RED CRESCENT 



Red Crescent. Emblem used 

 by Turkey, the equivalent of the 

 Red Cross, which symbol is used 

 only by Christian nations. It in- 

 dicates the ambulances and hos- 

 pitals of an army, and so protects 

 them from bombardment. Persia 

 uses for the same purpose the 

 emblem of the Red Sun. 



Red Cross. International em- 

 blem of organizations formed for 

 the relief of sick and wounded in 

 war, and also, 



since the 

 Great War, of 

 the famine- 

 stricken and 

 for fighting 

 epidemic dis- 



Red Cross. Flagol ease - The 

 International Red founder of the 

 - Cross Society movement 

 was a Swiss, 

 Henri Dunant (1828-1910). In 

 1859 Dunant, when on holiday 

 in N. Italy, found himself near the 

 battlefield of Solferino, and spent 

 several days in caring for men left 

 untended by the inadequate medi- 

 cal services of the armies engaged. 

 His impressions were recorded in 

 A Souvenir of Solferino, 1862, 

 which was widely translated and . 

 roused the world's conscience. As 

 a consequence of his efforts inter- 

 national conferences on the subject 

 of forming relief agencies were held 

 in Geneva, 1863-64, resulting in 

 the Geneva Convention of the 

 latter year. Under this (which was 

 accepted by 54 governments be- 

 tween 1864 and 1907) the Inter- 

 national Red Cross Society was 

 founded, with headquarters at 

 Geneva, whose emblem was the 

 Swiss flag with colours reversed. 

 In 1901 Dunant was, with Frederic 

 Passy, one of the first recipients of 

 the Nobel peace prize. 



Red Cross, ROYAL. British 

 decoration instituted in 1883 for 

 nurses who tend the sick and 

 wounded of the army and navy. 

 It is granted in two classes ; re- 

 cipients of the first class are en- 

 titled as members to the letters 

 R.R.C. after their names, those of 

 the second class as associates use 

 the letters A.R.R.C. Members 

 wear a cross, enamelled red, edged 

 with gold, having on the arms 

 thereof the 

 words faith, 

 hope, charity, 

 and the date 

 1883 ; the cen- 

 tre bears the 

 royal and im- 

 perial effigy ; 

 on the reverse Red Cross. British 

 are the royal decoration for nurses 

 and imperial cipher and crown. 

 Associates wear a cross of the same 

 form and size, but of frosted silver, 



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upon which is superimposed a 

 Maltese cross, enamelled red, the 

 centre bearing the royal and im- 

 perial effigy ; on the reverse are 

 the words, date, cipher, and crown 

 above-mentioned. The cross is 

 worn on the left breast attached to 

 a dark blue riband, edged red, and 

 tied in a bow. 



All members of the nursing ser- 

 vice are eligible for this decoration, 

 which may be conferred also on 

 other persons, British and foreign, 

 who render good service to sick 

 and wounded British soldiers and 

 sailors, as, for example, Viscountess 

 Northcliffe, in the Great War. 



Red Cross Knight, THE. Prin- 

 cipal character of Book 1 of Spen- 

 ser's Faery Queene. He is regarded 

 as a personification of reformed 

 England, or as symbolising the 

 victory of holiness over sin. In one 

 line he is referred to as Saint 

 George of Merry England. With 

 Una, personified Truth, he sets 

 forth as her champion to slay the 

 dragon, which is Falsehood. De- 

 luded by the wizard Archimago, ho 

 gets separated from Una, and they 

 meet many adventures separately 

 before the dragon is slain and they 

 are reunited and betrothed. 



Red Cross Society. Organiza- 

 tion for tending the sick and 

 wounded in war. They exist in 

 most civilized countries. The title 

 of red cross and the red cross on 

 a white ground, the badge of the 

 societies engaged in the care of the 

 victims of war, were adopted in 

 1864 by the Geneva Convention. 

 In all countries the care of the 

 sick and wounded in war is pri- 

 marily the duty of the state. In 

 Great Britain, both army and 

 navy have their own medical and 

 nursing services. But the strain 

 put on these organizations in time 

 of war makes the help of civilian 

 societies essential. The British 

 Red Cross Society, which was 

 founded in 1870 and incorporated 

 in 1908, provides additional 

 nurses, voluntary aid detachments 

 of persons qualified to do the less 

 skilled work of the hospitals, and 

 skilled physicians and surgeons. 



The society also provides con- 

 valescent and other hospitals, and 

 the necessary supplies of hospital 

 requisites, and also various com- 

 forts which fall outside the official 

 provision. Its work is supple- 

 mentary to and in support of the 

 official military organization. The 

 British Red Cross Society, under 

 the war office scheme for the use 

 of voluntary assistance to the 

 war medical service, had by the 

 end of 1919 passed and registered 

 at the war office 3,141 Red Cross 

 detachments, which had a total 

 personnel of 91,116. 



RED DEER 



Under the conventions which 

 govern the relations of nations in 

 time of war, immunity is accorded 

 to Red Cross workers, and the am- 

 bulances and hospitals, whether 

 of the official military and naval 

 organizations or of the Red Cross 

 Societies, are protected by inter- 

 national law. One part of the 

 work of Red Cross societies is the 

 care of the interests of prisoners, 

 and inquiries which cannot be 

 made direct between warring 

 governments can be made through 

 the international organization of 

 the Red Cross Societies. During 

 the world war this work of tracing 

 prisoners had its clearing-house in 

 Switzerland, and it was through 

 the same international agency that 

 arrangements for the sending of 

 parcels to prisoners were made. 



The Red Cross societies of neutral 

 states rendered the greatest pos- 

 sible service to prisoners of war, 

 to aliens interned in enemy coun- 

 tries, and to aliens placed in diffi- 

 cult circumstances, and also cared 

 for the refugees driven from their 

 own homes by the war. In Great 

 Britain the Red Cross, with the 

 approval of the minister of pen- 

 sions, has established depots for 

 after-treatment of ex-soldiers. The 

 local detachment are prepared to 

 give assistance, secretarial and 

 other, to local hospitals, local tuber- 

 culosis dispensaries, and infant 

 welfare centres. See Knights Tem- 

 plars; Nursing; S. John Ambu- 

 lance Association ; Voluntary Aid 

 Detachment ; consult also the 

 Bulletins of the League of Red 

 Cross Societies, Geneva. 



Red Deer (Germs elaphus). 

 Largest species of the deer family 

 now found in Great Britain. It 

 was formerly common in the forests 

 throughout the British Isles, but 

 now occurs wild chiefly in the 

 highlands of Scotland and in the 

 western islands, on Exmoor in 

 England, and in co. Kerry in Ire- 

 land. The strain was greatly modi- 

 fied in the 19th century by the im- 

 portation of stags from Germany 

 and Austria. The stag stands about 

 4 ft. high at the withers, the hind 

 being about 6 ins. shorter, and the 

 weight of a fine specimen may 

 attain 400 Ib. The pelt is reddish 

 brown, sometimes tinged with 

 grey on the upper parts, and much 

 lighter beneath, with a yellowish 

 patch on the rump. The reddish 

 tinge is peculiar to the summer 

 months. The Irish variety has a 

 white blaze on the forehead. The 

 fawns are lighter in tone, and are 

 thickly spotted with white. 



The stags carry fine antlers, the 

 number of branches or tines 

 roughly indicating the age. In a 

 good specimen the antlers may 



