Riker
Rigging		4000
whalebone is especially lung and fine, and
the oil abundant and of excellent quality.
The right whales are further characteried by
absence of the dorsal fin and of furrows at
the side of the throat and by the great size
of the head and mouth.
Rigi, or Righi, in isolated mountain mass
which rises east of the Swiss town of Lu-
cerne, between the Lakes of Lucerne and
Zug. The highest point, the Rigi Kulm
(5,906 ft.) is crowned by a hotel. The view
from the Rigi is one of the most famous in
the world.
Rigidity, is one of the properties of matter
which sharply differentiate solids from fluids.
In abstract dynamics a rigid system is a col-
location of particles which never alter their
mutual relative positions. Of ordinary sub-
stances, steel possesses the highest rigidity.
See elasticity; strengh of materials.
Rigor, in medicine, the shivering or chill
which commonly ushers in certain feverish
conditions that attend such diseases as small-
pox, pnuemonia, and pyaemia.
Rigorists, in theology, those who advocate
strict adherence to the letter of any moral law.
Kant used it to mean champions of moral
asceticism.
Rigor Mortis, the rigidity which appears
in a dead body, and which is due to the co-
agulation of muscle plasma—i.e., the contents
of muscle fibres. Generally, rigor mortis af-
fects the whole body in from 12 to 18 hours
after death, and passes off in about 36 hours.
Rigsdag, the parliament of Denmark. See
denmark.
Rig-Veda, the oldest and most important
of the Vedas, consists of a collection of hymns
addressed to the powers and phenomena of
nature. It dates between 1500 and 1000 b.c.
See vedas.
Riis, Jacob August (1849-1914), Ameri-
can author and social reformer, was born in
Ribe, Denmark. He came to America in 1870,
and in 1877 joined the staff of the New York
Tribune, and later that of the New York Sun.
He became active in philanthropic move-
ments in New York City, especially the im-
provement of the condition of the poor, tene-
ment-house reform, the provision of play-
grounds and small parks, and the suppression
of the sweatshop system. His publications in-
clude: How the Other Half Lives (1890);
The Making of an American (1901); The
Battle with the Slum (1902); Children of the
Tenements (1903); Theodore Roosevelt, the
Citizen (1904); Neighbors (1914).
Riker, Andrew L. (1868-1930), American
magnitude, the lucida of the constellation
Orion. It has no measurable parallax, and
must give at least 8,000 times the light of
the sun.
Rigging, in current use, the cordage which
supports and manages the sails of a vessel,
and correctly so if used of a mast or yard;
but more accurately, the entire body of ap-
paratus accessory to the hull—masts, yards,
sails, cordage, and even davits. See sails and
rigging.
Riggs, Stephen Return (1812-83), Amer-
ican missionary, was born in Steubenville, 0.
From 1837 until his death he was a Presby-
terian missionary among the Dakotas, Sioux,
and other Indidan tribes. His publications
include Dakota Vocabulary (1852); The
Bible in Dakota (with John P. Williamson,
1879) j Forty Years among the Sioux (1880).
Riggs^1 Disease.   See Pyorrhoea.
Right Ascension, in astronomy, the name
given to one of the arcs which determine the
position, relatively to the Equator, of a
heavenly body on the celestial sphere, the
other being the declination. It meant orig-
inally the difference of time of rising of the
first point of Aries. Its value for any heaven-
ly body is ascertained by means of the tran-
sit instrument and clock, and is usually meas-
ured in hours, minutes, and seconds.
Right-handedness, or the ability to use
the right hand more easily than the left, is ex-
plained as due both to gradually acquired
habit, and to certain structural and function-
al peculiarities of the human body. Left-
handedness is largely hereditary, and exists
in varying degrees. Ambidexterity, or the
ability to use both hands with equal facility,
is sometimes cultivated, especially in children
with a slight tendency to left-handedness.
Right of Search. See Search, Right of.
Right of Way, the name given to an ease-
ment or privilege enjoyed by individuals or
classes of individuals, or by the public at
large, of passing over the private property
of another without being guilty of trespass.
See easement; highway.
Rights, Bill of. See Bill of Rights.
Rights of Man, Declaration of the, a
famous statement of the constitution and
principles of civil society and government
adopted by the French National Assembly in
August, 1789. In historical importance it may
fairly be ranked with the English Bill of
Rights and the American Declaration of In-
dependence.
Right Whale, either of two species of
belonging to the genus Balaena, whose