11 I N 



It I N 



the firft ferved to diftinguifh conditions or quality. Pliny 

 iffures us, that the lenators at firft were not allowed to 

 wear the gold ring, unlefs they had been ambaffadors at 

 fome foreign court. Nor was it even allowed them to 

 wezr tha gold ring which was given them in public, ex- 

 cept on public occafions ; at other times they wore an 

 iron one. And thofe who had a triumph obferved the 

 fame rules. 



At length the fenators and knights were allowed the 

 common ufe of the gold ring ; but Acron on Horace, lib. ii. 

 fat. vii. obferves, they could not do it unlefs it were given 

 them by the praetor. 



In after days the gold ring became the badge of the 

 knights, the people wearing filver rings, and the flaves 

 iron ones ; though the gold ring was fometimes alfo 

 allowed the people, and Severus granted it to his common 

 foldiers. Augullus allowed it to the liberti or freedmen ; 

 and though Nero made a regulation to the contrary, yet it 

 was foon fet afide. 



A fecond kind of rings comprehended the annuli fponfa- 

 ///«', wedding-rings. Some carry the origin of this cuftom 

 as far back as the Hebrews, on the authority of a text in 

 Exodus, xxxv. 22. Leo of Modena, however, maintains, 

 that the ancient Hebrews did not ufe any nuptial ring. 

 Selden, in his Uxor. Ebraica, lib. ii. chap. xiv. owns, that 

 they gave a ring in the marriage, but that it was only in 

 lieu of a piece of money of the fame value which had 

 ufed to have been given before. The Greeks and Romans 

 did the fame, and from them the Chriftians took it up very 

 early, as appears from Tertullian, and in fome ancient 

 liturgies, where we find the form of bleffing the nuptial 



rin s- 



The third kind of rings included thofe ufed as feals, called 

 eerograpln or c'trographi ; an account of which, fee under the 

 article SeAL. 



Richard, bifhop of Salifbury, in his Conftitutions, anno 

 1 2 17, forbids the putting of rufh rings, or any the like 

 matter, on women's fingers, in order to the debauching 

 them more readily ; and he infinuates the reafon of his pro- 

 hibition, that there were fome people weak enough to 

 believe, that what was thus done in jeft was a real marriage. 



De Breveil, in his Antiquities of Paris, fays, it was an 

 ancient cuftom to ufe a rufh-ring in the nuptials of fuch 

 as had had an affair together before their marriage. 



Ring, in Angling, an inftrument intended to free the hook 

 when accidentally entangled among weeds. See Angling. 



Ring, in AJironomy. The ring of Saturn is a thin, broad, 

 opaque, circular arch, encompaffing the body of that planet, 

 like the horizon of an artificial globe, without touching it, 

 and appearing double, when feen through a good telefcope. 



The difcovery of it is owing to M. Huygens, who, 

 after frequent obfervation of Saturn, with telefcopes which 

 magnified two or three times more than any that had been 

 before made, perceived two lucid points, or aiifx, arifing 

 out from the body in a right line. 



Hence, as in fubfequent obfervations, he always found 

 the fame appearance, he concluded that Saturn was encom- 

 pafied with a permanent ring ; and accordingly produced 

 his new fyftem of Saturn in 1659. 



However, Galileo firft difcovered that the figure of Sa- 

 turn was not round. It appeared to him like a large 

 globe between two fmall ones ; and he announced this dif- 

 covery in the year 16 10. Profecuting his obfervations till 

 the year 161 2, he was then furprifed to find only the middle 

 globe ; but in procefs of time he again difcovered the 

 globes on each fide, which appeared to change their form ; 

 fometimes appearing round, fometimes like an acorn, fome- 



times femicircular, then with horns towards the globe in the 

 middle, and growing by degrees fo long and wide as to 

 encompifs it, as it were, with an oval ring. Huygens, 

 who, as we have faid, completed the difcovery, makes the 

 fpace between the globe of Saturn and the ring equal to, 

 or rather bigger than, the breadth of the ring; and the 

 greateft diameter of the ring, in proportion to that of the 

 globe, as 9 to 4. But Mr. Pound, with an excellent mi- 

 crometer, applied to the Huygenian telefcope of 1 23 feet 

 in length, determined this proportion to be as 7 to 3. 



Mr. Whifton.in his " Memoirs of the Life of Dr. Clarke," 

 informs us, that the doctor's father once faw a fixed ftar 

 between the ring and the body of Saturn. M. Caffini, 

 in J 67 5, obferved upon the ring a dark elliptical line, 

 dividing it, as it were, into two rings ; the inner of which 

 appeared brighter than the other. He alfo perceived a 

 dark belt upon the plaDet, parallel to the greater axis of the 

 ring. Mr. Hadley obferved, that the outer part of the 

 ring feemed narrower than the inner part, and that the dark 

 line was fainter towards its upper edge ; he alfo faw two 

 belts, and obferved the fhadow of the ring upon Saturn. 

 In Oftober, 1 7 14, when the plane of the ring very nearly 

 palled through the earth, and was approaching it, M. Ma- 

 raldi obferved, that while the arms were decreafing, both 

 in length and breadth, the ealtern arm appeared a little 

 larger than the other for three or four nights, and yet it 

 vaniflied firft ; for after an interruption for two nights by 

 clouds, he faw the weftern arm alone. This inequality 

 of the ring made him fufpeft that it was not bounded by 

 exactly parallel planes, and that it turned about its axis. 

 In the fequel of this article we ftiall give the fubftance of 

 Dr. Herfchel's obfervations, which, on account of his ac- 

 curacy as an obferver, and the fuperior excellence of his 

 telefcopes, are much more important than any others, as 

 he has difcovered many circumftances which had efcaped 

 all other obfervers. 



This ring, feen from Saturn, appears like a large lumi- 

 nous arc in the heavens, as if it did not belong to the 

 planet. When we fee the ring mod open, its fhadow upon 

 the planet is broadeft ; aad from that time the fhadow 

 grows narrower, as the ring appears to do to us ; until, 

 by Saturn's annual motion, the fun comes to the plane of 

 the ring, or even with its edge ; which, being then dire&ed 

 towards us, becomes invifible, on account of its thinnefs. 



The principal phenomena of Saturn's ring are familiarly 

 iUuftrated by a view of Plate XIX. AJironomy, fig. 14. 

 Let S be the fun, A B C D E F G H Saturn's orbit, and 

 I K L M N O the earth's orbit. Both Saturn and the 

 earth move according to the order of the letters ; and when 

 Saturn is at A, his ring is turned edgewife to the fun S, 

 and he is then feen from the earth as if he had loft his ring, 

 let the earth be in any part of the orbit whatever, except 

 betwnen N and O ; for whilft it defcribes that fpace, Sa- 

 turn is apparently fo near the fun as to be hid in his beams. 

 As Saturn goes from A to C, his ring appears more and 

 more open to the earth ; at C the ring appears moft open 

 of all ; and feems to grow narrower and narrower as Sa- 

 turn goes from C to E ; and when he comes to E, the 

 ring is again turned edgewife both to the fun and earth : 

 and as neither of its fides is illuminated, it is invifible to 

 us, becaufe its edge is too thin to be perceptible ; 

 and Saturn appears again as if he had loft his ring. 

 But as he goes from E to G, his ring opens more and 

 more to our view on the under fide ; and feems juft as 

 open at G as it was at C ; and may be feen in the night- 

 time from the earth in any part of its orbit, except about 

 M, when the fun hides the planet from our view. As 



Saturn 



