reformation 
Festival of the Reformation, an annual commemora- 
tion in Germany, and among Lutherans generally, of the 
nailing of the ninety-live theses on the doors of the Castle 
church at Wittenberg on October 31st, 1517. Reforma- 
tion of the calendar, the institution of the Gregorian 
calendar. See calendar. =Syn. 2. Amendment, Reform, 
Reformation. Amendment may be of any degree, however 
small ; reform applies to something more thorough, and 
reformation to that which is most important, thorough, 
and lasting of all. Hence, when we speak of temperance 
reform, we dignify it less than when we call it temperance 
reformation. Moral reform, religious reformation; tem- 
porary amendment or reform, permanent reformation. He- 
form represents the state more often than reformation. 
reformative (re-for'ma-tiv), a. [= Sp. Pg. re- 
formatiro; as reform + -atire.] Forming again; 
having the property of renewing form. 
reformatory (re-f&r'ma-to-ri), a. and n. [= F. 
reformatoire ='8p. Pg/ rcformatorio ; as reform 
+ -atory.] I. a. Having a tendency to reform 
or renovate; reformative Reformatory school, 
a reformatory. See II. 
II. n. ; pi. reformatories (-riz). An institution 
for the reception and reformation of youths who 
have already begun a career of vice or crime. 
Reformatories,' or reformatory schools, are, in Great Brit- 
ain, identical in character with certified industrial schools, 
admission to either being determined by ditf erences of age 
and criminality, and they differ from ragged schools in so 
far as they are supported by the state, and receive only such 
children or youths as are under judicial sentence. 
reformed (re-formd'),p. a. [Early mod. E. also 
refourmed;\ reform + -ed*.] 1. Corrected; 
amended; restored to a better or to a good state: 
as, a reformed profligate ; reformed spelling. 
Very noble and refourmed knight, by the words of your 
letter I understood howe quickly ye medicine of my writ- 
ing came to your heart. 
Gueuara, Letters (tr. by Hellowes, 1577), p. 181. 
2t. Deprived of rank or position, or reduced in 
pay. See reformado, 2. Captain reformed t. See 
captain. Reformed Bernardines. See Feuillant, 1. 
Reformed Church, (a) A general name for the Protes- 
tant bodies on the continent of Europe which trace their 
origin to the Swiss reformation under Zwingli and Calvin, 
as distinguished from the Lutheran Church. In France 
the Reformed were known as Huguenots. In the Nether- 
lands the Arminians afterward separated from the Cal- 
vinists (Gomarists). In Germany, after 1817, the greater 
part of the Reformed and Lutherans combined to 
form the United Evangelical Church. Specifically (b) 
In the United states : (1) The Reformed (Dutch) Church 
in America, growing out of a union among the Dutch 
churches in America in 1770 and finally perfected in 
1812. The territory of the denomination was at first 
limited to the States of New York and New Jersey and a 
small part of Pennsylvania, but was gradually extended 
to the West. The affairs of each congregation are man- 
aged by a consistory, consisting of elders and deacons 
chosen for two years. The elders, with the pastor, receive 
and dismiss members and exercise discipline ; the deacons 
have charge of the alms. Both together are ex officio 
trustees of the church, hold its property, and call its min- 
ister. Ex-elders and ex-deacons constitute what is called 
the Great Consistory, which may be summoned to give ad- 
vice in important matters. The minister and one elder 
from each congregation in a certain district constitute a 
classis, which supervises spiritual concerns in that district. 
Four ministers and four elders from each classis in a larger 
district make a Particular Synod, with similar powers. 
Representatives, clerical and lay, from each classis, pro- 
portioned in number to the size of the classis, constitute 
the General Synod, which has supervision of the whole, 
and is a court of last resort in judicial cases. The church 
is Calvinistic in its theological belief, and possesses a lit- 
urgy the greater part of which is optional except the offices 
for the sacraments, for ordination, and for church disci- 
pline. (?) The Reformed (German) Church in the United 
States. This church was constituted by colonies from 
Germany in New York, Maryland, Virginia, and North and 
South Carolina. The first synod was organized September 
27th, 1747, under the care of the Reformed Classis of Am- 
sterdam. The church holds to the parity of the ministry, 
maintains a presbyterial form of government, is moder- 
ately Calvinistic in its theology, and provides liturgical 
forms of service, which are, however, chiefly optional (3) 
The True Reformed Dutch Church, the result of a seces- 
sion from the Reformed Dutch Church in America in 1822. 
(4) The Reformed Episcopal Church, an Episcopal church 
organized in the United States in 1878, by eight clergy- 
men and twenty laymen previously members of the Prot- 
estant Episcopal Church. It maintains the episcopacy 
as a desirable form of church polity, but not as of divine 
obligation, continues to use the Book of Common Prayer, 
but in a revised form, and rejects the doctrines of apos- 
tolic succession, the priesthood of the clergy, the sacrifice 
or oblation in the Lord's Supper, the real presence, and 
baptismal regeneration. Reformed officer, in the Brit- 
ish army, one who is continued on full pay or half-pay 
after his troops are broken up. Farrow, Mil. Encyc. Re- 
formed Presbyterian Church, a Presbyterian denomi- 
nation originating in Scotland. See Cameronian, n., 1, 
and Covenanter, 2. Reformed procedure. See equity, 
2 (&). The Reformed, on the continent of Europe, Cal- 
vinistic Protestants as distinguished from Lutherans. 
reformedlyt (re-for'med-li), adv. In or after 
the manner of a reform. [Bare.] 
A fierce Reformer once, now ranckl'd with a contrary 
heat, would send us back, very refarmedlg indeed, to learn 
Reformation from Tyndarus and Rebulfus, two canonical 
Promoters. Milton, Touching Hirelings. 
reformer (re-for'mer), n. [< reform + -er 1 .] 
1. One who effects a reformation or amend- 
ment: as, a reformer of manners or of abuses; 
specifically [cap.], one of those who instituted 
5038 
or assisted in the religious reformatory move- 
ments of the sixteenth century and earlier. 
God's passionless reformers, influences 
That purify and heal and are not seen. 
Lowell, Under the Willows. 
2. One who promotes or urges reform: as, a 
tariff reformer; a spelling refortm r. 
They could not call him a revenue reformer, and still 
less could they call him a civil-service reformer, for there 
were few abuses of the civil service of which he had not, 
during the whole of his life, been an active promoter. 
The Nation, XV. 68. 
reformist (re-f6r'mist), n. [= F. reformiste; 
as reform + ^ist.] 1|. [cap."] One who is of the 
reformed religion ; a Protestant. 
This comely Subordination of Degrees we once had, and 
we had a visible conspicuous Church, to whom all other 
Reformists gave the upper Hand. Howett, Letters, iv. 36. 
2. One who proposes or favors a political re- 
form. [Rare.] 
Such is the language of reform, and the spirit of a re- 
formist ! I. D'Israeli, Calam. of Authors, p. 204. 
refortify (re-for'ti-fi), v. t. [= OF. (and F.) re- 
fortifier = It. rifortificare, < ML. refortificare, 
< L. re-, again, -t- ML. fortificare, fortify: see 
fortify.] To fortify anew. 
refossiont (re-fosh'on), n. [< L. refossus, pp. 
of refodere, dig up or out again, < re-, again, + 
fodere, dig : see fossil.] The act of digging up 
again. 
Hence are . . . refossion of graues, torturing of the sur- 
viving, worse than many deaths. 
I;,,. Hall, St. hail's Combat. 
refound 1 (re-found'), i'. t. [< OF. (and F.) re- 
fonder, found or build again, < re-, again, + 
fonder, found : see found 2 .] To found again or 
anew; establish on a different basis. 
George II. refounded and reformed the Chair which I 
have the honour to fill. 
StiMi, Medieval and Modern Hist., p. 4. 
refound 2 (re-found'), v. t. [< OF. (and F.) re- 
fondre = Pr. refondre = Sp. Pg. refundir = It. 
rifondere, cast over again, recast, < L. refun- 
dere, pour back or out, < re-, back, + fundere, 
pour: see found 3 .] To found or cast anew. 
Perhaps they are all antient bells refounded. 
T. Warton, Hist. Kiddington, p. 8. 
refounder (re-foun'der), n. [trefound 1 + -er 1 .] 
One who refounds, rebuilds, or reestablishes. 
Charlemagne, . . . the refmiader of that empire which 
is the ideal of despotism in the Western world. 
Lowell, Study Windows, p. 142. 
refract (re-frakf), v. t. [= F. refracter, < L. 
refractus, pp. of refringere, break back, break 
up, break open, hence turn aside, < re-, back, 
+ frangere, break: see fraction. Cf. refrain?.] 
To bend back sharply or abruptly ; especially, 
in optics, to break the natural course of, as of a 
ray of light ; deflect at a certain angle on pass- 
ing from one medium into another of a differ- 
ent density. See refraction. 
Visual beams refracted through another's eye. 
Selden, Pref. to Drayton's Polyolbion. 
refractable (re-frak'ta-bl), a. [< refract + 
-able.] Capable of being refracted; refrangi- 
ble, as a ray of light or heat. Dr. H. More. 
refractaryt (re-frak'ta-ri), a. [= OF. refrac- 
taire, F. refraetaire = 'Sp. Pg. refractario = It. 
rcfrattario, < L. refractarius, stubborn, obsti- 
nate, refractory, < refringere, pp. refractus, 
break in pieces: see refract and -aryi. Cf. re- 
fractory.] The earlier and more correct form 
of refractory. Cotgrave. 
refracted (re-frak'ted), a. In bot., same as re- 
flexed, but abruptly bent from the base. Gray. 
refracting (re-frak'ting), p. a. Serving or tend- 
ing to refract; turning from a direct course. 
Doubly refracting spar, Iceland spar. See calcite and 
Pr2. Refracting angle of a prism, the angle formed 
by the two faces of the triangular prism used to decom- 
pose white or solar light. Refracting dial See dial. 
Refracting surface, a surface bounding two trans- 
parent media, at which a ray of light, in passing from one 
into the other, undergoes refraction. Refracting sys- 
tem, in lighthouses, same as dioptric system (which see, 
u nder dioptric). Refracting telescope. See telescope. 
refraction (re-frak'shon), . [< OF. refraction, 
F. refraction = Sp. refraccion = Pg. refracc,ao = 
It. rtfrazione, refrazione, < ML. refractio(n-), lit. 
a breaking up (in logic tr. Or. avdidaate), NL. re- 
fraction, \ L. refringere, pp. refractus, break up, 
break open, break topieces: seerefract.] 1. The 
act of refracting, or the state of being refracted : 
almost exclusively restricted to physics, and 
applied to a deflection or change of direction 
of rays, as of light, heat, or sound, which are ob- 
liquely incident upon and pass through a smooth 
surface bounding two media not homogeneous, 
as air and water, or of rays which traverse a 
refraction 
medium the density of which is not uniform, as 
the atmosphere. It is found (1) that, when passing 
into a denser isotropic medium, the ray is refracted toward 
the perpendicular to the surface, and bent away from it 
when passing into one less dense ; (2) that the sines of the 
angles of incidence and refraction bear a constant ratio to 
each other for any two given media ; and (:i) that the inci- 
dent ray and the refracted ray are in the same plane. Thus, 
if (flg. 1) SP represents a ray 
incident upon the surface of s\ 
water at P, it will be bent away 
from its original direction SPL 
toward the perpendicular Qq in 
passing into the denser medium, 
and make an angle }PR, such 
that the 8 ! n -4^- is a constant 
j R 
Fig. i. 
sin 
quantity that is, the perpen- 
dicular distance of a point q 
(such that the line from it to P, 
the point of incidence, is normal 
to the surface) from the refracted 
path bears a constant ratio to its distance from the path 
as it would be without refraction, however the angle of 
incidence varies ; but this constant depends on the nature 
of the two media. If the first medium is air, this con- 
stant ratio is called the index of refraction or refractive 
index of the given substance (or ). Again, if the ray 
proceeded from R to P, it would be bent away from the 
perpendicular in the direction PS. The latter case is pe- 
culiar, however, in that for a certain angle of incidence 
called the critical angle {whose sine = 1/n) the angle of re- 
fraction of QPS is a right angle and a ray incident at P 
at any greater angle cannot pass out into the rarer medium 
at all, but suffers total reflec- 
tion at P. In flg. 2, AHC is 
the angle of incidence, and 
EHKtheangle of refraction, 
CD being the normal to the 
surface ; if, further, the sec- 
ond surface is parallel to the 
first, the ray emerging into 
the original medium at E 
has a diiection EF parallel 
with its first direction, AH. 
If (flg. 3) the refracting me- 
dium has the form of a prism (ABC), the incident ray LF 
suffers a double change of direction, first (FE) in passing 
into the prism, and second (EG) in emerging from it ; the 
total angle of deviation IDL varies in value with a change 
in the direction of LF. but has a definite minimum value 
when the angles of incidence and emergence are equal. 
If rf represents the angle of the prism BAC, and r the 
angle of minimum deviation, LDI, then the refractive 
index of the material of which the prism is made is 
given by the relation n = "",;,, i^ " n>e an 8 le ' de- 
viation or refraction also increases as the wave-length of 
the ray diminishes, and hence a beam of white light in 
passing through a prism 
is both refracted and dis- . A 
persed, thus yielding a 
spectrum. The phenom- 
ena of the refraction of 
light explain the proper- 
ties of lenses (see lent) 
and of prisms (see prism 
and spectrum). Sound- i - 
waves may also be re- 
fracted when passing 
from one medium to an- 
other of different den- 
sity, obeying the same 
laws as light Double 
refraction is the separa- 
along the path LF, FE. EG. 
tion of a ray of light into two rays, which are unequally 
refracted upon passing through an anisotropic medium. 
This property belongs to all transparent crystalline sub- 
stances except those of the isometric system. A strik- 
ing example Is calcite, hence called doubly refracting 
spar. In uniaxial crystals (those belonging to the te- 
tragonal and hexagonal systems) one of the rays follows 
the ordinary law of refraction (see law (2), above), and is 
called the ordinary ray; the other, which does not, is 
called the extraordinary ray; both rays are polarized 
(see polarization), the ordinary ray having vibrations 
perpendicular to and the extraordinary ray vibrations 
parallel to the vertical axis. If the index of refraction 
is greater for the ordinary ray than for the extraordi- 
nary ray, the crystal is said to be negative, and in the op- 
posite case positive : otherwise expressed, a crystal is neg- 
ative or positive according as the cry stall ographic axis 
(optical axis) is the axis of greatest or of least elasticity. 
In the direction of the vertical axis a ray suffers no double 
refraction, and this direction is called the optic axis. In 
biaxial crystals (those belonging to the orthoi hombic, 
monuclinic, and triclinic systems) neither ray follows the 
ordinary law of refraction, and there are two directions. 
called optic axes, lying in the plane of the axes of greatest 
and least elasticity, in which a ray suffers no double re- 
fraction. There are also three indices of refraction, corre- 
sponding to the rays propagated by vibrations parallel to 
the three axes of elasticity. A biaxial crystal is called 
negative or positive according as the acute bisectrix coin- 
cides with the axis of greatest or of least elasticity. Ac- 
cording to the degree of difference between the two indices 
of refraction of a uniaxial crystal and between the greatest 
and least of the three indices of a biaxial crystal, the double 
refraction is said to be strong or weak; upon this difference 
depends the brilliancy of color of thin sections of a crystal 
as seen in polarized light. Amorphous substances like 
glass do not show double refraction, except under abnor- 
mal conditions, as when subjected to unequal strains, as 
in glass suddenly cooled. This is also true of crystals be- 
longing to the isometric system, which, however, some- 
times show secondary or abnormal double refraction (as 
garnet), due to internal molecular strain or other cause. 
For the refraction of the eye, see eye*, and crystalline hu- 
mor (under crystalline). Errors of refraction in the eye are 
tested by trial with lenses, test types, etc., by the ophthal- 
moscope, or by skiascopy or the shadow-test, and are cor- 
reeled by appropriate glasses. 
