R H E 
and in many places both sects use the same church. The 
chief town is Rheineck.—Rheinthal is also the name of a 
small track in Baden, beginning at the town of Rheinfelden, 
and extending downward along the right bank of the Rhine. 
RILEINZABERN, a town in the north-east of France, in 
Alsace, on the Erlebach. Population 1000 ; 8 miles south¬ 
east of Landau, and 15 north-east of Weissenburg. 
RHEMAN, or Reman, a fortified place of Asia, in 
Mesopotamia, which belonged to the Romans, according to 
Ammianus Marcell inus. 
RHEMBA, an Hindoo goddess, corresponding to the popu¬ 
lar Venus of the Greeks. Like her she sprang from the foam 
of the ocean, when churned by the gods and demons for the 
purpose of obtaining the amrita, or beverage of immortality. 
RHENANUS (Beatus), a learned German, was born at 
Rheinac, in 1485, and died at Strasburgh, in 1547. He was 
corrector of the press for Frobenius, and by that means 
formed an intimacy with Erasmus. He wrote “ A History 
of Germany,” 4to.; “ Illyrici Provinciarum utrique Impe- 
riorum Romano, tarn Constantinopolitano Servientis, De¬ 
scription 8vo. 
RHENEA, an island of the JEgean sea, in the neigh¬ 
bourhood of that of Delos. Strabo says that it was deserted, 
but that it was the place of burial for the inhabitants of 
Delos; which being deemed sacred, it was forbidden to bury 
the dead in it. The two isles of Delos and Rhenea are 
called “ Dili or Isdiles.” 
Rhenea retains its name, and is denominated also Great 
Delos; it is separated from the famous island of Delos by a 
strait of about 500 toises. In the middle of this narrow 
channel are two shoals, called the Great and the Little 
Ramateari: the ancient Greeks had consecrated the larger 
to Hecate or Diana, and called it the island of Hecate, or 
Psammite. Ships, even men of war, find good anchorage 
near this island. Lat. 37.10. N. long. 25.15. E. 
RHENFERD (James), a celebrated German oriental 
scholar in the 17th and earlier part of the 18th century, 
was the son of a minister at Mulheim, in Westphalia. He 
went through a course of academical studies at the college of 
Meurs, a city in the dutchy of Cleves, and afterwards travelled 
for improvement into foreign countries. In 1678, when he 
was twenty-four years of age, he accepted an invitation to 
become rector of the Latin college in the city of Franeker; 
but upon the condition that, while he held that post, heshould 
be at liberty to deliver lectures on the oriental languages to which 
he was attached. He became an adept in the study of the 
Cabala, and maintained public theses, in which he endea¬ 
voured to prove its utility in illustrating several obscure 
passages in the Apocalypse. In 1680, he resigned his 
rectorship and removed to Amsterdam, where some of the 
most wealthy families employed him in the capacity of tutor, 
and he enjoyed at the same time a favourable opportunity 
for conversing with learned Jews, and improving his 
knowledge of Rabbinical learning. In the year 1683, a 
vacancy having taken place in the professorship of the 
oriental languages and sacred philosophy at the University 
of Franeker, by the removal of the famous Vitringa to the 
theological chair, M. Rhenferd received an invitation to fill 
it; which he accepted. Rhenferd held this post nearly 
thirty years, during which he had the honour of being thrice 
chosen rector of the University. He died in 1712, when 
he was in the 59th year of his age. His learning 
was general and extensive. It was his delight to treat 
on singular subjects, and such as had not been discussed 
by any preceding writer. He published many works, of 
which the most important are: “ Dispositio Scholastica 
argumentorum, quibus probatur Mortem corporalem non 
esse paenam Peceati,” 1693; “ De Antiquitate Characteris 
h'odierni Judaici,” 1696, 4to., in which he endeavours to 
establish the claim of the present Hebrew characters to the 
highest antiquity, and to prove that the Samaritan characters 
were borrow'ed from the Hebrews; “ Rulimenta Gram¬ 
matics Harmonic® Linguarum Orientalium, Hebroe®, 
Chaldaic®, Syriac®, et Arabic®,” which he did not live to 
finish. Morcri. 
Vol. XXII. No. 1483. 
R H E 49 
RHE'NISH, s. A kind of German wine.—A pestilence 
on him for a mad rogue! he poured a flagon of Rhenish on 
my head once. Shakspeare. 
RHENONES, among the ancient Germans, a kind of 
garment covering the shoulders and breast down to the mid¬ 
dle. It was either entirely made of skins, or covered over 
with them; the long hair of which being outward, proved a 
good defence against rain. 
RHENSE, or Recs, a town of the Prussian states, on 
the Rhine ; 5 miles south of Coblentz. Population 1000. 
RHEO-STATICS, is used by some pedants for the statics, 
or science of the equilibrium of fluids. 
RESAPHA, a town of Syria, in the : Palmyrene, near 
Cholle. Ptol. . 
RHESCIPA, or Reschipha, a town of Asia, in Meso¬ 
potamia, upon the banks of the Euphrates, between Bethauna 
and Agamana. PtoL 
RHESINA, a town of Asia, near Mesopotamia, on the 
river Aboras. Steph. Byz. 
RHETICUS (George Joachim), an excellent German 
astronomer and mathematician in the sixteenth century, 
was born in the year 1514. Discovering early an in¬ 
clination towards the study of the mathematics, he was 
initiated in the elements of that science atZuric; whence he 
removed to the University of Wittemberg, where he took 
the degree of master of philosophy in 1535 ; and two years 
afterwards, he was made joint professor of the mathematics 
and astronomy with the famous Reinhold. While he was 
daily rising into reputation by his lectures, he was informed 
of the hypothesis of Copernicus concerning the revolution of 
the heavenly bodies; which appeared to him to be so reason, 
able, that he determined to resign his professorship, and study 
the doctrine under the instructions of its author. Accord¬ 
ingly, in 1539, he left Wittemberg and went into Prussia, 
where he became a disciple of that great man; to 
whose system he was soon entirely converted, and whom 
he afterwards assisted for some years in his astronomical 
labours. While our author continued in Prussia, in order 
to rend.er astronomical calculations more accurate, he began 
his very elaborate “ Canon Doctrin® Triangulorum,” or, 
Canon of Sines, Tangents, and Secants, to fifteen places of 
figures, and to every ten seconds of the quadrant: a design 
which he did not live quite to complete. The canon of 
sines, however, to the same radius, tor every ten seconds, 
and for every single second in the first and last degree of 
the quadrant, computed by him, was published at Francfort 
in 1613, folio, by Pitiscus, who himself added a few of the' 
first sines computed to twenty-two places of figures. But 
the larger work, or, Canon of Sines, Tangents, and Secants 
to every ten seconds, was perfected and published after his 
death, in 1596, by his disciple, Valentine Otho, mathema¬ 
tician to the Elector Prince Palatine Frederic IV. Of this 
work an account and an analysis may be seen in Dr. Hut¬ 
ton’s historical Introduction to his “ Logarithms,’- p. 9. 
Upon the death of Copernicus, who lived only a few hours 
after he received a copy of his printed work, Rheticus re¬ 
turned to Wittemberg, and was again admitted to his post 
of mathematical and astronomical professor. About the same 
time, upon the recommendation of Melancthon, he went to 
Nuremberg, where he found certain manuscripts of Werner 
and Regiomontanus. In the-year 1576, upon the invitation 
of a Hungarian nobleman, he went to Cassavia, in Hungary ; 
where, in consequence of sleeping in a room recently plais- 
tered, lie had a disorder of the lungs, which proved fatal to 
him in the 63d year of his age. He composed and published 
“ Ephemerides,” according to the doctrine of Copernicus, 
till the year 1551; “ Orationes de Astronomia, Geometria, 
et Physica“ Borussi® Encomiumand he also projected, ■ 
and partly executed, though they were never published, va¬ 
rious other works. Hutton s Math. Diet.. 
.RIIE'TOR, s. [Latin; s^ta'o, Gr.] A rhetorican.—Your 
hearing, what is it but as of a rhetor at a desk, to commend 
or dislike ? Hammond. 
Senators and pretors,. . ■ J •' 
With great dictators, us’d to apply to rhetors. Butler. 
O RHETORIANS, 
