The early magician or medicine man, when he became the priest, did not relinquish his ring. As far back as we find traces of worship, we find religious uses of the ring. Their pious symbolism was perhaps most fully detailed by Pope Innocent III, when on May 29, 1205 he sent to King John of England four golden rings each set with a colored stone, and explained their symbolism in this way: The endless shape of the ring reminds us of eternity, and that we are all journeyers through time to eternity. The number of rings equals the four virtues that comprise constancy of mind: justice, fortitude, prudence, and temperance. The metal signifies wisdom from on high, which is as gold purified by fire. The four stones are an emerald, green emblem of faith; a sapphire, blue emblem of hope; a garnet, red emblem of charity; and a topaz, bright emblem of good works. The four rings, the four stones, the metal, and the shape, make ten aspects: ten is the perfect number, being the unity of nature plus the trinity of God multiplied and fructified by itself. The religious symbolism of rings has not lapsed. Even today the Pope wears the traditional _annulus piscatoris_, the Fisherman’s Ring, which shows St. Peter in a boat, casting a net to haul in the faithful from the waters of the world. Clerics of various ranks and orders wear special rings. Nuns wear a ring to signify their symbolic marriage to Jesus. Less common today, but used throughout Europe for centuries, is the reliquary ring. This band bears a small cabinet, case, compartment, or box, usually elaborately carved and bejeweled, within which was a splinter of the True Cross or the holy relic of a martyred saint. We shall speak later of the wedding ring, which while a social is also a religious symbol. Annually on Ascension Day the Doge of Venice sets a wedding ring onto a finger of the sea, to denote that the Adriatic is servant to the city just as a wife is to her mate. _Practical Rings_ From earliest times, too, rings have been enlisted for more prosaic duties. Signet rings have served romantic ends in history and legend, as well as supplying the king’s or the merchant’s identifying seal. Noblemen slain in battle have oftentimes been identified by their rings, which bore the crests of their noble houses. Until recently every Chinese scholar and mandarin wore a ring, or carried a little ornamented bar of ivory or jade, topped with intaglio symbols that stamped his name. Such stamps are to be seen on many paintings, and at the end of passages of calligraphy. The practice of sealing envelopes with stamped wax is no longer a widespread western custom, and even red tape has lost its redder seal; hence the signet ring, once most common among men, has been largely replaced by rings bearing the insignia of a high school or college class or a fraternal order.