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rush

rush, name for tall, grasslike plants of various families, many of which have hollow stems. The true rushes belong to the family Juncaceae, one of the oldest families of plants, closely related to the family Liliaceae (lily family). Most rushes grow in swamps. Among them are the common or bog rush (Juncus effusus), widely distributed in swamps and moist places of the Northern Hemisphere, and the slender rush (J. tenuis), found in drier surroundings. Rushes are used for basketwork, mats, chair seats, and other articles. Wicks for candles known as rushlights are made from the pith of some rushes. The wood rush (Luzula) grows on dry ground, and some species are relished by livestock. Other plants often called rushes are the bulrush; the Dutch or scouring rush, a horsetail (Equisetum hyemale), still used in some regions for scouring; and the sweet flag, or sweet rush (Acorus calamus), of the arum family. Rushes were formerly strewn on the floors of churches, castles, and other buildings. True rushes are classified in the division Magnoliophyta, class Liliopsida, order Juncales, family Juncaceae. Sweet rushes, family Araceae, belong to the same class as the true rushes, but in the order Arales. Scouring rushes are classified in the division Equisetophyta.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

gold rush

gold rush, influx of prospectors, merchants, adventurers, and others to newly discovered gold fields. One of the most famous of these stampedes in pursuit of riches was the California gold rush. The discovery of gold at Sutter's Mill early in 1848 brought more than 40,000 prospectors to California within two years. Although few of them struck it rich, their presence was an important stimulus to economic growth. Agriculture, commerce, transportation, and industry grew rapidly to meet the needs of the settlers; mining, too, soon became big business as corporations replaced the individual prospector. Vigilante justice and ad hoc political structures quickly gave way to the complex organization of state government. Other large gold rushes took place in Australia (1851-53); Witwatersrand, South Africa (1884); and the Klondike, Canada (1897-98). The excitement of the California gold-rush days has been captured in the works of Bret Harte and Jack London.

See O. Lewis, Sea Routes to the Gold Fields (1949); E. Wells and H. Peterson, The '49ers (1949); P. Barton, The Klondike Fever (1958); R. W. Paul, ed., The California Gold Discovery (1966); D. B. Chidsey, The California Gold Rush (1968); H. W. Brands, The Age of Gold (2002); D. L. Walker, Eldorado: The California Gold Rush (2003).

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
Licensed from Columbia University Press

club rush

club rush: see cattail; sedge.

The Columbia Electronic Encyclopedia Copyright © 2004.
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Rush-Bagot Convention

Rush-Bagot Convention, 1817, agreement between the United States and Great Britain concerning the Canadian border. It consisted of the exchange of notes signed by Richard Rush, Acting Secretary of State of the United States, and Charles Bagot, British minister in Washington. In 1818 the U.S. Senate gave its consent to the notes, thus giving them the authority of a treaty. The convention provided for practical disarmament on the U.S.-Canadian frontier; each nation should have no more than four warships, none to exceed 100 tons, on the Great Lakes. The agreement, a result of negotiations begun after the signing of the Treaty of Ghent, was important because it set a precedent for the pacific settlement of Anglo-American difficulties and because it inaugurated a policy of peace between the United States and Canada. Only one move was made to abrogate it—during the Civil War strained relations with Canada caused the Secretary of State, William H. Seward, to announce (1864) that the United States intended to abrogate, but before the six months of grace had elapsed the announcement was canceled (1865).

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Rush, William

Rush, William, 1756-1833, American sculptor, one of the earliest in the country, b. Philadelphia. His wood carvings, clay models, and figureheads were famous in their day. Of his other works, carved in wood, the statue of George Washington is in Independence Hall in Philadelphia, and a bronze replica of his graceful Spirit of the Schuylkill (1812) is in Fairmount Park in Philadelphia. Thomas Eakins painted Rush at work on this figure (1877; Philadelphia Mus. of Art). Rush was a leader in founding the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts, which owns many of his works including a plaster cast of a vigorous self-portrait. He also did portraits of Joseph Wright, Samuel Morris, Washington, Lafayette, and others. The Philadelphia Museum of Art contains some of his sprightly allegorical figures, among them Comedy and Tragedy.

See catalog by H. Marceau (1937).

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Rush, Richard

Rush, Richard, 1780-1859, Amercian statesman and diplomat, b. Philadelphia, Pa.; son of Benjamin Rush. He studied law and became (1811) attorney general of Pennsylvania, resigning the same year to become comptroller of the U.S. Treasury, and from 1814 to 1817 was U.S. Attorney General. While serving temporarily as Secretary of State (1817), he helped negotiate the Rush-Bagot Convention and in the same year was made minister to Great Britain. He signed (1818) a convention with the British providing for joint occupation of the Oregon country. His preliminary negotiations with George Canning, British foreign minister, on policy toward Latin America led to the enunciation (1823) of the Monroe Doctrine. In 1825 he became Secretary of the Treasury and in 1828 was the vice presidential candidate on the unsuccessful John Quincy Adams ticket. Rush spent from 1836 to 1838 in England obtaining the Smithson bequest for the establishment of the Smithsonian Institution. Later, he was (1847-49) minister to France.

See biography by J. H. Powell (1942).

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Rush, Benjamin

Rush, Benjamin, 1745?-1813, American physician, signer of the Declaration of Independence, b. Byberry (now part of Philadelphia), Pa., grad. College of New Jersey (now Princeton), 1760, M.D. Univ. of Edinburgh, 1768. On his return to America (1769) he became professor of chemistry, the first in the colonies, at the College of Philadelphia. A member of the Continental Congress (1776-77), he served for a time in the Continental Army. In 1786 he established in Philadelphia the first free dispensary in the United States. He was a member of the Pennsylvania convention that ratified the U.S. Constitution. In 1792 he became professor of the institutes of medicine and clinical practice at the Univ. of Pennsylvania (which had absorbed the College of Philadelphia), later becoming professor of theory and practice. His reliance upon the bleeding and purging of patients, particularly in the yellow-fever epidemic of 1793 (in which he worked heroically), aroused a bitter controversy. Popular as a teacher, he made notable contributions to psychiatry, was a founder of the first American antislavery society, and helped in the founding of Dickinson College. From 1797 to his death he was treasurer of the U.S. mint at Philadelphia. Rush Medical College, Chicago, was named for him. His principal writings were Medical Inquiries and Observations (5 vol., 1794-98), Essays, Literary, Moral, and Philosophical (1798), and Medical Inquiries and Observations upon the Diseases of the Mind (1812).

See his letters (ed. by L. H. Butterfield, 1951); autobiography (ed. by G. W. Corner, 1948); biography by D. F. Hawke (1971).

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Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park

Klondike Gold Rush National Historical Park: see National Parks and Monuments (table).

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horsetail

also called scouring rush

Any of the 30 species of rushlike (see rush), conspicuously segmented, perennial herbaceous plants that make up the genus Equisetum. They grow in moist, rich soils everywhere except Australasia. Some are evergreen; others send up new shoots every year. The stems contain abundant silicate minerals and other minerals. The leaves are merely sheaths that encircle the shoots. An ancient plant, the horsetail's relatives date to the Carboniferous Period. The common horsetail (E. arvense) is widespread along streambanks and in meadows in North America and Eurasia. Though poisonous to livestock, horsetails are used in folk medicines. Because of their abrasive stems, some species have been used in polishing tools.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

rush

Any of several flowering plants distinguished by cylindrical stalks or hollow, stemlike leaves. They are found in temperate regions, particularly in moist or shady locations. The rush family (Juncaceae) includes the genera Juncus, the common rushes, and Luzula, the wood rushes. In many parts of the world, common rushes are woven into chair bottoms, mats, and basketwork, while rush pith serves as wicks in open oil lamps and tallow candles (rushlights). Other rushes include the bulrush (family Typhaceae), the horsetail (or scouring rush), the flowering rush (Butomus umbellatus, family Butomaceae), and the sweet rush, or sweet flag (Acorus calamus, arum family).

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

gold rush

Rapid influx of fortune seekers to the site of newly discovered gold deposits. In North America, the first major gold strike occurred in California in 1848, when John Marshall, a carpenter building a sawmill for John Sutter, found gold. Within a year about 80,000 “forty-niners” (as the fortune seekers of 1849 were called) had flocked to the California gold fields, and 250,000 had arrived by 1853. Some mining camps grew into permanent settlements, and the demand for food, housing, and supplies propelled the new state's economy. As gold became more difficult to extract, companies and mechanical mining methods replaced individual prospectors. Smaller gold rushes occurred throughout the second half of the 19th century in Colorado, Nevada, Idaho, Montana, South Dakota, Arizona, and Alaska, resulting in the rapid settlement of many areas; where gold veins proved small, the settlements later became ghost towns. Major gold rushes also occurred in Australia (1851), South Africa (1886), and Canada (1896). Seealso Klondike gold rush.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Rush, Richard

(born Aug. 29, 1780, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.—died July 30, 1859, Philadelphia) U.S. diplomat. The son of Benjamin Rush, he served as U.S. attorney general (1814–17) and secretary of the treasury (1825–29). As acting secretary of state (1817), he negotiated the Rush-Bagot Agreement with Britain, which limited naval forces on the Great Lakes after the War of 1812. As U.S. minister to Britain (1817–25), he negotiated an agreement fixing the border between Canada and the U.S. at the 49th parallel. In conferences on Latin America, he helped formulate the Monroe Doctrine. In 1836, as the U.S. agent in London, he received the bequest by which James Smithson founded the Smithsonian Institution; Rush considered his role in founding the museum his most important public service.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.

Rush, Benjamin

(born Jan. 4, 1746, Byberry, near Philadelphia, Pa.—died April 19, 1813, Philadelphia, Pa., U.S.) U.S. physician and political leader. He attended the College of New Jersey at Princeton. As a doctor, he was a dogmatic theorist who proposed that all diseases are fevers caused by overstimulation of blood vessels, with a simple remedy—bloodletting and purges. He advocated humane treatment for insane patients; his idea that insanity often had physical causes marked a significant advance. He wrote the first chemistry textbook and the first psychiatry treatise in the U.S. An early and active American patriot and a member of the Continental Congress, Rush drafted a resolution urging independence and signed the Declaration of Independence.

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Encyclopedia Britannica, 2008. Encyclopedia Britannica Online.