RUN 
RUS 
both together make 75.65 feet, the content 
of the solid. 
The girt or circumference of a tree, or 
round piece of timber given ; to find the 
side of the .square within, or the number 
of inches of a side, when the round timber 
is squared. Set 10 on A to 9 on B, then 
against the girt on A are the inches for the 
side of a square on the line B. 
RUM, a species of vinous spirit, distilled 
from sugar canes. 
RUMEN, in comparative anatomy, the 
paunch, or first stomach of such animals as 
chew the end, thence called ruminant ani- 
mals. The rumen is by far the largest of all 
the stomachs, and in it the whole mass of 
crude aliments, both solid and liquid, lies 
and macerates, to be tlience transmitted to 
the mouth to be again chewed, comminuted, 
and fitted for further digestion in the other 
ventricles. 
The ruminant animals, Mr. Ray observes, 
are all hairy quadrupeds, vivipai'ous, and 
have four stomachs ; they also want the 
dentes primores, or broad teeth in the fore- 
part of the upper jaw, and are furnished 
with that kind of fat called suet, sebum. 
RUMEX, in botany, dock, a genus of the 
Hexandria Trigynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Holoraceae. Polygone®, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx three- 
leaved ; petals three, converging ; seed 
one, three-sided. There are thirty-six 
species. 
RUMMAGE, in the sea-language, signi- 
fies to clear a ship’s hold, or to remove 
goods from one place of it to anotlier. 
RUMOURS, spreading such as are false, 
is criminal and punishable by common law. 
RUMPHIA, in botany, so named in ho- 
nour of George'Everhard Rumphiiis, M. D. 
a genus of the Triandria Monogynia class 
and order. N atural order of Terebintace® , 
Jussieu. Essential character : calyx three- 
cleft ; petals three ; drupe three-celled. 
There is only one species, viz. R. amboinen- 
sis, a native of the East Indies. 
RUNDLET, or Runlet, a small vessel, 
containing an uncertain quantity of any 
liquor 5 from three to twenty gallons. 
RUNGS, in a ship, the same with the 
floor or ground timbers, being the timbers 
which constitute her floor, and are bolted 
to the keel, whose ends are rung-heads. 
Rung heads, in a ship, are made a little 
bending, to direct the swhep or mould of 
the futtocks and navel timbers ; for here 
the lines, which make the compass and 
bearing of a ship, do begin. 
RUNIC, a term applied to the langttage 
and letters of the ancient Goths, Danes, 
and other northern nations. 
RUNNER, in tlie sea language, a rope 
belonging to the garnet, and to the t^ 
bolt-tackles. It is reeved in a single block 
joined to the end of a pennant, and has at 
one end a hook to hitch into any thing, and 
at the other end a double block, into 
which IS reeved the fall of the tackle, or the 
garnet, by which means it purchases more 
than the tackle would without it. 
RUNNET, or Rennet, the acid juice 
found in the stomachs of calves that have 
fed on nothing but milk, and are killed be- 
fore the digestion is perfect. 
RUPALA, in botany, a genus of the Tg- 
trandria Monogynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Contort®. Prot®, Jussieu. 
Essential character: calyx none; petals 
four, cohering at the base ; stamina inserted 
into the middle of the petals pericarpium 
one-celled, one-seeded. There are two 
species, viz. R. montana and R. sessilifolia, 
both natives of Cayenne. 
RUPERT’S drops, a sort of glass-drops 
with long and slender tails, which burst 
to pieces on the breaking off those tails in 
any part, said to have been invented by 
Prince Rupert, and therefore called after 
his name. This surprising phenomenon is 
supposed to rise from hence, that while the 
glass is in fusion, or in a melted state, tlie 
particles of it are in a state of repulsion j 
but being dropped into cold water, it so 
condenses the particles in the external 
parts of tlmir superficies, that they are 
easily reduced within the power of each 
other’s attraction, and by that means they 
form a sort of hard case, which keeps con- 
fined the before-mentioned particles in their 
repulsive state ; but when this outer-case is 
brqkeuj by breaking off the tail of the drop, 
the said confined particles have then a 
liberty to exert their force, which they do 
by bursting the body of the drop, and re- 
ducing it to a very peculiar form of powder. 
RUPPIA, in botany, so named in memo- 
ry of Henry Bernhard Ruppius, a genus of 
the Tetrandria Tetragynia class and order. 
Natural order of Inundat®. Naiades, Jus- 
sieu. Essential character : calyx none ; 
corolla none ; seeds four, pedicelled. There 
is but one species, viz. R. maritima, sea 
ruppia, or tassel pond-weed. 
RUSCUS, in botany, butchers broom, a 
genus of the Dioecia Syngenesia class and 
order. Natural order of Sarmentacetfe. 
Asparagi, Jussieu. Essential character ; 
