gart and there died of jaundice on the 21st December, 1521. Reuchlin did a great work in his day, for he was the pioneer of mental and spiritual freedom, and a founder of true philological study. He gave new facilities for the study of Hebrew and Greek—the languages of that book which was so soon to be unsealed for the Teutonic nations. As a scholar and thinker, earnest, undaunted, and indefatigable, he had no small share in the revival of classic literature, and in awakening the German mind from the sleep of ages. Erasmus crowned the eulogies of numerous admirers and friends by his Apotheosis Capnionis; Capnio being a name assumed by Reuchlin, the Greek equivalent of the German one. He wrote—Lexicon Hebraicum; "De Arte Cabbalistica," a pseudo-science which he learned from Picus Mirandola; "De Verbo Mirifico;" "Rudimenta Hebraica," &c.—J. E.
* REUTER, Julius, a German Jew, born in 1815, who has acquired a well-deserved celebrity by the telegraphic system which he has established throughout a great part of the world. His first office for the furtherance of telegraphic communication was opened at Aix-la-Chapelle in 1849. In order to connect breaks in the most direct line of transmitting news, he had at first to supplement the telegraph with contrivances of his own, such as the employment of carrier pigeons, so as to insure priority of information. As line after line was opened in succession, each was made subservient to his system; and when the cable between Calais and Dover was successfully laid in 1851, Mr. Renter, who had become a naturalized British subject, transferred his office to London. Up to this time he had confined his attention to the conveyance of commercial despatches; but he now resolved to make the telegraph the handmaid of the press. The principal morning papers were in the habit at this time of running expresses at an enormous cost; Mr. Reuter offered to supply the required information, but his offer was twice declined. He did not lose heart, however, and in 1851, for the third time, placed his telegrams at the disposal of the press; sending them for a month to all the editors in London, leaving it to their option whether they used them or not. The celerity and accuracy of his information were soon appreciated. A few lucky hits, among which was the early receipt of the French emperor's famous speech to the Austrian ambassador, established his fame. Some papers made a contract with him, others were forced to follow, and now he has established a telegraphic net-work which is like nothing else in the world. The newspapers of the chief provincial towns of Great Britain and Ireland, as well as of the metropolis, have availed themselves of Mr. Reuter's system; and news from this country is in like manner conveyed by him to all the chief continental cities. All our earliest information from America, India, China, the Cape, and even Australia, is derived from Reuter's telegrams. He guarantees that his political telegrams shall be given only to the press and to cabinet ministers and ambassadors, and never allows them on any account to be communicated beforehand to merchants and bankers, for the purpose of speculation. No accusation has ever been brought against him of any alleged misuse of his enormous power.—J. T.
REVELLIERE-LEPAUX, Louis Marie la, a member of the French directory, born at Montaigu in 1753, was educated for the bar; but shortly after receiving admission from the Faculty of Paris, he abandoned the profession and became professor of botany at Angers. Deputed to the constituant assembly, and afterwards to the convention, he took part with the leaders of the Gironde, whose fate he narrowly escaped. After the fall of Robespierre he reappeared in public life, was sent to the council of the ancients, and on the establishment of the directory in 1795, was made a member. He lost his seat along with Merlin, 18th June, 1799. La Revellière was a member of the Institut. One of the revolutionary religions, of which he was the author, and which he designated Théophilanthropie, had an existence of the briefest.—J. S., G.
REVETT, Nicholas, architect, was born in 1722 at Brandeston hall, near Framlingham, Suffolk. Intending to become a painter he, in 1742, went to Rome to complete his studies under the Cav. Marco Benefial, then the leading painter in that city. At Rome Revett formed a close friendship with James Stuart, who was also endeavouring to establish himself as a painter. The friends seem to have found employment in making drawings of the ancient buildings in Rome and its vicinity, and thus had their attention drawn to the want of trustworthy representations of the architectural remains of ancient Greece. In 1748 Stuart issued proposals for carrying out their scheme of visiting Greece; making drawings and admeasurements of the more important vestiges of architecture and sculpture, and publishing careful engravings of them. Chiefly through their English connections and patrons the requisite funds were obtained, and in 1750 they set out. First visiting Venice, Paoli in Istria, Zante, and Corinth, and making at each place notes and drawings, they reached Athens in March, 1751. There they remained till the end of 1753, having made numerous excavations, and drawn and measured whatever seemed most worthy of publication. After a brief stay at Salonica, and touching at several of the Greek islands, they came to London, and set about preparing their materials for publication. The first volume of the "Antiquities of Athens, by James Stuart and Nicholas Revett, painters and architects," large folio, was published in 1762. From the preface (p. vii., &c.) it appears that Revett confined his attention entirely to the architectural portion of the work, while Stuart did some part of the architecture, the whole of the sculpture, and also wrote the descriptions. Differences now arose between the friends as to the conduct of the work, and Revett sold his share in it, with his drawings and materials, to Stuart, who, however, did not bring out a second volume till 1767.—(See Stuart, James.) Meantime Revett accepted a proposition of the Dilettanti Society to proceed again to Greece, especially to examine the Ionian remains. Revett and his companions. Dr. Chandler, to whom was intrusted the literary portion of the expedition, and Mr. Pars, assistant draftsman, left England in June, 1764, visited Troas, Tenedos, and Scio, and arrived in September at Smyrna, which they made their head-quarters for nearly a year; then proceeded to Athens, August 31, 1765; stayed there till June, 1766; and after a brief visit to several of the Greek islands, returned to England the following November.—(Preface to Ionian Ant. p. iii.) The first-fruits of their labours were published by the Dilettanti Society in volume one of "Ionian Antiquities," folio, 1769—a companion in size and style to the "Antiquities of Athens." The second volume did not appear till 1797; the third in the year of Revett's death, 1804. The influence of these two works was very great. They served to give precision to the studies of archæologists and architects throughout Europe, and they were the means of stimulating that more accurate and scientific investigation of the remains of Grecian art that marked the succeeding epoch. In England they may be said to have effected a revolution in architectural taste; the passion for Greek architecture dating distinctly from their appearance. Revett, as well as Stuart, it will be remembered, called himself in the title-page of the "Antiquities of Athens," "painter and architect." In that of "Ionian Antiquities" he is designated architect only. He now in fact began to practise as an architect. Porticoes of the Ionic order now became fashionable, and he as the great authority on this order seems to have frequently been called in to design them. For his early patron, Mr. J. Dawkins, he erected a portico at Standlinch, Wiltshire; at West Wycombe, two porticoes, temples, and other works for Earl Le Despencer; and the church of Ayott St. Lawrence, Herts, for Sir J. Lyde, Bart. But he did not obtain a permanent connection, and he died comparatively poor in 1804.—J. T—e.
REY, Jean, a physician and chemist of Bergerac in Perigord, who flourished in the earlier part of the seventeenth century. In a book published in 1630, he describes certain interesting experiments made on the increase of weight sustained by tin, lead, and antimony during calcination, or in modern language, during oxidation. After having examined and refuted all the explanations of this phenomenon then current, he proceeds—"To this question, then, resting on the grounds already mentioned, I answer and boldly assert that the increase of weight springs from the air in the vessel, rendered adhesive by the long continued heat of the furnace. This air mixes itself with the calx (frequent agitation assisting), and attaches itself to the smallest molecules, just as water when mixed with sand renders it heavy, and moistens and adheres to the smallest grains." He was further aware that the quantity of air taken up by a given weight of metal was limited; for he says, "Thus the weight increases from the beginning to the end, but when the whole is saturated, it will take up no more. Do not continue the calcination in this hope, for you would lose your labour." Rey was thus one of the forerunners of Lavoisier, but no one would listen to him; he made no converts to his opinions. Prior to 1777 only two copies of his work were known to be in existence, one of which was
