Reductio

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Referendum

and carbon are typical reducing agents.

Reductio ad Absurdum, an indirect
method of disproof by showing that the
proposition to be disproved necessarily in-
volves consequences which are impossible or
absurd, in which case the proposition itself
must be erroneous.

Reed, (i.) In musical instruments. Cer-
tain wind instruments have their sounds pro-
duced by the vibration of a reed or thin
tongue of elastic material, fixed at one end
in such relation to a slot that a current of
air passing through the orifice causes the free
end of the reed to vibrate. In organs the
reeds are usually made of brass or some other
metal; but those of the clarinet, oboe, and
bassoon are invariably constructed from the
outer layer of the Anmdo sativa, a variety of
tall grass. Organ reeds differ from all others
in method of construction. (2.) In botany,
the common name of several tall grasses of
the genera Phragmites, Arundo, etc., usually
growing in wet or marshy places, and by the
banks of rivers and stagnant waters. (3.) In
weaving, an instrument somewhat like a
comb, made up of parallel slips of metal or
reed called 'dents/ which are fixed into two
parallel pieces of wood.

Reed, Joseph (1741-85), American pa-
triot, born at Trenton, N. J. In 1778, as a
member of the Continental Congress, Reed
signed the Articles of Confederation. He was
one of the founders of the University of
Pennsylvania, and an active advocate of the
abolition of slavery.

Reed, Thomas Brackett (1839-1902),
American politician, born at Portland, Me.
He \vas a prominent candidate for the Re-
publican presidential nomination in 1896. He
was a most efficient presiding officer, and his
rule as to counting a quorum, although
arousing bitter antagonism at the time, has
since been followed by both parties when
in control of the House.

Reed, Walter (1851-1902), American
bacteriologist and pathologist, discoverer of
the method of transmission of yellow fever,
born in Va. After service as interne in
Brooklyn City Hospital, and in Charity Hos-
pital, Blackwell's Island, he was appointed a
district physician in N. Y. city in 1872. In
1898 he became the head of a commission ap-
pointed to study the cause and method of
propagation of typhoid fever, when that dis-
ease was devastating the camps of the vol-
unteer armies of the U. S., at the outbreak
of the Spanish-American War. In June, 1900,

he began special work in Cuba, as president
of a commission to study infectious diseases,
especially yellow fever. By means of experi-
ments upon soldiers who volunteered for the
purpose, Reed demonstrated in 1901 that in-
fection of yellow fever does not pass from the
clothing, personal contact, or vomited mat-
ter ; but that through the bite of the mosquito
known as Stegomyia fasciata alone is the dis-
ease propagated. A slight but lasting tribute
has been paid to Reed in naming after him
the new Army General Hospital at Wash-
ington.

Reed, William Bradford (1806-76),
American politician and journalist, was born
in Philadelphia, In 1857 he became minister
to China. Upon his return in 1860 he be-
came American correspondent of the London
Times, and was active in New York city
politics.

Reeder, Andrew Horatio (1807-64),
first governor of Kan. Territory, born at
Easton, Pa. Pressure was brought to bear
against him at Washington by Southern poli-
ticians, and he was removed from office after
holding a little more than a year. In July,
1856, he was also chosen United States sena-
tor by the Topeka legislature, but as the ter-
ritory was refused statehood, he did not take
his seat.

Reef, or Shoal, is denned by an Interna-
tional Geographical Congress Committee as a
submarine elevation which reaches to within
ii fathoms of the surface, and so is danger-
ous to shipping.

Reefing, the process of reducing the area
of a sail.

Reel, a dance, danced by two or more
couples. The Virginia reel, well known in
the U. S., is a form of the Sir Roger de Cov-
erley of Great Britain.

Rees, John Krom (1851-1907), American
astronomer, born in New York. In 1884 he
became professor and director of the Colum-
bia University Observatory. In 1900 he was
U. S. juror on instruments of precision at
the Paris Exposition, and delegate to the
conference on photographing the atlas and to
the congress on chronometry,

Referendum, the political institution by
which laws are submitted to a vote by the
people, after they have been sanctioned by
the legislature, and before they become part
of the statute book. Together with the ini-
tiative, the referendum secures the direct,
right of legislation to the people, and there*
fore represents the most advanced stage ol