RUTHIN (Rhudd ddin, "red fortress"), a municipal and contributory parliamentary borough (with Denbigh and Holt) and market town of Denbighshire, N. Wales, situated on a hill rising from the river Clwyd, 21 m. from Chester, and 215 from London by rail. Pop. (1901) 2643. It is on the Great Western railway (Denbigh, Corwen & Ruthin branch). Apart from the legends of Arthur and his limestone block (shown in the market-place), the first event of note in its history is its connexion with the de Grey de Ruthyn family (the first lord died 1353). Owen Glendower attacked it unsuccessfully in 1400. It was sold by the de Greys to Henry VII., and Elizabeth gave it to the earl of Warwick. In 1646, after two months' siege, it was dismantled by the Parliamentarians. The new castle occupies the same site, and is built of the same coloured sandstone as the old. New buildings for the Free Grammar School (founded in 1595 by Gabriel Goodman, dean of Westminster, who also in 1590 had built the hospital for twelve decayed housekeepers), were opened in the town in 1893. The old (conventual) Anglican church of St Peter, once belonging to “Les Bonshommes,” and made collegiate in 1310 by John de Grey, has a Perpendicular north aisle roof, nearly 500 panels of carved oak, and cloisters which have been made into a house for the warden of the hospital. Agriculture is the staple, but there are chemical, aerated waters, bricks, terra-cotta and other manufactures.
RUTHVEN, the name of a noble Scottish family which traces its descent from a certain Thor, who settled in Scotland during the reign of David I. In 1488 one of its members, Sir William Ruthven (d. 1528), was created a lord of parliament as Lord Ruthven. His eldest son William was killed at Flodden in 1513, and consequently his grandson William succeeded him in the title, and after holding the offices of extraordinary lord of session and keeper of the privy seal died in December 1552, leaving three sons. The eldest of these, Patrick, 3rd Lord Ruthven (c. 1520–1566), played an important part in the political intrigues of the 16th century as a strong Protestant and a supporter of the lords of the congregation. He favoured the marriage of Mary with Darnley, and was the leader of the band which murdered Rizzio. This event was followed by his night into England, where he died on the 13th of June 1566. Ruthven wrote for Queen Elizabeth a Relation of the murder, which is preserved in MSS. in the British Museum.
A descendant of the 1st Lord Ruthven in a collateral line, also named Patrick Ruthven (c. 1573–1651), distinguished himself in the service of Sweden, which he entered about 1606. As a negotiator he was very useful to Gustavus Adolphus because of his ability to “drink immeasurably and preserve his understanding to the last,” and he also won fame on the field of battle. Having taken part in the Thirty Years' War and been governor of Ulm, he left the Swedish service and returned to Scotland, where he was employed by Charles I. He defended Edinburgh Castle for the king in 1640, and when the Civil War broke out he joined Charles at Shrewsbury. He led the left wing at the battle of Edgehill, and after this engagement was appointed general-in-chief of the Royalist army. For his services he was created Lord Ruthven of Ettrick in 1639, earl of Forth in 1642 and earl of Brentford in 1644. The earl compelled Essex to surrender Lostwithiel, and was wounded at both battles of Newbury. But his faculties had begun to decay, and in 1644 he was superseded in his command by Prince Rupert. After visiting Sweden on a mission for Charles II., Brentford died at Dundee on the 2nd of February 1651. He left no sons and his titles became extinct.
Patrick, 3rd Lord Ruthven, was succeeded as 4th lord by his son William (c. 1541–1584), who like his father was prominent in the political intrigues of the period and was also concerned in the Rizzio murder. In 1582 he devised the plot to seize King James VI., known as the raid of Ruthven, and he was the last-known custodian of the famous silver casket containing the letters alleged to have been written by Mary, queen of Scots, to Bothwell. In 1581 he was created earl of Gowrie, but all his honours were forfeited when he was attainted and executed in May 1584 (see Gowrie, 3rd Earl of).
The 2nd Lord Ruthven left a son, Alexander (d. 1599), the founder of the family of Ruthven of Freeland, and the grandfather of Sir Thomas Ruthven (d. 1673), on whom Charles II. bestowed the title of Lord Ruthven of Freeland in 1651. When his son David died unmarried in April 1701 the title of Baroness Ruthven was assumed by the latter's sister, Jean (d. 1722), although according to some authorities the peerage had become extinct. It was, however, assumed in 1722 by Isobel (d. 1732), wife of James Johnson, who took the name of Ruthven on succeeding to the family estates; and their son, Tarnes Ruthven (d. 1783), took the title and was allowed to vote at the elections of Scots representative peers. In 1853 the barony again descended to a female, Mary Elizabeth Thornton (c. 1784–1864), the wife of Walter Hore (d. 1878). She and her husband took the name of Hore-Ruthven, and their grandson, Walter James Hore-Ruthven (b. 1838), became the 8th baron in 1864.
See the Ruthven Correspondence, edited with introduction by the Rev. W. D. Macray (1868); J. H. Round, "The Barony of Ruthven of Freeland" in Joseph Foster's Collectanea Genealogica (1881–85); and Sir R. Douglas, The Peerage of Scotland (new ed. by Sir J. B. Paul).
RUTILE, the most abundant of the three native forms of titanium dioxide (TiO2); the other forms being anatase (q.v.) and brookite (q.v.). Like anatase, it crystallizes in the tetragonal system, but with different angles and cleavages, it being crystallographically related to cassiterite, with which -it is isomorphous. The crystals resemble cassiterite in their prismatic habit and terminal pyramid planes (fig. 1) and also in the twinning: the prism planes are striated vertically, Geniculated twins, with e (101) as twin-plane, are of frequent occurrence, and the twinning is usually several times repeated, giving rise to triplets (fig. 2), sextets and octets.
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| Fig. 1. | Fig. 2. |
Twin-lamellae are often present in the crystals. Acicular crystals are sometimes twinned together to form reticulated skeletal plates to which the name "sagenite," from Gr. σαγήνη (a net), is applied. A rarer type of twinning, on the plane (301), gives rise to heart-shaped or kite-shaped forms. There are distinct cleavages parallel to the faces of the prisms m (110). and a (100). The colour is usually reddish-brown, though yellowish in the very fine needles, and black in the ferruginous varieties (“nigrine” and “ilmenorutile”): the streak is pale brown. The name rutile, given by A. G. Werner in 1803, refers to the colour, being from the Latin rutilus (red). Crystals are transparent to opaque, and have a brilliant metallic-adamantine lustre. The hardness is 612 and the specific gravity 4·2, ranging, however, up to 5·2 in varieties containing 10% of ferric oxide. The refractive indices and the positive birefringence are high.
Rutile occurs as a primary constituent in eruptive rocks, but more frequently in schistose rocks. As delicate acicular crystals it is often enclosed in mica and quartz: in mica (q.v.) it gives rise to the phenomenon of asterism; and clear transparent quartz (rock-crystal) enclosing rutile is often cut las a gem under the name of “Venus’ hair stone” (Veneris crinis of Pliny). Larger crystals occur in the cavities of granite and crystalline schists; very large twinned crystals have been found at Graves Mountain in Lincoln county, Georgia, and good specimens have been obtained from several places in Norway, and the Swiss and Tirolese Alps. As a secondary mineral, rutile in the form of minute needles is of wide distribution in various sedimentary rocks, especially clays and slares. As rounded grains it is often met with in auriferous sands and gravels. The mineral has little economic value: it has been used for imparting a yellow colour to glass and porcelain, and for this purpose is mined at Risor and other places in Norway. (L. J. S.)
