Part 398

To RAISE a plan of a fortress, is to measure with cords and geometrical instruments, the length of the lines, and the capacity of the angles, that by knowing the length, breadth, and thickness, of all the different parts of a fortification, it may be represented upon paper, so as to find out its advantages and disadvantages.

RAISON, Fr. this word is used by the French, in a mathematical sense, to express the relation which one number has to another, and in general, that which exists between one quantity and another. The term is distinguished into raison arithmétique, or arithmetical reasoning; and raison géométrique, or geometrical reasoning. French carpenters likewise use the term, to shew that pieces of wood, &c. are properly laid, viz. Des pieces de bois en leur raison.

RALLIEMENT, Fr. Rallying point. It is sometimes written raliment.

Mot de RALLIEMENT, Fr. a word or countersign, which is given to out posts, and to sentries that are stationed beyond the lines.

RALLUMER, Fr. To light up again, to rekindle, to renew.

RALLY, one of the bugle horn soundings.

To RALLY, (Rallier, Fr.) To bring troops back to order that have been dispersed.

RALLYING, in war, re-establishing, or forming together again, troops broken and put to flight.

To RAM, to drive with violence, as with a battering ram.

To RAM down, to force anything downwards, or to fill with any thing driven hard together, as in the charge of firearms.

RAM down cartridge, a word of command used in the platoon exercise. See MANUAL.

Battering RAM, in antiquity, a military engine used to batter and beat down the walls of places besieged.

The battering ram was of two sorts, the one rude and plain, the other compound. The former seems to have been no more than a great beam, which the soldiers bore on their arms and shoulders, and with one end of it, by main force, assailed the walls. The compound ram is thus described by Josephus: it is a vast beam, like the mast of a ship, strengthened at one end with a head of iron, something resembling that of a ram, whence it took its name. This was hung by the middle with ropes to another beam, which lay across two posts, and hanging thus equally balanced, it was by a great number of men drawn backwards and pushed forwards, striking the wall with its iron head.

Plutarch informs us, that Mark Antony, in the Parthian war, made use of a ram 80 feet long: and Vitruvius tells us, that they were sometimes 106, and 120 feet long: to this perhaps the force and strength of the engine was in a great measure owing. The ram at one time was managed by a whole century of soldiers; and they, being exhausted, were seconded by another century; so that it played continually, and without any intermission.

The momentum of a battering ram 28 inches in diameter, 180 feet long, with a head of cast iron of one ton and a half, the whole ram with its iron hoops, &c. weighing 41,112 pounds, and moving by the united strength of 1000 men, will be only equal to that of a ball of 36 pounds, when shot point blank from a cannon.

RAMMER, an instrument used for driving down stones or piles into the ground in military works; or for beating the earth, in order to render it more solid for a foundation.

RAMMER, or RAMROD of a gun, the ramrod or gunstick; a rod used in charging a gun, to drive home the powder and shot, as also the wad, which keeps the shot from rolling out. The rammer of a piece of artillery, is a cylinder of wood, whose diameter and length are each equal to the diameter of the shot, with a handle fixed to it, at the end of which is another cylinder, covered with lamb-skin, so as to fit the gun exactly, and called a sponge: it is used to clean the piece before and after it is fired. The ramrod of a musquet is one entire piece of iron.

Return RAMROD. See PLATOON EXERCISE, under MANUAL.

RAMPART, in fortification, or, as some call it, but improperly, rampire; the great massy bank of earth raised about a place to resist the enemy’s shot, and to cover the buildings, &c. On it is raised a parapet towards the country. It is not above 18 feet high, and about 60 or 70 thick, unless more earth be taken out of the ditch than can be otherwise disposed of. The rampart should be sloped on both sides, and be broad enough to allow the marching of waggons and cannon, besides the parapet which is raised on it. The rampart of the half moons is better for being low, that the small arms of the besieged may the better reach the bottom of the ditch; but it must be so high, as not to be commanded by the covert-way. The rampart is encompassed with a ditch, and is sometimes lined with a fausse-bray and a berme.

RAMPS, (Rampes, Fr.) in fortification, are sloping communications, or ways of very gentle ascent, leading from the inward area, or lower part of a work, to the rampart or higher part of it.

RAMS-horns, in fortification, are a kind of low works made in the ditch, of a circular arc; they were invented by M. Belidor, and serve instead of tenailles.

RAMADAN, Fr. a month so called among the Turks, during which period they observe fast days.

RAMASSE, Fr. a sort of sledge, in which travellers are conveyed from the tops of mountains that are covered with snow.

RAMASSER, Fr. to collect, to get together. On a ramassé tout ce qu’on a pu trouver de soldats. They got as many soldiers together as they could.

RAMASSE, Fr. Gathered together, collected. This word is likewise used to distinguish men that are hastily raised and embodied, from soldiers who have been regularly disciplined, viz. Ce ne son pas des troupes reglées, ce sont des gens ramassés. They are not regular troops, but persons hastily got together.

RAMASSE, Fr. strong, vigorous. Un homme ramasse. A strong athletic man. Ramasse, in this sense, agrees with the English word tight-built, thickset, &c.

RAMAZAN. See RAMADAN.

RAMBERGE, Fr. an advice boat.