Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/26

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
10
RIGHT

Rl-VOLUTIONARY CALENDAR 10 REWARD returns is called annual, anomalistic, nodical, sidereal, or tropical, according as it has a relation to the year, the anom- aly, the nodes, the stars, or the tropics. (2) See Rotation. In geometry, when one line moves about a straight line, called the axis, in such a manner that every point of the moving line generates a circumference of a circle, whose plane is perpendicular to the axis, that moflon is called revolution, and the surface is called the surface of revolution. Every plane through the axis is called a merid- ian plane, and the section which this plane cuts from the surface is called a meridian curve. Every surface of revolution can be generated by revolv- ing one of its meridian curves about the axis. The revolution of an ellipse round its axis generates an ellipsoid; the revolution of a semicircle round the diameter generates a sphere; such solids are called solids of revolution. REVOLUTIONARY CALENDAR, a calendar designed to be philosophic, de- creed on Nov. 24, 1793, to commence from the foundation of the French re- public, Sept. 22, 1792. The 12 months were Vendemiaire, Brumaire, Frimaire, Nivose, Pluviose, Ventose, Germinal, Flo- real, Prairial, Messidor, Fervidor or Thermidor, and Fructidor. The first three constituted Autumn, the second three Winter, the third Spring, and the fourth three Summer. REVOLUTIONARY TRIBUNAL, in French history, the name given on Oct. 30, 1793, to what had before been called the Extraordinary Tribunal. It sent many victims to the guillotine. REVOLVER, a description of firearm in which a number of charges contained in a revolving cylinder are, by pulling the trigger, brought successively into position and fired through a single bar- rel. For the introduction of the revol- ver in its present form we are indebted to Col. Samuel Colt, of Hartford, Conn., though repeating pistols had long been known in other countries. In the Smith and Wesson revolver (adopted by Aus- tria and Russia), facility in loading is a feature, the cylinder and barrel to- gether being pivoted to the front of the stock, so that by setting the hammer at half-cock, raising a spring-catch, and lowering the muzzle, the bottom of the cylinder is turned up to receive fresh metallic cartridges. When this is done the muzzle is pressed back till the snap- catch fastens it to the back plate, and the revolver is again ready to be fired. In the latest form of this revolver the spent cartridges are thrown out of the cylinder by means of an automatic dis- charger. The British regulation army revolver is Webley and Scott's, Mark IV. .445. The weapon can also be easily and instantly unloaded, and some are made with covered hammers, safety bolts, etc. The revolver principle has also been applied to rifles, and to guns for throwing small projectiles, as in the Gatling and other machine guns. REWA, a state of India, called also Baghelkhand. Area, 13,000 square miles. Pop. about 1,500,000. Rewa Kantha is the name of a political agency under the government of Bombay, containing 61 small states, of which five are tribu- tary to the British Government, and most of the remainder to Baroda. The territory included, covering an area of about 5,000 square miles, with a popula- tion of about 700,000, lies mainly along the S. bank of the lower Nerbudda with patches N. of it, and on the W. borders on Broach, Baroda, and Ahmadabad. REWARD, in a legal sense, some en- couragement which the law holds out for exertions in bringing certain classes of criminals to justice. The courts of as- size may order the sheriff of the county, in which certain offenses have been com- mitted, to pay to persons who have been active in securing the apprehension of offenders charged with crimes, or with being accessory before the fact to any of such offenses, or to receiving any stolen property, a reasonable sum to compensate them for expense, exertion, and loss of time. So by a later statute courts of quarter sessions are author- ized, in the case of any of the above offenses which they have jurisdiction to try, to order such compensation; but the payment to one person must not exceed $25. If any one is killed in endeavoring to apprehend a person charged with one of these offenses, the court may order compensation to be made to the family. The amount to be paid in all such cases is subject to regulations which may be made from time to time by the Secre- tary of State. By another statute it is a felony, punishable by penal servitude to the extent of seven years, to cor- ruptly take any reward for helping a person to property stolen or embezzled, unless all due diligence to bring the of- fenders to trial has been used. In Great Britain an advertisement offering a reward for the return of stolen or lost property, using words purporting that no questions will be asked or inquiry made after the person producing the property, renders the advertiser, printer, and publisher liable to forfeit $250. The offering of rewards by the government has in England been discontinued on grounds of public policy. In the World