REE 
two or three banquettes, and be about nine 
or ten feet thick. They are sometimes (in 
a siege) called places of arms. 
REDUCTION of metals, in chemistry. 
All metals, even the few that resist the 
action of heat and air, undergo a similar 
change when exposed to acids, especially 
the sulphuric, the nitric, and the muriatic, 
or a mixture of the tw o last. All metals, by 
these means, may be converted into pow- 
ders, which have no resemblance to the 
metals from which they were obtained. 
These powders were formerly called calces ; 
but at present they are better known by 
the name of oxides. They are of various 
colours, according to the metal and the 
treatment, and are frequently manufactured 
in large quantities to serve as paints. When 
these oxides are mixed with charcoal pow- 
der and heated in a crucible, they lose 
their earthy appearance, and are changed 
again into tlie metals from which they were 
produced. Oil, tallow, hydrogen gas, and 
other combustible bodies, may be often 
substituted for charcoal. By this operation, 
which is called the reduction of the oxides, 
the combustible is diminished, and indeed 
undergoes the very same change as when it 
is burnt. In the language of Stahl, it loses 
its phlogiston ; and this induced him to 
conclude that metals are composed of earth 
and phlogiston. Mr. Davy, as we have 
seen in other parts of this work, inclines to 
the opinion that tliere are only two prin- 
ciples in nature, an inflammable and me- 
tallic principle. 
REDUCTION. See Arithmetic. 
Reduction of a figure, design, or draught, 
is the making a copy thereof, either larger 
or smaller than the original ; still preserving 
the form and proportion. The great use of 
the proportional compasses is the reduction 
of figures, &c. whence they are called com- 
passes of reduction. There are various me- 
thods of reducing figures, the most easy is by 
means of the pentagraph, or parallelogram ; 
but this has its defects. See Pentagraph. 
REE, Reis, or Res, a little Portuguese 
copper coin. 
REED, an ancient Jewish measure. See 
Measure. 
Reed, or the Common Reed, in botany, 
arundo. See Arundo. 
REEF, a term in navigation. When there 
is a great gale of wind, they commonly roll 
up part of the sail below, that by this means 
it may become the narrower, and not draw 
so much wind ; which contracting or taking 
up the sail they call a reef, or reefing the 
VOL. V. 
REF 
sail : so also when a top-mast is sprung, as 
they call it, that is, when it is cracked, or 
almost broken in the cap, they cut off the 
lower piece that was nearly broken off, and 
setting the other part, now much shorter, 
in the sgep again, they call it a reefed top- 
mast. The term “ reef” implies also a 
chain of rocks lying near the surface of the 
water. 
REEL, in the manufactories, a machine 
serving for the office of reeling. There are 
various kinds of reels, some very simple, 
others very complex. Of the former kinds 
those most in use are, 1. A little reel held 
in the hand, consisting of three pieces of 
wood, the biggest and longest whereof 
(which does not exceed a foot and a half in 
length, and one-fourth of an inch in diame^ 
ter) is traversed by two other pieces dis- 
posed different ways. 2. The common reel, 
or windlass, which turns upon a pivot, and 
has four flights traversed by long pins or 
sticks, whereon the skein to be reeled is 
put, and which are drawn closer or opened 
wider, according to the skein. 
REELING, in the manufactories, the 
winding of thread, silk, cotton, or the like, 
into a skein, or upon a bottom, to prevent 
its entangling. It is also used for the charg- 
ing or discharging of bobbins or quills, to 
use them in the manufacture of different 
stuffs, as thread, silk, cotton, &c. Reeling 
is performed different ways, and on different 
engines. 
RE-ENTRY, in law, signifies the resum- 
ing or retaking a possession in land lately 
lost. 
REFERENCE, in law, is where a matter 
is referred by the Court of Chancery to a 
master, and by the courts at law to a pro- 
thonotary, or secondary, to examine and 
report to the court. Reference also signi- 
fies where a matter in dispute is referred to 
the decision of an arbitrator. This is done 
either by parol agreement, or by bond, or 
upon a suit, in which latter case the party 
has a rule of court, that the party against 
whom the award is made shall perform it, 
and then he may move to have an attach- 
ment against him if he does not perform it. 
By statute also this may be done, where the 
parties agree that the award should be made 
a rule of court, although there is no suit. 
REFINING. See Assaying. 
REFLECTING circle, an astronomical 
instrument for measuring angles. It is 
called reflecting from its property, in com- 
mon with the Hadley’s quadrant (of which 
it is a modification) of observing one of the 
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