RABELAIS 406 BACHEL Ireland, Austral:?. New Zealand, and America. Tht • .^bit is smaller than the hare; its muzzle is slenderer, and the palate larger and narrower. They be- gin to breed at 6 months old, and have several litters in each year. They are domesticated throughout France and form an important article of food. RABELAIS. FRANCOIS, a French satirist; born in Chinon^, Touraine, about 1483. He was at first a monk, but hav- ing been punished for some indecorous FRANCOIS RABELAIS behavior, he quitted the Benedictine or- der, studied medicine at Montpellier, and for a time practiced as a physician. He subsequently obtained the rectory of Meudon. He was author of several books; but the only one by which he is known is the romance called "The Lives, Heroic Deeds, and Sayings of Gargantua and Pantagruel," an extravagant satire upon monks, priests, popes, and pedants, in which much obscenity and absurdity are blended with learning, wit, and humor. Rabelais was a conscientious teacher of his flock, his purse always open to the needy, and his medical skill was employed in the service of his par- ish. He died in 1553. RABIES. See Hydrophobia. RACCOON, or RACOON, the genus Procyon and especially P. lotor, a hand- some animal, about the size of a large cat, brown furry hair; tail bushy and ringed; body large and unwieldy, legs short, feet with strong fossorial claws. It is omnivorous and ranges over a large part of North America, where it is hunted for its fur. The crab-eating raccoon (P. cancrworus) , from South America, ranging as far N. as Panama, differs chiefly from the former in the shortness of its fur, and consequent slen- der shape. RACCOON DOG, in zoology, the Nyc- tereutes jn'ocyonides, soniiewhat resem- bling a raccoon in appearance. Also, any dog trained to chase or hunt rac- coons, for which task peculiar sagacity is necessary in the dog in order to pre- serve himself from injury. RACCOON RIVER, a stream in Iowa, rises in Buena Vista co., runs S. E., in- tersects Sac, Carroll, Greene, and Dallas counties, and enters Des Moines river at the city of Des Moines. Its length is estimated at 170 miles. RACE, a class of individuals sprung from a common stock ; the descendants collectively of a common ancestor; a family, tribe, nation, or people belong- ing, or supposed to belong, to the same stock. The human family, according to Blu- menbach, comprises five distinct races of men, viz. : The Caucasian, or white race, inhabiting southwestern Asia, the gi'eater part of Europe, large portions of North and South America, and Aus- tralia; the Ethiopian, black or negro race, occupying tropical and South Africa, some of the Pacific islands, part of Australia, and portions of North America, into which they were originally brought as slaves; the Mongolian, or yel- low race, occupying northern and east- ern Asia; the Malayan, or brown race, inhabiting the islands of the Indian and Pacific Oceans, the Australian continent, and the Malay Peninsula; and the Amer- ican Indian, or red race, of North and South America. RACCOON RACEME, in botany, a kind of inflo- rescence, in which the flowers are on sim- ple stalks distinct from each other, and arranged around a common axis. RACEMOSE GLANDS, glands in which the secreting caaty is made up of a number of smaller lobules. RACHEL, the second daughter of Laban, the dearly beloved of Jacob, who, to obtain her, devoted seven years to the flocks and herds of her father. But, at
