RUBBER

gravity of 0.979. It becomes electrical by friction, and is a very poor conductor of electricity; hence it is used for forming insulating supports for electrical apparatus, and for covering telegraph wires which are to be immersed in water. At about 115° F. it softens and becomes pasty, without losing its tenacity. At 104° F. it may be easily spread out in sheets, drawn into tubes, applied to any surface, or worked into any desired form. It will take the finest impressions from a mold. It is used for water pipes, moldings, and mixed with linseed oils for the molds employed in making electrotypes. It is insoluble in water, and but slightly soluble in alcohol and ether. Boiling olive oil dissolves a little of it, but deposits it again on cooling. The pure gutta is perfectly white, cakes together at 212° F., and begins to melt at 300° F. Gutta-percha is strongly attacked by ozonized oxygen and by strong hydrochloric acid. It rapidly deteriorates by oxidation when exposed to the air, especially in warm climates. It loses its flexibility, tenacity, and extensibility, and becomes very brittle and entirely useless for industrial purposes. Mixed with sulphur or certain sulphides, and heated to 260° or 300° F., the gutta-percha undergoes a change similar to that which occurs during the vulcanizing of caoutchouc. Gutta-percha is chiefly employed for coating submarine telegraph wires.

Pure caoutchouc freshly prepared is colorless and transparent. It is a bad conductor of heat and a nonconductor of electricity; develops electricity by friction; specific gravity, 0.920 to 0.962. Freshly cut surfaces adhere easily when pressed together. By cold or long quiescence it becomes hard and stiff, but not brittle.

Rubber is used in all the industrial arts. The gum is used in blocks, cakes, sheets, etc.; in tapes or threads in woven fabrics for the production of elastic tissues; as a varnish between two surfaces of cloth or on one surface, for waterproof fabrics; in solution as a cement; combined with sulphur, etc., as soft vulcanized rubber, for the manufacture of overshoes, gloves, clothing, gas bags, belting, fire hose, tubing, springs, artificial sponge, etc.; combined with a larger proportion of sulphur and cured at a higher temperature, as hard vulcanized rubber, or vulcanite, for combs, pen and pencil holders, rulers, buttons, syringes, jewelry, and colored with vermilion for mountings for artificial teeth, etc.; combined with asphalts, oils, sulphur, etc., and vulcanized, as kerite, for covering telegraph wire a valuable substitute for gutta-percha for air lines, as it is not affected by atmospheric influences.

Waterproof fabrics are made by placing a varnish or paste of the gum dissolved in any of its solvents, between two layers of cloth (double-texture fabrics) or on one side of the cloth (single-texture fabrics). The poorest kind of rubber may be used for this purpose. An objection existed to the single-texture fabrics, as the rubber surface was liable to become sticky and adhere when exposed to the sun, closely packed, or brought in contact with perspiration, hot surfaces, grease, etc. This was prevented by the sincalor process, the nature of which was kept secret. It is also prevented

RUBBER

by using vulcanized rubber, the mixture of rubber, sulphur, etc., being applied to the cloth by means of calender rolls, and vulcanized afterwards. Rubber cements, possessing astonishing adhesive properties, are made by combining solutions of caoutchouc in naphtha or other suitable solvent with other materials of a resinous character. Soft vulcanized caoutchouc was invented by Charles Goodyear. (See GOODYEAR, CHARLES.)

For soft vulcanite goods the purified and masticated gum is kneaded on the warm rolls with the proper proportion of sulphur-less than one fourth the weight of the gum, Goodyear's patent states, generally five to six per cent in practice. The following is a mixture in common use: Rubber, 16; sulphur, 1; whiting, 14; white lead, 21; litharge, 2. The mass is kneaded, then taken from the rolls in the form of a thick sheet and rolled into smooth sheets. From these plastic sheets articles of any desired shape are readily formed. As the mixture is in this condition very adhesive, coated cloth can be cut and fashioned into overshoes, boots, fire hose, etc., each article consisting practically of one single piece after vulcanization.

To

The heating or vulcanizing is conducted in strong horizontal cast-iron cylinders (the heaters), one end of which is movable and serves as a door. The goods to be vulcanized are loaded on a car and run in on a railway which extends along the bottom of the heater. prevent adhesion of the different articles, powdered soapstone (steatite) is freely used, the goods being often packed in boxes filled with this substance. When the heater is charged the door is securely fastened, and steam from a high-pressure boiler let in till the desired temperature is secured.

Hard vulcanized caoutchouc, vulcanite ebonite, or hard rubber, is prepared by kneading together sixteen parts of rubber and eight of sulphur, rolling the plastic mixture into sheets, rods, tubes, and other forms, and vulcanizing in a steam-tight heater. To secure a smooth, polished surface each article may be enveloped in tinfoil, which is stripped off after vulcanization. The articles are placed in the heater in trays filled with powdered soapstone or water. The product is very hard, possessing a springlike elasticity, and admits a high polish. It may be colored jet black by the addition of litharge, red by vermilion. The vulcanite is not attacked by solvents, neither those which dissolve the pure caoutchouc nor the mineral acids and alkalies. It is also especially distinguished by the large quantity of electricity which it evolves when rubbed; hence it is used for the plates of electrical machines.

The consumption of rubber is growing enormously, chiefly on account of the increased demand in the bicycle, automobile, and electrical industries. The U. S. is the largest consumer, followed by Great Britain. Unless wasteful and destructive methods of collecting rubber are discontinued, the supply will diminish. Several governments have prohibited or restricted the collection of rubber in their territories, in order to give the plants time to multiply and recuperate. The world's production of rubber

RUBENS

RUBY

Rub'ens, Peter Paul, 1577-1640; Flemish painter; b. Siegen, Westphalia; son of the secretary of William the Silent, who on discovering his intimacy with his wife banished him to Siegen. In 1588 Rubens went with his mother (Maria Pypelinex) to Antwerp, where he became page of Marguerite de Ligne, Countess de Lalaing, but soon left her to study art. In 1600 he went to Venice, and subsequently was connected with the court of Vincenzo di Gonzaga, Duke of Mantua, who sent him on a diplomatic mission to Spain. After residing in Rome, Milan, and Genoa, he returned to Antwerp, 1608, and was appointed court painter by the Archduke Albert, viceroy of the Netherlands. In 1620 he was called to Paris to decorate the gallery of the Luxembourg with allegorical illustrations of the career of Maria de' Medici. While there the Duke of Bucking ham bought his entire collection of works of art for 100,000 florins.

In 1628 Philip IV appointed him secretary to the Privy Council. Scarcely had he returned to Flanders, 1629, when he was sent as envoy to England, where he was knighted. The pictures ascribed in whole or in part to Rubens, numbering according to Smith's catalogue raisonné 1,800, comprise history, portraits, landscapes, animals, and fruit and flower pieces, the collection in the Louvre being particularly rich. The finest are still in Antwerp, his "Descent from the Cross" and "Elevation of the Cross," the former generally considered his masterpiece, being in the cathedral. In the Pinakothek at Munich, which has nearly 100 of his works, is his celebrated "Battle of the Amazons." The British National Gallery possesses the "Rape of the Sabines," which has been called a perfect nosegay of color," and the "Judgment of Paris." Animal vigor, in the representation of which he excelled, is seen with most effect in his bacchanal feasts and mythological subjects of the coarser kind. He seldom attempted to idealize the human figure, and his Madonnas, etc., are literally Flemish types of womanhood.

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Rubia'ceæ. See MADDER FAMILY.

Ru'bicon, a small river of Italy emptying into the Adriatic, immortalized by the passage of Cæsar, 49 B.C. It then formed the boundary between Italy and his province of Cisalpine Gaul. To pass it would be a declaration of war against the senate. Whether the modern Luso or the Fiumicino was the Rubicon cannot

be determined. A papal bull, 1756, pronounced for the Luso, which the peasants also call il Rubicone. The weight of argument, however,

identifies it with the Fiumicino.

coffee plants, show it. It is a white metal with a yellowish tinge and silvery luster; soft as wax; melts at 101.5° F., and yields even below a red heat a greenish-blue vapor; kindles on water, and burns like potassium.

Ru'bies, Cape. See CAPE RUBIES.

Ru'binstein, Anton Gregor, 1830-94; Roumanion composer and pianist; b. Wechwotynetz, of Jewish parents; instructed by his mother, Villoing in Moscow, Liszt in Paris, and Dehn in Berlin; returned to Russia, 1848; studied in St. Petersburg for eight years, in meantime composing; made a concert tour, 1857, and created a remarkable sensation, both by his playing and his works. In 1858 he was appointed imperial concert conductor in St. Petersburg with a life pension; 1862, founded the St. Petersburg Conservatory, and remained its principal till 1867; 1869, was ennobled. He visited every European country and the U. S. in his concert tours. His compositions include fifteen operas, some of them being what he called sacred operas, such as Paradise Lost," "The Tower of Babel," and "Moses"; six symphonies, of which the best known are the Ocean," No. 2, op. 42, and the "Dramatic," No. 4, op. 95; overtures, piano sonatas and concertos, sonatas and concertos for other instruments, much chamber music, and numerous

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piano solos, and vocal pieces for one or more

voices.

Ru'ble, or Rouble, principal Russian money of account; ruble of gold is worth 77.2 cents of U. S. money, while the paper ruble has different values, viz., the official in gold as determined by the government for each year and the exchange. These are usually about 50 cents.

Ru'bric, any writing or printing in red ink. In MS. and printed missals the directions preceding the prayers and offices were usually written or printed in red ink; hence the term rubric is commonly used to denote the rules and directions for the performance and celebration of divine service. As the date and place on a title page were sometimes printed in red ink, and the place where the book was sold was given instead of that where printed, the word rubric has also been used to signify the false name, as many books printed at Paris bear the rubric of Genoa, London, etc.

dum. The finest and most highly prized rubies Ru'by, or Red Sap'phire, variety of corunin the valley of Mogok, Burma, where the are of the so-called pigeon's-blood color; found mines have been worked by the Burmese for centuries, and are now leased by the British Govt. to a London syndicate. Lighter-colored rubies, sometimes almost pink, often very beautiful, occasionally with a tinge of purple or currant-wine color, are found at Ratnapura, Ceylon. More recently the mines in Siam have been extensively worked, and some fine gems have been found, although nearly all found there are very dark red, almost garnet-colored, frequently with a brownish tinge. Small rubies have been found in the vicinity of Franklin, N. C., and in the government of Perm, Russia. Rubies from one carat upward, when fine, are of great value, and when from two to four

Rubid'ium, one of the alkali metals, discovered by Kirchhoff and Bunsen, 1860, as one of the first fruits of spectroscopic investigation; occurs in extremely minute proportions in some saline mineral waters, in association with cæsium (q.v.). The water of Bourbonne-lesBains contains in 1,000,000 parts nineteen parts of chloride of rubidium. Some lepidolites contain it, associated with lithium and cæsium. I

RUBY THROAT

RUE

Ruby Throat (Trochilus colubris), a species of humming bird, so named from the brilliant ruby-red color of its chin and throat; in summer is found in all parts of N. America, up to lat. 57° N., being thus remarkable for its extensive distribution.

Rudagi (rô-dä-ge'), Persian poet of the tenth century; sometimes called the father of Persian literature; named from the village of his birth; his poetical renown won him a place at the court of the Samanid Nasar II, ben Ahmad of Khorassan; is said to have composed more than a million verses; remains preserved are comparatively meager, but of high merit. Among the deplorable losses may be mentioned his translation of the Indian book of fables, "Kalilah and Dimnah," rendered into Persian from the Arabic version of Abd-allah ibn al Mukaffa.

Rud'beck, Olof, 1630-1702; Swedish scientist; b. Vesteraas; became professor in medical department, Univ. of Upsala; by discovery, at age of twenty-three, of the lymphatic canal, gained European renown; besides investigations in several branches of science, devoted himself to study of archæology and literature, both classical and Scandinavian, publishing several sagas and Swedish provincial laws (from 1679); best known by his "Atlantica," in which he sought to establish the identity of Sweden with Plato's fabled land and the Garden of Eden, and "Elysian Fields," a botanical treatise.

Rude (rüd), François, 1784-1855; French sculptor; b. Dijon; son of a blacksmith and stovemaker, who kept him at this work for several years; won the Grand Prix de Rome, 1812; settled in Paris, 1827; works include "Theseus Picking up a Quoit," "Departure for the War," group on Arc de l'Etoile in Paris, Mercury Fastening his Winged Sandal " (Louvre), Joan of Arc" (Luxembourg Garden), "Hebe and the Eagle of Jupiter," and "Love the Conqueror (Dijon Museum), and many portrait statues and busts.

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of Bohemia. Basel opened its gates, Alfonso recognized Rudolph, and Ottocar was speedily overcome. After violating a truce, the latter fell in battle on the Marchfeld, August 26, 1278. Rudolph restored Bohemia and Moravia to Wenceslaus, son of Ottocar, but retained Austria, Styria, and Carniola for his own sons. He then established order and tranquillity in his dominions with the utmost rigor, and passed so many decrees that he was called "the living law." German was substituted for Latin in official documents. The Diet of Frankfort re

fusing, 1291, to choose his son Albert as his successor, he was succeeded by Adolphus of Nassau.

Rudolph II, 1552-1612; Emperor of Germany; son of Maximilian II of Hapsburg and Maria, daughter of Charles V. In 1564 he was sent to the court of Spain; 1576, succeeded his father in all his dominions. Rudolph, led by the Spanish court and the Jesuits, proceeded at once to undo the tolerant work of the preceding reign. The religious dissensions broke out in all their former bitterness, and Aix-la-Chapelle, the electorate of Cologne (where the dispute arose out of the ecclesiastical reservation), and the see of Strasburg became theaters of war. In 1608 a number of the Protestant states formed "the Union," and, 1609, the Catholic states established "the League.' In Hungary his intolerance provoked an insurrection under Bocskay (1604). In 1608 he was forced to cede Hungary, Austria, and Moravia to his brother Matthias; and the Protestants of Bohemia exMajestätsbrief" "guaranteeing the exercise of their religion. A new war was kindled in Germany by the disputed succession to the Jülich dominions. In 1611 an attempt against the liberties of Bohemia, whose capital, Prague, was his favorite residence, cost Rudolph the crown of that kingdom, which was He was fond of scitransferred to Matthias. ence and the mechanical arts, but superstitious, and addicted to alchemy and astrology.

torted from him a

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GARDEN RUE.

RUFF

and poisonous qualities; once used as an aspergil for sprinkling holy water; was believed by the superstitious to be a powerful charm against witches; used in some places for flavoring food.

Ruff (Philomachus pugnax), a sandpiper, or wading bird of the subfamily Tringina; formerly common in the fens of England, but has nearly disappeared since its favorite haunts have been reclaimed and cultivated; still found

RUFF (Philomachus pugnax).

throughout N. Europe and Asia, and migrates S. in winter; is accidental on the E. coast of the U. S.; derives its name from a circlet of long, closely set feathers on the neck of the adult male, which he raises or lowers at pleasure.

Ruffed (rüft) Grouse (Bonasa umbellus), a species of the family Tetraonida, distinguished from other grouse by the absence of feathers on the lower half of the tarsi. It has also, on the sides of the neck, a ruff of soft, broad, and

truncate feathers, to which the name refers. The species is generally distributed throughout the N. temperate parts of N. America, but is differentiated into several subspecies, or geographical races, viz.: (1) Umbellus, inhabiting the country E. of the Rocky Mountains; (2) umbelloides, inhabiting the Rocky Mountains and the interior of British America up to Yukon River; (3) sabini, found in Oregon, Washington, British Columbia, etc.; and (4) togata, from E. Oregon and Washington to Nova Scotia and Maine, ranging S. to the mountains of New England and New York. The species in some sections (New England and the W. states) is known under the name of partridge; in others (the middle states) as the pheasant; and in some of the British provinces, as the birch partridge.

Rug, carpetlike textile, made in one piece and used for floor service. The most artistic rug makers of the world are the Persians, who learned the art of weaving such fabrics from the Babylonians. Persian rugs were used by the patricians of Greece and Rome, and were distributed by the argosies of Venice throughout Europe, adorning the palaces and castles

RUG

of the Middle Ages. The work on these Oriental fabrics is still done by hand, and each rug has its individuality, no two being exactly alike. They are woven on rude looms, the variations of design being infinite. The Persian rug remains the most original and durable of all such fabrics, and is the parent stock of all rugs made in the world. Many of the rugs of Persia are intended to cover divans or tables, or to hang as tapestry and portières. Such are often made of silk. The colors formerly employed in the rugs of Persia were imperishable, fabrics a hundred or more years old showing no deterioration in tint.

The Turkoman rugs are included commercially among the Persian rugs. The prevailing color of the Turkoman rugs being red, the weavers have shown a disposition to use aniline dyes. The rugs of Feraghan and Teheran have a loose texture and a velvety pile of medium thickness, the center being generally of a mixed pattern of small, irregular figures surrounded by a rich border. The rugs of Khorassan are of a richer texture than those of Feraghan, the patterns being celebrated for realistic flowers. In texture the Kerman rugs are more valuable than those of Khorassan and Feraghan. The Shiraz rug, which resembles the Kerman, has a heavy pile. Undyed camel's hair is used in S. Persia for the groundwork and border of rugs. There is a species of rug peculiar to Kurdistan, its texture suggesting knitted rather than woven work. It is called ghileem, or doru. The pattern is identical on both sides, thus allowing the use of either side. The colors are firm and brilliant, and the designs often of extraor dinary beauty. The ghileems of Shuster are preferable for portières, while the Garrouste ghileems are more suitable for curtain hangings. The silk rug, once common in Persia, has been revived for foreign markets. One of the choicest rugs made in the East is the Khiva, often called the Bokhara. The colors are chiefly various shades of maroon, red, and blue, intersisting almost invariably of a many-angled, woven with a creamy white, the pattern conconventional figure.

The rugs of Daghestan have a closer pile than most Persian fabrics, with a surface rich and smooth. The Samarcand rug has a rich and heavy pile, soft as silk, the prevailing tone being a golden brown or a mellow gray. The figures of men and animals are never seen on

Turkish

rugs. Rugs made by the Uruks resemble the Kurdistan ghileems in texture, but are coarser, the design being usually in stripes.

The Abnakee rug is the product of an American industry located at Pequaket, N. H. These rugs usually have plain centers of solid color, terra cotta, old pink, tan dark blue, gobelin blue, yellow, or olive, with borders worked in two or three harmonious colors, the designs ranging from the Saracenic, Gothic, and classic to conventionalized floral patterns and to Aztec and savage ornament. The rugs are all wool and hand made. Each maker works an individual cipher on the rug woven. The cipher woven on the label of the Abnakee rugs is an Indian totem that appears on a treaty between the Abnakees and the English. See CARPET; MAT.