RAM 
seems to have been no more than a great 
beam which the soldiers bore on their arms 
and shoulders, and with one end of it by 
main force assailed the wall. The com- 
pound ram is thus described by Josephus ; 
it is a vast beam, like the mast of a ship, 
strenghened at one end with a head of 
iron, something resembling that of a ram, 
whence it took its name. 
Ram’s head, in a ship, is a great block 
belonging to the fore and main halliards. 
It has three shivers in it, into which the 
Sralliards are pul, and in a hole at the end of 
it are reeved the ties. 
RAMMER of a gun, the gun-stick, a 
rod used in charging of a gun, to drive 
home the powder, as also the shot and the 
wad, which keeps the shot from rolling out. 
The rammer of a great gun is used for the 
same purpose. It has a round piece of 
w'ood at one end, and the other is usually 
rolled in a piece of sheep skin, fitted to the 
bore of the piece, and is used to clear her 
after she has been discharged, which is 
called sponging the piece. 
RAMPANT, in heraldry, a term ap- 
plied to a lion, leoprid, or other beast that 
stands on his hind legs, and rears up his 
fore feet in the posture of climbing, shew- 
ing only one half his face, as one eye,. &c. 
It is different from salient, in which the 
beast seems springing forward as if mekiag 
a sally. 
RAMPART, in fortification, is an ele- 
vation of earth round a place capable of 
resisting the cannon of an enemy, and 
formed into bastions, curtins, &c. A rrm- 
part ought to be sloped on both sides, and 
to be broad enough to allow room for the 
marching of waggons and cannoa, beside 
that allowed for the parapet wliich is raised 
on it : its thickness is generally about ten 
or twelve fathom, and its height not above 
three, which is sufficient to covsr ie houses 
from the battery of the caanoa. The ram- 
part is encompassed with a ditch, and is 
sometimes lined or fortifie^ on the inside. 
Upon the rampart the soldiers continually 
keep guard, and pieces of artillery are 
planted there for the defence of the place. 
Rampart, in civil architecture, is used 
for the space left between the wall of a 
city, and the next houses. 
RAMPHASTOS, the toucan, in natural 
history, a genus of birds of the order Pic®. 
Generic character: bill extremely large, 
hollow, carinated on the top, and serrated 
at the edges; nostrils long, narrow, and 
behind the base of the bill ; tongue ciliated. 
RAN 
These birds have been met with only m 
South America, and there merely between 
the tropics, being totally incapable of sus- 
taining the cold. They subsist on fruits, 
particularly of the palm tree. They build 
in the hollows of trees, and generally in 
recesses previously formed for the same 
purpose by the woodpecker, their own bill 
being exquisitely tender. They are easily 
tamed and familiarized, and several species 
have been brought to England, where 
fruits, fish, and flesh, have been promiscu- 
ously devoured by them with considerable 
voracity. Whatever was received by the bill 
was thrown into the air, and, on its return 
caught, and without the slightest mastica- 
tion, or almost compression, instantaneously 
swallowed. The climate alone appeared to 
disagree with them. There are seventeen 
species enumerated by Gmelin, and fifteen 
by Latham. For the yellow- throated tou- 
can, see Aves, Plate XIII. fig. 2. 
RAN, an old English word, denoting 
open and barefaced robbery ; hence has ob- 
tained the phrase, “ he has taken all he can 
rap and ran.” The word has been defined 
by law writers : “ Ran dicitur aperta ra- 
pina qua negari non potest.” 
RAN A, the frog, in natural history, a 
genus of Amphibia of the order Reptiles. 
Generic character: body four-footed, tail- 
less, end without any integument but the 
skin ; hind legs longer than the fore. There 
are thirty six species, of which the follow- 
ing deserve the chief attention : 
R. bufo, the common toad, is found in 
shady and damp situations throughout Eu- 
rope, and often is met with in cellars, con- 
cealed in recesses and holes, which it some- 
tisaes prepares for itself, but generally finds 
already accommodated to its purpose. In 
spring it moves towards the water, and lays 
its ova ia a brilliant band of glutinous sub- 
stsnce, several feet in length. The ova 
appear like beads of jet, and in fourteen 
days these cosivolved larv® are developed 
and swim about, nourishing themselves 
by insects and vegetable substances, till 
their tail disappears, and their legs are 
formed, and they pass from water to land. 
The toad is always covered with tubercles, 
is generally of a dark brown colour above, 
and a light yellow on the lower parts both 
of the body qhd limbs. It lives to a consi- 
derable age, surviving, in some instances, 
even twenty years, and the case of a toad, 
which arrived at the age of forty, is men- 
tioned by Mr. Pennant. This was remark- 
able, not only for its longevity, but for be- 
