RATIONALISM. 717 RATIT^a;. sentatives in Germany in the last half of the eighteenth century, but was to be found in Eng- land and elsewhere in the previous century in the earlier stages of development. According to one of its recent historians. Kahnis, it "makes the educated reason of the times the standard of all religious truth, and the material principle of this reason is virtue, which demands and sustains be- lief in God and immortality." In philosophy, the term is used to denote the doctrine that reason is an independent source of knowledge, distinct from sense-perception and having a higher authority. In this sense it is opposed to sensationalism (q.v. ). It is more widely used, however, for the view opposed to empiricism (q.v.) that in philoso- phy certain elementary concepts are to be sought, and all the remaining content of philosophy de- ductively derived from them. This view was first explicitly stated by Descartes, developed by Spin- oza and Leibnitz, and formulated by Wolff. Kant endeavored to transform rationalism by showing how reason was implicit in experience; and Hegel revived it in a transformed sense with the construction of experience itself as a system of reason. Consult Leeky, History of the Rise and Influence of the t^pirit of Kationalism in Europe (London, 1S6.5) ; Tulloch, Rational Theology and Christian Philosophy in England in the Seven- teenth Century (ib., 1872) ; Pfleiderer, The Evo- lution of Rationalistic Theology since Kant (Eng. trans., ib., 1892) ; Hagenbach, German Rational- ism (Eng. trans., Edinburgh, 1865). See also German Theology ; Knowledge, Thegby of. RATIONS (from Lat. ratio, reckoning, rela- tion, reasoning). In the L'nited States Army, a ration is officially defined as "the allowance for the subsistence of one person for one day, and varies in components according to the station of the troops, or the nature of the duty performed." There are four descriptions of rations, which are kno«-n severally as the garrison ration, field ra- tion, travel ration, and the emergency ration. In active service, or during emergencies, troops receive the emergency ration. Beef cattle are bought only when necessary for supplying troops on the march or during a campaign. Fresh meats are issued ordinarily seven days in ten, and salt meats on the remaining three days. In the United States Xa'y the ration is not allowed to officers paid on the army basis, but for all others it is commuted to a cash payment of 30 cents a day. The enlisted force of the navy is furnished food in accordance with a fixed allow- ance table without regard to its cost, which is, however, about 30 cents a day, and this sum is allowed when the ration is commuted (i.e. paid in money ) . British soldiers have only one regular ration, which is the equivalent of the United States Army garrison ration. It consists of three-quar- ters of a pound of meat and one pound of bread per day. In war time the meat ration is in- creased to one pound. The official value of the ration is sixpence (12 cents). All other food over this amount, and such articles as tea, coffee, sugar, butter, salt, pepper, etc., are bought by the soldier at his own expense. Fourpence per day is deducted from the soldier's pay. and from the fund thus raised the articles necessary are obtained. In time of war, or on transports, the Government supplies all needed food, and the soldier receives his full pay. One of the most important features of the Army Reorganization Bill submitted by the Secretary of State for War in 1902 was the proposal that the Govern- ment supply all necessary food, without charge, to the soldiers. In the German Army the same skill and refine- ment of detail that marks the entire army or- ganization is brought to bear on the question of the soldiers' daily food, with a result that while probably it is the most economical system in Europe, it is also one of the most excellent. The component parts are bread or zwieback, rice, bacon, fresh or canned meat, coffee, and salt. Japanese soldiers in time of peace receive a ration of rice besides which they are allowed extra pay to cover the expense for meat, vegetables, and so on. The most scientific ration in the world is that of the Italian Army. There are two regular rations, the garrison and the campaign. RA'TIO STU'DIO'RTJM: (Lat., scheme of studies). A code of rules which forms the basis for the guidance of Jesuit education. See JEstnis. RAT'ISBON. A city of Germany. See Re- GEX.SBVEG. RATISBONNE, ra'tes'bon', LouiS Gustave Fortune (1827-1900). A French author and critic, born in Strassburg, and educated there and in Paris. He resigned from his post in the governmental employ on the declaration of the Empire ; entered journalism, being on the staff of the Debats (1853-76); succeeded Feuillet as librarian at Fontainebleau ; and in 1874 was ap- pointed librarian to the Senate. Ratisbonne was the literary executor of Alfred de Vign.v. His critical and literary studies included a metrical version of Dante's Divina Commedia (1854-59) and the essay Hetiri Heine (1885). But he was better known for his felicity as a poet of child- hood, in such works as Au printemps de la vie (1857); La comedie enfantine (1860); Les petits hommes (1868); Les petites femmes (1871); various Albutns under the pseudonym Trim; and Les grandts omhies (1900). RATIT.ffi (Xeo-Lat. nom. pi., from Lat. rati- tus, marked with the figure of a raft, from ratis, raft). A primary division of modern birds (Xeornithes) based on the shape of the sternum, which is flat and without a keel. (See Plate of Birds, Fig. 4.) The Ratitfe are a very small group of the most ancient lineage, now confined to the Southern Hemisphere. It includes the ex- tinct groups Dinornithes (raoas), and .Fpyor- nithes (rocs), and the modern ostriches, rheas, emeus, cassowaries, and kiwis. E.xcept the kiwis all are of very large size. The body is uniformly feathered (see Ptebtlcsis) , and various ana- tomical features are characteristic. Naturalists are not agreed as to the precise relationships which exist between the Ratit.-e and certain other groups, as, for instance, the Stereornithes (q.v.), but it is plain that the group is the most primi- tive of any having existing representatives: and it is now generally believed that it represents a degenerate stage of descent from ancestral forms which were birds of flight. Consult Gadow, in Bronn's Tierreich Aves (Berlin, 1893) : Bed- dard, titructure and Classification of Birds (Lon- don, 1898) : Evans, Birds (London. 1900) ; and the authorities therein cited. See Bird, Fossil; Flightless Birds : and the names of various spe- cies of Eatitse, as MoA, Ostrich, etc.
