RUB 



RUB 



planting. The layers fhould be made from the moots, 

 which may be done almoft any time, as they readily emit 

 roots at every joint, and become fit to plant out in the 

 autumn following. And the cuttings mould be taken off 

 from fome of the younger fhoots, and divided into lengths 

 a foot long, and planted in a fhady border, either in the 

 fpring or fummer feafon. The roots in any of the rafp- 

 berry and herbaceous forts, when increafed into- large 

 bunches, may be divided or (lipped into feveral diftiuft fets, 

 and planted out feparately. 



The lall two forts may likewife be railed from feeds, 

 which mould be taken from the ripened fruit, and fovvn in a 

 moid fituation where the plants are to remain, keeping the 

 voung plants clean afterwards. 



Both the fird fpecies, and all the varieties, are highly ufe- 

 ful for their fruit ; for the table, preferving, and other 

 culinary purpofes. 



And moll of the other forts afford variety in the borders, 

 clumps, and other parts of pleafure-grounds, among other 

 hardy plants. 



RuBUS, in Ichthyology, a name given by Joannes Cuba, 

 Albertus, and fome other writers, to the fpecies of raf, 

 ufually called the Jhate, or jiaire. See Raia (Batis and 

 Rubus). 



RUBY, Sp'melle, Fr., in Mineralogy, a precious (lone, 

 much valued by jewellers ; but under this name a variety of 

 minerals have not unfrequently been fold, which differ 

 eflentially in their characters. Mineralogies have alio 

 difagreed much in the claffification of fubllances to which 

 they have given the name of ruby. The oriental ruby is, in 

 fact, a red variety of the fapphire, and is defcribed under 

 the article Gems. It poffeffes greater hardnefs than the 

 common ruby, and differs from it in its cryftallization. The 

 primitive form of the cry dais of the common ruby is the- 

 regular octahedron, from which the fecondary forms vary 

 but little. Two cryilals are fometimes united, and form a 

 made. The colour is red, varying from fcarlet to violet 

 and yellowi(h-red, and fometimes a dark red. It is in- 

 fufible by the blowpipe, nor does it lofe its colour by the 

 heat. The fracture is flatly conchoidal ; it has a fplendent 

 vitreous luftre. The ruby poffeffes a confiderable degree of 

 hardnefs, though its principal condiment ingredient is alu- 

 mine. According to Vauquelin, it contains 



Alumine ... 84.47 



Magnefia - . . 8.78 



Chromic acid - - -6.18 



To the chromic acid the common ruby owes its colouring 



matter. A variety of ruby has received from Haiiy the 



name of Pleonaite ; it differs from the above in containing 



iron in place of chromic acid, and the colours vary from a 



purple to blue and green. Another gem nearly refembling 



the ruby, the fpinelle zinfifere of Hairy, called alio auto- 



malite, has been claffed as a fub-fpecies of ruby, but it differs 



from it greatly in its condiment parts. 



Automalite, like the common ruby, has the oftahedral 

 crydallization, with laminx parallel to the faces of the 

 crydal ; its colour is a dark blueifh-green, nearly opaque. 

 The conftiuient parts, according to Vauquelin, are, 

 Alumine - . 42 



Sdex - - 4 



Oxyd of zinc - - - 28 



Oxyd of iron - - 5 



Sulphur ■ - 17 



The ruby, in its mod perfect date, is a gem of very 

 great beauty and value. It is often found perfectly pure, 

 and free from all fpots or blemilhes ; but it is much more 

 frequently debafed by them, and greatly brought down in 



its value, efpecially in the larger fpecimens. It is of very 

 great hardnefs, equal to that of the fapphire, and fecond 

 only to the diamond. It is various in fize, but is lefs fub- 

 jeft to variations in its diape than mod of the other gi 

 It is mod frequently found very fmall ; its common fize 

 being that of the heads of the larger fort of pins ; and when 

 of this fize it is very cheap ; but it is alfo found of four, 

 fix, or ten carats ; and fometimes, though but very rarely, 

 up to twenty, thirty, or forty; nay, we have accounts of 

 fome of more than a hundred. It is never found of an 

 angular or cryftalliform (hape, but always of a pebble-like 

 figure, often roundifh, fometimes oblong, and much larger 

 at one end than the other, and in fome forts refembling a 

 pear, and is ufually more or lefs flattened on one fide. 



It is commonly fo naturally bright and pure on the 

 furface as to need no polifliing : it is worn in rings, and 

 in the crowns of princes, in its rough or native date. Its 

 colour is red in very different degrees, from the deeped 

 garnet colour to that of the paled red diamond, but it 

 ever has with the red more or lefs of a purplifh tinge. 

 This is very plainly didinguidied in the deeper coloured 

 fpecimens, but in the pale ones is gradually lefs and lefs to 

 be didinguidied in proportion to their degree of colour. 

 Thefe are the didinguifhing characters of the ruby, and by 

 thefe it is eafily known from the garnet, carbuncle, and 

 other red gems. 



Our jewellers are very nice, though not perfectly deter- 

 minate in their didinctions ; knowing this gem, in its dif- 

 ferent degrees of colour, under three names ; the firft is 

 (imply the ruby : this is the name they give to it in its 

 mod perfect and dronged coloured date. 



The fecond is the j'p'inel ruby. Under this name they 

 know thofe rubies which are of a fomewhat lefs deep and 

 much lefs vivid colour than what they call the true ruby, 

 or (imply the ruby. 



The third is the balafs ruby, a name derived from Bala- 

 keia, the name of a country where the paler rubies are 

 principally found. Under this name they exprefs a pale, 

 yet a very bright ruby, with a fmaller admixture of the 

 purple tinge than in the deeper coloured one, and fome- 

 thing refembling the colour of the damaflt rofe. This is 

 of a confiderable value, but lefs than the deeper, or, as 

 they call it, the true ruby. 



Befides thefe, they know alfo two other flones under 

 the general name rubies, calling them the rock ruby, and 

 the rubacelle. But thefe are not truly of the ruby kind ; 

 the firft being a very beautiful fpecies of garnet, and 

 having a tinge of blue with its red; and the other a 

 hyacinth, having a manifell cad of yellow. See Gems. 



There are but two places in the Ead where the ruby is 

 found ; the kingdom of Pegu, and the ifle of Ceylon. 

 The mine in Pegu, where it is found in greateft plenty, 

 is in the mountain Capelan, twelve days' journey from 

 Siren, the refidence of the king of that country. The 

 fined rubies brought hence do not exceed three or four 

 carats ; the king referving all the larger to himfelf. 



In Ceylon the rubies are found in a river which de- 

 fcends from the mountains towards the middle of the ifland : 

 fome few are alfo found in the ground. The rubies of 

 Ceylon are ufually brighter and more beautiful than thofe 

 of Pegu, but they are rare ; the king of Ceylon prohibiting 

 his people to gather them, or traffic with them. There are, 

 as fome fay, rubies alfo found in Europe, particularly in 

 Bohemia and Hungary, efpecially the former, in which is 

 a mine of flints of divers fizes ; which, upon breaking, arc 

 fometimes found to contain rubies, pretended to be as fine 

 and hard as any of the Eaftcrn ones. 



The 



