rabies \'ra-,bez\ Acute, usually fatal infectious disease of warm-blooded animals that attacks the central nervous system. It is spread by contact with an infected animal’s saliva, usually from a bite. The rhabdovirus that causes it spreads along nerve tissue from the wound to the brain. Symp¬ toms usually appear four to six weeks later, often beginning with irrita¬ bility and aggressiveness. Wild animals lose their fear of humans and are easily provoked to bite, as are pets. Depression and paralysis soon follow. Death usually comes three to five days after symptoms begin. In humans, death can result from a seizure in the early phase even before symptoms of central nervous system depression develop. One name for rabies, hydrophobia (“fear of water”), comes from painful throat contraction on trying to swallow. If not treated in time (within a day or two) with a serum containing antibodies and then a series of vaccinations, rabies in humans is almost always fatal. Immediate cleansing of animal bites with soap and water can remove much of the virus.
Rabin \r3-'ben\, Yitzhak (b. March 1, 1922, Jerusalem—d. Nov. 4, 1995, Tel Aviv-Yafo, Israel) First native-born prime minister of Israel. He fought in the first Arab-Israeli War and became chief of staff in 1964. His strategies helped win the Six-Day War in 1967. After retiring from the army (1968), he served as ambassador to the U.S. (1968-73). As head of the Israel Labour Party, he twice served as prime minister (1974-77, 1992— 95). During his first tenure, he secured a cease-fire with Syria in the Golan Heights and ordered the raid at Entebbe, Ugan. (see Entebbe raid). As defense minister (1984-90) he responded forcefully to the Palestinian first intifadah. In 1993 secret negotiations with the Palestinians yielded a politi¬ cal settlement that called for limited Palestinian self-rule in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank, for which he shared the 1994 Nobel Prize for Peace with Shimon Peres and Yasir ‘Arafat. He was assassinated by a right-wing Jewish extremist.
raccoon or ringtail Any of seven species of omnivorous, nocturnal carnivores (genus Procyon, family Procyonidae) characterized by a bushy,
Eastern cottontail rabbit (Sylvilagus flor idan us).
STEVE AND DAVE MASLOWSKI
© 2006 Encyclopaedia Britannica, Inc.
race ► Rackham I 1581
ringed tail and a black mask on the face. The North American raccoon (P. lotor ) has a stout body, short legs, pointed muzzle, and small erect ears.
It is 30-36 in. (75-90 cm) long, including the 10-in. (25-cm) tail, and weighs over 22 lb (10 kg). The shaggy, coarse fur is iron-gray to blackish. The feet resemble slender human hands. Raccoons eat arthro¬ pods, rodents, frogs, berries, fruit, and plants; in towns and cities they thrive on garbage. They prefer woods near water and usually live in hollow trees. The crab-eating raccoon (P cancrivorus ) of South America is similar but has coarser fur.
race Term once commonly used in physical anthropology to denote a division of humankind possessing traits that are transmissible by descent and sufficient to characterize it as a distinct human type (e.g., Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid). Today the term has little scientific standing, as older methods of differentiation, including hair form and body measurement, have given way to the comparative analysis of DNA and gene frequen¬ cies relating to such factors as blood typing, the excretion of amino acids, and inherited enzyme deficiencies. Because all human populations today are extremely similar genetically, most researchers have abandoned the concept of race for the concept of the cline, a graded series of differences occurring along a line of environmental or geographical transition. This reflects the recognition that human populations have always been in a state of flux, with genes constantly flowing from one gene pool to another, impeded only by physical or ecological boundaries. While relative isola¬ tion does preserve genetic differences and allow populations to maximally adapt to climatic and disease factors over long periods of time, all groups currently existing are thoroughly “mixed” genetically, and such differ¬ ences as still exist do not lend themselves to simple typologizing. “Race” is today primarily a sociological designation, identifying a class sharing some outward physical characteristics and some commonalities of culture and history. See also climatic adaptation, ethnic group, racism.
racemate \ra-'se-,mat\ Mixture of equal quantities of two enantiomers, substances whose molecular structures are mirror images of one another (see isomer). The two enantiomers rotate polarized light through opposite angles, canceling each other out so that the racemic mixture has no opti¬ cal activity. Racemization is the conversion of an optically active form of a compound into a racemic mixture; reversing this process is called reso¬ lution.
racer Any of several slender, swift snakes (subspecies of Coluber con¬ strictor, family Colubridae) of North and Central America and Asia. Rac¬ ers have a long tail, big eyes, and smooth scales. Colour and pattern vary among subspecies, some of which grow to 6 ft (1.8 m) long.
Among the fastest of snakes, racers can move at 3.5 mph (5.6 km/hr).
They hold down their prey, usually a small warm-blooded animal, by the weight of their coils and then swal¬ low it. If cornered, they vibrate the tail and strike repeatedly with a sideways motion that tears a victim’s skin. See also black snake.
Rachel In the book of Genesis, one of Jacob’s two wives. Jacob was forced to serve her father, Laban, for seven years to win her, but at the end of that time he was tricked into marrying her sister, Leah. He was then allowed to marry Rachel as well, in return for seven more years of labour. At first childless, Rachel eventually gave birth to Joseph, and she died giving birth to Benjamin.
Rachmaninoff yrak-'ma-no-.noA, Sergey (Vassilyevich) (b. April 1, 1873, Oneg, near Semyonovo, Russia—d. March 28, 1943, Beverly Hills, Calif., U.S.) Russian-born U.S. composer and pianist. He studied at the St. Petersburg and Moscow conservatories. After playing his first
concerto for his graduation as a piano student (1891), he stayed on to earn a composition degree, writing his first opera, Aleko (1892). His first sym¬ phony (1897) was such a disaster that he could not compose for three years. Known for his titanic virtuosity as a pianist, he toured widely while returning to composing prolifically. He moved to the U.S. after the 1917 revolution. His works, most of them in a lush late-Romantic style, include three symphonies, four piano concertos, the tone poem From the Isle of the Dead (1909), and Symphonic Dances (1940).
Racine \ra-'sen\, Jean (-Baptiste) (baptized Dec. 22, 1639, La Ferte- Milon, France—d. April 21, 1699, Paris) French playwright. Orphaned at an early age, he was educated in a Jansenist convent, and he chose drama in defiance of his upbringing. His first play was produced by Moliere in 1664. Their friendship ended when Racine took his next play, Alexander the Great (1665), to a competing theatre and seduced Moliere’s mistress and leading actress, Therese du Parc. She starred in Racine’s successful Andromaque (1667), which explored his theme of the tragic folly of pas¬ sionate love. His only comedy, The Litigants (1668), was followed by his great tragedies Britannicus (1669), Berenice (1670), and Bajazet (1672). After writing his masterpiece, Phedre (1677), a tragedy drawn from Greek mythology, he retired to become official historian to Louis XIV. His final plays, Esther (1689) and Athalie (1691), were commissioned by the king’s wife, Mme. de Maintenon.
racism Any action, practice, or belief that reflects the racial worldview—the ideology that humans are divided into separate and exclu¬ sive biological entities called “races,” that there is a causal link between inherited physical traits and traits of personality, intellect, morality, and other cultural behavioral features, and that some “races” are innately supe¬ rior to others. Racism was at the heart of North American slavery and the overseas colonization and empire-building activities of some western Europeans, especially in the 18th century. The idea of RACE was invented to magnify the differences between people of European origin in the U.S. and those of African descent whose ancestors had been brought against their will to function as slaves in the American South. By viewing Afri¬ cans and their descendants as lesser human beings, the proponents of sla¬ very attempted to justify and maintain this system of exploitation while at the same time portraying the U.S. as a bastion and champion of human freedom, with human rights, democratic institutions, unlimited opportu¬ nities, and equality. The contradiction between slavery and the ideology of human equality, accompanying a philosophy of human freedom and dignity, seemed to demand the dehumanization of those enslaved. By the 19th century racism had matured and the idea spread around the world. Racism differs from ethnocentrism in that it is linked to physical and therefore immutable differences among people. Ethnic identity is acquired, and ethnic features are learned forms of behaviour. Race, on the other hand, is a form of identity that is perceived as innate and unalter¬ able. In the last half of the 20th century several conflicts around the world were interpreted in racial terms even though their origins were in the eth¬ nic hostilities that have long characterized many human societies (e.g., Arabs and Jews, English and Irish). Racism reflects an acceptance of the deepest forms and degrees of divisiveness and carries the implication that differences among groups are so great that they cannot be transcended. See also ethnic group; sociocultural evolution.