r g e 
5QS u O B 
any offensive weapon assault, or by menaces, 
or iu any forcible or violent manner, demand 
any money or goods, with a felonious intent 
to rob another, he shall be guilty of felony, 
and be transported tor seven years. 
If any person being out of prison, shall 
commit any robbery, and afterwards discover 
any two persons guilty of robbery, he shall 
have the king’s pardon. 
The hundred in which .a robbery on the 
highway is committed., is liable to pay the 
damage when it is committed between the ris- 
ing and setting of the sun, in any day, ex- 
cept Sunday, in case the robbers are not 
taken in forty clays; hue and cry being made- 
after the robber. And he who apprehends 
and prosecutes a robber on the highway, so 
as to convict him, is entitled to receive of 
tlie sheriff of the county where the robbery 
was committed, the sum of forty pounds, 
with the horse, furniture, arms, &c. upon 
such person’s producing a proper certificate 
from the judge before whom the robber was 
^convicted. 
ROBERGIA, a genus of the class and 
.order decandria peiilagynia. The cal. is 
five-parted ; pet. live; drupe with one-seed- 
ed nut and two-valved shell. There is one 
spec ies a shrub of Guiana. 
ROBIN I A, fa'se acacia, a genus of the 
xlpcandria order, in the ctiadelphia class ot 
plants: and in the natural method ranking- 
under the 3 2d order, papilionacean The 
calyx is quadrifid ; the legumen gibbous and 
elongated. There are seventeen species. 
The "’most remarkable is the caragnana, the 
le ives of which are conjugated, and composed 
of a number of small folioles, of an oval 
figure, and ranged by pairs on one common 
stock. The (lowers are leguminous, and are 
clustered on a filament. Every flower con- 
sists of a small belUshaped petal, cut into 
four segments at the edge, the upper part 
being rattier the widest. I he keel is small, 
open, and rounded. I he wings aie large, 
oval, and a little raised. Within are ten 
- stamina united at the base, curved towards 
the top, and rounded at the summit. In 
the midst of a sheath, formed by the filaments 
of the stamina, the pistil is perceivable, con- 
sisting of an oval germen, terminated by a 
kind of button, this germen becomes af- 
tewards an oblong Ratfish 'curved pod, con- 
tain ng lour or five seeds, of a size and shape 
irregular and unequal ; yet in both respects 
somewhat resembling a lentil. 
This tree grows naturally in the severe 
climates of Northern Ada, "in a sandy soil 
mixed with black light earth. It is particu- 
larly found 011 the banks of great rivers, as 
the Obv, Jenisia, &c. It is very rarely met 
with in "the inhabited parts of tiie country, be- 
cause cattle are very fond of its leaves, and 
hogs of its roots ; and it is so hardy, that the 
severest winters do not affect it. Gmelm 
found it in the neighbourhood of Tobolsk, 
buried under fifteen feet of snow and ice, yet 
had it not suffered the least damage. Its 
culture consists in being planted or sowed in 
a lightish sandy soil, which must on no ac- 
count have been lately manured. It thrives 
best near a river, or on the edge of a brook 
or spring; but presently dies if planted in a 
marshy spot, where the" water stagnates. If 
' jt is planted on a rich soil, well tilled, it will 
grow to the height of twenty feet, and in a 
r o e 
very few years will be as big as a common 
birch tree. 
In a very bad soil this tree degenerates, 
and becomes a mere shrub ; the leaves grow 
hard, and their fine bright green colour is 
changed to a dull deep green. The Tongu- 
siau Tartars, and the inhabitants of the 1101 th- 
em parts of Siberia are very fond of the fruit 
of this tree, it being almost the only sort of 
pulse they eat. The leaves and tender shoots 
of this tree make excellent fodder for sever- 
al sorts of cattle. The roots being sweet and 
succulent, are very well adapted for fattening 
hogs ; and the fruit is greedily eaten by all 
sorts of poultry. After several experiments 
somewhat similar to the methods used with 
anil and indigo, a fine blue colour was pro- 
cured from its leaves. The smaller kind of 
this tree seems still better adapted to answer 
this purpose. The striking elegance of its 
foliage, joined to the pleasing yellow colour 
of its beautiful flowers, should, one would 
imagine, bring it into request for forming 
nosegays, or for speedily making an elegant 
hedge. Besides the qualities above recited, 
it possesses the uncommon advantage of grow- 
ing exceedingly quick, and of being easily 
-transplanted. There are large plantations 
of it now in Sweden, Norway, Lapland, and 
Iceland. 
The robinia spinosa is a beautiful hardy 
shrub, and on account of its robust strong 
prickles, might be introduced into this coun- 
try as a hedge plant, with much propriety. 
It resists the severest cold of the climate of 
St. Petersburg!-), and perfects its seed there. 
It rises to the height of six or eight feet; 
does not send out suckers from the root, 
nor ramble so much as to be kept with dififi- j 
culty within bounds. Its flowers are yellow, j 
and the general colour of the plant "a light 
pleasing green. 
ROBINSON IA, a genus of the icosandria 
nionogvnia class and order. 7'he cal. is five- 
toothed ; pet. five; berry striated, two-cell- 
ed ; cells one-seeded ; seeds villose. There 
is one species, a tree of Guiana. 
ROCIIFORTIA, a genus of the class and 
order pentandria digynia ; the cal. is five- 
parted ; cor. one-petalled, funnel-form, in- 
ferior ; fruit two-celled, many-seeded. There 
are two species, shrubs of Jamaica. 
ROCK-CRYSTAL. See Quartz. 
ROCKET. See Pyrotechny. 
ROCKS are divided into five classes: 
namely, 1. Primitive rocks; 2. Rocks of 
transition ; 3. Stratified, or se- ondary rocks ; 
4. Alluvial depositions ; 5. Volcanic rocks. 
Rocks primitive. 
The rocks belonging to this class are dis- 
tinguished from all others in containing no 
remains of organic bodies, and in being co- 
vered by the rocks of the other classes, but 
never themselves covering any other class of 
rocks. The term primitive was applied bv 
Lehman, to whom we are indebted for the 
first scientific division of rocks, on the sup- 
position that the rocks so denominated were 
formed before any other ; and the term has 
been continued by Werner, because he has 
embraced the same hypothesis. The follow- 
ing table contains the different divisions of 
primitive rocks, arranged according to the 
order in which Werner thinks they were 
formed. b 
1. Granite, 7. Serpentine, 
2. Gneiss, 8. Primitive limestone 
3. Micaceous shistus, 9. Primitive trap, 
^Argillaceous shis- 10. Quartz, 
tus, 1 1 . Topasfels, 
j. Porphyry, 12. Kieselschiefer. 
6. Sienife, 
Let us take a view of each of these ia 
order. 
Granite is composed essentially of felspar, 
quartz, and mica, crystallized and united to 
each other. The size and proportion of the 
constituents vary exceedingly ; but the fels- 
par usually predominates, and the proportion 
of mica is smallest. Its texture is granular, 
and its liardness usually very considerable: 
hence it admits a fine polish, and is very 
beautiful and durable. Granite sometimes 
contains schorl accidentally mixed with it, 
and still more rarely garnets. Granite rocks 
are sometimes stratified, and sometimes not. 
They are very common, especially in great 
chains of mountains. Granite contains few 
ores. Those of iron and tin occur most fre- 
quently. See Granite and Gneiss. 
Gneiss, like granite, is composed essential- 
ly of felspar, quartz, and mica ; but they 
form plates which are laid on each other, and 
separated by thin layers of mica. The beds 
of gneiss sometimes alternate with Rivers of 
granular limestone, shistose, hornblende, and 
porphyry. 
Micaceous shistus. This rock is com- 
posed essentially of quartz and mica, which 
alternate in plates. The mica is usually most 
abundant. It is grey or brown, and some- 
times greenish. The texture of micaceous 
shistus is essentially shistose. Its stratifica- 
tion is very distinct. It very frequently con- 
tains garnets, and sometimes felspar, cy anile, 
granalite, and tourmalines. In mountains, 
beds of micaceous shistus often alternate 
with those of granular limestone and horn- 
blende shistus, and sometimes with those of 
actinote, pyrites, galena, and other metallic 
bodies. Indeed almost all the metals are 
found in it either in beds or veins. 
Argillaceous shistus. This rock is com- 
posed essentially of slate or argillaceous shis- 
tus ; but it sometimes contains accidentally 
quartz, felspar, shorl, hornblende, and py- 
rites. It is always shistose ; but the thick- 
ness of the layers varies considerably. The 
beds of this rock are often interrupted by 
subordinate beds of other minerals. ; the 
chief of these are chlorite-shislus, talc-shistus, 
zeichen-schiefer, alum-shistus. These fre- 
quently pass into argillaceous shistus. Some- 
times also beds of granular limestone, horn- 
blende, and some metallic ores, alternate 
with argillaceous shistus. This rock usually 
covers micaceous shistus. 
Ores arc common in this rock, but less so 
than in the two preceding. They are usually 
in veins. 
Porphyry. The term porphyry js applied 
| to all rocks consisting of a compact ground, 
in which distinct and separate crystals of 
some other substance are embedded". Wer- 
ner confines it to certain primitive rocks 
which belong to a particular formation. 
These, considered relative 'to their ground, 
are divided into rive species, each of which 
is denominated from its ground. 
1. Hornstone porphyry. The hornstone 
is sometimes conchoidal, sometimes splintery. 
