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Rust—Rustication

there had been no decisive battles. The Turks had been defeated owing to the incapacity of their leaders, none of whom had previously commanded an army organized according to modern ideas. They were ignorant of strategic principles. Then, again, the interference with the generals in the field by the authorities at Constantinople had in each case resulted in the disasters which invariably follow the attempt of civilian amateurs to control warlike operations.

On the Russian side, the enemy had been at first despised, and consequently the forces originally employed were inadequate, which meant subsequent delays, losses and expense. The command of the sea had proved of little value to the Turks. Their flotilla rendered them no assistance. In the early stages it could have materially assisted by landing reconnoitring parties N. of the Danube, and by interfering with the Russians when crossing the river. The Russian bridge offered a tempting objective throughout the campaign, but commanders with the requisite dash and initiative were not forthcoming. The defeat of the Turks was due in the first place to the failure of their politicians to ensure the adequate organization and training of the army during peace time, in the second place to the want of a commander who had educated himself to undertake the responsibilities entrusted to him.  (J. H. V. C.) 

A separate campaign had been waged, as before, in Asia Minor. Here the Turks under Mukhtar Pasha had 57,000 men in two corps, the one on the side of Batoum and Ardahan, the other between Erzerum and Kars. His opponent, Loris Melikov, had at first only some 28,000 infantry, but a disproportionate number of Cossack Sotnias. The Russians advanced in three weak columns. On the 17th of May after bombardment the right column stormed Ardahan. The right and centre columns then closed inwards upon Kars, which they besieged, but the siege was given up in July, after Mukhtar, advancing to its relief with 35,000 men, had repulsed Melikov’s attack at Zivin (June 26th). The left column occupied Bayazid without difficulty, but when it had proceeded thence on the Erzerum road the Russian garrison was blockaded by the Turks and the column retraced its steps to relieve the place. After this it halted at Igdir in the Araxes valley. Meanwhile the Turks on the coast had advanced, in concert with their fleet, and raised an insurrection amongst the Mahommedans of the littoral. They were eventually repulsed, but the insurrection was not completely suppressed until the summer of 1878.

In August Mukhtar, who had followed up Melikov’s retreat from Kars, and won the victory of Kizil-Tepe, led 30,000 men in front of this position, and behind them the Kars garrison of 10,000. Ismail on the Bayazid side had 40,000; Dervish, at Batoum 17,000. But after an interval of two months Melikov was reinforced, while drafts for the armies in Europe were taken from Mukhtar, and the grand duke Michael, assuming command of the Russians, defeated his opponent completely in the battle of the Aladja Dagh (Oct. 15th). The remnants of Mukhtar’s army retreated on Erzerum, and while part of the Russian army besieged Kars, and part attempted to cut off the retreat of Ismail on the Bayazid road, while the corps from the Araxes valley followed the latter up. Ismail slipped, past them, however, and rejoined Mukhtar at Erzerum. But the two together were no longer able to resist the superior numbers of the Russians, who defeated them in a last battle at Dexe Boyun (Nov. 4th). Kars was stormed on the night of the 11th of November.

Rust (O.E. rûst, a word which appears in many Teutonic languages, cf. Du. roest, Ger. rost); in origin it is allied with “ruddy” and “red,” the reddish-brown powdery substance which forms on the surface of iron or steel exposed to atmospheric corrosion. Formerly the process was regarded as oxidation pure and simple, and, although it was known that iron did not rust in dry air, yet no attempt was made to explain why water was necessary to the action. F. Crace-Calvert in 1871 showed that the carbon dioxide of the atmosphere was a factor; and in 1888 Crum Brown published the theory—termed the “carbonic acid theory”—that water and carbon dioxide react with iron to form ferrous carbonate and hydrogen, the ferrous carbonate being subsequently oxidized by moist oxygen to ferric hydrate and regenerating carbon dioxide, which again reacts with more iron. This theory was controverted by Wyndham Dunstan, who attempted to prove that carbon dioxide was not necessary to rusting; and in place of the acid theory, he set up a scheme which involved the production of hydrogen peroxide. G. T. Moody has since shown that when all traces of carbon dioxide are removed (which is a matter of great experimental difficulty) iron may be left in contact with oxygen and water for long periods without rust appearing, but on the admission of carbon dioxide specks are rapidly formed. It also appears that rust changes in composition on exposure to the atmosphere, both the ferrous oxide and carbonate being in part oxidized to ferric oxide. Acids, other than carbonic, may promote rusting; this is particularly the case with ironwork exposed to the acids—sulphurous, nitric, &c.—contained in smoke. It is probable that the action depends upon the presence of iron, oxygen and water, and some acid which makes the wateran electrolyte.

Steel differs in many ways from iron in respect of atmospheric corrosion; the heterogeneous nature of steel gives occasion to a selective rusting, ferrite is much more readily attacked than the cementite and pearlite; moreover, the introduction of other elements may retard rusting; this is particularly the case with the nickel-steels.

Rustchuk (Bulg. Russé), the capital of the department of Rustchuk, Bulgaria, on the right bank of the Danube, where it receives the E. Lom. Pop. (1906) 33,552. Rustchuk is the headquarters of a military division and of a naval flotilla stationed on the Danube. As a river-port and the terminus of railways from Varna and from Sofia via Trnovo, it has much commercial importance; and it possesses tobacco and cigarette factories, soap-works, breweries, aerated water factories, dyeworks, tanneries, sawmills, brick and tile works and a celebrated pottery.

In the time of the Romans Rustchuk was one of the fortified points along the line of the Danube. In the Tabula Peutingeriana it appears as Prisca, in the Antonine Itinerary as Serantaprista, in the Notitia as Seragintaprista and in Ptolemy as Priste Polis. Destroyed by barbarian invaders in the 7th century the town recovered its importance only in comparatively modern times. In 1810 it was captured by the Russians, who destroyed the fortifications. It played an important part in the Russo-Turkish Wars of 1828–29, 1853–54 and 1877–78. In 1877 it was nearly destroyed by the Russian artillery stationed in the Rumanian town of Giurgevo, on the opposite bank of the Danube.

Rustenburg, a district and town of the Transvaal, South Africa. The district originally included all the N.W. part of the country, but is now of much smaller dimensions. Its S. border is marked by the Magaliesberg and other hills forming the N. escarpment of the high veld and the watershed between the Vaal and Limpopo. Several of the head streams of the Limpopo rise within the district on the N. slopes of the Magaliesberg. The climate of the district is sub-tropical and the principal cultivation is that of tobacco, and fruit trees, notably oranges; The opening of the railway to Pretoria in 1906 led to a marked development of trade. In an amphitheatre formed by the hills and 61 m. by rail W. of Pretoria is the town of Rustenburg with a population (1904) of 1815. The town is one of the oldest in the Transvaal, having been founded in 1850 by the Voortrekkers. It was at Rustenburg that the volksraad met in March 1852 to ratify the Sand River Convention granting independence to the Transvaal Boers. At the time it was feared that there would be civil war between Hendrik Potgieter and Andries Pretorius, but they were reconciled in Potgieter’s tent. Later Rustenburg became the home of the Kruger family. It was occupied by the British under R. S. Baden Powell in June 1900.

Rustication (i.e. the making “rustic” or countrified, from Lat. rus, country; thus the term “rusticate” is used for taking a country holiday, or in academic circles to be “rusticated” is to be sent away from a university for punishment), in architecture, the technical term (French equivalent bossage) given to masonry in which the centre part of the face of the stone is either left rough as it came from the quarry, or is worked in various ways to give variety to the surface. The earliest example exists in the platform at Pasargadae in Persia (560 B.C.), erected by Cyrus, where the edge round the four sides of the stone forms a draft, two or three inches wide, worked with a chisel, the centre