REUNION (formerly Ile de Bourbon) (166), mostly Creoles, a French island in the Indian Ocean, 358 m.  E. of Madagascar, 38 m. by 28; a volcanic range intersects the island; the scenery is fine; streams plentiful, but small; one-third of the land is uncultivated, and grows fruits, sugar (chief export), coffee, spices, &c.  St. Denis (33), on the N. coast, is the capital; has been a French possession since 1649.

REUSS, name of two German principalities stretching between Bavaria on the S. and Prussia on the N.; they belong to the elder and younger branches of the Reuss family.  The former is called Reuss-Greiz (63), the latter Reuss-Schleiz-Gera (120); both are hilly, well wooded, and well watered; farming and textile manufacturing are carried on.  Both are represented in the Reichstag; the executive is in the hands of the hereditary princes, and the legislative powers are vested in popularly elected assemblies.

REUTER, FRITZ, a German humourist, born in Mecklenburg-Schwerin; when a student at Jena took part in a movement among the students in behalf of German unity; was arrested and condemned, after commutation of sentence of death, to thirty years’ imprisonment, but was released, after seven of them, in broken health; and after eleven more took to writing a succession of humorous poems in Low German, which placed him in the front rank of the humourists of Germany (1810-1874).

REUTER, BARON PAUL JULIUS, the organiser of the conveyance of news by telegraph, born at Cassel; commenced with Berlin for centre in 1851; transferred his head-quarters to London, and now the “system,” which is in the hands of a limited liability company, has connections with even the remotest corner of the globe; b. 1818.

REUTLINGEN (19), a picturesque old town in Wuertemberg, on the Echatz, 20 m.  S. of Stuttgart; formerly one of the free imperial cities of the Swabian League; has a splendid Gothic church; manufactures cloth, cutlery, leather, woollen and cotton yarns, &c.

REVEL or REVAL (52), capital of the government of Esthonia, in Russia, is a flourishing seaport on the S. side of the Gulf of Finland, 232 m.  W. of St. Petersburg; has a castle, fortifications, cathedral, mediaeval antiquities, &c.; chiefly engaged in commerce; exports largely oats and other cereals, spirits, flax, &c.

REVELATION, name properly applicable to the knowledge of God, or of divine things, imparted to the mind of man, by the operation of the Divine Spirit in the human soul, and as apprehended by it.

REVELATION, BOOK OF, or THE APOCALYPSE, the book that winds up the accepted canon of Holy Scripture, of the fulfilment of the prophecies of which there are three systems of interpretation:  the Praeteritist, which regards them all as fulfilled; the Historical, which regards them as all along fulfilling; and the Futurist, which regards them as still all to be fulfilled.  The first is the one which finds favour among modern