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LEFT RUMINANTS 145 RUNES which his name is generally associated. His works include: "Essays: Political, Economical, and Philosophical" (1797- 1806) ; and studies in domestic economy, particularly of cookery. He died in Au- teuil near Paris, Aug. 21, 1814. RUMINANTS, or RUMINANTIA, a group of herbivorous mammals, belonging to the great order of hoofed or ungulate Mammals, included in the Artiodactyle or "even-toed" section of these, and compris- ing the five families Camelidse (camel and llama), Tragulidx (chevrotain), Cervidse, (true deer), Camelopardalidae (giraffe), and Bovidse or Cavicornia (ox, sheep, goat, antelope). The faculty of rumina- tion, though it gives name to this order, is not quite peculiar to it. Ruminants are distinguished from other orders by certain peculiarities of dentition. The most typical of the group, the ox, sheep, antelope, etc., have no incisor or canine teeth in the upper jaw, but have instead a hardened or callous pad against which the six lower incisors bite. In the lower jaw are two canines quite similar to the incisors, and the Camelidse and Tragu- lidse possess also upper canines. In both jaws are six grinding teeth on either side, separated by an interval from the front teeth. The feet of ruminants are cloven. Horns, developed in pairs, are present in the majority of the species; either solid, as in the antlers of the true deer, or hol- low as in the horns of the ox, etc. The alimentary canal is very long. The stom- ach is divided into four compartments. In young ruminants, which feed on milk, the first three "stomachs" remain unde- veloped till the animal begins to take vege- table food. Most of the ruminants are suitable for human food. They are gen- erally gregarious, and are represented by indigenous species in all parts of the world except Australia. RUMINATION, the act of chewing the cud. The food of the ruminants is grass, which requires a longer series of chemical changes to convert a portion of it into blood than does the flesh of other animals eaten by the Carnivora. To pro- duce these changes there is a complex stomach divided into four parts, the rumen or paunch, the reticulum or honey- comb bag, the psalterium or manyplies, and the abomasum or reed. A ruminant does not chew the fodder which it eats, but simply swallows it. When it has had enough it retires to a quiet spot, forces up again to the mouth a portion of the food in its paunch, thoroughly chews it and then swallows it again. Another and another bolus is thus disposed of. Each of these, started from the paunch, is forced next into the honeycomb bag, where it receives its form, and then goes up the gullet. On returning it passes direct from the paunch into the manyplies or third stomach, and thence to the abo- masum. Fluids may pass directly into any part of the stomach. RUMP PARLIAMENT, in English his- tory, the"rump" (tail end) of the Long Par- liament after "Pride's Purge," Dec. 6, 1648. It was dissolved by Cromwell, April 20, 1653; restored, May 7, 1659; dissolved, Oct. 13 ; recalled, December, 1659, merged in the restored Long Parliament, Feb. 21, 1660. See Pride, Thomas; Long Parliament. RUNCIMAN, RIGHT HON. WAL- TER, a British public official. He was born at South Shields, England, in 1870, and was educated at Trinity College, Cambridge. He became connected with several shipping organizations and from 1896 to 1905 was a managing director of the Moor Line of cargo steamships. In 1898 he contested Gravesend for a seat in the House of Commons, and in the fol- lowing year was elected to represent Old- ham as a liberal. In 1902 he was elected M. P. for Dewsbury, and represented that constituency till 1916. In 1905-7 he was Parliamentary Secretary to the Local Government Board ; 1907-8, Financial Sec- retary to the Treasury; 1908-11, Presi- dent of the Board of Education; 1914-16, President of the Board of Trade. RUNCINATE, in botany (of a leaf) : hook-backed; curved in a direction from the apex to the base, having the points of the great central lobes reflexed, as the leaves of Taraxacum officinale. RUNES. In the Scandinavian lands, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway, thou- sands of inscriptions have been found written in the ancient alphabet of the heathen Northmen. Similar records are scattered sparsely and sporadically over the regions which were overrun or settled by the Baltic tribes between the 2d cen- tury and the 10th. A few are found in Kent, England, which was conquered by the Jutes, others in Cumberland, Dum- friesshire, Orkney, and the Isle of Man, which were occupied by the Norwegians, and in Yorkshire, which was settled by the Angles. One or two have been found in the valley of the Danube, which was the earliest halting-place of the Goths in their migration S.; and there is reason to believe that a similar alphabet was used by the Visigoths and Burgundians in Spain and France, while it is note- worthy that there is no _ trace of this writing having been used in Germany or by the Saxons and Franks. There are several interesting runic in- scriptions in England, among which may be mentioned that on the Ruthwell cross in Dumfriesshire, and that on the Bew-