RING OUZEL 



RINGWORM 



729 



definite weight and value did not exist. A similar 

 currency appears to have been in use among cer- 

 tain western communities at a much later period. 

 A Norse law made about 1220 alludes to an 

 established ring money, of which, however, each 

 ring was of definite weight. It has been suggested 

 that many ancient Celtic ornaments of gold and 

 silver had a definite weight and value to fit them 

 for exchange purposes ; but, while it is certain that 

 these objects served both for personal adornment 

 and for purposes of traffic, it nas not l>een proved 

 that they were made to any standard of weight or 

 value. Ciesar mentions that in Gaul and Britain 

 gold anil silver rings were used as money. Among 

 the modifications of ring money in use in different 

 countries may lie mentioned the silver fish-hook 

 money of Ceylon, mentioned by Tavernier, of the 

 form of a Hat wire bent into a hook, and issued as 

 late as 1659. At the present day ring money for 

 African traders is regularly manufactured at Bir- 

 mingham of copper, or an alloy of copper, and 

 i-i known under the name of 'Manillas.' 



Rill? Ouzel (Turdus torquatus, or Merula 

 turi/iiiita), a species of thrush, rather larger than a 

 blackbird. It is a native chiefly of the western 

 parts of Europe ; it spends the winter in the south 

 of. Europe, Northern Africa, Syria, and Persia, 

 and visits more northern regions in summer. It 

 occurs frequently in many parts of the British 

 Islands, where it breeds even in the Orkneys, but 

 in very few districts does it remain all the year 

 round. It is seldom seen in the more cultivated 

 and thickly-peopled districts, preferring mountain- 

 slopes, heaths, and their vicinity. It begins to 

 breed in the later part of April, and makes its nest 

 generally in heathy banks, often under a bush. 



Ring Ouzel ( Turdut torquatttt). 



The nest is made of coarse grass, within which is 

 a thin shell of clay, and an inner lining of fine dry 

 grass. The eggs are usually four in number, and 

 are greenish blue in colour, flecked and spotted 

 with reddish brown ; and not infrequently there is 

 a second brood in July. The food consists of 

 worms, slugs, insects, and moorland berries, and 

 the bird often makes raids upon fruit-gardens in 

 its neighbourhood ; while in vine countries it feeds 

 largely upon grapes. In some parts of Scotland it 

 is Known as the Moor Blackbird. It is of a dark- 

 brown, almost black, colour ; the feathers are edged 

 with blackish gray, the wing feathers more con- 

 spicuously with gray, and there is a broad cres- 

 centic white gorget whence the name. The legs 

 anil feet are brownish black. The female is 

 lighter and browner, with a narrower and duller 

 gorget. The ong consists of a few loud, clear, 

 and plaintive notes, but is somewhat mono- 

 tonous. See also OUZEL, and for the Water Ouzel, 



DIPPER 



Ringwood, a town of Hampshire, on the Avon, 

 25 miles WSW. of Southampton. Pop. of district, 

 5545. 



Ringworm (Tinea tonsitrans) is a disease 

 dependent on the presence of a parasitic fungus, 

 known to botanists as the Trichophyton tonsurans, 

 and discovered in 1844 by Malmsten. The fungus 

 consists of a mycelium, or network of threadlike 

 filaments, with oval, transparent spores, about 

 TtfOffth of an inch in diameter, for the most j>art 

 connected in chains, but sometimes isolated. \\ hen 

 found on the surface of the body the fungus grows 

 in the epidermis ; but on the scalp, where it is 

 most common, it is chiefly seated in the interior of 

 the hair-roots. The diseased hairs lose their elas- 

 ticity and break when they have risen a line or 

 two above the scalp. 



Ringworm of the Body (Tinea circinata ; Tinea 

 marginata) first appears as a rose-coloured and 

 slightly-elevated spot about the size of a threepenny- 

 piece, on which a bran-like desquamation of epider- 

 mis soon begins, accompanied by slight itching. 

 This spot gradually increases in size, but retains 

 its circular form : and as it extends, the healing 

 process commences at the centre, so that the cir- 

 cular red patch is converted into a ring, enclosing 

 a portion of healthy skin ; and a ring thus formed 

 may continue to increase till it reaches a diameter 

 of four inches, or even more. It is apt to affect the 

 face, the neck, the back, and the outside of the 

 wrist. This form of ringworm frequently terminates 

 spontaneously. 



Ringworm of the Scalp (Tinea tonsurans) usually 

 occurs in children, and is especially prevalent when 

 the nutrition is defective, or there is a scrofulous 

 taint in the constitution. In infants, and after the 

 age of puberty, it is rare, and can usually be readily 

 cured. It appears in the form of round, scaly, 

 irritable patches on different- parts of the head ; 

 and the irritation often occasions the formation of 

 minute vesicles. The hairs at these spots become 

 dry and twisted, and are easily removed, but when 

 the disease advances they break close to the scalp 

 if an attempt is made to extract them. The 

 stumps, and the epidermis surrounding them, be- 

 come covered with a characteristic grayish-white 

 powder, consisting of the sporules of the fungus. 

 The diseased parts are slightly elevated and putty, 

 and difl'er from the healthy scalp in colour, neing 

 bluish or slate-coloureil in dark persons, and 

 grayish red or yellow in fair patients. The in- 

 flammation will last as long as the growth of the 

 fungi continues ; and even when they die spon- 

 taneously, as sometimes occurs, the affected spots 

 may become bald in consequence of the hair-bulbs 

 having become atrophied. This condition, how- 

 ever, generally passes off in time. In some children 

 only single hairs here and there may become or 

 remain affected, and such cases are particularly 

 apt to lead to the spread of the disease, because 

 they are difficult to detect, and often escape recog- 

 nition. 



Ringworm is also sometimes met with in the 

 beard, giving rise to one form of the troublesome 

 disease Known as Sycosis. Ringworm is extremely 

 contagious ; and when a case of it occurs in a 

 family or a school strict precautions are necessary 

 to prevent its spreading to others. The greatest 

 care should be taken that no brushes, sponges, 

 towels, caps, &c. touched by the patient are used 

 by others. The hair should be kept short, and the 

 seal]) anointed daily with carbolic oil, 1 in 20 ; a 

 cap of linen or oilsilk should be worn night and 

 day ; and whatever remedy is selected should be 

 steadily and perseveringly applied. No child with 

 ringworm should be allowed to go to school, unless 

 under very special precautions, nor to the hatter or 

 hairdresser; and intercourse with other children 



