Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XIV.djvu/489

 RUMSEY RUNJEET SINGH 469 found in the diluvium of Europe. The genus macrauchenia, as large as a rhinoceros, is pecu- liar to the southern regions of South America, and forms another remarkable transition form between ruminants and proboscidians. (See MACRAUCHENIA.) RUMSEY, James, an American inventor, born at Bohemia Manor, Cecil co., Md., about 1743, died in London, England, Dec. 23, 1792. In September, 1784, he exhibited on the Potomac, in the presence of Gen. Washington, a boat which worked against the stream by means of mechanism. He subsequently gave his atten- tion to steam as a motive power, and in March, 1786, propelled a boat on the Potomac by a steam engine, which secured motion by the force of a stream of water thrown out by a pump at the stern. In December, 1787, the experiment was successfully repeated on a larger scale. About the same time he became involved in a controversy with John Fitch. (See FITCH, JOHN.) In 1788 the " Rumsey society " was formed in Philadelphia ; and the inventor going to England, a similar society was formed in London, a boat and machinery were built for him, and he obtained patents for his inventions in Great Britain, France, and Holland. A successful trip was made upon the Thames in December, 1792, and he was preparing for another experiment when he died. He published a " Short Treatise on the Application of Steam" (1788). RUNES (Old Norse, runir, secret signs, mys- teries), an ancient graphic system employed chiefly by the Teutonic races of f F northern Europe, though traces K TT of its use are found also in France and Spain. These characters l>. th originally served for divination and secret purposes, but it is not %. O known at what time their use be- . gan. Specimens of runic writing K. R have been found at Thorsbjerg Y f and Nydarn dating from the 2d or 3d century ; and though they t Roman alphabet, the runes re- , the-way districts of Scandinavia till the close of the last century. J. A There are several varieties of runic writing, classed as the An- 1 S glo-Saxon, the German, and the Represent the oldest form, from 4 g which the others were developed. It has an alphabet of only 15 or P. L 16 letters, while that of the An- ^ glo-Saxons finally numbered as Y. M many as 40. Among the varia- A. (E, Y tions, $ . sometimes stands for 0, Eunic Alphabet ^ fop ^ ^ f Qp ^ ^ op ^ 4 for D, and f . for E. These variations in the forms of the letters, and the fact that they are sometimes read from left to right, some- times from right to left, and sometimes alter- nately from the right and left, greatly increase the difficulty of deciphering them; but as 61 runic alphabets, or futhorcs, as they are called from the first six letters, have been gathered, it is possible to read any well preserved in- scription with tolerable certainty. There is no evidence that runes were ever employed in the composition of books, or that they were used as familiarly and generally as other graph- ic systems. They were confined to inscriptions or carvings on rocks, stones, household uten- sils, weapons, and ornaments. They were also cut on smooth sticks, called run-stafas, or mys- terious staves, generally of beech (Ger. Buche, whence Buchstab, letter), used for divination. It was even believed that a mysterious power resided in the runes, and some of them were considered as special safeguards of ships, oth- ers as capable of healing wounds, &c. The use of the runes, thus associated in popular belief with sorcery, was discouraged by Christian missionaries. Whatever valuable statements in regard to the nature of runes are to be found in the manuscripts of the middle ages have been gathered in Brynjulffsen's Perico- lum Runologicum (1823). See also Grimm, Ueber deutsche Runen (1821) and Zur Liter a- tur der Runen (1828); and Stephens, "Old Northern Runic Monuments of Scandinavia and England" (3 vols., London, 18G7-'74). RU1VJEET SINGH, a rajah or sovereign of the Sikhs, in the Punjaub, born at Gujerawala, N. of Lahore, about 1780, died there, June 27, 1839. He was the son of Maha Singh, sirdar or governor of one of the Sikh states, who when he died (1794) left the government of his province to Runjeet, under the regency of his mother, whom the young sirdar is said to have poisoned when he arrived at the age of 17, in order that he might reign alone. He rapid- ly and skilfully availed himself of the wealth and influential position to which he had suc- ceeded, and became the recognized leader of the Sikh confederacy W. of the Sutlej. A ser- vice to the Afghan monarch obtained for him the title of king of Lahore, by which he was generally known to Europeans. In 1807, hav- ing taken from the Afghans several important towns situated on the W. bank of the Indus, and established his position as sovereign of the Sikhs in the Punjaub, he endeavored to ex- tend his power over the Sikh territories lying between the Sutlej and the Jumna, and for this purpose advanced into that region. The chiefs of Sirhind demanded protection from the British government, which was granted; but not until an English army advanced to the banks of the Sutlej, in 1809, did Runjeet Singh relinquish his claim of authority. On April 25 of that year he concluded a treaty with the English at Amritsir, making the Sutlej sub- stantially the boundary between his possessions and those of the East India company. He now reorganized his army by the aid of European
 * . II were gradually superseded by the
 * > " mained partially in use in out-of-
 * , Norse. The bast is thought to