RINDERPEST 



5020 



RING 



Rimouski is the seat of a Roman Catholic 

 bishop, and has a cathedral, seminary, monas- 

 tery, three convents, a normal school and a 

 commercial school. Being the county seat, it 

 has the county courthouse and jail, and it also 

 has customs and quarantine offices. Among its 

 chief industrial establishments are saw and pulp 

 mills, a sash-and-door factory and a flour mill. 

 Lumbering, mixed farming and fishing are the 

 resources of the neighborhood. Population in 

 1911, 3,097; in 1916, about 3,500. 



RIN'DERPEST, or CATTLE PLAGUE, an 

 acute, infectious disease which attacks cattle 

 and occasionally sheep. In Europe it has been 

 a most serious plague since its appearance in 

 the fourth century, but it is unknown in North 

 America. Epidemics of rinderpest have swept 

 from country to country in Europe, causing 

 enormous losses. About ninety per cent of the 

 animals attacked die, but if an animal survives, 

 it is thenceforth immune. The source of infec- 

 tion is believed to be a minute organism or 

 microbe (see BACTERIA AND BACTERIOLOGY), which 

 may be carried in the manure or by sick ani- 

 mals or on the clothing of attendants. The 

 disease shows itself by a high temperature and 

 a rapid pulse. The milk supply stops. The 

 next stage is marked by congestion of the mu- 

 cous membranes of the mouth, throat, etc., and 

 by the appearance of ulcers. Death is likely 

 to ensue within four to seven days. No cer- 

 tain cure has as yet been discovered, but epi- 

 demics are held in check by inoculating healthy 

 animals with a prepared serum. It is some- 

 times necessary, in order to wipe out the dis- 

 ease, to kill all infected and exposed animals. 



RINE'HART, MARY ROBERTS (1876- ), an 

 American story-writer whose works are widely 

 read for their 

 humor and inter- 

 esting plots. Her 

 early novels were 

 mystery stories, 

 among them be- 

 ing The Window 

 at the White Cat, 

 The M an in 

 Lower Ten and 

 The Circular 

 Staircase. Her 

 later works, 

 though still per- 

 vaded by an ele- 

 ment of mystery, 

 more nearly approach the character novel in 

 type. Her novel, When a Man Marries, was 



MARY ROBERTS 

 RINEHART 



unsuccessfully dramatized in the play called 

 Seven Days. The popular magazines contain 

 many of her short stories and articles of travel. 



Mrs. Rinehart was born in Pittsburgh, Pa. 

 She was educated in the grade and high schools 

 of that city, and at the training school for 

 nurses. In 1896 she was married to Dr. Stan- 

 ley Marshall Rinehart, and they later made 

 their home at Glen Osborne, Scwickley, Pa. 

 Mrs. Rinehart has taken an active part in the 

 suffragist movement, and during the War of the 

 Nations she enlisted in the American Red Cross, 

 serving for a year in France and Belgium. 



Well-known works not mentioned above are 

 Where There's a Will, The Amazing Adven- 

 tures of Letitia Carberry, The Street of Seven 

 Stars, "K" Kings, Queens and Pawns (impres- 

 sions of the war in Europe) and The Altar of 

 Freedom. The Amazing Interlude, published in 

 1918, is a story of the war. 



RING, a band of gold or other precious 

 metal, usually worn on the finger. The earliest 

 known are those found in the tombs of ancient 

 Egypt, though it is certain that the wearing 

 of rings is as old as human history. The cus- 

 tom grew out of a love of ornamentation, but 

 gradually took on a more significant aspect. 

 Kings passed their rings to trusted servants, 

 that they might have the full authority of the 

 king himself. The signet ring with some dis- 

 tinctive device took the place of the purely or- 

 namental ring. Pharaoh placed his signet ring 

 on Joseph's finger when he set him over all 

 Egypt, that all men might know that he held 

 full kingly power (Genesis XLI, 42). The use 

 of betrothal or engagement and wedding rings 

 originated with the Jews. The wedding ring is 

 worn on the third finger of the left hand be- 

 cause it was once popularly but erroneously 

 supposed that a vein runs directly from that 

 finger to the heart, and heart and hand are 

 offered together. 



In addition to an ornament, a ring has al- 

 ways been regarded as a symbol of authority, 

 confidence and love, and still plays an impor- 

 tant part in the coronation of kings and in the 

 consecration of bishops. Among uncivilized 

 people, such as many tribes in Africa and the 

 islands of the Southern Ocean, rings still adorn 

 noses, ears, arms, ankles and toes, but civilized 

 nations encourage the wearing of rings only oa 

 the fingers and in the ears, though earrings are 

 unfashionable at times. As an ornament to 

 rings the diamond maintains the first place, 

 though many other precious stones, such as the 

 amethyst, turquoise, topaz, pearl and sapphire, 



