Ratification
in law, the confirmation, sanction or approval given by a person who has arrived at his majority to acts done by him during his minority. It has the effect of giving validity to such acts as would be otherwise voidable. Ratification by a wife, in Scotch law, a declaration on oath made by a wife before a justice of the peace (her husband being absent) that the deed she has executed has been made freely.
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Rating Nut
A nut placed upon the pendulum rod to complete the timing or compensation. RAYMOND, B. W. A Chicago capitalist and the first president of the Elgin
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Ration
a stated or fixed amount or quantity dealt out; an allowance. Speci fically, rations are the allowance of provisions given out to each officer, noncommissioned officer, soldier, or sailor.
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Rattazzi
URBANO, an Italian statesman; born in Alessandria, Italy, June 29, 1808. He studied law at Turin and practiced as an advocate with great success at Casale. After the proclamation of the constitution in 1848 he was elected member of the Second Chamber for Alessandria, and began his political career a democrat. Gioberti made him minister of the interior and later of as justice; but after the defeat of Novara he was obliged to retire with the rest of the ministry. When Napoleon III. threatened the liberty of Piedmont, , Rattazzi, and their parties joined together to defeat his schemes, and in 1853 Rattazzi took the portfolio of Justice under Cavour, and presented the bill for the abolition of convents. Being accused of weakness in suppress ing the Mazzinian movement in 1857, he in the following retired from office early In 1859, however, he was back in office as Minister of the Interior. The threatened cession of Savoy and Nice, which he opposed, led to his retirement in 1860. Having changed his views this point he was in March, 1862 on , , intrusted with the formation of a new ministry, but had to resign at the end of the year in consequence of his opposition to Garibaldi; and once more prime minister for six months in 1867, he lost the post for the same reason. He died in Frosinone. June 5, 1873.
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Rattler
A name given in some localities to the tumbling-barrels used for cleaning castings. See TUMBLING-BARRELS. Rawhide Hammers are light mallets made entirely of hide (except the handle), and are especially valuable where light, thin castings are made. See MALLET.
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Rattlesnake Root
a name for Polygăla Senega, an American plant used to cure the bite of the rattlesnake.
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Rattlesnake Weed
the Ameras a cure for the bite of the rattlesnake.
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Ravana
in the Hindu r religious system, the name of the Rakshasa who, at the time of Râma, ruled over Lanka or Ceylon, and having carried off Sîtâ, the wife of Rama, to nis residence, was ultimately conquered and slain by the latter. He is described as having been a giant with 10 faces, and in consequence of austerities and devotion, as having obtained from Siva a promise which bestowed on him unlimited power, even over the gods. As the promise of Siva could not be revoked, Vishnu evaded its efficacy in becoming incarnate as Râma, and hence killed the demon giant.
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Ravelin
in fortification a detached work having a parapet and ditch forming a salient angle in front of the curtain. It is erected on the counterscarp, and receives flank defense from the body of the place. Inside the ravelin may be a redoubt and ditch; the gorge is unprotected, and the ravelin may be considered a redan on the counterscarp.
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Ravenala
or RAVINALA, a genus of Uranex. The U. speciosa is a fine banana-like tree with edible seeds, from Madagascar, where the French call it he traveler's tree, perhaps because water is found in the cup-like sheaths of the leaf-stalks.
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Ravignan
GUSTAV FRANÇOIS XAVIER DELACROIX DE, a French Jesuit preacher; born in Bayonne, France, Dec. 2 , 1795; was professor at Montrouge, and became famous in 1837 as preacher at Notre Dame in Paris. He published an Apology of his order in 1844, and in 1854 a more lengthened work with the same view, "Clement XIII. and Clement XIV ." He died Feb. 26, 1858.
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Rawa Russka
BATTLE OF, a series of engagements of the first magnitude between the Russian and Austrian armies, beginning Sept. 8, 1914, and lasting eight days, taking its name from a small city in Galicia, inhabited chiefly by Jews. About 250,000 men on both sides were engaged during the first few days , added re-enforcements bringing the number up to fully 300,000 during the later phase of the fighting. de- The Austrians were disastrously defeated.
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Rawalpindi
a town and important military station of the Punjab, India, between the Indus and Jhelum rivers, 160 miles N. W. of Lahore. There are an arsenal (1883), a fort, a fine public park, and several European churches. The place carries on an active transit trade with Kashmere and Afghanistan. Here the Sikhs surrendered after their defeat at Gujrat (1849), and here too was held, in 1885 , a great durbar or review, at which the Ameer of Afghanistan met Earl Dufferin , governorgeneral of India. Pop., district, about 4,500,000; town, about 90,000.
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Rawlins
JOHN AARON, an American military officer; born in Galena, Ill., Feb. 13, 1831. Before the Civil War he was a lawyer; adjutant-general of General Grant in September, 1861, and served as such in the campaigns of 1862 and 1863; in March, 1865 , was appointed chief of General Grant's staff, with the rank of Brigadier-Genere in the U. S. A. He became Secretary of War in March, 1869. He died in Washington, D. C., Sept. 9, 1869.
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Rawson
EDWARD KIRK, an tance from the coast and in moderate depths. They are carnivorous, but by no means active, swimming like the flatfishes by the undulating motion of the pectoral fins, the thin flagelliform tail having entirely lost its locomotive function, and serving merely as a rudder. They may be divided into two groups: (1) rays proper, with a short snout, and (2) skates (attaining a much larger size) with a long, pointed snout. In species armed with bucklers or asperities it is the female which has these dermal developments, the male being entirely or nearly smooth. The color also frequently varies in the sexes. The Myliobatidæ are popularly known as eagle rays, the Torpedinidæ as electric rays, and the Trygonidæ as sting rays.
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