36 ; in the gtueral staff, however, captaincies are attained in two or tliree years less than in the line, and majorities three or four years earlier than in the line. See Abmy Organization; Akmies.
RANKE, ran'ke, Johannes {1830—). A German physiologist and anthropologist, born at
Tliurnau, Bavaria. He was educated in ihinich,
Berlin, and Paris, became a lecturer in physiology
at Munich in I8GI, in 1869 professor extraordi-
nary and in 1886 full professor of anthropology,
his being the first chair of that science in Ger-
many. In 1889 he became curator and director
of the collection of prehistoric objects of Bavaria
presented by him to the State. Ranke is also edi-
tor of the Beitriige ziir Anthropologic and Ur-
geschichte Baycrns, of the Archiv fiir Anthro-
pologie, and of the Korrespondenzhlatt of the
German Anthropological Society, of which organi-
zation he was chosen general secretary. His
published works include Tetanus (1865), Die
Erniihriing dfs Mcnschen (1876), Das Bliit
(1878), and Beitriige sur physischen Anthropo-
logic der Bayeni (vols. i. and ii., 1883-92).
RANKE, Leopold von (1795-1886). A cele-
brated Gorman historian, who, with Xiebuhr,
was the founder of the modern historical school.
He was bom at Wiehe. in Thuringia. At the age
of eighteen he went to the University of Leipzig,
Avhere he studied theology and the classics. In
1818 he became an instructor in the gymnasium
at Frankfort-on-the-Oder. His field was classical
literature, and in his systematic reading of the an-
cient historians he was aroused to the possibility
of attaching to modern history that interest and
vitality, the lack of which in most writers had
repelled him from the subject. U'hen his studies
had carried him by gradual chronological ]iro-
gression up to the fifteenth century, Ranke had
come to realize his mission, and thenceforth he
turned to history as his life work. He first pub-
lished the Geschichte der ronuinischen iind ger-
manischcn Volker von I'l'J-'i-loSo (1824). He
was in 1825 appointed professor extraordinary
at the University of Berlin, and entered upon a
study of the Venetian Relations, which gave him
an insight into the historical value of diplomatic
history, the use of which became one of the
marked characteristics of his work. The result of
these studies was his Fiirsten und Tiilkcr ron
Siidcuropa im 16. iind 11. Jahrhundcrt (1827).
He next received a commission from the Prussian
Government to go to Venice and investigate the
archives there, and in 1834-37 he published Die
romischcn Papxte. ihre Kirche and ihr >Staai im
16. and 17. Jahrhundcrt ( 10th ed. 1900. under the
title Die romischcn Piipste in den lct:tcn vier
Jahrhunderten) , a work which attracted the at-
tention of the entire civilized world. In 1834 he
was made a full professor at Berlin. Ranke's
great studies of the Reformation period in Ger-
many, France, England, and Italy all form parts
of one related whole. These works are the
most notable and important of Ranke's volu-
minous contributions to historical literature and
form a unique study of the period. Ranke be-
came historiographer of Prussia in 1841. and
was the recipient of many honors in the course
of his long life. He retired from his chair
in Berlin in 1871, but in 1880 began the pub-
lication of a universal history. The volumes
of the Weltgeschichte published before his death
carry the account to the eleventh century. Two
additional volumes were edited by his assistants
after his death. The whole was published in
nine volumes (1881-88). All his works are
of great value to students of history. .Among
them are: Die serbi.'iche Revolution "(1829), re-
published as Serbien rind die Tiirkei im 11). Jahr-
liundcrt (1879); Die Verschuurung gegen Yen-
edig, 161S (1831) ; Deutsche Geschichte im Zeit-
alter der Reformation (1839-47); Franztisische
Geschichte, tornchmlich im 16. und 11. Jahr-
hundcrt (1852-61); Englische Geschichte im 16.
und 11. Jahrhundcrt (1859-67); Zur deuischen
Geschichte voni Religionsfrieden bis zum dreis-
sigjahrigcn Kricge (1868); Geschichte Miillen-
stcins (1869) ; Zur Geschichte Dcutschlands und
Frankreichs im 19. Jahrhundcrt (1887). His
collected works are published in 54 volumes,
covering the whole range of modern European
history. He died in Berlin. Consult his auto-
biography. Zur cigcnen Lebensgeschichtc, edited
by Dove (Leipzig. 1890), vols, liii.-liv. of the col-
lected works; Guglia, Leopold ron Rankcs Leben
und ^Yerke (1893); Guilland, L'Allcmagne
nouvelle et ses historiens, Xiebuhr, Ranke, Mom-
sen, ,Sybcl, Treitschke (Paris, 1899).
RANKINE, ran'kin, William .John Mac-
Ql'ORN (1S20-72). A Scotch engineer and physi-
cist. He was born at Edinburgh, and studied at
the University of that city, where he received
honors for essays in physics. He afterwards
studied civil engineering and was employed on
various railways in Scotland as a civil engineer.
He did not in the meantime neglect his theoretical
studies and communicated a number of valuable
papers to different learned societies. In 1849 he
was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of
Edinburgh and in this year read his celebrated
paper On a Form nla for Circulating the Expansion
of Liquids by Heat. He published in the Philo-
sophical Magazine (1851) a paper on the Cen-
trifugal Theory of Elasticity as Applied to Gases
and- Vapors, in which this theory was elaborated.
In 1853 he was elected fellow of the Royal Society
and submitted to that body a paper on thermo-
dynamics. On the Geometrical Representation of
the Exjiansire Actioyi of Heat. After delivering
lectures in the university at Glasgow, he was
elected regius professor of civil engineering in
that institution in 1855. succeeding Prof. Lewis
Gordon. Rankine may be considered one of the
founders of the science of thermodynamics (q.v. ),
as with Lord Kelvin (then Sir William Thom-
son) and Clausius he put in permanent form
those parts of Carnot's theory which agreed with
the view then being accepted that heat and work
are convertible. In applied science his work as
an engineer was of a high order, and he was the
first president of the Institute of Engineers in
Scotland. He was also consulting engineer to
the Government and corporations and was a con-
tributor to the Engineer. He was the author of
the following books: Manual of Applied Me-
chanics (1858); Manuals of the Steam Engine
and Other Prime Movers ( 1859) ; Manual of Civil
Engineering (1862); Manual of Machinery and
Mill Work (1869) : Cyclopwdia of Machine and
Hand Tools (1869). these have enjoyed a well-
deserved and widespread popularity as text-books
and have passed through many editions. Ran-
kine was also the corresponding and general
editor of Shipbuilding Theoretical and Practical
