Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 16.djvu/881

REED. 777 fallacy of the claim of Sanarelli that the bacillus icteroides was the causative agent of yellow fever. In 1900 Reed went to Havana at the head of a commission to investigate the etiology of yellovp fever, and demonstrated that yellow fever is transmitted from man to man only by the bite of mosquitoes of a certain variety (utegomyia fasciata), which have become infected by pre- viously biting persons sick of yellow fever. The work of this commission is remarkable for the accuracy and completeness of its experimental work, the devotion with which its members ex- posed themselves (two of them having submitted to experimental inoculations with infected mos- quitoes), and the far-reaching importance of their conclusions. Practical application of this dis- covery was at once made by the American mili- tary authorities, with the result that yellow fever was exterminated in Cuba. At the time of his death ilajor Reed was first on the list of majors of the Medical Department of the United States Army, to which rank he had been promoted in 1893, and the Secretary of War had recom- mended to Congress his promotion by a special act to the rank of colonel for this work, saying: "The brilliant character of this scientific achieve- ment, its inestimable value to mankind, the saving of thousands of lives, and the deliverance of the Atlantic seacoast from constant apprehen- sion, demand special recognition from the United States." Congress granted to his widow a pen- sion of .$125 a month. See Insects, Propagation OF Disease bt. Consult Kean, Senate Document 'No. 118, "The Scientific Work and Discoveries of the Late Major Walter Reed. Surgeon, U. S. A." REED, William Bradfokd (1806-7fi). An American politician and journalist, born in Phil- adelphia, brother of Henry Reed (q.v.). After graduating at the University of Pennsylvania in 1825 he went to Mexico as private secretary of Joel R. Poynsett ; studied law ; was elected State Attorney-General (1838); was made professor of American History at the University of Penn- sylvania (1850); in 1857 became Minister to China, where he negotiated the treaty of June, 1858; and on his return (18(i0) was active in Democratic politics and in Xew York journalism. He was for a time American correspondent of the London Times, author of many controversial and historical pamphlets and of essays contributed chiefiy to the American Quarterly and the Xorfh American Revietc. He wrote also an excellent Life and Correspondence of .Joseph Heed, his grandfather ( 1847) , and Life of Esther de Berdt, afterwards Esther Reed, his grandmother (1853). He died in Xew York, February IS, 187(5. REEDBIRD. The name in the Middle States of the bobolink (q.v.). In England the name be- longs to a warbler, the 'reed-wren' {Acroeephalus sti-efenis) . and to the reed-bunting (q.v.). REEDBUCK, or REITBOK. A small goat- like antelope of Central and Southern Africa (Cervicapra arnndineum). the males alone of which were provided with horns, which vary greatly in size and shape. It is never found far from water, is slow and unsuspicious, and hence is becoming rare. Consult Sclater and Thomas, Book of .intelopes (London, 1894-1000). REED-BTJNTING, or Spabbow. A small dark-colored European finch {Emberiza schwnic- lus). fond of marshes and wet meadows, which is common throughout Europe, and frequently called REED-MACE. See Plate of Buntings 'black-headed bunting.' and Grosbeaks. REED'ER, Andrew Horatio (1807-G4). The first Governor of Kansas Territory. He was born at Easton, Pa.; was educated at Lawrenceville, y. J., studied law, and practiced with great suc- cess at Easton. He became influential in the Democratic Party and in 1854 was appointed Gov- ernor of the new Kansas Territory In- President Pierce. It was expected by those w*lio had se- cured his appointment that he would assist in the work of making Kansas a slave State, but this, owing perhaps to the lawless behavior of the bor- der ruHians from Missouri, he did not do. and instead became favorable to the Free-State Party in the Territory. As a result of his attitude, "a delegation of Democrats, headed by Jefferson Davis, demanded his removal. With this demand the President complied, and Reeder was removed from office after a tenure of a little more than a year. He then became one of the leaders of the Free-State Party, and in September, 1855, was nominated as delegate to Congress by the Big Spring convention. A little later he was again chosen delegate by the same party, but was never allow-ed to serve. In the following July he was elected United States Senator by the Legislature organized under the Topeka Constitution, but as Kansas was not admitted to Statehood, he was not permitted to take his seat. Xot long after- wards he returned to the East, and was received with great enthusiasm by the opponents of slav- ery. Upon the outbreak of the Civil War he was appointed a brigadier-general, but felt himself too old and infirm to serve. Consult Robinson, The Kansas Conflict (Xew York, 1892), and Spring, Kansas (Boston, 1885). REEDFISH. One of the two ganoid fishes (the other being the bichir, q.v.) which consti- tute the sole remaining representatives of the or- der Crossopterygii, which was of great importance in ancient times. This modern ganoid is a small fisli dwelling in the rivers on the west coast of Africa, and has an elongated, terete body with a curiously divided dorsal fin and no pelvic fin. There is only one species {Calmoichthi/s CiiUhari- cus) which lives in deep pools, and apparently buries itself in the mud at the bottom, where it fecd^ on fi-;lies and other aquatic animals. REED INSTRUMENTS. Properly speaking, those musical instruments which are sounded by means of a reed. This general class is divided into two groups: those sounded by the beating reed, and those sounded by the free reed. The first group comprises the single beating reed, typified by the saxophone; the double beating reed, t.ypified by the oboe, and a combination of single and double, with the addition of an air reservoir. The best known example of this latter arrangement is the bagpipe. Free reeds were copied directly from the Chinese chOng. They are limited almost wholly to instruments of the concertina and harmonium tvpe, though they are occasionally used in pipe organs. Reed organs were invented and per- fected in this country, between 1812 and 1850. Their universal form was that of a small organ without pipes, having free reeds and a treadle bellows, although the various modifications re- ceived ditTerent names. See HARMONirsc ; Melo- DEO: MrsICAL TN-STRI'MENTS. REED-MACE. A plant. See Typha.