RODEN 



was British minister at Stockholm. 

 He was ambassador at Rome, 

 1908-19. He was knighted in 

 1899, and created G.C.B. in 1920. 

 Rodd published several volumes 

 of poems and one or two of prose, 

 including The Violet Crown, 1891. 



Roden, EAHL OF. Irish title 

 borne by the family of Jocelyn 

 since 1771. Robert Jocelyn (d. 

 1756), a lawyer, who became lord 

 chancellor of Ireland, was made 

 Baron Newport in 1743 and Vis- 

 count Jocelyn in 1755. His son 

 Robert, the 2nd viscount (d. 1797), 

 was made an earl in 1771, having 

 just inherited from a kinsman a 

 baronetcy dating from 1665. From 

 him, though not in the direct senior 

 line, the present earl is descended. 

 The earl's seat is Tullymore Park, 

 co. Down. His eldest son is called 

 Viscount Jocelyn. 



Rodenbach, GEORGES (1855- 

 98). Belgian poet and novelist. 

 Born of a Flemish family at 

 Tournai, July 

 16, 1855, he 

 was educated 

 in Paris and at 

 Ghent Univer- 

 sity, and be- 

 came a mem- 

 ber of the Bel- 

 gian bar in 

 1885. His main 

 interests, how- 

 ever, were lite- 

 rary, and his first verses, Le Foyer 

 et les Champs, appeared in 1877. 

 Other volumes included Les Tris- 

 tesses, 1879 ; Le Regne du Silence. 

 1891 ; and Les Vies Encloses, 1896. 

 His poetry reflects admirably the 

 quiet melancholy of the towns 

 and country of Flanders, which he 

 knew intimately, and his novel, 

 Bruges-la-Morte, 1892, is a strik- 

 ing study of that city's life. He 

 settled in Paris, 1887, dying there 

 Dec. 25, 1898. He should not be 

 confused with the Flemish poet, 

 Albrecht Rodenbach (1856-80). 



Rodent (Lat. rodere, to gnaw). 

 Animal belonging to the order Ro- 

 dentia. In them the teeth are 

 specialised for gnawing hard sub- 

 stances. There is usually only one 

 pair of incisors in each jaw, but 

 these are largely developed and are 

 chisel-shaped. As they have 

 enamel on their outer side only, use 

 tends to keep the edges very sharp. 

 They continue growing throughout 

 life, so that if one of them is lost or 

 destroyed, the opposite one con- 

 tinues to grow till it may enter the 

 other jaw, or may so curve as to 

 prevent the mouth from opening. 

 In other cases it curves round and 

 assumes the form of a monstrous 

 tusk. The canine teeth are always 

 absent, and there is a considerable 

 gap between the incisors and the 



Georges Rodenbach, 

 Belgian poet 



6663 



molars. In most of the rodents the 

 claws are blunt and usually some- 

 what broad, and the animal does 

 not rest on them when walking. 



As their dentition indicates, 

 nearly all the rodents are strictly 

 vegetarian in diet, roots, stems, 

 and nuts constituting a large part 

 of their food. The great majority of 

 them burrow in the ground, though 

 some are arboreal and a few 

 aquatic. Hibernation is a common 

 habit in this order, while many 

 species store up large provisions of 

 food for the winter. Among the 

 rodents are included the squirrels, 

 marmots, beavers, jerboas, rats, 

 mice, hamsters, voles, lemmings, 

 porcupines, agoutis, cavies, hares, 

 and rabbits. They are world-wide 

 in distribution. See Capybara ; 

 Coypu ; Musquash, etc. 



Rodent Ulcer. Form of cancer 

 of the skin. It is generally re- 

 stricted to elderly persons, and 

 most frequently affects the face, 

 particularly the forehead or the 

 skin around the eye. The condition 

 begins as a small papule which ul- 

 timately ulcerates. Progress is 

 usually very slow and painless. 

 Gradually, however, the ulceration 

 increases until it may involve a 

 large area of the skin and eat into 

 the underlying structures. Treat- 

 ment by X-rays, particularly in the 

 early stages, is very effective, and 

 as a rule complete cure can be ob- 

 tained. For deeper growths treat- 

 ment by radium or zinc intro- 

 duced by the method of ionisation 

 is often the best course. Where 

 there has been much destruction of 

 the deeper tissues, removal of the 

 diseased structures by surgical 



Rodent. Diagram showing arrange- 

 ment of teeth in the hare 



operation may be undertaken be- 

 fore treatment by X-rays or ra- 

 dium is adopted. 



Roderic. Visigothic (West 

 Gothic) king of Spain. His defeat 

 by the Saracen Tarik at Jeres de la 

 Frontera, near the Guadalete, put 

 an end to his brief reign (710-711) 

 and to the Gothic kingdom in that 

 country. Nothing is known of his 

 subsequent fortunes or of the date 

 or manner of his death, and nu- 

 merous legends have gathered 

 round the name of Don Rodrigo. 



RODIN 



Roderick (c. 1116-98). King of 

 Ireland. Son of Turlough O'Connor 

 (1088-1156), he succeeded his fa- 

 ther as king of Connaught in 1156, 

 and was crowned king of Ireland at 

 Dublin in 1166. By a treaty with 

 Henry II, 1175, Roderick acknow- 

 ledged the English king as his over- 

 lord, retaining his hereditary king- 

 ship of Connaught. Deposed by his 

 half-brother, Cathal, 1191, he died 

 in monastic retreat at Cong, 1198. 

 See Ireland : History. 



Roderick Random. Novel by 

 Tobias Smollett, published in 1748, 

 in which he embodied much of his 

 experiences as a naval surgeon's 

 mate. The full title is The Adven- 

 tures of Roderick Random. 



Rodez. Town of France, capital 

 of the dept. of Aveyron. It stands 



Rodez, France. West front of the 

 cathedral of Notre Dame 



on a hill, 2,075 ft. alt., on the right 

 bank of the Aveyron, 37 m. N.E. of 

 Albi. The Gothic cathedral of 

 Notre Dame, built between 1277 

 and 1535, has a tower 260 ft. high. 

 There are manufactures of cloth, 

 linen, and woollen materials, 

 and a trade in cheese and cattle. 

 Rodez was known as Segodunum 

 and became capital of the Rutheni 

 and later of Rouergue. Pop. 15,400. 

 Rodin, FRANCOIS AUGUSTE 

 (1840-1917). French sculptor. 

 Born hi Paris, Nov. 14, 1840, son of 

 a government clerk, he studied 

 drawing at a free school. His first 

 important 

 work, a bust 

 named The 

 Man with the 

 Broken Nose, 

 was rejected 

 by the Salon, 

 1863, and 

 in that year 



he b e c a m e Auguste Rodin? 

 assistant to French sculptor 



