Recorder

3945

Redbreast

to the recording of instruments of title.!

Recorder, the name of an old musical in-
strument somewhat like a flageolet.

Recorder, Siphon, an instrument in-
vented hy Lord Kelvin to produce a perma-
nent record of the variations of the extreme-
ly minute currents by which the signals of
submarine cables are effected.

Recording Acts. Statutes providing for
the recording in public offices of instruments
affecting title to property and other docu-
ments, for the purpose of giving notice of
their existence and nature to the public. In
all States of the United States there are stat-
utes providing for the recording of deeds,
mortgages, leases, wills, and other instru-
ments of title, including releases or satisfac-
tions of mortgages, and liens, assignments of
leases and mortgages, etc.; also mechanic's
liens, Us pendens in actions affecting title to
property, powers of attorney, and all liens
affecting real property. Chattel mortgages
and conditional bills of sale may be recorded
or filed in public offices in most States. In
other words, one who relics upon the public
records is protected against secret convey-
ances.

Records, Public, any written or printed
matter containing accounts or memorials of
acts, transactions, and facts of a public na-
ture, and preserved for the benefit of the
public. All legislative acts; communications
from the Chief Executive to Congress, or of
the governor to a legislature; court proceed-
ings; books and accounts of public officials;
minutes of proceedings of public officers and
boards, of legislatures, and of Congress; of-
ficial maps; weather bureau records; patent
records; and documents filed or recorded in
public offices, are public records. Judicial rec-
ords are carefully preserved; and all instru-
ments filed or recorded under the Recording
Acts are public records. In most of the United
States, public records are generally open to
inspection by any one under reasonable reg-
ulations, regardless of interest, and usually
free of charge. Official copies may also be ob-
tained on payment of certain fees,

Recovery of Land. Possession of real
estate entitles a person to hold it until he is
legally ousted. Many States have statutory
'summary proceedings' for ousting tenants;
but generally an action in a superior court of
record is necessary if a question of title is
involved.

Rectangle, in mathematics, is a plane
quadrilateral figure having all its angles right

angles. Its area is equal to the product of
the lengths of two adjacent sides.

Rectification, in mathematics, is the
process of finding a right line equal in length
to an arc of a curve, or of expressing that
length. It is effected by integration between
limits obtained by curve tracing. The length
of any curved line may be found practically
by running a wheel along it, and noting the
number of revolutions; an instrument for do-
ing this is called an opisometer.

Rectification, in astronomy, is the adjust-
ting of a celestial or terrestrial globe for the
solution of a given problem.

Rectifying, a process applied to alcohol,
chloroform, or other volatile liquid, by which
the last traces of impurities are removed by
distillation.

Rector. In the Episcopal Churches of the
United States all incumbents are called rec-
tors. The title is also sometimes given to
the head of a college or school.

Rectum, or Anus, is the potential opening
at the lower end of the alimentary tract,
which ?3 normally closed, save during the
voiding of excreta, by the involuntary mus-
cle, the sphincter ani. (See INTESTINES ; ANAI
GLANDS.)

Red, one of the three primary colors (see
COLOR), appearing at the end of the spec-
trum opposite the violet end (see SPECTRUM) .
Red pigments are obtained from the mineral,
vegetable, and animal kingdoms.

Red Bank, town, Monmouth co., New
Jersey, at the head of navigation on the
Shrewsbury River, 27 m. s.w. of New York
City, with which it has steamboat connec-
tion. The town is a popular summer resort.
Manufactures include canning factories, gold-
beating works, iron foundry, carriage shops,
clothing, cigars, and brushes; p. 10,974.

Red-bellied Snake is the name for sev-
eral varieties or harmless snakes with red
ventral surfaces. The best known is the
Storeria occipitomaculata, or Wampum
Snake, found in the Eastern half of the Uni-
ted States.

Red Bird, a common name in various
countries for different birds of conspicuous
red plumage. In the Southern United
States it is a popular name for the Cardinal
Bird;< in the Northern United States, for the
Scarlet Tanager.

Redbreast, or Robin (Erithacus rube*
cula), a small, bold, and familiar European
bird, allied to the minor thrushes, which is
everywhere protected on account of its