BAMIE. 687 RAMMOHUN ROY. durable of vegetable fibres. It is stronger than hemp and almost equals silk in fineness and lustre. The fibre is highly valued for making coi-dage, nets, various fabrics, and paper which is especially esteemed for banknote making. The plant requires a hot, moist, equable climate and a rich danijj soil. It is propagated by seeds, cuttings, layers, and division. When the leaves can be readily stripped off, the steins are har- vested and the fibres removed by machinery or, either before or after boiling in chemicals, by hand — either process being costly or otherwise unsatisfactory. The crop can be raised in the Southern United States, but the cost of obtain- ing the fibre is against the establishment of the industry, and foreign fields are relied upon to supply American needs. Consult : Special United States Consular Report No. 1.5, pt. i., Promotion of Ramie Industry; United States Senate Documents, Xos. 47 and 57, Fifty-fourth Congress, second session. See Ecehmeria ; Col- ored Plate of Fibre Plant.s, accompanying article Hemp. RAMILLIES, ra'me'ye'. A village of Bra- bant. Belgium, 13 miles north of Naniur, and 28 miles southeast of Brussels (Map: Belgium, C 4 ) . It is memorable as the place near which, on ilay 23. 1706, one of the most important battles' of the War of the S]ianish Succession was fought. The French forces were under the command of ^Marshal Villeroi and the Elector of Bavaria, while Marlborough led the troops of the allies. Villeroi, after a battle of three hours and a half, was defeated, with the loss of almost all his cannon, -the whole of his baggage, and 13.000 men in killed and wounded, the loss of the allies being only about 3.500. KAMISSERAM, ra-nils'ser-um'. An island between India and Ceylon. See Rame-swaram. RAMLER, ram'ler, Karl Wilhelm (1725- 08). A German poet, born at Kolberg. He studied theology at the University of Halle, and afterwards devoted himself to literature. In 1748 he was made professor at the Mili- tary Academy of Berlin, where he lectured <jn logic and literature. The first of his verse was published in the Bremische Beitriige, and h'e came to be considered a master of poetical diction. King Frederick William II. nominated him member of tlie Berlin Academy of Sciences, granted him a pension of 800 thaler per annum, and appointed him assist- ant director of the National Theatre in 1700. the sole director of which he was from 1703 to 1700. His fame as lyrical poet Ramler established by his edition of Lieder der Deutschen (17GG), which he remodeled to a certain extent, and afterwards increased and reedited as Lyrische rthiincnlrse (1774-78). Together with Lessing he published a selection of Logan's epigrams ( 17-5!) I . He was a rigid adherent to the so-called classical models, arid imitated Horace. By his correct translations and elegant style Ramler exerted great influence on the develop- ment and refinement of the German language, and he is regarded as the .creator of the art of translating into German. His other writings include: Sammhinq der hesten ^iirnfirdichte der deutschen Poeten (1766). and Kur:gefasste My- tholor/ie (1790). RAMMAN, ram'man. A deity of the Babylo- nian pantheon, and also a Syrian god, probably to be identified with the Babylonian Adad and the Syrian Hadad. Ramman, whose name, from a Babylonian root, means 'the roarer,' is the storm-deity. The name occurs rarely (with cer- tainty) in Babylonian, but is found several times in the Old Testament under the corrupt form Rimmon, for Ramuton. According to II. Kings V. 18, he was the chief deity of Damascus; the name also appears in the proper name Tab- rimon (I. Kings xv. 18), and probably in several Palestinian place-names. This word was once generally read in a number of famous Assyrian names e.g. Ramman-nirari III. ( tl.800 n.c.)', but since 1899 such a name is read Adad-nirari. We have then the equation of Ramman with Adad, the former being an old Babylonian deity, while the latter may have entered ilesopotamia from Syria. As the storm-god, Adad-Ramman is the deity presiding over the rainy season and floods, is the genius of the battle-onslaught, and is- even a god of oracles. He carries the thunder- bolts and the battle-axe, and is symbolized by the bull. In the Syrian sphere Adad appears under various names, Hadad, Addu, Daddu, the' name being preserved in the biblical names Hadad and Ben-hadad. Hadad is likewise a storm-god, and was the chief in the Syrian pantheon, his cult extending from Aleppo and Singirli to the south of Damascus. In Zechariah xii. 11 occurs the obscure expression Hadad- rinimon, used of either a deity or a place named after a deity; whatever the term means, it is in line with the identification of Hadad and Rim- mon. Consult: Jastrow, Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston, 1898); Zimmern and Winckler in Schrader, A>)7(H.?diriy?e)i und das alte Testament (Berlin, 19021 ; Baethgen, Beitriige sur scmitischen Rfligionsgeschichte (ib.,1888). RAMMELSBERG, ram'mels-berK, Karl Frieoeich (1813-90). -A. German chemist and mineralogist, born in Berlin. He studied in the University of Berlin, became a professor there in 1845, and taught also in the Royal Industrial Institute and the Academy of ^Mines. His spe- cialty was mineralogical chemistry, and he also contributed greatly to analysis. His chief works include: Handworterliuch des cliemischen Teils der Mineratogie (1841, and often) : Lehrhiieh der i^tochiometrie (1842): Chemisehe Metalluri/ie (1850); 2d ed. 1865): Kristallographische Chemie (1855-57); EJemente der Kristallogra- phie (1883) ; and Chemisehe Abhandlungen (1888). RAMMOHUN ROY, ra-mr/hoon roi (1772- 1833). A Hindu raja, scholar, and theist, the founder of the Brahmo-somaj ((j.v. ). He was born at Bardwan, Bengal, of a high-caste Brash- man family. He receieil a good native eduon- tion, acquired some knowledge of Persian, and at Patna and Benares studied Sanskrit works on Hindu law, literature, and religion. His re- ligious views aroused the antagonism of his family and of his community, and in his two or three years' residence in Tibet he also gave off'ense by his denial that the Lama was the creator and preserver of the world. Becoming convinced that the English sway was beneficial to India, he applied himself to the studv of the Kn<rlish language. For five years he held the ofilcp of revenue collector in the District of Rangpur. He published various works in Persian, Arabic, and Sanskrit, their
