bones and joints that is to be attributed the capability in the Toucan of turning its tail upon its back (as represented in the Zoological Journal,' vol. ii., pl. xv.*), the muscles presenting comparatively few peculiarities, since the motion alluded to is remarkable rather for its extent than the vigour with which it is performed. The principal elevators of the tail are the sacro-coccygei superiores (sacro-suscaudiens of Vicq d'Azyr). They arise from two longitudinal ridges on the inferior and convex part of the sacrum, and are inserted into the superior spines of the first six vertebræ by detached tendons terminating broadly in the anchylosed vertebræ. The principal antagonists of these muscles, the sacro-coccygei inferiores (sacro-sous-caudiens of Vicq d'Azyr), pass over the first five vertebræ, and terminate in the sixth and anchylosed vertebræ; their origins are wider apart than in the preceding pair of muscles, coming off from the margin of the sacro-sciatic notches. In the interval are situated small muscles passing from the transverse processes to the inferior spines of the first six vertebræ. From the limited nature of the lateral motions of the tail, the muscles appropriate to these movements are feeble, especially in comparison with those which are observed in the birds that spread their tail-feathers in flight, in order to regulate their course during that vigorous species of locomotion. These muscles are in number two on each side, arising from the posterior extremites of the ischia, and inserted into the expanded anchylosed vertebra. From the disposition of these muscles it is obvious that after the proper elevators have raised the tail to a certain height, they also become dorsad of the centre of motion, combine their forces with the elevators, and by this addition of power terminate the act of throwing up the tail by a jerk. Mr. Vigors, in his observations on the living animal, observes, that "in these movements the tail seemed to turn as if on a hinge that was operated on by a spring." (Owen, in Gould's Ramphastida.) and chest white, with a tinge of greenish yellow, terminated by a band of scarlet; under surface black; under tailcoverts scarlet. Total length 24 inches; bill 7; wings 9; tail 64; tarsi 2. (Gould.) Mr. Gould states that this bird is very rare; his own specimen, which he says will be added to the museum of the Zoological Society of London, being the only one which he has ever seen, with the exception of another, of which he has some recollection, in the museum at Berlin. He adds that there is no example in the Paris collection. Locality.-The densely-wooded districts on both sides of the Amazon. Ramphastos. Generic Character.-Bill smooth. Nostrils entirely concealed, and placed at the edge of the thickered frontlet of the bill. Wings short, rounded; the four outer quills graduated and abruptly pointed. Tail short, rounded. (Sw.) Ramphastos Toco appears to be one of the largest species, being 27 inches in total length. The bill measures 7} inches; the wings, 10: the tail, 7; and the tarsi are 2 inches in length. A beautiful figure of the bird, by Lear, is given in Mr. Gould's magnificent work. The range of the species is very wide, perhaps wider than that of any other, being distributed throughout the whole of the wooded districts from the River Plata to Guiana. We select as an illustrative example, Ramphastos Cuvieri. Description. Beak brownish black on the sides, with a large basal belt and culminal line of greenish yellow, the basal belt being bounded behind by a narrow line of black, and before by a broader one of deep black, which is only apparent in certain lights; the top of the head and whole of the upper surface black, with the exception of the upper tail-coverts, which are bright orange yellow; cheeks, throat, See page 280, The following may be taken as examples of the genus. Pteroglossus Humboldtir. Description.-Bill large in proportion to the body: band of black occupies the culmen from the base to the tip the remainder of the upper mandible of a dull yellowish LY orange, with the exception of an indefinite mark of black which springs from each serrature, and a fine line of the same colour surrounding it near the base; lower mandible black, with the exception of the base, which is surrounded with pale yellowish orange; the head, back of the neck, throat, and chest black; all the upper surface, except a spot of scarlet on the rump, of a dull olive; primaries blackish brown; under surface pale straw-yellow with a slight tinge of green; thighs chesnut; naked space round the eyes and tarsi lead-colour. Total length about 16 to 17 inches; bill 4, wing 5, tail 6, tarsi 1. (Gould.) Mr. Gould's elegant figure of a male is taken from a specimen, supposed to be unique, in the Cabinet of Natural History at Munich. Locality.-Brazils; probably near the Amazon. Pteroglossus Humboldtii. (Gould.) Pleroglossus pluricinctus. Description.-(Male.)-A broad band of black advances from the nostrils along the whole of the culmen, and forms a narrow belt down the sides of the upper mandible at its base; the elevated basal margin of the bill is yellow; the sides of the upper mandible beautiful orange-yellow, fading into yellowish-white towards the tip; under mandible wholly black with a yellow basal ridge; head, neck, and chest black; whole of the upper surface, except the rump, which is scarlet, dark olive-green; breast marked with two broad bands of black, the upper separated from the throat by an intervening space of yellow dashed with red; a similar but broader space separates the two bands of black, the lower of which is bounded by scarlet, advancing as far as the thighs, which are brownish-olive; under the tail-coverts light yellow; naked space round the eyes, tarsi, and feet dark leadcolour. Female.-Differs from the male in having the ear-coverts brown, and a narrow belt of scarlet bordering the black of the throat. Total length 20 inches; bill 4, wings 6, tail 84. (Gould.) Upper figure, female; lower, male. (Gould.) RAMPHO'STOMA, Wagler's name for the Gavials. [CROCODILE, Vol. viii., p. 167.] RAMPION (Campanula Rapúnculus) is a biennial plant, indigenous to Britain as well as to various parts or the continent of Europe. It has a long white spindleshaped root, which may be eaten in its raw state, like a radish, and is by some esteemed for its pleasant nutty flavour. Both leaves and root may also be cut into winter salads. The seeds should be sown at the end of May, in rather light soil, and thinly covered. The roots will be fit for use throughout the following winter. A different plant, the Enothera biennis, is sometimes called German Rampion (Rapunzel Sellery). Its roots are used like those of the above, and the plants are cultivated in the same manner as carrots or parsnips. RAMPOOR. [HINDUSTAN, p. 219.] RAMSAY, ALLAN, was born in 1685, of parents of the humblest class, at a small hamlet, or settlement of a few cottages, stated to be now in ruins, on the banks of the Glangonar, a tributary of the Clyde, among the hills that divide Clydesdale and Annandale. The parish was probably that of Crawford in Lanarkshire, through which the Glangonar flows, and where are situated Lord Hopeton's leadmines, in which Ramsay's father is said to have been a working man, and he nimself to have been employed when a child as a washer of ore. When he made his first appearance in Edinburgh, about the beginning of the last century, Allan was apprenticed to a barber; and he appears to have followed that trade for some years. In course of time however ne exchanged it for that of a bookseller, led probably by a taste for reading which he had acquired. He seems to have early in life enjoyed considerable popularity as a boon companion, and we may presume that it was in this character that he first gave proof of his poetic talents. He gradually however obtained the acquaintance of many of the most distinguished persons both in the literary and fashionable circles of the Scottish capital; and in 1721 he published a volume of his poems, which was very favourably received by his countrymen. In 1724 he published, in two small volumes, 'The Evergreen, being a Collection of Scots Poems, wrote by the Ingenious before 1600. The materials of this collection (which has been lately reprinted) were | patent right in achromatic telescopes. His occupation chiefly obtained from the volume called the Bannatyne afforded him frequent opportunities of observing the defec MS., preserved in the Advocates' Library; but Ramsay, who tive construction of the sextants then in use, the indications had little scholarship, and who lived in a very uncritical age of which, as had been pointed out by Lalande, could not as to such matters, has paid no attention to fidelity in be relied on within five minutes of a degree, and might making his transcripts, patching and renovating the old therefore leave a doubt in the determination of the longitude verses throughout to suit his own fancy. The Evergreen' amounting to fifty nautical leagues. The improvements was followed the same year by The Tea-Table Miscellany, introduced by Ramsden are said by Piazzi to have reduced or a Collection of Choice Songs, Scots and English,' in four the limits of error to thirty seconds. This circumstance, volumes, which has been often reprinted. The edition be- added to the cheapness of his instruments, which were sold fore us, dated 1763 (London), is designated the twelfth. This for about two-thirds the price charged by other makers, soon collection, besides many new verses contributed by Ramsay produced a demand which, even with the assistance of nuhimself and some of his friends, contains numerous old merous hands, he found difficulty in supplying. In his Scottish songs, which, he observes in his preface, have been workshops the principle of the division of labour was carried done time out of mind, and only wanted to be cleared from out to a considerable extent, and a proportionate dexterity the dross of blundering transcribers and printers.' His was acquired by the workmen; but it is asserted that in scouring however went the length in many cases of rubbing none of these, even the most subordinate, and least of all in away the old song altogether; and his substitutions are by the higher departments, did the skill of the workmen surpass no means always a compensation for what he thus destroyed, that of Ramsden himself. His attention was incessantly though most of them are clever and spirited, and have ac- directed to new improvements and further simplification, quired general currency among Scottish song-singers. No the result of which was the invention of a dividing-machine, older copies, it ought to be stated, either printed or manu- which has been already noticed under GRADUATION. The script, are now known to exist of many of the songs profess- date of this invention is prior to the year 1766. At first it ing to be antient preserved in this collection; and there had many imperfections; but by repeated efforts of ingenuity can be little doubt that Ramsay was indebted for many of throughout a period of ten years, they were successfully them merely to oral tradition. Ramsay afterwards wrote removed. In 1777 it was brought under the notice of the many more verses in his native dialect; but his only two Commissioners of the Board of Longitude, by Dr. Shepherd, original performances of any considerable pretension are his and by them a premium of 6157. was paid to the author, comic pastoral, the Gentle Shepherd,' published in 1729, upon his engaging to divide sextants at six, and octants at and his continuation of the old Scottish poem of Christ's three shillings, for other mathematical instrument makers Kirk on the Green,' attributed by some to James I.; by A description of the machine was immediately published, others, with more probability, to James V. There is a good by order of the Board, under the supervision of Dr. Maskelyne deal of rather effective though coarse merriment in the (London, 1777, 4to.), and was shortly after translated into latter attempt. The Gentle Shepherd' is, as a whole, not French by Lalande. A duplicate of the machine itself is very like anything else that Ramsay has written; but there said to have been purchased by the president, Bochard de seems to be no evidence for the notion which has been sug- Saron, and introduced into France concealed in the support gested, that in this instance he fathered the production of of a table made for that purpose. (Weiss, Bing. Univers) some other writer. The name of this supposed other writer, As early as 1788 no less than 983 sextants and octants had we believe, has never been so much as suggested or at- issued from Ramsden's workshop. In 1779 the description tempted to be guessed at; nor were any of the circum- of another machine constructed by Ramsden for dividing stances attending the publication suspicious or mysterious. straight lines by means of a screw was also published by The poem too, although more careful and elaborate than order of the Board; but this invention does not appear anything else that Ramsay has left us, is not without the have been of much practical use. It was however in the wonted qualities of his manner, both good and bad. It has construction of many of the larger class of astronomical in no more elevation or refinement than any of Ramsay's other struments that Ramsden acquired most reputation, though works, though less that is offensively coarse or boisterous they were probably least productive of pecuniary gain. The than some of them; both in the diction and the thought it theodolite employed by General Roy in the English Survey flows easily and smoothly; and though there are not many was made by Ramsden, and no instrument of the kind that happy touches, and no daring strokes, there is a general had been previously made would bear comparison with it. truth of painting about it in a quiet tone, which is very A similar remark is applicable to the equatorial constructed soothing and agreeable. It has also some humour, which for Sir George Schuckburgh, which was also the largest that had then been attempted. Ramsden took out a patent for his new equatorial, and a description of it was published by the Hon. Stewart Mackenzie, brother to the earl of Bute; but his inventive genius seldom permitted him to construct two instruments alike. His telescopes, erected at the ob servatories of Blenheim, Mannheim, Dublin, Paris, and Gotha, were remarkable for the superiority of their objectglasses; and in his mural quadrants, furnished to the ob servatories of Padua and Vilna, Dr. Maskelyne was unable to detect an error amounting to two seconds and a half, a degree of accuracy which was then a matter of admiration among astronomers. Ramsden however always recom mended that the mural quadrant should be superseded by the mural circle; and the circles erected in the observatories of Palermo and Dublin, the first of which was of five and the latter of twelve feet diameter, were constructed by him in accordance with this recommendation. however is rather elaborate and constrained. Ramsay died in 1758, leaving a son of the same name, who acquired considerable distinction as a portrait-painter. (See Currie's Life of Burns; and, for a very severe, indeed an outrageous critique of the Gentle Shepherd,' Pinkerton's List of the Scottish Poets, prefixed to his Antient Scottish Poems, 1786, vol. i., pp. 132, &c.) RAMSDEN, JESSE, was born at Salterhebble, near Halifax, Yorkshire, in 1735. He was the son of an innkeeper. When nine years old he was admitted into the free grammar-school of Halifax; and after attending there for about three years, he was placed under the protection of an uncle, who resided in the north of Yorkshire. By him he was sent to a school conducted by Mr. Hall, a clergyman, who was in repute as a teacher of the mathemat es, and under whom he attained to some proficiency in geometry and algebra. His studies were interrupted by his father apprenticing him to a cloth-worker at Halifax. At the age of twenty we find him engaged as a clerk in a cloth warehouse in London, in which capacity he continued till 1757-8, when his predilection for other pursuits led him to bind himself for four years to a working mathematical and philosophical instrument maker, named Barton, in Denmark Court, Strand. Upon the completion of his term, he engaged himself as assistant to a workman named Cole, at a salary of twelve shillings a week; but this connection was of short duration. He then commenced working on his own account, and his skill as an engraver and divider gradually recommended him to the employ of the leading instrument-makers, more particularly Nairne, Sisson, Adams, and Dollond. Ramsden subsequently married Dollond's daughter, and he received with her a part of Mr. Dollond's Among Ramsden's minor inventions and improvements may be enumerated his catoptric and dioptric micrometers (described in the Phil. Trans.,' 1779), the former of which was an improvement upon that of Bougier; optigraph; of dynamometer (for measuring the magnifying powers telescopes); barometer; electrical machine; manometer; assay-balance; level; pyrometer; and the method introduced by him for correcting the aberrations of sphericity and refrangibility in compound eye-glasses. (Phil. Trans, 1783.) Ramsden was elected a fellow of the Royal Society in 1786. In 1794 a similar compliment was paid him by the Imperial Academy of St. Petersburg; and the following year the Copley medal was awarded to him by the Royal Society, in testimony of the importance of his various in to ventions. By this time his health had become much impaired by his ardent devotion to his profession. In 1800 he was advised to visit Brighton, where he died, on the 5th of November of that year. From 1766 to 1774 his shop and residence was in the Haymarket; but in the latter year he removed to Piccadilly, where his business continued to be conducted after his decease. In his habits we are told that he was temperate to abstemiousness, and that for many years he restricted himself to very few hours of repose. Most of the time that he could spare from the immediate duties of his profession was devoted to the perusal of works of science and literature. His memory was remarkably retentive, and at an advanced age he made himself sufficiently master of the French language to read Molière and Boileau. The fortune of which he died possessed was not considerable, and a large portion of it was directed by his will to be distributed among his workmen. See CIRCLE; EQUATORIAL; GRADUATION; TRANSIT-INSTRUMENT; SEXTANT; &c.; and Pearson's Practical Astronomy, Lond., 1829, vol. ii., pp. 12, 18, 47, 181-5, 194-6, 285-6, 413-28, 519, 533-46, 558-60, and 573. (Piazzi's Account of the Life and Labours of Ramsden, in a letter addressed by him to Lalande, and published by the latter in the Journal des Sçavans' for Nov., 1788, p. 744. This interesting letter was written by Piazzi while urging the progress of his mural circle, the construction of which had been undertaken by Ramsden, but the advance of which towards completion does not appear to have kept pace with Piazzi's wishes; and though it doubtless contains no unmerited eulogium, it seems to have been intended by Piazzi to act as a stimulant. Philosophical Magazine, vol. xvi.; European Magazine, February, 1789; Biog. Univers.; and the Communication of the Rev. L. Dutens to Dr. Aikin, in General Biography, art. Ramsden.') RAMSEY. [MAN, ISLE OF.] RAMSGATE, a town in the Isle of Thanet in Kent, 71 miles from London-bridge, through Dartford, Rochester, and Canterbury. The ville of Ramsgate, comprehending 260 acres, was included formerly in the parish of St. Lawrence, in the hundred of Ringslow or Thanet, in the lathe of St. Augustine; but provided separately for its own poor: in 1827 it was made a distinct parish. The ville is a member of the Cinque-Port of Sandwich. Ramsgate was antiently a poor fishing-town, consisting of a few meanly-built houses, built on the coast of the Isle of Thanet, which here fronts the south-east: it had a small wooden pier. After the Revolution of 1688, some of the inhabitants engaged in the Russian trade, by which they acquired wealth, and this led to the improvement of the town. When the practice of families from London and elsewhere resorting to the seaside became general, Ramsgate was one of the earliest frequented spots, though for some time eclipsed by the superior attractions of Margate. The improvement of the harbour by the erection of the piers and other works in the middle and latter part of the last century, gave another impulse to the prosperity of the town. Early in the present century a stone lighthouse was erected on the head of the west pier; a small battery is fixed at the head of the east pier. The east pier is one of the longest in the kingdom, extending 2000 feet; the western pier extends about half that length: they are built of Portland and Purbeck stone and Cornish granite. The harbour includes an area of 48 acres, and furnishes a convenient shelter for vessels which are obliged by heavy gales to run from the Downs. It is provided with a basin and floodgates in the upper part of the harbour for Scouring it from the drifted sand or mud. The old part of Ramsgate is situated in one of those natural depressions (called in the Isle of Thanet 'gates,' or 'stairs') in the chalk, which open upon the sea. This part of the town is low compared with the higher parts on each side of it. The streets in the old part of the town are narrow and indifferently built. The newer part of the town, from its elevated site on the cliffs, commands an extensive seaview, and consists of several streets macadamized and lighted with gas. Many of the houses are very handsome: some are arranged in streets, terraces, or crescents, while others are detached villas. At present (1840) a considerable number of houses are building. There are bathing-rooms, assembly-rooms, boarding and lodging houses, a handsome new church, a chapel of ease, and several dissenting meeting-houses. The population of the ville of Ramsgate, including the town, was, in 1831, 7985. There is considerable coasting trade; coal is imported in considerable quantity; and ship building and rope-making are carried on. It is observable as indicating the commercial character of the place, tha though the population of Margate exceeds that of Ramsgate by 2300 or 2400, there are not half as many persons engaged in retail trade or handicraft as at the latter place. The markets are on Wednesday and Saturday. A considerable fishery is carried on; in the summer steam-boats sail regularly between London and Ramsgate. The living of Ramsgate is a vicarage, of the clear yearly value of 400l., in the gift of the vicar of St. Lawrence, the mother church. There were, in 1833, two infant schools, with 217 children of both sexes; a national day and Sunday school with 150 boys and 100 girls; twenty day-schools, estimated to contain about 525 children; six boarding-schools, supposed to contain 170 children; and three Sunday-schools, two of them containing 300 children; from the other no return was mnade. RAMSON (Allium ursínum), a species of garlic found wild in many parts of Britain, and formerly cultivated in gardens; but its use is superseded by the Allium sativum, a native of Sicily, which is the Garlic now in cultivation. RAMTILLA, a genus of plants of the natural family of Compositæ, and subtribe Heliantheæ, so called from the Indian name ram-tilla, by which the oil of its seed is designated The plant is remarkable for the number of names by which it has been described by botanists. Of these we need only mention the Verbesina sativa of Roxburgh, and the Ramtilla oleifera of De Candolle. Cassini had however previously formed it into a new genus, and under the name of Guizotia dedicated it to the celebrated historian, then minister of public instruction.' This name, being prior to that of Ramtilla by a year or two, is now retained as that of the genus. De Candolle, having obtained specimens and seeds from various countries, discovered that the Indian plant was identical with one from Abyssinia, which has been mentioned by Bruce under the name of Polymnia frondosa. The fact is interesting in a plant cultivated in both countries for the same purposes, and forming one of the links which indicate the connection which existed in early times between India and Upper Egypt. This plant is cultivated in different parts of India, from October to March, in fields, for the sake of the seed, from which an oil is expressed, and used as a substitute for that of the Sesamum, which is considered the best kind. It is used both in dressing food and as a lamp oil. RAMUS, PETER (PIERRE DE LA RAME'E), was born in a village in Picardy, in the year 1502, according to one account, and in the year 1515 according to another. His parents were extremely poor, and the future philosopher was set when a boy to tend sheep. Disgusted with this employment, and having an ardent desire to get knowledge, he ran away from his parents to Paris. After some time, and after he had encountered much misery, one of his uncles offered some pecuniary assistance, and Ramus now entered the College of Navarre as a servant. He made great progress in all studies, with very little assistance from masters. At the completion of his course, when he presented himself for the degree of master of arts, he undertook as an exercise what then seemed the almost impious task of showing that Aristotle was not infallible. This was the beginning of the anti-Aristotelian opinions by which Ramus afterwards gained his notoriety and fame. The exercise was adjudged successful, and Ramus henceforth devoted himself to the study of the works of Aristotle as to the object of his life. In 1543 he published his new system of logic, with strictures on the logic of Aristotle. The publication of this work exposed him to great obloquy. He was charged with impiety and sedition, and with a desire to overthrow all science and religion, through the medium of an attack on Aristotle. On the report of an irregular and partial tribunal, appointed to consider the charges made against him, the king ordered his works to be suppressed, and forbade his teaching or writing against Aristotle on pain of corporal punishment. Ramus availed himself of the leisure which the compulsory cessa sion of his lectures procured for him, to study mathematics and prepare an edition of Euclid. Shortly afterwards he began a course of lectures on rhetoric at the College of Presles, the plague having driven away numbers of students from Paris. He was named Principal of this college, and the Sorbonne ineffectually endeavoured to eject him on the ground of the royal prohibitory decree. This decree wa cancelled in 1545, through the influence of the Cardinal de Lorraine, to whom he had dedicated his edition of Euclid. He now began a course of mathematics in Paris. In 1551, he was named by the king (Henri II.) professor of philosophy and eloquence in the College of France. During the next ten years, he published a Greek, Latin, and French gram-lated from Arrian's text; Journey of a Venetian from Alexmar, and several treatises on mathematics, logic, and rhetoric. Ramus had embraced Protestantism, and now shortly again brought upon himself great trouble by the zeal with which he advocated the new doctrines. Charles IX. offered him an asylum at Fontainebleau; but while he was absent from home, his house was pillaged and his library destroyed. He returned to Paris in 1563, and resumed possession of his royal chair. Civil troubles again drove him away from Paris, | and in 1568 he asked permission to travel. He went to Germany, and was received everywhere with honour. He gave lectures on mathematics at Heidelberg, and while in this town he made public profession of Protestantism. Shortly after his return to Paris, he fell a victim in the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Although Ramus had many merits as a philosopher, and did much good by his opposition to the Aristotelian philosophy, which then held men's minds in bondage, he was wanting in depth and caution, and his strictures on Aristotle are by no means altogether just. He had many followers. The influence of Melanchthon, on the other side, did not prevent the progress of his system of logic in the German universities. France, England, and particularly Scotland, were full of Ramists. Andrew Melville introduced the logic of Ramus at Glasgow. The following is a list of the principal works of Ramus: 1. 'Institutiones Dialecticæ Tribus Libris distinctæ ;' 2, 'Animadversiones in Dialecticam Aristotelis;' 3, Rhetorica Distinctiones in Quintilianum;' 4, Arithmetica Libri Tres; 5, In Quatuor Libros Georgicorum et in Bucolica Virgilii Prælectiones;' 6, 'Ciceronianus.' (A life of Cicero, interspersed with many philological remarks on the Latin language. and strictures on the state of education in France.) 7, 'Scholæ Grammatica Libri Duo ;' 8, 'Grammatica Latina ;' 9, 'Grammatica Græca quatenus à Latina differt;' 10, Gramère Fransoeze;' 11, Liber de Moribus Veterum Gallorum;' 12, Liber de Militia Julii Cæsaris; 13, Commentarius de Religione Christiana, Libri Quatuor;' 14, 'Præfationes, Epistolæ, Orationes' (Paris, 1599, and Marburg, 1599) The Greek Grammar of Ramus received considerable additions from Sylburgius. The above list is taken from the article 'Ramus,' in the Biographie Universelle. For a complete list of the works of Ramus the reader is referred to Niceron (Mém., tom. xiii.). RAMU'SIO, GIAMBATTISTA, was born at Treviso in the Venetian State, in 1485, of a family originally from Rimini, which produced several men of learning. He filled several offices under the republic, and became secretary to the Council of Ten. Having undertaken a collection of the most important narratives of voyages and travels performed in distant counties both in antient and modern times, he translated into Italian those that had been written in other languages, and added his own remarks and several dissertations, which show that he possessed very extensive general information for the age in which he lived. He was a friend of Bembo, Fracastoro, and other learned contemporaries. His work is entitled 'Raccolta di Navigazioni e Viaggi,' 3 vols. fol. The first volume was printed by Giunti at Venice, in 1550; another volume appeared in 1556, and a third in 1559, after Ramusio's death, which took place at Padua, in July, 1557. Subsequent editions appeared with the addition of several travels which had not appeared in the first. The most complete edition is that of 1606. The following list of contents will convey an idea of the value of the work:-Vol. i., Leo Africanus's Description of Africa; Cadamosto a Venetian navigator, preceded by a Discourse by Ramusio; Sintra, a Portuguese narrative; Hanno's Periplus; Navigation from Lisbon to St. Thomé, by a Portuguese pilot; Ramusio, a Discourse on the Navigation of the Portuguese to the East Ind es; Voyage of Vasco de Gama In 1497, written by a Florentine; Pedro Cabral Alvarez, royage from Lisbon to Calicut in 1500, written by a Portuguese pilot; Amerigo Vespucci, two letters to Pietro Soderini; a Summary of Vespucci's Voyages; Thomas Lopez, a Portuguese, Voyage to the East Indies; Giovanni da Empoli, a Florentine, Journey to India; Ludovico Barthema of Bologna, Itinerary, preceded by a Discourse by Ramusio; Jambolus, Voyage extracted from Diodorus, with a Dis course by Ramusio; Andrea Corsali, a Florentine, Two Letters to Julian and Lorenzo de' Medici; Alvarez, Travels to Ethiopia, with the submission of Prester John to Pope Clement VII.; Ramusio, Discourse on the Rise of the Nile, with a reply by Fracastoro; the Voyage of Nearchus transandria to Diu in India in 1538; Arrian's Navigation from the Red Sea to India; Barbosa, a book of travels to the East Indies; a brief account of Kingdoms and Towns between the Red Sea and China, translated from the Portuguese; Antonio Conti, a Venetian, Journey to India, writ ten by Poggio Bracciolini; Jeronimo da San Stefano, a Genoese, his letter written from Tripoli in 1499; Ramusio, Discourse on the Voyage round the World by the Spaniards; Maximilian of Transylvania, Epistle concerning the Naviga tion of the Spaniards; a short account of the Voyage of Magalhaens; Pigafetta, Voyage round the World; the Navigation of a Portuguese who accompanied Edward Barbosa in 1519; Ramusio, a Discourse concerning the Voy ages to the Spice Countries; Juan Gaetan, a Castilian pilot, Discovery of the Moluccas; Information concerning Japan, by the Portuguese Jesuits; João de Barros, Chapters extracted from his History.' Vol. ii. contains Marco Polo's Travels, with a preface by Ramusio; Hayton, an Armenian, Discourse on the origin of the Great Khan and the condition of the Tartars; Angiolelli, Life and Actions of Hussan Cassan; the Travels of a Merchant into Persia in the years 1517-20; Giosafat Barbaro, a Venetian, Journey to the Tana (the river Tanais) and into Persia; Ambrosio Contarini, Journey into Persia; Alberto Campense, Letters to Clement VII. concerning the affairs of Muscovy; Paul Giovio, Reports on the affairs of Muscovy, by him collected; Herbestein, Commentaries on Muscovy and Russia; Arrian's Letter to Hadrian concerning the Euxine; Interiano, a Genoese, on the habits and manners of the Zythi, called Circassians; Hippocrates, extract of his Treatise on Air and Water, in which he speaks of the Scythians; Piero Quirino, a Venetian, Account of his Voyage and Shipwreck; Sebastian Cabota, Navigation in the Northern Seas; Caterino Zeno, a Venetian, Travels to Persia; Niccolo and Antonio Zeno on the Discovery of Iceland; Travels into Tartary by some Dominican monks; Olderico da Udine, Two Journeys into Tartary; Guagnini, a Venetian, Description of European Sarmatia; Matthew Micheow of Cracow, Description of the two Sarmatias.' Vol. iii. Pietro Martire of Angleria, extract from his History of the New World; Oviedo, extract from his History of the West Indies; Hernan Cortez, Narrative of his Conquest of Mexico; Pedro de Alvarado, two letters to Hernan Cortez; Diego Godoy, a letter from New Spain; Narrative of one of Cortez's companions concerning Mexico, with two maps, one of the Great Temple, and another of the Lake; Alvaro Nuñez, Narrative of the Indies and of New Galicia in 1527-36; Guzman on the Conquest of New Spain; Francisco Ulloa, Voyage in the Mar Vermejo, or Sea of California; Vasquez de Coronado, Narrative of a Journey to Cevole, or the Kingdom of the Seven Cities; Alarcon, Voyage to discover the Kingdom of the Seven Cities in 1540; Ramusio, Discourse on the Conquest of Peru; Narrative of a Spanish Captain concerning the Conquest Peru; Francisco Xeres, Narrative of the Conquest of Peru and New Castile; Narrative of a Secretary of Francisco Pizarro concerning the Conquest of Peru; Gonzalo de Oviedo, Navigation of the river Marañon; Ramusio, Discourse concerning New France; Giovanni da Verazzano, a Florentine, Narrative written from Dieppe, in July, 1524; Discourse of a great Naval Captain concerning the Naviga tion of the West Indies; Jacques Cartier, First and Second Narrative of Voyages to New France; Cesare de Federici, Voyage to the East Indies and beyond India; Three Voyages of Hollanders and Zealanders to China, New Zembla, and Greenland.' of Among the above series are several curious narratives which are not found in any other collection. Ramusio left materials for a fourth volume, which unfortunately were destroyed in a fire which broke out in the printing press of Giunti, in November, 1557. (Camus, Mémoires sur les Collections de Voyages. Gamba, Serie dei Testi di Lingua.) RANDAZZO. [MESSINA.] RANDERS is a thriving Danish trading town, in the diocese of Aarhuus, in the province of Jutland. It is situated in 56° 28' N. lat. and 10° 3' E. long., near the |