Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 08.djvu/154

LEFT ROSE WINDOW 120 ROSOLIC ACID tional Committee, 1908 to 1912. He was also at various times a member of the National Civic Federation, the American Jewish Committee, and of several histori- cal and economic associations. During the World War he served as a member of the Committee on Labor, Advisory Commission of the Council of National Defense, as well as the Nebraska State Administrator of paper and pulp of the War Industries Board. He has frequently contributed to magazines and wrote "Spe- cial Assessments — a Study in Municipal Finance" (1898). ROSE WINDOW, a circular window, divided into compartments by mullions and tracery radiating from a center, also called Catharine wheel and marigold win- dow according to modifications of the de- sign. It forms a fine feature in the church architecture of the 13th and 14th centuries, and is mostly employed in the triangular spaces of gables. Some ex- amples, as that of Rheims Cathedral, are over 40 feet in diameter. ROSEWOOD, a valuable wood, the best of which comes from Brazil. Two kinds, or two qualities, are known in commerce. These much resemble each other, the one, which is usually rather the better figured of the two, coming from Rio de Janeiro, the other from Bahia. Three well- known Indian species of this genus are called respectively, Dallergia latifolia, D. sissoo, and D. cultrata, all of which, ex- cept that they want the dark blotchy veining, closely resemble the Brazilian rosewoods. They are all rich in resinous coloring matter, and all except D. latifolia, which is slightly lighter, have a specific gravity ranging between .900 and 1.000, so that they just float in water. Since at least 1830 the D. latifolia has been known in England as Indian rosewood. The South American and Indian kinds named above are all hard and durable and take a fine polish. The Indian rosewood is often elaborately carved by native work- men, and for this purpose it is well suited. An inferior kind of rosewood is brought from Honduras. The name is said to have been given because of a striking rose-like odor that the wood gives out when freshly cut. ROSICRUCTANS, a mystic secret so- ciety which became known to the public early in the 17th century, and was al- leged to have been founded by a German noble called Christian Rosenkreuz, A. D. 1378. He was said to have died at the age of 102. The society consisted of adepts, who perpetuated it by initiating other adepts. It did not interfere with religion or politics, but sought after true philosophy. The Rosicrucians pretended to be able to transmute metals, to pro- long life, and to know what was passing in distant places. They are said to have died out in the 18th century. ROSIN. See Resin. ROSLIN, a Midlothian village, near the wooded glen of the North Esk, 6Y2 miles S. of Edinburgh, Scotland. Its castle, dating from the 14th century, was the seat of the St. Clairs, Earls of Orkney from 1379 to 1471, and afterward of Caithness, and hereditary grand-master of Masons of Scotland from 1455 to 1736. The exquisite "chapel" built about 1450, is really the choir of an intended colle- giate church, and is only 70 feet long, 35 broad, and 42 high. Its beauty lies not in the outline, but in the profusion of stone-carving lavished on pinnacles, niches, vaulted roof, and clustered columns, and especially on the famous "Prentice pillar." Much damaged by an Edinburgh mob in 1688, it was restored by the 3d Earl of Rosslyn and has served since 1862 as an Episcopal church. On Roslin Moor the Scotch are said to have twice defeated the English in one day, Feb. 24, 1303. ROSMINI, ANTONIO ROSMINI- SERBATI, an Italian philosopher; born of noble family at Roveredo in the Italian Tyrol, March 25, 1797. After a stainless youth of devotion and study, he decided for the priesthood against his parents' wishes, and began the course at Padua in 1817. Three years later his father's death gave him an ample estate. He was ordained priest in 1821, and devoted the next five years at home to study, medi- tation and prayer. He formed a compre- hensive and coherent system to serve as a basis for the truths of revelation, and planned a new institution for the train- ing of teachers and priests in wisdom and holiness. From 1826 to 1828 he lived mostly in Milan, next thought out the rule of his new order in a period of retire- ment and severe mortification at Domo- dossola in the Piedmontese Alps, visited Rome, gained the approval of Pius VIII. both for his special studies and for the institution of his order, and published his "New Essay on the Origin of Ideas" (4 vols. 1830), which at once carried his name over the Catholic world. He iden- tified himself with rational movements and lost power with the Pope. His works filled 35 volumes and they were placed on the Index in 1849. Rosmini retired to Stresa, where he died in 1855. ROSOLIC ACID, in chemistry, C 2 „H M 3 = H f >C<gH3(CH S ,OH. a weak acid prepared by treating roaaui-