Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 17.djvu/343

* ROTHSCHILD. 311 ROTKOU. ROTHSCHILD, r6l'shilt, i:„^. pron. rOths'- chiUl. A faiiiily of Kuidpiaii liankpis and liiiaii- c'iers. The tVniiuli r of tlio family. .Mayer An.selm, was born at Kraiikfoit-on-tlu'-ilain, in 1743, the son of ii .ffwish iiierchaiil. .Vftcr some experi- ence as clerk in a counting lionse at Hanover, he returned to Frankf(ut and opened a money- exchange business. Heing a man of good chaV- acterand eonsidcral)le information, he attracted the attention of the Landgrave (afterwanls Elector) of Hesse-Cassel. In ISOG, when the Elector fled before the French, he intrusted .Mayer Anselm with the care of his large private for- tune. The merchant fully justilied the trust reposed in him; his fame as a tinancier spread, and he accumulated a large fortune. His three sons, Anselm, fsalomon. and Nathan, became as- sociated with him ill business, and later on his two youngest, Jakob and Karl, were taken into ])art!iership. Mayer Anselm died at Frankfort, .September 19, 1812. All his sons were made barons by the Em])eror of Austria in 1822. The oldest, JL-VYER ..NWELM (1773-1855), carried on the business at Frankfort, where he died without issue. The Frankfort business was carried on by the sons of Karl, on the death of the young- er of whom in 1901 that firm went into liquida- tion. Salomon (1774-1855) became head of a banking establishment at Vienna. He was suc- ceeded by his son Anselm Salomon (180.3-74), who was followed bv his son Albert (1844 — ). The third son, Xathan (1777-1830), founded a branch of the liouse at Manchester in 1798. and removed in 1803 to London. Large sums of money placed at his disposal were invested with so much judgment that his capital multiplied with great rapidity. Karl (1788-1855) founded a banking house in Naples. J.cob (.James) (1792-1808) became chief of the family interests in Paris in 1812. and was succeeded by his son Alphon.se (1827 — ). In addition to their five principal establishments the Rothschilds es- tablished agencies in many other cities both of the Old and New World.' Lionel (1808-79), eldest son of Nathan, and head of the Lon- don house, was born in London, and was edu- cated at Gottiiigen. He was elected to Parlia- ment for London in 1847, 1849. 1852, and 1857, and at each election claimed the right to take the oaths and his seat in the House of Commons. The latter words of the oath — "on the true faith of a Christian" — he insisted upon omitting, "as not being binding on' his conscience." He was then desired to withdraw from the House. In 1858 he was placed on a coniniittee which was to hold a conference with the House of Lords, and this was virtually the means of establishing Jewish emancipation. The Commons sent up an- other bill, and the Lords gave way, merely tak- ing measures to prevent the admission of .Tews into the Upper House. Lionel Rothschild there- upon (.July. 1858) took the oaths and his seat. He sat till 1808, when he was defeated, but was reelected in lS(i9. and again lost his seat in 1874. The descendants of the five brothers still carry on the large financial and banking operations of the firm. Jjionel's son, Nathaniel (1840 — ), was raised to the British peerage in 1885 with the title of Raron Rothschild. Consult: Keeves. Thf Rothsrhilda (London, 1887): De Schreb, Geschichte rfcs- llauses Ifoth.schild (lierlin, 1892); Demaehy, Les Rothschilds (Paris, 1896). ROTH'WELL. A town in the West Uiding of Vorkshire, England. 4 miles south of Leedh (.Map: England, E 3). H juis collieries, slone quarries, and rope and nnitcli factories. I'opu- lation, in 1901, 11,700. ROTIF'ERA (NeoLut. nom. pi., froiu J-at. rula, uheel + fern; to bear) or Kotatoiua. A group of minute aninnils, the •«lieelaniniuleiileji,' including many of the snuillesl of nMillictdluiur aniinals. They form a class of the phylum Trocli- elniinlhes ii|.v. ). They are almost without eidor, though with pigment-eyes in nlo^.l eases, and arc generally microscopic. They occur in Iwtli fresh and .salt water in all parts "of the earth and many siiecies are nearly cosuiopolilan in their distribution. They are now regardid as highly specialized or degenerate worms, but their near- est relatives arc still undetermined. Rotifers aro only slightly elongated animals, covered with a smooth, hard, ehiliiious cuticle, generally marked oil' into six folds or sections, but there' is nu in- ternal evidence of any true .segnu'ntalion. The body usually ends in a prolongation popularly called a 'tail,' but known to zoiilogists as the 'foot.' It is composed of nui.scular and glandular tissues and often terminates in a pair of forceps by which the animal can att;ich itself lo leaves and other objects. At the anterior end of Iho body are a pair of ciliateil disks, with the mouth between them. These disks are rarely circular in outline, but are usually lobed on the margin, or may even be separated into two disks. The mar- gin of each disk is snrroumled by one or two bands of cilia, by means of the constant movement of which food is collected and swept into the mouth, and this movement is so rapid and uni- form that the entire disk a|)pears to revolve, and thus have arisen the various names of the group. Not oidy do these ciliated organs serve for col- lecting the food, but they are also the mean.s of locomotion, rotifers swimming about gracefully, though not with remarkable rapidity, by mean.s of them. They are entirely under the control of the animal. The digestive apparatus is well de- veloped in the female, but in the males it con- sists of only the pharynx and cloaca. The nervous system consists of a cerebral ganglion with radiating fibres. Eyes are also present in many rotifers, but they are merely pigment snots, rarely provided with a lens. There is no circu- latory .system, but excretory organs are well de- veloped. The female reproductive (Ugaus eonsifit of a round or oval ovary, lying beside the stOHi- acli. and an oviduct opening into the cloaca. Two ditl'erent kinds of eggs are produced, thin-shelled summer eggs and thick-.shellcd winter eggs. (.See Ego.) Males are very rare, and in many specieM are as yet unknown to science. They are niiicli smaller than the females and of much simpler organization, and arc produced mostly by tlin last hiving of small summer eggs, each sea.son. The males are very short-lived and hence have little need of a digestive canal. Consult: Parker and Haswell, Text-Book of /oolofi;/ (New York, 1807) ; Hudson and Gosse. The Itolifera or U7ic<r/ Animnlculi-s (London. 1 889). For an account of the rotifers of the Tnitcd States, consult Jen- ning, "Rotatoria of the fnited States," in liuUe- tins of the I jiited States Fish Commission for 1899 (Washington, 1000). ROTROTJ. rA'troT.'. .Tean de (1 609. 10). A French dramatist. l)orn in Dreux. .t nineteen he was successful on the stage with L'hypocondri-