Rapport
A mystical sympathetic or antipathetic connection between two persons. It was formerly believed that for a witch to harm her victims, the latter must first have become in rapport with her, either by contact with her person, or by contact with some garment she has worn. A certain witch, Florence Newton, was accused of establishing rapport between herself and those she sought to bewitch by kissing them, whereby she was able to compass their destruction. In the practice of animal magnetism it was considered that the only invariable and characteristic symptom of the genuine trance was the rapport between patient and operator. The former was deaf, dumb, blind, to all save his magnetizer, and those with whom his magnetizer placed him in rapport. This condition, however, still observed in hypnotism, is referable to a perfectly natural cause. (See Hypnotism .) The term is preserved at the present day in Spiritualism , when it signifies a spiritual sympathy between the " control" and the medium or any of the sitters. The medium-or, more properly, the control-may be placed in rapport with anyone who is absent or dead, merely by handling something which has belonged to them. It is for a similar reason that the crystal is held for a few moments prior to the inspection by the person on whose behalf the crystal-gazer is about to examine it.
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Raratonga
or RAROTONGA, an island in the South Pacific Ocean, belonging to Great Britain, of the group of Hervey Islands; 53 miles in circumference. It consists of a mass of mountains, becomes visible at a great distance, and has a very romantic appearance. The inhabitants have been converted to Christianity. Pop . about 3,000.
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Rarefaction
in physics, the act of rendering more rare, i . e., less dense. Used specially of the diminution in the density of the air in the receiver of an air pump, or at great altitudes. It is produced by the increase in the size of the spaces between the particles of air or other gases, so that the same number of particles occupies a larger space than before rarefaction began. Called also dilatation.
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Raritan
a river of New Jersey, formed by two branches which unitedly flow S. E., and fall into Raritan Bay di" near Perth Amboy. It is navigable as far as New Brunswick.
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Rash
an eruption or efflorescence on the skin, consisting of red patches, diffused irregularly over the body. RASHI (from the initials of Rabbi Shelomo Izaaki, often erroneously called JARCHI), the greatest Jewish commentator and exegete; born in Troyes, France, about 1040. Philology, philosophy, medicine, astronomy, civil and ecclesiastical law, and exegesis were the chief branches of his learning; and to a rare proficiency in them he united a complete mastery over the whole range of Scripture and the Talmudical sources. In order further to perfect himself for his gigantic task he traveled for seven years, visiting the schools of Italy, Greece, Germany, Palestine, Egypt . His chief work is his "Commentary" on the whole of the Old Testament. This "Commentary" entirely translated into Latin by Breithaupt, was the first book ever printed in Hebrew (Reggio, 1474). Of his numerous other works may be mentioned his "Commentary on the Babylonian Talmud";, a "Commentary to the Pirke Abd Aboth"; the "Pardes, Treating of Laws cine"; and a "Poem on the Unity of and Ceremonies "; a "Commentary on Midrash Rabbah"; a "Book of Medi- God." He died July 13, 1105.
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Rask
RASMUS CHRISTIAN, a Danish philologist; born in Brändekilde, Denmark, Nov. 22, 1787. After he had studied at the University of Copenhagen, and Iceland to increase his knowledge of he journeyed through Sweden, Russia, Northern languages, with the result that he published "An Introduction to the Knowledge of the Icelandic or Old Norse sen's "Icelandic Dictionary" (1817); and Tongue" (1811 ); an edition of Haldor- In 1817-1822 he made, at the expense of an "Anglo-Saxon Grammar" (1817). Russia, Persia, and India. He then rethe government, a second journey to turned to Copenhagen in 1822 , was appointed Professor of Literary History and subsequently Professor of Oriental sity. During this period he published a Languages and librarian to the univer- "Spanish Grammar," a work on the Frisian language, age, and a treatise on the Zenlanguage was closely akin to Sanskrit. davesta, in which he showed that the He died in Copenhagen , Nov. 14, 1832. given to the adherents of the dissenting
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Raskolniks
the collective name sects in Russia, which have originated by secession from the State Church. The great majority of these sects date century, when the liturgical books, etc., originally from the middle of the 17th were revised under the patriarch Nikon. The Raskolniks clung fanatically to the old and corrupted texts, and regarded the tives of Antichrist, called themselves czar and the patriarch as the representa- Staro-vertsy (followers of the old faith). Staro-obryadtsy ( old ritualists) They have split up into a large number. of sects, which may be grouped generally hood, and those who have none. in two classes; those who have a priestor The tendency of the Raskolniks is communistic. They include about one-third of the : sacks, but none of the noble or cultivated merchant class, and nearly all the Costimated at from 3,000,000 to 11,000,000. class. Their numbers are variously eschisel-cut teeth, its surface dotted with
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Rassam
HORMUZD, a Turkish Assyriologist; born in Mosul, Mesopotamia, in 1826. He gained the friendship of Layard, and assisted him in his excavations at Nineveh in 1845-1847 and 1849- 1851, and then succeeded him, till 1854 as British agent for conducting Assyrian explorations. His grandest success was the finding of the palace of Assurbani-Pal (Sardanapalus). After holding in the following years political offices at Aden and Muscat, he was sent (1864) by the British Government to Abyssinia, to demand the release of the Europeans kept in prison by King Theodore; but that potentate cast him also into prison and only released him with the rest of his captives after his army had been defeated by Sir R. Napier in 1868. From 1876 to 1882 Rassam was employed by the trustees of the British Museum in making explorations in Mesopotamia, and discovered Sepharvaim (Sippara) and Kuthah. He published "The British Mission to Theodore, King of Abyssinia" (1869). He died in 1910. carnivorous quadruped,
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