RING 



6626 



RING-OUZEL 



pendant on chains from rings. 

 Rings have been worn on all the 

 fingers, including the thumb, 

 which was much favoured among 

 Asiatics and in Europe, especially 

 in the 15th and 16th centuries. 

 Ecclesiastical rings were early worn 

 on the first finger of the right 

 hand, then on the third of the left, 

 the marriage finger, because it is 

 supposed to communicate direct to 

 the heart by an artery. The little 

 finger of the right hand was chosen 

 for the signet ring. 



In occult and magical cere- 

 monies, the use of the ring is of very 

 ancient date and its origin is 

 obscure. It has been suggested 

 that it was an emblem of the sun, 

 but it seems more probable that 

 it represented the idea of binding 

 or constriction. The necromancer 

 stood within a ring drawn on the 

 ground during his incantation, 

 with the idea that he was thus 

 enclosed against the assaults of 

 evil spirits, who were unable to 

 cross the boundary of the ring. 

 Many of the earliest temples and 

 meeting-places were built in the 

 form of a circle. There is a fine 

 collection of rings in the British 

 Museum. See Circle; Gem*; Jewelry; 

 Memento Mori ; Nose-ornament ; 

 Symbolism. o. <j. Kothery 



Bibliography. History and Poetry 

 of Finger Rings, C. Edwards, 1855 ; 

 Antique Rings and Gems, C. W. 

 King, 1872 ; Finger Ring Lore, W. 

 Jones, 1877 ; Finger Rings in the 

 Brit. Museum, F. H. Marshall, 1907. 

 Ring and the Book, THE. 

 Blank verse poem by Robert 

 Browning, first published in 1868- 

 69 in four volumes. The subject 

 is that of a 17th century murder 

 trial, as the result of which Count 

 Guido Franceschini and four 

 accomplices were executed in 

 Rome, in 1698, for the murder of 

 the child-wife of the count and of 

 her putative parents. Having 

 picked up in Florence an old 

 volume in which the record of the 

 trial was presented, the poet deter- 

 mined on the form of his work, 

 which in its successive books gives 

 the case from different points of 

 view, with extraordinary psycho- 

 logical insight. 



Ring Bolt. Bolt with a hole 

 through the head through which a 

 loose ring 

 is passed. 

 Ring bolts are 

 largely used 

 for embedding 

 in masonry 

 Or bolting 

 into timber ' 

 wharves and 



Ring Bolt, similar struc- 



for mooring boats tures which 

 are used for the purpose of mooring 

 boats alongside. 



Ring Money. Examples of the ancient metallic currency, 



found in Ireland. Inset, piece of modern African ring, 



identical with the ancient shape 



Ringbone. Disease of horses, a 

 cause of lameness. It results from 

 inflammation of the periosteal 

 covering of the bone below the fet- 

 lock. It is usually set up by a blow, 

 a kick, or some similar accidental 

 cause. The seat of the disease is 

 usually the short pastern bone 

 known as the " corona." Ring- 

 bone is commonest in heavy 

 horses, or animals with upright 

 pasterns. It is rare in blood stock. 

 For severe cases it is necessary to 

 resort to blistering, firing, or un- 

 nerving. In all cases special 

 shoeing is essential. 



Ring Dove (Colnmba Palum- 

 bus). Name sometimes given to 

 the common wood pigeon. The 



Ring Dove. Ringed turtle dove, 

 carrying a black ring 



largest member of the tribe 

 in Great Britain, it is so named 

 from the patch of white on either 

 side of the neck, and occurs 

 throughout the country and is 

 common in the London parks and 

 squares. It is a voracious eater, 

 and a most serious pest to the 

 agriculturist. See Pigeon. 



Ringkjobing OR SLAVNING 

 FIORD. Large lagoon in W. Jut- 

 land, Denmark. It is 28 m. long 

 and has a width of 9 m. At its 

 head is the little town of Ring- 

 kjobing, with a pop. of 3,000. 



Ring Money. 



Primitive form 



of metallic currency used in ancient 

 Egypt, Gaul, Ireland, Norway, 

 etc., and still used in some parts of 

 Africa. It arose from and is often 

 indistinguishable from golden 

 articles of adornment worn by 

 barbaric peoples. Probably the 

 custom arose among savage people 

 from that of wearing all their 

 wealth in the form of ornaments. 

 In Egypt, ring money circulated 

 by weight, and much of the ring 

 money still used in Africa is of 

 Birmingham manufacture. Many 

 examples of ring money have been 

 found in the British Isles. See 

 Coins ; Money ; Numismatics ; con- 

 sult also The Origin of Metallic 

 Currency, W. Ridgeway, 1892. 



Ringnes. Two islands in the 

 Arctic Ocean, Brit. N. America. 

 They are situated between Axel 

 Heiberg Land and Prince Gustav 

 Adolf Sea. The easternmost is 

 called Amund Ringnes Island, 

 while that to the W. is known as 

 EHef Ringnes Island. 



Ring-Ouzel (Turdus torquatus) 

 OR MOUNTAIN BLACKBIRD. Euro- 

 pean song-bird of the thrush family. 

 Its feathers are black with a narrow 

 edging of greyish white, and it has a 

 white patch on the throat. It arrives 

 in England in April and breeds in a 

 few districts in Devonshire, Derby- 

 shire, and the N., nesting often in 

 a tuft of heather. It is common 



Ring-Ouzel or Mountain Blackbird, 

 a European song-bird 



