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RACK

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Originally appearing in Volume V22, Page 780 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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RACK , an homonymous word of which the See also:

principal branches are the words meaning (1) a See also:mass of See also:cloud See also:driving before the See also:wind in the upper See also:air, (2) to draw off See also:wine or other liquor from the lees, (3) a See also:bar or framework of bars, (4) an See also:instrument of See also:torture. The See also:etymology of (1) shows that it is ultimately to be connected with " See also:wreck " and " wrack," drifted seaweed, and means that which is driven by or drifts with the wind; cf. Norw. rak, wreckage, refuse, Icel. reka, to drive, toss. In (2) the See also:term seems to have come from the Gascon wine-See also:trade, as See also:Skeat (Etym. Dict., 1910) points ;out, and was adapted from Prov. arracar, to decant wine, rata; the stems and husks of grapes, dregs. Both (2) and (3) are in origin to be connected. The O. E. reccan and Ger. recken mean " to stretch," and so " rack " means something stretched out, a straight bar or See also:rail, especially a toothed bar gearing with a See also:cog-See also:wheel, a framework of bars, as in the See also:cradle of upright bars in which See also:fodder can be placed for See also:cattle, and the instrument of torture, which in Ger. is Recke or Rackbank. The " rack " for torture was an oblong See also:frame of See also:wood, slightly raised from the ground, having at one end a fixed bar to which the legs were fastened, and at the other a movable bar to which the hands were tied. By means of pulleys and levers this latter could be rolled on its own See also:axis, thus straining the See also:ropes till the sufferer's See also:joints were dislocated. Its first employment in See also:England is said to have been due to See also:John See also:Holland, 4th See also:duke of See also:Exeter, See also:constable of the See also:Tower in 1447, whence it was popularly known as " the Duke of Exeter's daughter." In 1628 the whole question of its legality was 'raised by the See also:attempt of the privy See also:council to rack John See also:Felton, the See also:assassin of the duke of See also:Buckingham. This the See also:judges resisted, unani- mously declaring its use to be contrary to the See also:laws of England.

RACKETT, or RACKETT-See also:

BASSOON (Fr. cervelas or cervelat; Ger. Racket', Rankett or Wurstfagott), a See also:kind of See also:dwarf bassoon, now obsolete, with a See also:body measuring only from 41 to I1 in. in length, but nevertheless containing the necessary length of tubing to give the bassoon or contra-bassoon See also:pitch. The rackett consists of a See also:barrel-like body, resembling the barrel See also:drone of the musette (see BAGPIPE), made of wood or See also:ivory. See also:Round a centre See also:tube are grouped eight parallel channels of very narrow cylindrical See also:bore communicating with each other and forming a continuous tube nine times the length of the small body. A See also:reed See also:mouthpiece in See also:combination with a cylindrical tube invests the latter with the acoustic properties of a closed See also:pipe by creating a See also:node at the. mouthpiece end; the fundamental See also:note given by such a tube is, therefore, an See also:octave deeper in pitch than would be an open pipe of the same length. The bassoon has a conical bore and the properties of the open pipe,wherefore the aggregate length of the channels in the rackett only requires to be See also:half that of the bassoon, a See also:physical phenomenon to which this curious freak owed its existence. In the rackett the holes are bored obliquely through from the channels to the circumference—three in front for the See also:left and three for the right See also:hand, with an additional hole for the little See also:finger; while at the back are placed the vent and three holes, one for the left thumb and two for the right, the second hole being controlled by the See also:ball of the thumb. The rackett is played by means of a large See also:double reed placed within a pirouette or cap, so that the From Capt. C. R. lips do not come into contact with the reed, but See also:nay's Catilague ,f only send a stream of compressed air into the Musical Instru- i See also:mews, by prouette, whereby the reed is set in vibration. p°rtnis- See also:sion of See also:Eyre & The consequence of this principle of construction, See also:Spottiswoode. See also:peculiar to the bagpipe chaunter and drones (with a slight variation) and to cromornes, hautbois de See also:Poitou and a few other obsolete See also:instruments, is that no harmonics can be obtained, since the vibrating length and the tension of the reed cannot be controlled by the player; the See also:compass is therefore obtained by means of the fundamental and of the ten holes of the instrument, aided by See also:cross-fingering. (K.

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