RESTIO. 
Some have simple leaves, and others trifoliate 
leaves; some axillary flowers, and others sessile. 
or subsessile flowers; and most have a. height of 
between 6 and 24 inches. Some are said to be 
grateful to asses, and hence got the name of 
ononis or “ass-delighting ;” and about one-third 
or so are more or less ornamental. 
The cammock, or spring restharrow, or field 
restharrow, Ononis spinosa, or Ononis arvensis, 
is a perennial-rooted indigen of sea-shores and 
fields and other situations in Britain. Its root 
is strong, and resists the action of the harrow’s 
tines, and hence gave rise to the popular name 
restharrow ; its stems are hairy, somewhat woody, 
and commonly about 12 inches high,—yet are 
very various in length; its leaves are generally 
simple and entire towards their base; and its 
flowers are mostly solitary, large, handsome, and 
of a bright flesh colour, and bloom from June till 
August. A variety of it, found in a wild state, 
has white flowers. 
The shrubby restharrow, Ononis fruticosa, is a 
native of the south of France, and was introduced 
to Britain in the latter part of the 17th century, 
and has long been well known in British shrub- 
beries and gardens. It is a hardy, handsome, 
evergreen shrub, of about 2 or 3 feet in height. 
Its branches are numerous and slender, and have 
‘a purplish brown bark; its leaves are trifoliate, 
and come out irregularly on the branches, and 
sit close, and are narrow, lanceolate, and ser- 
rated ; and its flowers come out in panicles from 
the ends of the branches,—and stand on long 
footstalks, generally three on one,—and are large 
and pinkish red,—and bloom in May and June; 
and its pods are short and turgid, and ripen 
their seeds in July or August. 
RESTIO. A genus of monocotyledonous 
plants, constituting the type of the natural or- 
der Restiacesee. This order is nearly allied to 
the sedges and the rushes; and consists of rigid, 
weedy, coarsely grassy looking plants, many of 
them leafless; and occurs only in the southern 
hemisphere, and principally in Australia and 
Southern Africa. Four or five’ hardy species, 3 
or 4 stove species, and nearly 30 greenhouse ones 
have been introduced to the botanical collections 
of Britain; and about’ one-third of the last,— 
chiefly about 3 feet high, some with simple 
culms, and some with branched culms,—belong 
to the genus restio; but all are more curious 
than either beautiful or useful; though some of 
the Cape-of-Good-Hope ones are used in their 
native country for making cordage, and thence 
occasion the genus to be sometimes popularly 
called rope-grass. 
RESTIVENESS. A well-known, most annoy- 
ing, and very dangerous vice in some horses. It 
may sometimes be modified by particular treat- 
ment, or restrained by peculiar circumstances, 
or temporarily subdued by smart and dexterous 
discipline; but scarcely ever or at all can it be 
conquered or even permanently alleviated. “It 
RHEUMATISM. 
45 
is a rule that admits of very few exceptions,” 
remarks Youatt, “that he neither displays his 
wisdom nor consults his safety who attempts to 
conquer a restive horse.” 
REVOLVING HARROW. See Grusser. 
REY-GRASS. See Ryz-Grass. 
RHABDOCHLOA. A genus of exotic grasses, 
of the chloris tribe. Three species—all annual, 
about a foot high, naturally blooming in July 
and August, very handsome in appearance, and 
capable of being grown in the open ground, in 
any ordinary soil,—have been introduced to Bri- 
tish collections from the West Indies and North 
America. 
RHAMNUS. See Bucxtuory. 
RHAPONTICA. <A genus of ornamental, 
hardy, perennial-rooted, purple-flowered, herba- 
ceous plants, of the thistle division of the com- 
posite order. Three species, varying in height 
from 14 to 3 feet, and all blooming in July and 
August, and thriving well in any ordinary soil, 
and nearly allied to the centauries, have been in- 
troduced to Britain. 
RHEUM. See Ruvuspanrs. 
~RHEUMATISM. Inflammation of the cellu- 
lar coat of the muscles, or of the ligaments and 
synovial membranes of the joints. It was formerly 
supposed to arise from a defluction of humours to 
the joints; and it thence acquired its name of 
rheumatism,—from a word signifying a fluxion 
or humour. 
Rheumatism in the horse is denied by some 
veterinarians, and was not long ago denied by 
almost all, yet is really very common. 
from exposure to cold and rain, especially after 
being heated with exercise,—from washing the 
limbs with cold water when they are heated and 
perspiring,—and, in general, from most of the 
causes which induce catarrh and influenza; and 
it most readily attacks young horses who are 
severely worked, and old ones who have lived a 
life of coarse treatment or of hard labour. It is 
sometimes indicated by swelling and perceptible 
tenderness; but, in general, it shows itself by 
mere lameness, accompanied always with expres- 
sion of acute pain, and sometimes with a con- 
siderable degree of feverishness. Whenever lame- 
ness, after a careful examination, cannot be ac- 
counted for, or is found to go off after exercise 
and to return again, it may pretty certainly be 
pronounced rheumatic. It is, in all cases, dis- 
tressing,—in many, obstinate,—in some, a kind 
of torturing palsy,—and, in most, capable of 
great alleviation, and even of a real and per- 
manent cure. The remedies for it are bleeding, 
moderate purgings, fomentations, stimulating 
embrocations, and somewhat warm and uniform 
temperature. 
Rheumatism in cattle is much more frequent 
than in horses; and arises from the same causes 
as in man, or from the same which produce com- 
mon colds; and is particularly prevalent in cold, 
marshy, bleak situations, and during great and 
It arises | 
