raspberry Any of many species of fruit-bearing bushes of the genus Rubus in the rose family. When picked, the juicy red, purple, or black berry separates from a core, whereas in the related blackberry the core is part of the fruit. Both so-called ber¬ ries are actually aggregate fruits. Red raspberries are propagated by suck¬ ers (see suckering) from the roots of the parent plant or from root cuttings.
Black and purple varieties have arched canes and are propagated by layering of the shoot tips. Raspberries contain iron and vitamin C. They are eaten fresh and are also very popular in jams, as a pastry filling, and as a flavouring for liqueurs.
Rasputin Xra-'spyu-UnX, Grigory (Yefimovich) orig. Grigory (Yefimovich) Novykh (b. 1872?, Pokrovskoye, near Tyumen, Sibe¬ ria, Russian Empire—d. Dec. 30, 1916, Petrograd) Russian mystic influ¬ ential at the court of Tsar Nicholas II and Alexandra. An illiterate peasant, he earned the name rasputin (“debauched one”) for his early licentious behaviour. After undergoing a religious experience, he gained a reputa¬ tion among the peasants as a holy man, able to heal the sick. He became known to Nicholas and the susceptible Alexandra, and he proved capable of stopping the bleeding of their hemophiliac son, probably by means of hypnotism. He became a favourite at court, despite reports of his con¬ tinuing and flagrant debauchery. When Nicholas left Alexandra in charge of Russia’s internal affairs in 1915, Rasputin influenced her appointment of church officials and incompetent cabinet ministers. After several attempts to remove his harmful influence, a group of noblemen including Prince Felix Yusupov assassinated him by successively poisoning him, shooting him, and finally throwing him into the ice-filled Neva River. The Russian Revolution of 1917 followed weeks later.
Rastafarian \,ras-t9-'fer-e-3n\ Member of a political and religious movement among blacks in Jamaica and several other countries. Rasta¬ farians worship Haile Selassie, considering him the Messiah. They believe that blacks are the Israelites reincarnated, who have been subjected to the evil and inferior white race in divine punishment for their sins; they will eventually be redeemed by repatriation to Africa and will compel the whites to serve them. These beliefs, first enunciated in 1953, can be traced to several independent prophets, particularly Marcus Garvey. As the movement grew, ideas of repatriation tended to give way to either black militancy or mysticism. The Rastafarian life usually includes vegetarian¬ ism, the wearing of dreadlocks, and the smoking of marijuana.
Rastatt and Baden Vra- I shtat... , bad- 3 n\, treaties of (March 6 and Sept. 7, 1714) Two peace treaties between Charles VI, the Holy Roman emperor, and France that ended Charles’s attempt to continue the War of the Spanish Succession. In these treaties, Charles renounced his claims to the Spanish throne but did not actually make peace with Spain.
Rastenburg Assassination Plot See July Plot
Black raspberry (Rubus occidentals).
GRANT HEILMAN
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1592 I rat ► rattlesnake
rat Any of more than 500 forms of Asian rodent (genus Rattus, family Muridae) that have been introduced worldwide. The black rat {Rattus rat¬ tus) and the Norway rat {R. norveg- icus) are the aggressive, omnivorous animals commonly associated with the name. They prefer areas of human habitation, where they can easily find food. They have keen senses and can climb, jump, burrow, or gnaw their way into seemingly inaccessible places. They reproduce extremely rapidly (up to 150 offspring a year) and have few natural preda¬ tors. Rats transmit numerous human diseases and have often destroyed grain supplies. The black rat is about 8 in. (20 cm) long, excluding the slightly longer tail. The Norway rat (also called the brown, barn, sewer, or wharf rat) has proportionately smaller ears and a shorter tail. Labora¬ tory rats are strains of the Norway rat. The name rat is applied, without scientific basis, to other rodents (e.g., kangaroo rat, wood rat).
rat snake Any of 40-55 snake species in the genus Elaphe (family Col- ubridae) and similar forms, found in woodlands and barnyards in North America, Europe, and Asia. Nonven- omous, they kill rats and mice by constriction, and also eat eggs and poultry. Some hunt birds in trees.
These egg-laying snakes are nor¬ mally slow and docile, but in self- defense they vibrate the tail, discharge a foul liquid, and strike from an upreared position. The black rat, or pilot black, snake ( E. obsoleta obsoleta) of the eastern U.S. may exceed 8 ft (2.5 m).
ratchet Mechanical device that transmits intermittent motion or per¬ mits a shaft to rotate in one direction but not in the opposite one. Reversible ratchets are used on socket wrench handles and are convenient for tightening or loosening bolts in positions where a complete revolution of a wrench handle is impossible. They are used in mechanical jacks to lock the jack rod after each successive lift.
Rathbone, (Philip St. John) Basil (b. June 13,1892, Johannesburg, S.Af.—d. July 21, 1967, New York, N.Y., U.S.) British actor. He made his stage debut in 1911 and later played classical roles in London and New York City. From 1924 he appeared in Hollywood movies, often in romantic roles. With his distinctive voice and gaunt appearance, he was cast as a vil¬ lain in several swashbuckling movies starring Tyrone Power and Errol Flynn. He won praise for his roles in Romeo and Juliet (1936) and If I Were King (1938), but he became best known for portraying Sherlock Holmes in a series of films that began with The Hound of the Baskervilles (1939).
Rathenau \'ra-t 3 n-,au,\ English Vra-thon-.auV, Walther (b. Sept. 29, 1867, Berlin, Prussia—d. June 24, 1922, Berlin, Ger.) German industri¬ alist and statesman. From 1915 he headed the AEG conglomerate devel¬ oped by his father, Emil Rathenau (1838-1915). In World War I he organized the conservation and distribution of raw materials for the War Ministry. In 1918 he cofounded the liberal German Democratic Party and supported cooperation with the Social Democratic Party. After serving as minister of reconstruction (1921-22), he was appointed foreign minister and negotiated the Treaty of Rapallo with the Soviet Union. Reviled by extreme nationalists as a Jew and a promoter of “creeping Communism,” he was assassinated.
Rathke Vrat-koX, Martin H(einrich) (b. Aug. 25, 1793, Danzig, Prussia—d. Sept. 3, 1860, Konigsberg) German anatomist and embryolo¬ gist. He was the first to describe gill slits and gill arches in mammal and bird embryos. He thought they were vestigial gills but recognized their significance in development of the associated blood vessels. He first described the Rathke pouch (1839), an embryonic structure that develops into the pituitary gland’s anterior lobe. He also did pioneering marine zoology research.
ratio Quotient of two values. The ratio of a to b can be written a:b or as the fraction alb. In either case, a is the antecedent and b the conse¬
quent. Ratios arise whenever comparisons are made. They are usually reduced to lowest terms for simplicity. Thus, a school with 1,000 students and 50 teachers has a student/teacher ratio of 20 to 1. The ratio of the width to the height of a rectangle is called an aspect ratio, an example of which is the golden ratio of classical architecture. When two ratios are set equal to each other, the resulting equation is called a proportion.