[Rheochord], a wire to measure the resistance or variability of an electric current.
[Rheometry], measurement of the force or the velocity of an electric current.
[Rhesus], a monkey held sacred in several parts of India.
[Rhetoric], the science or art of persuasive or effective speech, written as well as spoken, and that both in theory and practice was cultivated to great perfection among the ancient Greeks and Romans, and to some extent in the Middle Ages and later, but is much less cultivated either as a science or an art to-day.
[Rhine], one of the chief rivers of Europe; of several small Alpine head-streams, the Nearer and the Farther Rhine are the two principal, issuing from the eastern flanks of Mount St Gothard; a junction is formed at Reichenau, whence the united stream—the Upper Rhine—flows N. to Lake Constance, and issuing from the NW. corner curves westward to Basel, forming the boundary between Switzerland and Germany. From Basel, as the Middle Rhine, it pursues a northerly course to Mainz, turns sharply to the W. as far as Bingen, and again resumes its northward course. The Rhine-Highland between Bingen and Bonn is the most romantic and picturesque part of its course. As the Lower Rhine it flows in a sluggish, winding stream through the Rhenish Lowlands, enters Holland near Clèves, at Nimeguen bends to the W., and flowing through Holland some 100 m. reaches the German Ocean, splitting in its lowest part into several streams which form a rich delta, one-third of Holland. It is 800 m. in length; receives numerous affluents, e.g. Neckar, Main, Moselle, Lippe; is navigable for ships to Mannheim.
[Rhinoplastic Operation], an operation of repairing destroyed portions of the nose by skin from adjoining parts.
[Rhode Island] (346), the smallest but most densely populated of the United States, and one of the original 13; faces the Atlantic between Connecticut (W.) and Massachusetts (N. and E.); is split into two portions by Narragansett Bay (30 m. long); hilly in the N., but elsewhere level; enjoys a mild and equable climate, and is greatly resorted to by invalids from the S.; the soil is rather poor, and manufactures form the staple industry; coal, iron, and limestone are found. Providence, Pawtucket, and Newport are the chief towns.
[Rhodes] (10), a Turkish island in the Mediterranean, 12 m. distant from the SW, coast of Asia Minor, area 49 m. by 21 m.; mountainous and woody; has a fine climate and a fertile soil, which produces fruit in abundance, also some grain; it is ill developed, and has a retrogressive population, most of whom are Greeks; sponges, chief export; figures considerably in ancient classic history; was occupied by the Knights Hospitallers of St. John for more than two centuries, and was taken from them by the Turks in 1523.
[Rhodes, Cecil], statesman, born in Hertfordshire, son of a vicar; went to South Africa; became director of the diamond mines at Kimberley, and amassed a large fortune; entered the Cape Parliament, and became Prime Minister in 1890; he has been active and successful to extend the British territories in South Africa, aiming at destroying the race prejudices that prevail in it, and at establishing among the different colonies a federated union; b. 1853.
[Rhodesia], the territory in South Africa occupied and administered by the British South Africa Company, under the leadership of Mr. Cecil Rhodes, and founded by royal charter in 1889, hence the name it goes under, is bounded on the E. by Portuguese East Africa, on the N. by German East Africa and the Congo Free State, on the W. by Angola and German South-West Africa, and on the S. by Bechuanaland and the Transvaal; is traversed by the Zambesi, which divides it into Northern and Southern Rhodesia; the Northern has been little prospected, though the land is being cultivated, crops raised, and cattle-breeding commenced, besides a new industry started in fibre; the Southern is divided into two provinces, [Mashonaland] (q. v.) and [Matabeleland] (q. v.); in Rhodesia public roads have been made to the extent of 2230 miles, and telegraph lines to the extent of 1856 miles of line and 2583 of wire; it is favourable to the breeding of stock, though the rinderpest raged in it disastrously for a time; the climate is suitable for the cultivation of cereals of all kinds, and vegetables, tobacco, india-rubber, and indigo are indigenous, and well repay cultivation; there are forests of timber, and gold, silver, copper, coal, tin, &c., have been discovered; it is, roughly speaking, as large as the German Empire, and in consequence of the Jameson raid the control of the military forces, formerly under the control of the Company, is now in the hands of the Imperial Government.