260 REFRIGEEATION KEGGIO pressed particularly in the oecumenical creeds; that the individual comes to a right apprehen- sion of the contents of the Bible through the teaching of the church ; that Protestantism is a historical continuation of the church cath- olic, in a new and higher form of faith." The worship of the church is liturgical. The first ministers in America brought with them the liturgies of those sections of Germany and Switzerland from which they emigrated, a preference being generally given to the Palat- inate liturgy. A new liturgy prepared by Dr. Mayer, and adopted in 1840, did not suffi- ciently satisfy the theological (high church) school which had gained predominance in the church, and in 1847 a new one, known as the provisional liturgy, was reported by a special committee to the eastern synod, and by the latter recommended to the churches for trial. As it evoked an animated controversy, it was referred for revision to a committee which in- cluded Dr. Nevin, Dr. Schaff, Dr. Gerhart, Dr. Harbaugh, and Dr. Bomberger. This com- mittee in 1866 reported a book, entitled " An Order of Worship for the Reformed Church." The eastern synod authorized its use by a vote of 53 to 14, while the general synod approved it by only a small majority (66 to 55) as " an order of worship proper to be used." The government of the church is presbyterian. Each congregation is governed by a consistory composed of the pastor, elders, and deacons. The elders and deacons are chosen by the com- municant members, and are ordained by laying on of hands. The consistory is subordinate to the classis, which consists of all the ministers and one elder from each parish of a district. The synod is composed of ministerial and lay delegates of several classes, and meets annually. The general synod, which meets triennially, is made up of delegates, ministerial and lay, from all the classes of the church. It is the duty of each pastor to catechise all the children and youth regularly, and reception into the full communion of the church, which is preceded by an examination of the candidates in the presence of the elders, takes place by the rite of confirmation. Christmas, Good Friday, Easter, and Whit Sunday are regarded as high church festivals, and are observed with much solemnity. The reports for 1874 give the fol- lowing statistics : particular synods, 5 ; classes, 38; ministers, 597 ; congregations, 1,325; com- municants, 135,792 ; unconfirmed members, 82,249; Sunday schools, 1,137; scholars in the same, 69,132; amount of benevolent contribu- tions, $86,238. Eleven English and five Ger- man papers are published in the interest of the church; and there are 16 theological and literary institutions under its control. See Dr. E. V. Gerhart, "The German Reformed Church "(1863). REFRIGERATION. See FREEZING, ARTIFICIAL. REFRIGERATOR (Lat. refrigere, to make cool), an apparatus by which various articles, gen- erally meats and drinks, are kept cool or are reduced in temperature. The ordinary food refrigerator is usually in the form of a chest which has a compartment for ice and one or more compartments for the food. Most of the older forms of refrigerators did not completely separate the ice from the food compartment, and many of them were merely chests with double sides separated by some non-conducting substance, as charcoal, in which the ice as well as the articles to be kept cool were placed on shelves indiscriminately. In either case the moisture from the evaporating ice filled the whole apparatus, and caused the contents to begin decaying soon after their removal, and indeed prevented their being preserved long while they were within it. In the presence of moisture, particularly when it contains the effluvia from various meats and articles of food, decomposition will go on even at a temperature considerably below the freezing point, and this cannot be secured by the pres- ence of ice. In a dry atmosphere, like that of the Andes or the California coast, meats may be preserved without ice. If a current of air is made to circulate in a chamber surround- ing an ice box, much of the moisture of the air will be condensed upon the box, and there will also be a constant collection of impurities contained in the air. To make such a refriger- ator efficient, the air must be first dried by passing it through a vessel containing chloride of calcium or some substance which will rapid- ly absorb moisture. In either case the caloric absorbed by the ice to cool a continuous cur- rent causes it to melt rapidly. An efficient method is to place a tight ice box within a tight meat box, or surround the latter with an ice chamber, the meats to be first cooled in the open air. REFt'GIO, a S. county of Texas, on the gnlf of Mexico, bounded N. E. by the Guadalupe river and Espiritu Santo bay, and S. W. by the Aransas, and intersected by the San Antonio, Mission, and other rivers; area, 1,310 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 2,824, of whom 246 were colored. It has a level surface and a generally fertile soil. Aransas bay lies chiefly in the S. part. The chief productions in 1870 were 41,555 bushels of Indian corn, 20,504 of sweet pota- toes, and 18,955 Ibs. of wool. There were 9,949 horses, 1,002 mules and asses, 101,925 cattle, 4,858 sheep, and 4,838 swine. Capital, Refugio. REGATTA. See ROWING. REGELATION. See ICE, vol. ix., p. 146. RK(;KSBIRG. See RATISBON. REGGIO (REGGIO NELL' EMILIA). I. A N". province of Italy, bordering on Cremona, Man- tua, Modena, Massa e Carrara, and Parma; area, 877 sq. m. ; pop. in 1872, 240,635. The principal rivers are the Po, which forms the N". W. boundary, and its affluent the Enza. The mountains toward the south, in the di- rection of the Apennines, are barren, but the less elevated parts and the valleys are very fertile. It comprises the districts of Reggio d' Emilia and Guastalla. Formerly the prin-
