REC 
REC 
sule one celled, five-valved, many-seeded. 
There is but one species, viz. R. vermicur 
lata, an annual plant, and a native of the 
coasts of Egypt, Syria, and Sicily. 
RECEIPTS, are acknowledgments in 
writing of having received a sum of money, 
or other value. A receipt is either a voucher 
for an obligation discharged, or one incur- 
red. Receipts for money above 40s. must 
be on stamps ; but on the back of a bill of 
exchange or promissory note which is al- 
ready stamped, they are good without a 
further duty. AVriting a receipt on a stamp 
of greater value than the law requires, in- 
curs no penalty, and the receipt is good ; 
but if on a stamp of a lower value, or on 
unstamped paper, then a receipt is no dis- 
■diarge, and incurs a penalty. The stamp 
acts are very strict in making every written 
acknowledgment of the receipt of money, 
however framed, subject to a stamp, and 
the party liable to a penalty for want of 
compliance with the act. The word “ set- 
tled” to a bill is a receipt ; and also a name 
at the back of a check, or at least these 
can neither of them be produced ; nor any 
other writing to show a payment made, un- 
less accompanied with a stamp. 
RECEIVER, in pneumatics, a glass ves- 
sel for containing the thing on which an ex- 
periment in the air-pump is to be made. 
See Pneumatics. 
Receiver. Receiving stolen goods, 
knowing them to be stolen, is an high mis- 
demeanour at the common law ; and by 
several statutes is made a transportable fe- 
lony, and, in some particular instances, 
felony without benefit of clergy. In some 
cases the receiver may be prosecuted without 
prosecuting the thief, and he may be a wit- 
ness, against the receiver. 
RECEPTACLE, in botany, one of the 
seven parts of fructification, which, ac- 
cording to Linnaeus, is the- base which con- 
nects or supports the other parts. 'A proper 
receptacle obtains diflferent names from the 
parts of the fructification which supports 
and connects. AV^hen both flower and fruit 
are supported by it, it is generally stiled 
the receptacle of the fructification. AVhen 
the receptacle supports the parts of the 
flower only, it is called the receptacle of the 
flower. In such cases, the seed-bud or 
fruit, which is placed below the receptacle 
of the flower, has a proper base of its own, 
which is distinguished by the name of re- 
ceptacle of the fruit. There are simple 
flowers, which have the seed-bud placed 
above the receptacle of the flower, the 
fruit has a separate receptacle ; this is ex- 
empUfied in the magnolia, tulip-tree, &c. 
The term receptacle is often used to signify 
the base to which the seeds are fastened 
within their inclosure, as in the deadly 
night-shade. 
RECIPE, in medicine, a prescription or 
remedy, to be taken by a patient ; so called 
because always beginning with the word 
recipe, i. e. take; which is generally denoted 
by the abbreviature For the rules pro- 
per to be observed in forming recipes, see 
Materia Medica, &c. 
RECIPROCAL terms, among logicians, 
are those which have the same significa- 
tion 5 and consequently are convertible, or 
may be used, for each other. 
Reciprocal, in arithmetic, is the quo- 
tient arising by dividing 1 by any number 
or quantity, thus the reciprocal of 2 is i of 
5, it is i and generally of a it is i : hence, 
the reciprocal of a vulgar fraction is found, 
by barely making the numerator and deno- 
minator mutually change places ; thus, the 
reciprocal of i is | = 2 ; of | it is | ; of 2 
itis^. Hence any quantity being multi- 
plied by its reciprocal, the product is al- 
ways equal to unity ; thus, i x f = 1 ; and 
Reciprocal jdgures, in geometry, those 
which have the antecedents and consequents 
of the same ratio, in both figures. Thus, in 
two rectangles, the side A : B ; : C : D ; or 
12 : 4 : : 9 : 3 ; that is, as much as the side 
A, in the first rectangle, is longer than B, 
so much deeper is the side C, in the second 
rectangle, that the side D in the first ; and, 
consequently the greater length of the one is 
compensated by the greater breadth or 
depth of the other ; for as the side A is one- 
fourth longer than C, so B is one-fourth 
longer than D, and the rectangles of course 
equal ; that is, A x D = B x C, or 12 X 
3 = 4 X 9 = 36. This is the foundation of 
that capital theorem, viz. that the rectangle 
of the extremes- is always equal to that of 
the means ; and, consequently, the reason 
of the rule of three. Hence it follows, that 
if any two triangles, parallelograms, prisms, 
parallelopipeds, pyramids, cones, or cylin- 
ders have their bases and altitudes recipro- 
cally proportional, those two figures or so- 
lids are equal to each other ; and vice versa, 
if they are equal, then their bases and alti- 
tudes are reciprocally proportional. 
