certain operation of war. Enfilade fire by itself was neutralized by traverses (q.v.) in the defences, but by the new method a shot could be so aimed as to skip over each successive traverse and thus to search ground that was immune from direct fire. The application of ricochet fire to operations in the field came somewhat later. In the 18th century field artillery, which was not, before Napoleon's time, sufficiently mobile to close with the enemy, relied principally upon the ricochet of round shot, which, sweeping a considerable depth of ground, took effect upon several successive lines of hostile troops. But once artillery was able to gallop up to the enemy and to use its far more terrible close-range projectile, case-shot, ricochet fire came to be used less and less, until finally, with the general adoption of shell (which, of course, burst at the first contact with the ground), the round shot disappeared altogether from the battlefield. Similarly in siege warfare, as soon as high-angle fire with shells became sufficiently accurate, there was no further need of round shot and ricochet.
The term “ ricochet ” is now only applied, in modern rifle shooting, to the graze of a bullet that has struck short. A modern bullet-that has ricochetted inflicts a very severe wound, as its nickel or other hard envelope is torn and jagged by its contact with the ground. With its high remaining velocity it is dangerous even after more than one ricochet, except at extreme ranges.
RICOLD OF MONTE CROCE (1242–1320), Italian Dominican
missionary, was born at Monte Croce, near Florence. In 1267
he entered the Dominican house of Santa Maria Novella in
Florence, and in 1272 that of St Catherine in Pisa. He started
for Acre with a papal commission to preach in 1286 or 1287:
in 1288 or 1289 he began to keep a record of his experiences
in the Levant; this record he probably reduced to final book
form in Bagdad. Entering Syria at Acre, he crossed Galilee
to the Sea of Tiberias; thence returning to Acre he seems
to have travelled down the coast to Jaffa, and so up to Jerusalem.
After visiting the Jordan and the Dead Sea he quitted
Palestine by the coast road, retracing his steps to Acre and
passing on by Tripoli and Tortosa into Cilicia. From the
Cilician port of Lajazzo he started on the great high road to
Tabriz in north Persia. Crossing the Taurus he travelled on
by Sivas of Cappadocia to Erzerum, the neighbourhood of
Ararat and Tabriz. In and near Tabriz he preached for several
months, after which he proceeded to Bagdad via Mosul and
Tekrit. In Bagdad he stayed several years, studying the
Koran and other works of Moslem theology, for controversial
purposes, arguing with Nestorian Christians, and writing. In
1301 Ricold again appeared in Florence: some time after
this he proposed to submit his Confutatio Alcorani to the pope,
but did not. He died on the 31st of October 1320. As a
traveller and observer his merits are conspicuous. His account
of the Tatars and his sketch of Moslem religion and manners
are especially noteworthy. In spite of strong prejudice, he
shows remarkable breadth of view and appreciation of merit
in systems the most hostile to his own.
Of Ricold's Itinerary (Itinerarius [sic]) fifteen MSS. exist, of which the chief are: (1) Florence, Laurentian Library, Fineschi, 326; (2) Paris, National Library, Lat. 49535, fols. 46-55; (3) Wolfenbiittel, od. Weissenb. 40, fols. 73 B.-94 (all of 14th century). Of his Epistles there is one MS., viz. Rome, Vatican, 3717, fols. 249 A.–267 A. The best edition of the Itinerary is by J. C. M. Laurent, in Peregrinatores Medii Aevi Quatuor, pp. 105 (101)-41 (Leipzig, 186 and 1873). The Epistles have been edited by R. Röhricht in Archives de l’orient latin, vol. ii. part ii. (Documents) pp. 258-96 (Paris 1884). The Corgutatio Aleorani, printed at Seville in 1500, at Venice in 1607, adds hardly anything to the sections of the Itinerary devoted to Moslem belief, &c. Ricold's Libellus contra Nationes Orientales and Contra errores Judaeorum have never been printed. See also C. Raymond Beazley, Dawn of Modern Geography, iii. 190-202, 218, 390-91, 547, 554, 564.
RICOTTI-MAGNANI, CESARE (1822–), Italian general
and knight of the Annunziata, was born at Borgo Lavezzaro
on the 30th of June 1822. As artillery lieutenant he distinguished
himself and was wounded at the siege of Peschiera
in 1848, and in 1852 gained further distinction by his efforts
to prevent the explosion of a burning powder magazine. After
serving from 1856 to 1859 as director of the Artillery School,
he became general of division in 1864, commanding the 5th
division at the battle of San Martino. In the war of 1866 he
stormed Borgoforte, to open a passage for Cialdini's army.
Upon the death of General Govone in 1872 he was appointed
minister of war, and after the occupation of Rome bent all his
efforts to army reform, in accordance with the lessons of the
Franco-German War, He shortened the period of military
service; extended conscription to all able-bodied men; created
a permanent army, a mobile militia and a reserve; commenced
the renewal of armaments; and placed Italy in
position to put 1,800,000 men on a war footing. Ricotti fell
from power with the Right in 1876, but returned office with
Depretis in 1884, and amended his previous scheme of reform.
Resigning in April 1887, he became a member of the senate in
1890, but took little part in public life until 1896, when, after
the battle of Adowa, he was entrusted by King Humbert with
the formation of a cabinet. Having constructed his ministry,
he made over the premiership to the marquis di Rudini, retaining
for himself the portfolio of war, and seeking to satisfy
popular demands 'for the reduction of military expenditure
by consolidating .the tactical structure of the army without
weakening its fighting power. Rudini, however, finding that
Ricotti's ideas, Which he himself shared, were not acceptable
at court, obliged him to resign office. His prestige. as creator
of the modern Italian army remained unimpaired, and his views
on army consolidation enjoyed a large measure of technical and
public favour.
RIDDING, GEORGE (1828–1904), English headmaster and
bishop, was born at Winchester College, of which his father,
the Rev. Charles Ridding, vicar of Andover, was a fellow, on
the 16th of March 1828. He was educated at Winchester
and at Balliol College, Oxford. He became a fellow of Exeter
College and was a tutor from 1853 to 1863. In 1853 he
married Mary Louisa Moberly, who died within a year of her
marriage. He was appointed second master of Winchester
College in 1863, and on the retirement of his father-in-law,
Dr Moberly, he succeeded to the headmastership. During
the tenure of this office (1867-1884) he carried out successfully
a series of radical reforms in the organization of the school,
resulting in a great increase both in its reputation and numbers.
In 1884 he became the first bishop of Southwell, and brought
his powers of organization and conspicuous tact and moderation,
to bear on the management of the new diocese. He took
an active share in its educational and social work, and
was materially assisted in these respects by his second wife,
Lady Laura Palmer, daughter of the 1st earl of Selborne. He
resigned his see a short time before his death, which took place
on the 30th of August 1904.,
See Church Quarterly Review (July 1905).
RIDDLES (A.S. raedan, to interpret), probably the oldest
extant form of humour. They spring from man's earliest
perception that there are such things as analogies in nature.
Man observes an example of analogy, puts his observations
in the form of a question, and there is the riddle ready made.
Some Boeotian humorist, for example, detected the analogy
between the life of humanity—the child on all fours, the man
erect, on two legs, old age with its staff-on one side, and on the
other the conception of an animal with a varying number of
limbs. Put this in a question and it is the riddle of the Sphinx;
Another instance is the question, “What we caught we threw
away, what we could not catch we kept.” Homer is said to
have died of vexation at not being able to discover the answer
to this riddle, still current on the coast of Brittany, in Germany
and in Gascony. After inventing the riddle, men began to
use it in a kind of game; bets were staked on the answer and
sides were made, each side backing its champion. These
sports in, Marriner's time were common in Tonga; they are
no less popular among the African Woloffs. Samson's riddle
set to the Philistines is an instance of the sport in a Semitic
country, In märchen and ballads, the hero's chance of
