work of sculpture that has yet [1882] been produced in this country...powerful, wonderful, but not alluring.” Rimmer's sculptures, except those mentioned and “ The Fighting Lions ” (now in the Boston Art Club), “ A Dying Centaur ” (in the Boston Museum of Fine Arts), and a statue of Alexander Hamilton (made in 1865 for the city of Boston), were soon destroyed. He worked in clay, not modelling but building up and chi selling; almost always without models or preliminary sketches; and always under technical disadvantages and in great haste; but his sculpture is anatomically remarkable and has an “ early-Greek ” simplicity and strength. He published Elements of Design (1864) and Art Anatomy (1877), but his great work was in the class-room, where his lectures were illustrated with blackboard sketches. His studies in line suggest William Blake in their imaginative power. He died on the 20th of August 1879.
See Truman H. Bartlett, The Art Life of William Rimmer (Boston, 1882).
RIMSKY-KORSAKOV, NICOLAS ANDREIEVICH (1844–1908), Russian composer, was born at Tikhvin, Novgorod,
on the 18th (N.S.) of March 1844. He was one of the musical amateurs who, with Borodin, Cui and Moussorsky, gathered round Balakirev in St Petersburg in the days when Wagner was still unknown. By 1865 he had written a symphony (in E minor) which in that year was performed—the first by a Russian composer—under Balakirev's direction, and in 1873 he definitely retired from the navy, having been appointed a professor in the St Petersburg Conservatoire. The same year witnessed his marriage to a talented pianist, Nadejda Pourgold, and the production of his first opera, Pskovitianka. This was followed by May Night (1878), The Snow Maiden (1880), Mlada (1892), Christmas Eve (1894), Sadko (1895), Mozart and Salieri (1898), The Tsar's Bride (1899), Tsar Saltana (1900), Servilia (1902), Kostchei the Immortal (1902), Kites (1905). But his operas attracted less attention abroad than his symphonic compositions, which show a mastery of orchestral effect combined with a fine utilization of Russian folk-melody and a happy feeling for “ programme music,” his writing being peculiarly individual and distinctive in its restraint and avoidance of violent methods. Notable among these works are his first symphony, his second
(Op. 9) Antar, his third (Op. 32), and his orchestral suites and overtures, his Spanish Capriccio (1887) being particularly appreciated. He also wrote a number of beautiful songs, pianoforte pieces, &c., and he eventually took Balakirev's place as the leading conductor in St Petersburg, never sparing himself in assisting in the musical development of the Russian school. He died there on the 20th of June 1908.
RINDERPEST (German for “ cattle-plague,” which is. the
English synonym), one of the most infectious and fatal diseases
of oxen, sheep, goats, camels, buffaloes, yaks, deer, &c.; a
virulent eruptive fever which runs its course so rapidly and
attacks such a large percentage of ruminants when it is introduced
into a country, that from the earliest times it has excited
terror and dismay. It is an Asiatic malady, and has
prevailed extensively in south Russia, central Asia, China,
Indo-China, Burma, India, Persia, Ceylon and the Malay
Archipelago. Thence it has at times been carried into Europe,
and towards the end of the 19th century into South Africa.
It appeared in Egypt in 1844 and 1865, Abyssinia in 1890,
Japan in 1892, and the Philippines in 1898.
It has been noted that its irruptions into Europe in the earlier centuries of our era always coincided with invasions of barbarous tribes in the east of Europe; and even at a later, period the disease accompanied the events of war, when troops with their commissariat moved from the east towards the west, or cattle, when they were carried in the same direction. One of the earliest recorded irruptions of cattle-plague into western Europe occurred in the 5th century after the sanguinary invasion of the Huns under Attila, the expulsion of the Goths from Hungary, and the fierce internecine wars of the whole Germanic population. The disease appears then to have been carried from Hungary through Austria to Dalmatia, while by Brabant it obtained access to the Low Countries, Picardy, and so on to the other provinces of France. In the curious poem De Mortibus Bovum written by St Severus, who lived at that period, the course and destructiveness of the disease are specially alluded to. Many invasions of Europe are described, and in several of these Britain was visited by it—as in 809–10, 986–87, 1223–25, 1513–14, and notably in 1713, 1745, 1774, 1799. In 1865 and 1872 it was imported direct from Russia. In 1870–71 it destroyed 70,000 cattle in France, 30,000 in Alsace-Lorraine, and 10,000 in Germany. In England an outbreak occurred in 1877, when it was imported from Germany, where the disease continued until 1879.
The infective agent has not been positively identified, but it is known to exist in all the various secretions and excretions, in the iiesh, blood and various organs of the body. Contagion may be direct or indirect, and the disease may be conveyed to healthy cattle by contaminated fodder, litter, water, clothing, pasture, sheds, railway wagons, hides, horns and hoofs. Attendants, cats, dogs, birds, vermin and flies may spread the infection. Definite symptoms of the disease may not be recognized until the expiration of three to six days after exposure, the period of incubation.
Symptoms.—Like some other general diseases, this does not offer any exclusive or pathognomonic symptoms, but is rather characterized by a group of functional and anatomical alterations. An exact knowledge of its symptoms and necroscopical appearances is of the utmost importance, as its extension and consequent ravages can only be arrested through its timely recognition and the immediate adoption of the necessary sanitary measures. Intense fever, diarrhœa or dysentery, croupous inflammation of the mucous membranes in general, sometimes a cutaneous papular eruption, and great prostration mark the course of the affection, which is frequently most difficult to diagnose during life, especially if its presence is not suspected. Its introduction and mode of propagation can, in many instances, be ascertained only at a late period, and when great loss may already have been sustained. In the majority of cases the examination of the carcase of an animal which has died or been purposely killed is the best way to arrive at a correct diagnosis. Indeed, this is practically the only certain means of concluding as to the presence of the malady, as there are considerable variations in the chief symptoms with regard to their intensity as well as in the secondary symptoms or epiphenomena.
Among cattle indigenous to the regions in which this malady may be said to be enzootic the symptoms are often comparatively slight, and the mortality not great. So much is this the case that veterinary surgeons who can readily distinguish the disease when it affects the cattle of western Europe, can only with difficulty diagnose it in animals from Hungary, Bessarabia, Moldavia, orother countries where it is always more or less prevalent. In these the indications of fever are usually of brief duration, and signs of lassitude and debility are, in some instances, the only marks of the presence of this virulent disorder in animals which may, nevertheless, communicate the disease in its most deadly form to the cattle of other countries. Slight diarrhœa may also be present, and a cutaneous eruption, accompanied by gastric disturbance, running at the eyes, and occasional cough. In the more malignant form the fever runs high, 100° to 107° Fahr., and all the characteristic symptoms are well marked: dulness, sunken eyes, eruption on the skin, discharges from eyes, .nose and mouth, shivering fits, difficult breathing, dry, harsh cough, miliary eruptions on the gums, accumulation of bran-like exudate within the lips, fetid breath, with certain nervous phenomena, and dysenteric dejections. Death generally occurs in four or five days, the course of the disorder being more rapid with animals kept in sheds than with those living in the open, and in summer than in winter. The post-mortern appearances are most marked in the digestive canal, and comprise red spots and erosions on the palate, lips, tongue and pharynx; intense congestion of the lining of the fourth stomach, which in places is covered with a grey or reddish pultaceous deposit, under which the membrane is deeply
