RUP 



RUF 



RUPERTSDORF, Hohen, in Geography, a town of 

 Aullria ; five miles S.W. of Zifterfdorf. 



RUPICAPRA, in Zoology, a fpecies of antilope. See 

 Chamois. See alfo Ovis Amman. 



RUPICHSTERADT, in Geography, a town of the 

 duchy of Berg ; four miles N.E. of Blankenberg. 



RUPINIA, in Botany, from rupet, a rock, alluding to 

 its place of growth, is a name given in the Supplement of 

 Linnaeus to what Forfter had called Aitonia, after the ce- 

 lebrated curator of Kew garden ; there being another Aitonia 

 in that fame work. Mr. Dickfon difcovered, by examining 

 original fpecimens, that Forfter's plant is no other than 

 Marchantia hemifplxerica, without fructification ; the fup- 

 pofed anthers being nothing but the hairs of the leaf ! 



RUPITANI, a name given to the Donatifts. See Cam- 

 pit^. 



RUPOLY, in Geography, a town of Bengal ; 22 miles 

 W. of Purneah. 



RUPPAN, a town of Bohemia, in the circle of Pilfen ; 

 17 miles S. of Pilfen. 



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

 Vofges ; eight miles N. of Neufchateau. 



RUPPEL, a river of France, formed by the union of 

 the Senne, the Demer, and the Dyle, which joins the Scheldt 

 at Rupelmonde. 



RUPPERTSGRUN, a town of Saxony, in the Vogt- 

 land ; fix miles N. of Plauen. 



RUPFI A, in Botany, was named by Linnaeus, in memory 

 of Henry Bernard Ruppius, native of Giellen, a ftudent 

 of phyfic, who foon gave up that and every other pur- 

 fuit for botany. Haller characterizes him as " of fiWt 

 robuil ftature, with the eyes of a lynx, unwearied limbs, a 

 penetrating genius, and moft tenacious memory." He 

 travelled through various parts of Germany, living with the 

 mountain cottagers, difdaining every indulgence, except the 

 ftudy of plants. He feems to have died at an early age. 

 The firft edition of the Flora Jenenfis, compiled from his 

 papers, and arranged after the fy Item of Rivinus, which he 

 much approved, was publilhed in 17 18, by J. H. Schutte. 

 Another came forth in 1726; and a third, under the care 

 of Haller, with beautiful plates, in 1745. Each makes an 

 octavo volume. — Linn. Gen. 6S. Schreb. 92. Willd. Sp. 

 PI. v. 1. 717. Mart. Mill. Did. v. 4. Ait. Hort. Hew. 

 v. 1. 281. Purfh 121. Sm. Fl. Brit. 198. Prodr. Fl. 

 Gra:c. Sibth. v. 1. 109. Jufl". 19. Lamarck Illuitr. t. 90. 

 Grertn. t. 84. (Buccaferrea ; Mich. Gen. 72. t. 35.) — Clafs 

 and order, Tetrandria Tetragynia. Nat Ord. Inundate, Linn. 

 Naiades ; Ju(T. 



Gen. Ch. Cal. Perianth none. Cor. none. Stam. 

 Filaments none ; anthers four, feffile, equal, roundifti, of 

 two roundiih valve?, burfting tranfverfely. Pi/1. Germens 

 four or five, nearly ovate, crowded clofe together ; ftyles 

 none ; ftigmas obtufe. Peric. none. Seeds four or five, 

 ovate, oblique, each elevated on a long (lender ftalk, and 

 terminated by the permanent, flat, orbicular ftigma. 



EfT. Ch. Calyx none. Corolla none. Seeds four, on 

 long footftalks. 



1. R. maritima. 'Sea Ruppia. Linn. Sp. PI. 184. 

 Willd. n. I. Fl. Brit. n. 1. Engl. Bot. t. 136. Lightf. 

 Scot. 124. t. 8. f. 1. (Potamogiton mantimum, gramineis 

 longioribus fohis, fructu fere umbellato ; Raii Syn. 134. 

 t. 6. f. 1. Fucus ferulaceus ; Ger. Em. 1573. Bucca- 

 ferrea maritima, foliis acutiflimis ; Mich. Gen. 72 ; as well 

 as fol. minus acutis ; ibid. t. 35.) — Native of falt-water 

 ditches, in moft parts of Britain, flowering in July, and 

 ripening feed in Auguit. Dr. Sibthorp obferved it in Cyprus, 

 as well as on the claffic fhore of Argos. Mr. Purlh fays it 



occurs about the mouths of moft rivers in America. The 

 habit of the plant agrees with Potamogeton ; fee that 

 article. The root is probably annual. Stems capillary, very 

 much branched, clothed with alternate, linear, more or lefs 

 pointed leaves, which embrace the item with a membranous 

 unitedjlipula. Flower-flails axillary, folitary, fimple, vari- 

 able in length, according to the depth of the water in which 

 the herb grows, and often fpiral, accommodating itfelf to any 

 alteration, that the flowers, which ftand two together at the 

 top, one a little above the other, may not be fpoiled by im. 

 merlion. The plant is moft diltinguifhable when in fruit, by 

 means of the Angularly ftalked, and as it were umbellate, 

 feeds. Dillenius, in his edition of Ray's Synopfis, greatly 

 errs in reporting that the flowers, orflamens, grow remote 

 from the fruit, and that the latter appears firft. 



Labillardiere, in his account of the plants of New 

 Holland, v. 2. 116. t. 264, defcribes a Ruppia antarBica, 

 whofe genus he merely conjectured, having feen nothing of 

 the fructification. This is referred, perhaps more pro- 

 perly, though likewife from the habit only, by Mr. Brown, 

 to Decandolle's genus Caulinia ; fee Br. Prodr. Nov. Holl. 



v - «• 339- 



RUPPIN, New, in Geography, a town of the Middle 

 Mark of Brandenburg, the capital of a county or circle of 

 the fame name, containing two Lutheran churches, and 800 

 burghers. It is fituated on a large lake, formed by the river 

 Rhine, and has confiderable manufactures of cloth. " Old 

 Ruppin" is fituated on the fame lake, oppofite to New 

 Ruppiu ; 30 miles N.N.W. of Berlin. N. lat. 52 55'. 

 E. long. I2 D 55'. 



RUPPOLI, a mountain of Etruria ; 10 miles S.W. of 

 Florence. 



RUPRECHTSHOFEN, a town of Auftria ; 12 miles 

 S.E. of Ips. 



RUPSTA, a town of Sweden, in Eaft Gothland ; fix 

 miles W. of Linkioping. 



RUPTORIUM, in Surgery, a cauftic applied with :- 

 view of opening an abfeefs. 



RUPTURE. See Hernia. 



RupTURE-lVort, in Botany. See Herniaria. 



Although there be no foundation for the virtues afcribed to 

 this plant, and implied in its name in the curing of ruptures ; 

 yet there is another cafe in which German phyficians ftrongly 

 recommend it. It is in the diforder of the eyes which is 

 brought on by reading or writing by candle-light, or by 

 examining nice objects, or very fine work. This diftemper- 

 ature feems to be properly a diminution of fight, without 

 any apparent caufe, or vifible alteration in the eye, and is 

 probably owing to a vifcid matter obftructing the optic 

 nerves, and preventing a fupply of their proper fluid. The 

 herniaria, being a gentle and mild attenuant, is fuppofed to 

 be adapted for the relief of this diforder. Gruhlman De 

 Novo Caliginis Remedio. 



The author gives many iaftances of the fuccefs of this 

 remedy, and mentions two methods of giving it ; the one in 

 powder, and the other in tinfture : the former way is pre- 

 ferred, and the method is to gather the herb in its prime, 

 and powder it after it has been dried in the fhade ; then to 

 fprinkle the quantity of a fcruple of this powder on the 

 bread and butter ufed for breakfaft. If this is not liked, the 

 tincture is to be made with fpirit of wine, as ltrong as the 

 plant will make it, and forty drops are to be taken every 

 morning and evening in any liquor. 



The diftemperature this is propofed to cure is very com- 

 mon, yet this is almoft the only thing, as it has been faid, 

 that has been prescribed by way of remedy, and deferves to 



be 



