ROOT 112 ROOT chiefly at the lower extremity. The hody of a root is called the caudex, its minute sub-divisions the fibrils or radicles, and their ends the spongioles. A primary root is one formed by the downward elongation of the axis of the embryo, and is therefore in a line with the stem; secondary or lateral roots, like those of ivy, spring laterally from the stem and from the primary root. When the pri- mary root is thicker than the branches which proceed from it, it is called a tap root, when it is no thicker than its rami- fications, which conceal it from view, the root is said to be fibrous. Other forms of roots are conical, fusiform, napiform, rotund, nodose or coralline, moniliform, tuberose, or (finally) premorse. Most roots are terrestrial, a few are aerial, and a few aquatic. The chief functions of the root are to anchor the plant firmly in the ground, and to transmit upward to the stem and leaves absorbed nutriment from the soil. Roots require air, and in some cases in gardens obtain it by push- ing their way into old drains. In hydraulic engineering, the end of a weir or dam where it unites with the natural bank. In mathematics, the root of a quantity is any quantity which, being taken a certain number of times as a factor, will produce the quantity (see Square Root). A root of a quantity may be real, or it may be imaginary. The character used to denote a root is V, called the radical sign. In music: (1) A note which, besides its own sound, gives overtones or harmonics. (2) That note from among whose overtones any chord may be selected. (3) Sometimes used by modern musicians as describing a note on which, when either expressed or im- plied, a chord is built up. In philology, an elementary notional syllable ; that part of a word which conveys its essential meaning as distinguished from the forma- tive parts by which this meaning is modi- fied. ROOT, ELIHXT, an American lawyer and statesman, born in Clinton, N. Y., 1845. He studied at Hamilton College, of whose faculty his father was a mem- ber, then attended New York University Law School, being admitted to the bar in 1867. His first public office was that of United States District Attorney for the Southern District of New York, which he held in 1883. In that same year he was a delegate at large to the New York State Constitutional Convention, where he was appointed chairman of the judici- ary committee. In 1899 he was appointed Secretary of War by President McKinley, and again in 1901. During this period, covering the Spanish-American War and the Filipino insurrection, he performed remarkable work in harmonizing the regu- lar army and the state militia forces. It was at his initiative that the General Staff was created. In 1904 he again took up private law practice, but in the fol- lowing year succeeded John Hay as Sec- retary of State. In 1909 he went to Washington as Senator from New York, but declined to serve further as such in ELIHU ROOT 1913. In 1910 he was made a permanent member of the International Court of Arbitration at the Hague, since which he has been prominently identified with the movement toward international peace. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel prize. In 1917 he was sent as special commis- sioner to represent President Wilson to the Provisional Government of the new Russian Republic, but was not well re- ceived there on account of his well known antipathy toward Socialistic ideas. Dur- ing 1920, when it became apparent that the United States would not become a member of the League of Nations, Mr. Root devoted his attention to drafting alternative proposals in the form of an international legislative body which would be less centralized than the League. Mr. Root was generally considered one of the keenest American diplomats and experts on international law.
