ROCOCO 



volcanic yellowstone region, with 

 Mt. Washburne, 11,350 ft., and 

 the Teton Range with Grand 

 Teton, 13,690 ft. ; farther E. lie 

 the Big Horn Mts., and farther S. 

 the Wind River Mts., with Fremont 

 Peak, 13,790 ft. In the S. of 

 Wyoming the ridge becomes a lofty 

 plateau, the Laramie Plains, which 

 form a connexion with the ranges 

 of Colorado, where Blanca, 14,464 

 ft., Pike's Peak, 14,141 ft., and 

 Long's Peak, 14,271 ft., reach the 

 highest points of the true Ropkies. 

 From Colorado S. the elevation 

 decreases to the Rio Grande, 

 though Truchas Peak, N.E. of 

 Santa Fe, reaches 13,156 ft. In the 

 S. section, within Mexico, the 

 Rockies continue as the Sierra 

 Madre Oriental. 



S. of the Canadian border many 

 peaks bear a considerable snow 

 cap, although this is insufficient to 

 give rise to glaciers and may en- 

 tirely disappear in a hot summer. 

 In Canada, however, the Rockies 

 are more Alpine in character ; there 

 are extensive icefields, and Victoria, 

 Lyell, Mangin, Petain, and many 

 other glaciers ; while Lake Louise 

 rivals in beauty the Alpine lakes. 

 Coniferous forests clothe the slopes, 

 the timber line reaching 10,000 ft. 

 in the central portions. Grizzly 

 bears, big-horn sheep, and the 

 Rocky Mountain goat are typical 

 of the fauna. 



In total length the Rockies 

 stretch through 50 of latitude, 

 with a general bearing to the N. W. 

 from long. 100 W. to long. 150 

 W. ; this implies a total length in 

 excess of 4,000 m. Within the 

 scope of the system are many 

 elevated fertile valleys to which the 

 name park is given, e.g. Luis Park, 

 drained by the Rio Grande, and 

 Yoho Park, near the Kicking 

 Horse Pass. See Canada; Manitou; 

 United States. B. c. waiiis 



Rococo (Fr. roc, rock). In 

 architecture and decoration, the 

 name given to a style that pre- 

 vailed in France 

 and elsewhere 

 on the Conti- 

 nent from the 

 middle of the 

 17th century to 

 the end of the 

 18th. It con- 

 sists of an ex- 

 cessive use of 

 curves, irregu- 

 lar disposition 

 of doors and windows, and super- 

 abundance of ornament, imitating 

 rock work and shells, and intro- 

 duced with an entire disregard of 

 the constructional character of the 

 design. The term has come to be 

 applied to anything extravagant 

 and tasteless in style. 



Rococo. Capital 



of a column in 



rococo style 



6662 



Rocroi. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Ardennes. It stands near 

 the Meuse, 15 m. N.W. of Mezieres 

 and 2 m. from the Belgian frontier. 

 First fortified in the 16th century, 

 the present fortifications, built by 

 Vauban, nearly surround the town, 

 which consists of a central square 

 from which streets radiate to the 

 ramparts. The church is an 18th 

 century building. Pop. 2,200. 



Rocroi is chiefly famous for the 

 battle that was fought near it 

 during the Thirty Years' War. It 

 was fought on May 19, 1643, be- 

 tween the French under Conde, 

 then duke of Enghien, and the 

 Spanish under de Melo and 

 Fuentes. The latter, about 27,000 

 strong, were besieging Rocroi, and 

 battle was delivered by Conde, 

 who commanded some 22,000 men. 

 At first the French left wing and 

 centre suffered repulse, but the 

 Spaniards failed to pursue their 

 advantage, and the French left and 

 centre were able to re-form and 

 attack the infantry formation of 

 Fuentes. After four assaults they 

 succeeded ; Fuentes was slain, and 

 the Spaniards were routed with a 

 loss of over 7,000 killed and 7,000 

 prisoners. French losses were about 

 2,000 killed and 2,000 wounded. 

 See Thirty Years' War. 



Rod. Straight, slender shoot or 

 branch of a tree used as an instru- 

 ment for measuring, chastisement, 

 fishing, cleaning pipes, etc., and as 

 an emblem of office. As the last 

 it is still used by churchwardens, by 

 an official of the royal household, 

 and by ushers of the chief British 

 orders of knighthood, who are 

 called black or green rod from the 

 colour of the wands they carry. 

 The term is also used in building, 

 as of a tie rod, in engineering in a 

 similar sense, and in machinery as 

 in piston rod. Lightning rods are 

 metal conductors for the protection 

 of buildings from being struck by 

 lightning. Aaron's rod is the name 

 of an architectural ornament, and 

 also of a plant, the common 

 mullein. A divining rod is a forked 

 twig used by water finders. 



Rod, POLE OR PERCH. Measure 

 of length and area. Lineally, it 

 is 5i yds., or 16 ft. ; as a sq. 

 rod, pole, or perch, it contains 

 30 J sq. yds., or 272J sq. ft. ; 

 160 rods equal one acre. The 

 sq. rod is used largely in measur- 

 ing brickwork. 



Rod, EDOUARD (1857-1910). 

 Swiss novelist. Born at Nyon, 

 March 31, 1857, he studied at Bonn 

 and Berlin, and lived for many 

 years in Paris, where he edited La 

 Revue Contemporaine. His early 

 novels, e.g. La femme de Henri 

 Vanneau, 1884, were influenced by 

 Zola, but his later works were 



marked by a rather morbid pes- 

 simism and critical introspection. 

 Among his other novels may be 

 mentioned La Vie prive"e de Michel 

 Teissier, 1893, 

 and Les Unis, 

 1909. He did 

 much to intro- 

 duce Tolstoy 

 and Ibsen to 

 French read- 

 ers, and was 

 professor o f 

 comparative 

 literature a t 

 Geneva, 1886- 

 93. He died 

 at Grasse, Jan. 29, 1910. 



Rodbertus , JOHAKN KARL ( 1805 

 -75). German economist and 

 socialist. Born at Greifswald on 

 Aug. 12, 1805, 

 he studied law 

 a t Gottingen 

 and Berlin, 

 and held posts 

 in the justici 

 ary at Breslau 

 and Oppeln, 

 1828-32. 

 Thereafter he 



devoted him- Johann Rodbertus, 

 self to working Founder of scientific 

 out his theory socialism 



of evolutionary and scientific social- 

 ism, opposing the internationalist 

 and materialist doctrines of Marx. 

 Elected to the Prussian Assembly 

 for Usedom-Wollin, 1848, he held 

 for a short time the ministry of 

 education, and was elected to the 

 second chamber in 1849. His 

 publications include Soziale Briefe, 

 1850-51 ; Zur Beleuchtung der 

 Sozialen Frage, 1875. He died on 

 his Pomeranian estate, Jagetzow, 

 Dec. 6, 1875. See The Social 

 Philosophy of Rodbertus, E. C. K. 

 Conner, 1899. 



Rodd, SIR JAMES RENNELL (b. 

 1858). British diplomatist. Born 

 Nov. 9, 1858, and educated at 

 Haileybury 

 and B a 1 1 i o 1 

 College, Ox- 

 ford, he en- 

 tered the dip- 

 lomatic ser- 

 vice in 1883 

 and, having 

 acted as at- 

 tache in vari- 

 Sir James R. Rodd, o u s capitals, 

 British diplomatist was ma d e sec- 

 iiutiel1 ond secretary 



to the British embassy at Rome in 

 1891. In 1893 he was in charge of 

 the British agency at Zanzibar, and 

 he remained in Africa until 1901 ; 

 he was special envoy to Menelik of 

 Abyssinia in 1897 while acting as 

 secretary of legation at Cairo. Rodd 

 returned to Rome as secretary 

 of legation in 1901, and from 1904 



