RUBICON 



RUBUS 



17 



same number of divisions as the calyx ; the sta- 

 mens equal in number with the lobes of the 

 corolla ; two styles ; the fruit a dry pericarp with 

 two cells, and one seed in each cell. There are 

 between 300 and 400 known species, chiefly abound- 

 ing in the northern parts of the northern hemi- 

 sphere, and on the mountains of tropical regions. 

 The most important plant of the order is Madder 

 (q.v. ). To this order belong also Bedstraw ( q. v. ) 

 and Woodruff ( q. v. ). 



Rubicon, a stream of Central Italy, falling 

 into the Adriatic a little north of Ariminum, has 

 obtained a proverbial celebrity from the well-known 

 story of its passage by Cit-sar, in the middle of 

 January, 49 B.C. It formed the southern boundary 

 of his province, so that by crossing it he virtually 

 declare*! war against the Republic. Ctesar him- 

 self makes no mention of its passage ; Suetonius, 

 Plutarch, and Lucan tell how lie hesitated awhile 

 on the bank and then crossed with the words, Jacta 

 tst alea. A papal bull of 1756 identified the Rubi- 

 con with the modern Luso, but a comparison of 

 distances shows that it must rather have been the 

 Fiamicino or Kujone. 



Rubidium (sym. Rb; atom. wt. 85) is one of 

 the alkali metals. Its salts exist in very minute 

 quantities in numerous mineral waters, and in 

 these rubidium salts, along with ctesiuni salts, 

 were detected by Bunsen and KirchofT by means 

 of spectrum analysis. The mineral lepidolite is 

 the best material from which to prepare rubidium 

 compounds. The metal is, like Cfesium, silver- 

 wliite. It melts at 38'5 <'., but is still soft at 

 -10 C. It sp. gr. is 1-52. Like cesium, it takes 

 (ire spontaneously in the air, and it decomposes 

 water at the ordinary temperature, in the latter 

 respect resembling all the other alkali metals. 

 The salts of rubidium resemble generally those of 

 potassium. The name rubidium is denved from 

 niiiiiliiM, 'dark red,' in allusion to the colour 

 imparted to a flame by the salts of the metal. 



Rubinstein. ANTON, pianist and musical 

 com|>oser, was born, the son of a Polish Jew and a 

 German Jewess, near Jassy in Moldavia, on 28th 

 November 1829, and was trained to music in 

 Moscow by his mother and a master. Liszt heard 

 him, ' an infant prodigy,' play in Paris in 1841, 

 recognised his genius, and encouraged him to go 

 on and play in other cities. After some further 

 ' touring,' he gave himself to serious study in 

 Berlin and Vienna, and in 1848 settled in St 

 Petersburg as teacher of music. In 1854 he set off 

 on another musical tour, with the reputation of 

 being a second Liszt, and ' the coming ' composer. 

 On his return to St Petersburg he succeeded in 

 getting a musical conservatoire founded (1862) 

 there, and became its director. But his concert 

 tours engrossed a good deal of his time, and in 

 1867 he resigned the directorship of the conserva- 

 toire. In 1872 he went to the United States and 

 had an enthusiastic reception. He wound up his 

 concert tours in 1886, his last having had for its 

 object a series of seven pianoforte recitals illus- 

 trating the great masters of music historically. 

 He was induced in the following year to resume 

 tin; directorship of the conservatoire at St Peters- 

 burg. Rubinstein was lx>th composer and player. 

 Amongst his liest musical productions are the 

 operas, The Maccabees, The Demon, Feramors ( the 

 libretto from Moore's Lalla Rookh), and Kalcuch- 

 ni/.-f/ff"; the two symphonies, Ocean and Dram- 

 atic ; and the sacred operas, Paradise Lout, The 

 Toirr.r of Babel, and Sit/amith. His numerous 

 wings and pieces of chamber music arc highly 

 esU-emwl and more widely known. His style, 

 while of course embracing "fuller modern develop- 

 ments, presents several points of likeness to 

 418 



Schubert's ; there is the same predominance of 

 the lyric, rhythmic, and formal elements over the 

 dramatic ; an exuberant melodiousness, frequently 

 charming, but sometimes falling below the mark ; 

 an absence of meretricious effects, and a tendency 

 to protracted length, not to say occasional prolixity; 

 while in feeling he is more akin to Mendelssohn. 

 He was a strongly pronounced opponent of the 

 principles of Wagner. As a pianist he held the 

 highest rank, l>eing usually reckoned the greatest 

 since Liszt. His mastery of technique was supreme; 

 opinions differed about" his fidelity to a composer's 

 intentions, but the depth of feeling and significance 

 he could impart to even the simplest piece evinced 

 a rare musical susceptibility at once intense and 

 widely sympathetic. He retired from the platform 

 some years before his death, 20th November 1894. 

 See his Autobiography, trans, from the Russian 

 by Aline Delano (1891), a Study by M'Arthur 

 ( 1889), and the Life by Zabel (Leip. 1892). 



Ruble. See ROUBLE. 



Rubrics (Lat. rubrica, from ruber, 'red'), in 

 classic use, meant the titles or headings of chapters 

 in law-books, and is derived from the red colour of 

 the ink in which these titles were written, in order 

 to distinguish them from the text. In mediaeval 

 and modern use the name is restricted to the direc- 

 tions in the service-books of the church as to the 

 ordering of the prayers and the performance of the 

 ceremonies that accompany them. The first printed 

 missals have few rubrics, and the printing of both 

 the words and ceremonies of the mass in full dates 

 only from 1485. The same name, together with the 

 usage iteelf, is retained in the Book of Common 

 Prayer ; and in all cases, even where the direction 

 has ceased to be printed in red ink, the name 

 rubric is still retained. Where red ink is not 

 employed the rubric is distinguished from the text 

 by italics or some other variety of print. 



Rllbriiquis, WILLIAM DE, a medieval trav- 

 eller, was Imm, it is pretty certain, at Rubrouck 

 (8 miles NE. of St Omer, in northern France), and 

 not at Ruysbroeck, near Brussels, early in the 

 13th century. He entered the Franciscan order, 

 and was sent by Louis IX. of France into central 

 j Asia for the purpose of opening up communications 

 ! with Sartak, the son of the Mongol prince, Batu 

 Khan, a supposed Christian. Friar William trav- 

 elled (1253) by way of Constantinople across the 

 Black Sea and the Crimea to the Volga. Sartak 

 referred him to his father, Batu, and that prince 

 sent him forward to the Mongol emperor, Mangu 

 Khan, whom he found on 27th December, about 10 

 days' journey south of Karakorum in Mongolia. 

 With that sovereign he remained until July 1254, 

 then returned to the Volga, penetrated the defiles 

 j of the Caucasus, proceeded through Armenia, 

 I Persia, and Asia Minor, to Syria, and arrived at 

 I Ti i| n ili in August 1255. King Louis had meanwhile 

 returned to France, and Fnar William wrote him 

 the account of his journey which has come down to 

 us. The best edition is that of D'Avezac in vol. iv. 

 of jRecueil de Voyages (1839) of the Paris Geo- 

 graphical Society. Of the later history of Rubru- 

 quis the only fact known is that he was living in 

 1293, when Marco Polo was returning from the 

 East. 



Rllbus ( Blackberry or Bramble, &c.), a genus 

 of plants of the natural order Rosacere, sub-order 

 Itiiliete, distinguished by a 5-lobed calyx without 

 bracts, and the fruit formed by an aggregation of 

 small dnipes adhering to each other upon a long 

 torus. The fruit is eatable in all, or almost all, 

 the species. The genus is a large one, comprising, 

 according to Bentham and Hooker, about 100 

 species, widely distributed over nearly every part 

 of the globe. Among the most important species 



