, and the laft among the green-houfe collections of 

 plants. 



Rumex, in the Materia Medica. The root of the R. 

 aquaticus, or water-dock, has fcarcely any fmell ; it has a 

 ftrong auftere tafte, ftrikes a black colour in a folution 

 of ferrum vitriolatum, orferri fulphas, and yields its active 

 matter both to water and to rectified fpirit. All the lapa- 

 tha were formerly officinal herb;. Their name is derived from 

 XaTK^a, evacuo, and they are alluded to by Horace in the 

 following lines : 



" Si dura moralitur alvus, 



Mitulus et viles pellent obftacula concha? 



Et lapathi brevis herba." Sat. 4. 1. 2. v. 27. 



The water-dock has been efteemed to be the moft: 

 efficacious. The leaves, which manifeft confiderable aci- 

 dity, are faid to poffefs a laxative quality, and have 

 therefore been ufed to relieve coftivenefs ; the roots are 

 flrongly aftringent, and have been much employed, both ex- 

 ternally and internally, for the cure of fcurvy, efpecially 

 when tie gums are fpongy, and frequent hemorrhages fuper- 

 vene. It is alfo recommended in various other cutaneous de- 

 fcedations, and in vifceral obftru&ions : and in order to give 

 it additional importance, Muntingius has laboured to prove 

 that this hydrolapathum is the " Herba Britannica" of the 

 ancients ; but many medical men (fill think that this root does 

 not peculiarly differ from other aftringents, and are fo fcepti- 

 cal, as not to place any faith in the great virtues afcribed to 

 it by Muntingius and fir John Hill ; fo that it is now 

 fcarcely ever employed. The powdered root is faid by 

 Murray to be an excellent dentifrice. The leaves of the 

 R. acetofa, or common forrel, have an agreeable acid tafte, 

 like that of oxalis acetofella, or wood-forrel, which this 

 plant refembles in its medical properties ; and as it is 

 eafily procured in great abundance, may be fubftituted for 

 it. (See Oxalis.) Sorrel, taken in confiderable quan- 

 tity, or ufed varioufiy prepared as food, will undoubtedly 

 be found beneficial, where a refrigerant and antifcorbutic re- 

 gimen is required j and Linnaeus informs us, that the Lap- 

 landers experience "ferum acetofatum" to be in this refpedtan 

 ufeful and pleafant diet. The acidulous tafte of forrel-leaves 

 is faid to depend on the prefence of fuperoxalate of potafs, 

 which they contain. The leaves are diuretic as well as re- 

 frigerant. Their exprefTed juice diluted with water, or a decoc- 

 tion of them in whey, affords an ufeful drink in cafes of in- 

 flammatory fever ; and eating them in large quantities daily as 

 a falad, may prove ferviceable in fome cutaneous affections. 

 In France the plant is cultivated for the ufe of the table. 

 Woodville. Thomfon. 



RUMFORD, in Geography. See Romford. 



Rumford, a town of America, in Cumberland county, 

 Maine, on the N. bank of Androfcoggin river, about 80 

 miles N.W. of Portland. The townfhip is about eight 

 miles fquare, feven of which lie N. of Androfcoggin river, 

 which meanders through it about twelve miles ; about a mile 

 from its E. line there is a large fall. Ellis's river runs 

 through it on the weft fide. 



Rumford. See Concord. 



RUM I, in the Materia Medica, a name given by Avi- 

 cenna and Serapio to maftic of the finer kind. They ditlin- 

 guifh this drug into two forts ; the one called by this name 

 rumi, which was white and pure ; the other called cupti, 

 which was foul and blackifh ; the former came from tl 1 

 ifland of Chios, the latter from fome parts of iEgypt. 



Rumi Ramba, in Geography, a plain near Quito, in Peru, 

 full of large fragmetsts of rocks, thrown thither from a 

 volcano, formerly in the famous mountain of Pichincha. 



RUMIGNY, a town of France, in the department of the 

 Ardennes, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrict of Ro- 

 croy ; 12 miles S.W. of Rocroy. The place contains 779, 

 and the canton 8944 inhabitants, on a territory of 230 kilio- 

 metrcs, in 27 communes. 



RUMILLY, a town of France, in the department of 

 Mont-Blanc, and chief place of a canton, in the diftrift of 

 Annccy ; 7 miles W.S.W. of Annecy. The place contains 

 2757, and the canton 13,585 inhabitants, on a territory of 

 197s kiliometres, in 26 communes. 



RUMINANT, Ruminans, in Natural Hiflory, an ani- 

 mal which chews over again what it has eat before : this is 

 popularly called " chewing the cud." 



Joah. Con. Peyer has an exprefs treatife " De Ruminanti- 

 bus et Ruminatione," where he mews, that there are fome 

 animals which do really ruminate, fuch as oxen, fheep, deers, 

 goats, camels, hares, and fquirrels ; whereas others only 

 appear to ruminate, which he calls ruminantia fpuria ; of 

 which number are moles, crickets, bees, beetles, crabs, 

 mullets, and feveral other fifties. 



This latter clafs, he adds, have the ftomachs compofed 

 of mufcular fibres ; by means of which the food is ground 

 up and down, much as in real ruminants. 



Ruminants, Mr. Ray obferves, are all quadrupedal, hairy, 

 and viviparous ; fome with hollow and perpetual horns, 

 others with deciduous ones. See Quadrupeds. 



The horned ruminants have all four ftomachs appropriated 

 to the office ; viz. I. ThexaXiz. pifaXr, of Ariftotle, the rumen, 

 •venter magnus, or what we call the paunch, or inward, which 

 receives the meat flightly chewed, retains it awhile, and 

 then delivers it back again into the mouth, which is what 

 we call the cud, to be re-chewed: 2. The w.^vSxXoc, or re- 

 ticulum, which we call the honeycomb, from its internal coat 

 bein£ divided into cells like honeycombs. 3. The i^w;, 

 which Mr. Ray thinks has been wrongly tranflated omafus, 

 and which he choofes to call the echinus : this being difficult 

 to clear, our people throw it away, and call it the manifold, 

 4. The iwffai of Ariitotle, by Gaza called the abomafus \ 

 and, among us, the ma<vu. 



Again, all the horned ruminant animals want the dentes 

 primores, or broad teeth in the upper jaw ; and they afford 

 that hard kind of fat called_/«f/, febum, r.-aj, which is firmer 

 and lefs liquefiable in them than the adeps of other animals. 

 See Anatomy of Mammalia. 



It is remarked by Mr. Feron, that the retrograde motion 

 of the cefophagus in ruminating cattle, fuch as caws, fheep, 

 goats, &c. renders them capable of bringing up the foftened 

 grafs from their firft ftomach. But when tliefe animals fill 

 themfelves too full of clover, or of wet grafs, or of fome 

 other young vegetables, which are liable to run into fermen- 



tion. 



