Chapter 7

See J. D. Cox,The Battle of Franklin(New York, 1897).

See J. D. Cox,The Battle of Franklin(New York, 1897).

FRANKLIN, a word derived from the Late Lat.francus, free, and meaning primarily a freeman. Subsequently it was used in England to denote a land-holder who was of free but not of noble birth. Some of the older English writers occasionally use it to mean a liberal host. The Latin form of the word isfranchilanus.

FRANKLINITE, a member of the spinel group of minerals, consisting of oxides of iron, manganese and zinc in varying proportions, (Fe, Zn, Mn)′(Fe, Mn)2″′O4. It occurs as large octahedral crystals often with rounded edges, and as granular masses. The colour is iron-black and the lustre metallic; hardness 6, specific gravity 5.2. It thus resembles magnetite in external characters, but is readily distinguished from this by the fact that it is only slightly magnetic. It is found in considerable amount, associated with zinc minerals (zincite and willemite) in crystalline limestone, at Franklin Furnace, New Jersey, where it is mined as an ore of zinc (containing 5 to 20% of the metal); after the extraction of the zinc, the residue is used in the manufacture of spiegeleisen (the mineral containing 15 to 20% of manganese oxides). Associated with franklinite at Franklin Furnace, and found also at some other localities, is another member of the spinel group, namely, gahnite or zinc-spinel, which is a zinc aluminate, ZnAl2O4, with a little of the zinc replaced by iron and manganese.

FRANK-MARRIAGE(liberum maritagium), in real property law, a species of estate tail, now obsolete. When a man was seized of land in fee simple, and gave it to a daughter on marriage, the daughter and her husband were termed the donees in frank-marriage, because they held the land granted to them and the heirs of their two bodies free from all manner of service, except fealty, to the donor or his heirs until the fourth degree of consanguinity from the donor was passed. This right of a freeholder so to give away his land at will was first recognized in the reign of Henry II., and became up to the reign of Elizabeth the most usual kind of settlement.

FRANKPLEDGE(Lat.francum plegium), an early English institution, consisting (as defined by Stubbs) of an association for mutual security whose members, according to Hallam, “were perpetual bail for each other.” The custom whereby the Inhabitants of a district were responsible for any crime or injury committed by one of their number is old and widespread; it prevailed in England before the Norman Conquest, and is an outcome of the earlier principle whereby this responsibility rested on kinship. Thus a law of Edgar (d. 975) says “and let every man so order that he have aborh(or surety), and let the borh then bring and hold him to every justice; and if any one then do wrong and run away, let the borh bear that which he ought to bear”; and a law of Canute about 1030 says “and that every one be brought into a hundred and in borh, and let the borh hold and lead him to every plea.” About this time these societies, each having its headman, were calledfrithborhs, or peace-borhs, and the Normans translated the Anglo-Saxon word by frankpledge. But the history of the frankpledge proper begins not earlier than the time of the Norman Conquest. The laws, which although called the laws of Edward the Confessor were not drawn up until about 1130, contain a clause about frithborhs which decrees that in every place societies of ten men shall be formed for mutual security and reparation. And before this date William the Conqueror had ordered that “every one who wishes to be regarded as free must be in a pledge, and that the pledge must hold and bring him to justice if he commits any offence”; and the laws of Henry I. ordered every person of substance over twelve years of age to be enrolled in a frankpledge. This association of ten, or as it often was at a later date of twelve men, was also called atithing, ordecima, and in the north of England was known astenmannetale.

The view of frankpledge (visus franciplegii), or the duty of ascertaining that the law with regard to frankpledges was complied with, was in the hands of the sheriffs, who held an itinerant court called the “sheriff’s tourn” for this and other purposes. This court was held twice a year, but in 1217 it was ordered that the view of frankpledge should only be taken once—at Michaelmas. Introduced at or before the time of Henry I., the view was regulated by the Assize of Clarendon of 1166 andby Magna Carta as reissued in 1217. Although the former of these lays stress upon the fact that the sheriff’s supervisory powers are universal many men did not attend his tourn. Some lords of manors and of hundreds held a court of their own for view of frankpledge, and in the 13th century it may be fairly said “of all the franchises, the royal rights in private hands, view of frankpledge is perhaps the commonest.” At the end of the same century the court for the view of frankpledge was generally known as the court leet, and was usually a manorial court in private hands. However, the principle of the frankpledge was still enforced. Thus Bracton says “every male of the age of twelve years, be he free be he serf, ought to be in frankpledge,” but he allows for certain exceptions.

As the word frankpledge denotes, these societies were originally concerned only with freemen; but the unfree were afterwards admitted, and during the 13th century the frankpledges were composed chiefly of villains. From petitions presented to parliament in 1376 it seems that the view of frankpledge was in active operation at this time, but it soon began to fall into disuse, and its complete decay coincides with the new ideas of government introduced by the Tudors. In a formal fashion courts leet for the view of frankpledge were held in the time of the jurist Selden, and a few of these have survived until the present day. Sir F. Palgrave has asserted that the view of frankpledge was unknown in that part of the country which had been included in the kingdom of Northumbria. This statement is open to question, but it is highly probable that the system was not so deeply rooted in this part of England as elsewhere. The machinery of the frankpledge was probably used by Henry II. when he introduced the jury of presentment; and commenting on this connexion F. W. Maitland says “the duty of producing one’s neighbour to answer accusations (the duty of the frankpledges) could well be converted into the duty of telling tales against him.” The system of frankpledge prevailed in some English boroughs. Sometimes a court for view of frankpledge, called in some places amickleton, whereat the mayor or the bailiffs presided, was held for the whole borough; in other cases the borough was divided into wards, or intoleets, each of which had its separate court.

See Pollock and Maitland,History of English Law(1895); G. Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, Band i. (1880); and W. Stubbs,Constitutional History, vol. i. (1897).

See Pollock and Maitland,History of English Law(1895); G. Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, Band i. (1880); and W. Stubbs,Constitutional History, vol. i. (1897).

FRANKS, SIR AUGUSTUS WOLLASTON(1826-1897), English antiquary, was born on the 20th of March 1826, and was educated at Eton and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He early showed inclination for antiquarian pursuits, and in 1851 was appointed assistant in the Antiquities Department of the British Museum. Here, and as director of the Society of Antiquaries, an appointment he received in 1858, he made himself the first authority in England upon medieval antiquities of all descriptions, upon porcelain, glass, the manufactures of savage nations, and in general upon all Oriental curiosities and works of art later than the Classical period. In 1866 the British and medieval antiquities, with the ethnographical collections, were formed into a distinct department under his superintendence; and the Christy collection of ethnography in Victoria Street, London, prior to its amalgamation with the British Museum collections, was also under his care. He became vice-president and ultimately president of the Society of Antiquaries, and in 1878 declined the principal librarianship of the museum. He retired on his seventieth birthday, 1896, and died on the 21st of May 1897. His ample fortune was largely devoted to the collection of ceramics and precious objects of medieval art, most of which became the property of the nation, either by donation in his lifetime or by bequest at his death. Although chiefly a medieval antiquary, Franks was also an authority on classical art, especially Roman remains in Britain: he was also greatly interested in book-marks and playing-cards, of both of which he formed important collections. He edited Kemble’sHorae Ferales, and wrote numerous memoirs on archaeological subjects. Perhaps his most important work of this class is the catalogue of his own collection of porcelain.

FRANKS.The name Franks seems to have been given in the 4th century to a group of Germanic peoples dwelling north of the Main and reaching as far as the shores of the North Sea; south of the Main was the home of the Alamanni. The names of some of these tribes have come down to us. On theTabula Peutingerianaappear the “Chamavi qui etPranci,” which should doubtless read “qui etFranci”; these Chamavi apparently dwelt between the Yssel and the Ems. Later, we find them a little farther south, on the banks of the Rhine, in the district called Hamalant, and it is their customs which were brought together in the 9th century in the document known as theLex Francorum Chamavorum. After the Chamavi we may mention the Attuarii or Chattuarii, who are referred to by Ammianus Marcellinus (xx. 10, 2): “Rheno exinde transmisso, regionem pervasit (Julianus) Francorum quos Atthuarios vocant.” Later, thepagus Attuariorumcorresponds to the district of Emmerich and Xanten. It should be noted that this name occurs again in the middle ages in Burgundy, not far from Dijon; in all probability a detachment of this people had settled in that spot in the 5th or 6th century. The Bructeri, Ampsivarii and Chatti may also be classed among the Frankish tribes. They are mentioned in a celebrated passage of Sulpicius Alexander, which is cited by Gregory of Tours (Historia Francorum, ii. 9). Sulpicius shows the general Arbogast, a barbarian in the service of Rome, seeking to take vengeance on the Franks (392): “Collecto exercitu, transgressus Rhenum, Bricteros ripae proximos, pagum etiam quem Chamavi incolunt depopulatus est, nullo unquam occursante, nisi quod pauci ex Ampsivariis et Catthis Marcomere duce in ulterioribus collium jugis apparuere.” It is evidently this Marcomeres, the chief of these tribes, who is regarded by later historians as the father of the legendary Faramund (Pharamund) although in fact Marcomeres has nothing to do with the Salian Franks.

The earliest mention in history of the name Franks is the entry on theTabula Peutingeriana, at least if we assume that the term “et Franci” is not a later emendation. The earliest occurrence of the name in any author is in theVita Aurelianiof Vopiscus (ch. vii.). When, in 241, Aurelian, who was then only a tribune, had just defeated some Franks in the neighbourhood of Mainz and was marching against the Persians, his troops sang the following refrain:

Mille Sarmatas, milleFrancos, semel et semel occidimus;Mille Persas, quaerimus.

Mille Sarmatas, milleFrancos, semel et semel occidimus;

Mille Persas, quaerimus.

All these Germanic tribes, which were known from the 3rd century onwards by the generic name of Franks, doubtless spoke a similar dialect and were governed by customs which must scarcely have differed from one another; but this was all they had in common. Each tribe was politically independent; they formed no confederations. Sometimes two or three tribes joined forces to wage a war; but, the struggle over, the bond was broken, and each tribe resumed its isolated life. Waitz holds with some show of probability that the Franks represent the ancient Istaevones of Tacitus, the Alamanni and the Saxons representing the Herminones and the Ingaevones.

Of all these Frankish tribes one especially was to become prominent, the tribe of the Salians. They are mentioned for the first time in 358, by Ammianus Marcellinus (xvii. 8, 3), who says that the Caesar Julian “petit primos omnium Francos, videlicet eos quos consuetudo Salios appellavit.” As to the origin of the name, it was long held to be derived from the river Yssel or Saal. It is more probable, however, that it arose from the fact that the Salians for a long period occupied the shores of the salt sea.1The Salians inhabited the sea-coast, whereas the Ripuarians dwelt on the banks of the river Rhine.

The Salians, at the time when they are mentioned by Ammianus, occupied Toxandria,i.e.the region south of the Meuse, between that river and the Scheldt. Julian defeated them completely, but allowed them to remain in Toxandria, not, as of old, as conquerors, but asfoederatiof the Romans. They perhaps paid tribute, and they certainly furnished Rome withsoldiers;Salii senioresandSalii junioresare mentioned in theNotitia dignitatum, and Salii appear among theauxilia palatina.

At the end of the 4th century and at the beginning of the 5th, when the Roman legions withdrew from the banks of the Rhine, the Salians installed themselves in the district as an independent people. The place-names became entirely Germanic; the Latin language disappeared; and the Christian religion suffered a check, for the Franks were to a man pagans. The Salians were subdivided into a certain number of tribes, each tribe placing at its head a king, distinguished by his long hair and chosen from the most noble family (Historia Francorum, ii. 9).

The most ancient of these kings, reigning over the principal tribe, who is known to us is Chlodio.2According to Gregory of Tours Chlodio dwelt at a place called Dispargum, which it is impossible to identify. Towards 431 he crossed the great Roman road from Bavay to Cologne, which was protected by numerous forts and had long arrested the invasions of the barbarians. He then invaded the territory of Arras, but was severely defeated at Hesdin-le-Vieux by Aetius, the commander of the Roman army in Gaul. Chlodio, however, soon took his revenge. He explored the region of Cambrai, seized that town, and occupied all the country as far as the Somme. At this time Tournai became the capital of the Salian Franks.

After Chlodio a certain Meroveus (Merowech) was king of the Salian Franks. We do not know if he was the son of Chlodio; Gregory of Tours simply says that he belonged to Chlodio’s stock—“de hujus stirpe quidam Merovechum regem fuisse adserunt,”—and then only gives the fact at second hand. Perhaps the remarks of the Byzantine historian Priscus may refer to Meroveus. A king of the Franks having died, his two sons disputed the power. The elder journeyed into Pannonia to obtain support from Attila; the younger betook himself to the imperial court at Rome. “I have seen him,” writes Priscus; “he was still very young, and we all remarked his fair hair which fell upon his shoulders.” Aetius welcomed him warmly and sent him back a friend andfoederatus. In any case, eventually, Franks fought (451) in the Roman ranks at the great battle of Mauriac (the Catalaunian Fields), which arrested the progress of Attila into Gaul; and in theVita Lupi, which, though undoubtedly of later date, is a recension of an earlier document, the name of Meroveus appears among the combatants. Towards 457 Meroveus was succeeded by his son Childeric. At first Childeric was a faithfulfoederatusof the Romans, fighting for them against the Visigoths and the Saxons south of the Loire; but he soon sought to make himself independent and to extend his conquests. He died in 481 and was succeeded by his son Clovis, who conquered the whole of Gaul with the exception of the kingdom of Burgundy and Provence. Clovis made his authority recognized over the other Salian tribes (whose kings dwelt at Cambrai and other cities), and put an end to the domination of the Ripuarian Franks.

These Ripuarians must have comprised a certain number of Frankish tribes, such as the Ampsivarii and the Bructeri. They settled in the 5th century in compact masses on the left bank of the Rhine, but their progress was slow. It was not until the Christian writer Salvian (who was born about 400) had already reached a fairly advanced age that they were able to seize Cologne. The town, however, was recaptured and was not definitely in their possession until 463. The Ripuarians subsequently occupied all the country from Cologne to Trier. Aix-la-Chapelle, Bonn and Zülpich were their principal centres, and they even advanced southward as far as Metz, which appears to have resisted their attacks. The Roman civilization and the Latin language disappeared from the countries which they occupied; indeed it seems that the actual boundaries of the German and French languages nearly coincide with those of their dominion. In their southward progress the Ripuarians encountered the Alamanni, who, already masters of Alsace, were endeavouring to extend their conquests in all directions. There were numerous battles between the Ripuarians and the Alamanni; and the memory of one fought at Zülpich has come down to us. In this battle Sigebert, the king of the Ripuarians, was wounded in the knee and limped during the remainder of his life—hence his surname Claudus (the Lame). The Ripuarians long remained allies of Clovis, Sigebert’s son Chloderic fighting under the king of the Salian Franks at Vouillé in 507. Clovis, however, persuaded Chloderic to assassinate his father, and then posed as Sigebert’s avenger, with the result that Chloderic was himself assassinated and the Ripuarians raised Clovis on the shield and chose him as king. Thus the Salian Franks united under their rule all the Franks on the left bank of the Rhine. During the reigns of Clovis’s sons they again turned their eyes on Germany, and imposed their suzerainty upon the Franks on the right bank. This country, north of the Main and the first residence of the Franks, then received the name ofFrancia Orientalis, and became the origin of one of the duchies into which Germany was divided in the 10th century—the duchy of Franconia (Franken).

The Franks were redoubtable warriors, and were generally of great stature. Their fair or red hair was brought forward from the crown of the head towards the forehead, leaving the nape of the neck uncovered; they shaved the face except the upper lip. They wore fairly close breeches reaching to the knee and a tunic fastened by brooches. Round the waist over the tunic was worn a leathern girdle having a broad iron buckle damascened with silver. From the girdle hung the single-edged missile axe orfrancisca, thescramasaxor short knife, a poniard and such articles of toilet as scissors, a comb (of wood or bone), &c. The Franks also used a weapon called theframea(an iron lance set firmly in a wooden shaft), and bows and arrows. They protected themselves in battle with a large wooden or wicker shield, the centre of which was ornamented with an iron boss (umbo). Frankish arms and armour have been found in the cemeteries which abound throughout northern France, the warriors being buried fully armed.

See J. Grimm,Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer(Göttingen, 1828); K. Müllenhoff,Deutsche Altertumskunde(Berlin, 1883-1900); E. von Wietersheim,Geschichte der Völkerwanderung, 2nd ed., ed. by F. Dahn (Leipzig, 1880-1881); G. Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, vol. i. (4th ed. revised by Zeumer); R. Schröder, “Die Ausbreitung der salischen Franken,” inForschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. xix.; K. Lamprecht,Fränkische Wanderungen und Ansiedelungen(Aix-la-Chapelle, 1882); W. Schultz,Deutsche Geschichte von der Urzeit bis zu den Karolingern, vol. ii. (Stuttgart, 1896); Fustel de Coulanges,Histoire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France—l’invasion germanique(Paris, 1891). Also the articlesSalic LawandGermanic Laws, Early.

See J. Grimm,Deutsche Rechtsalterthümer(Göttingen, 1828); K. Müllenhoff,Deutsche Altertumskunde(Berlin, 1883-1900); E. von Wietersheim,Geschichte der Völkerwanderung, 2nd ed., ed. by F. Dahn (Leipzig, 1880-1881); G. Waitz,Deutsche Verfassungsgeschichte, vol. i. (4th ed. revised by Zeumer); R. Schröder, “Die Ausbreitung der salischen Franken,” inForschungen zur deutschen Geschichte, vol. xix.; K. Lamprecht,Fränkische Wanderungen und Ansiedelungen(Aix-la-Chapelle, 1882); W. Schultz,Deutsche Geschichte von der Urzeit bis zu den Karolingern, vol. ii. (Stuttgart, 1896); Fustel de Coulanges,Histoire des institutions politiques de l’ancienne France—l’invasion germanique(Paris, 1891). Also the articlesSalic LawandGermanic Laws, Early.

(C. Pf.)

1Their legends are connected with the sea, the name Meroveus signifying “sea-born.”2The chronicler Fredegarius and the author of theLiber historiae Francorummake Sunno and Marcomeres his predecessors, but in reality they were chiefs of other Frankish tribes. The author of theLiberalso claims that Chlodio was the son of Pharamund, but this personage is quite legendary. In theChroniconof Fredegarius it is already affirmed that the Franks are descended from the Trojans.

1Their legends are connected with the sea, the name Meroveus signifying “sea-born.”

2The chronicler Fredegarius and the author of theLiber historiae Francorummake Sunno and Marcomeres his predecessors, but in reality they were chiefs of other Frankish tribes. The author of theLiberalso claims that Chlodio was the son of Pharamund, but this personage is quite legendary. In theChroniconof Fredegarius it is already affirmed that the Franks are descended from the Trojans.

FRANZ, ROBERT(1815-1892), German composer, was born at Halle on the 28th of June 1815. One of the most gifted of German song writers, he suffered in early life, as many musicians have suffered, from the hostility of his parents to a musical career. He was twenty years old when, his father’s animosity conquered, he was allowed to live in Dessau to study organ-playing under Schneider. The two years of dry study under that famous teacher were advantageous chiefly in making him uncommonly intimate with the works of Bach and Handel, his knowledge of which he showed in his editions of theMatthäus Passion,Magnificat, ten cantatas, and of theMessiahandL’Allegro, though some of these editions have long been a subject of controversy among musicians. In 1843 he published his first book of songs, which ultimately was followed by some fifty more books, containing in all about 250 songs. At Halle, Franz filled various public offices, including those of organist to the city, conductor of the Sing-akademie and of the Symphony concerts, and he was also a royal music-director and master of the music at the university. The first book of songs was warmly praised by Schumann and Liszt, the latter of whom wrote a lengthy review of it in Schumann’s paper,Die neue Zeitschrift, which later was published separately. Deafness had begun to make itself apparent as early as 1841, and Franz suffered also from a nervous disorder, which in 1868 compelled him to resign hisoffices. His future was then provided for by Liszt, Dr Joachim, Frau Magnus and others, who gave him the receipts of a concert tour, amounting to some 100,000 marks. Franz died on the 24th of October 1892. On his seventieth birthday he published his first and only pianoforte piece. It is easy to find here and there among his songs gems that are hardly less brilliant than the best of Schumann’s. Certainly no musician was ever more thoughtful and more painstaking. In addition to songs he wrote a setting for double choir of the 117th Psalm, and a four-part Kyrie; he also edited Astorga’sStabat Materand Durante’sMagnificat.

FRANZÉN, FRANS MIKAEL(1772-1847), Swedish poet, was born at Uleåborg in Finland on the 9th of February 1772. At thirteen he entered the university of Åbo, where he attended the lectures of H. G. Porthan (1739-1804), a pioneer in the study of Finnish history and legend. He graduated in 1789, and became “eloquentiae docens” in 1792. Three years later he started on a tour through Denmark, Germany, France and England, returning in 1796 to accept the office of university librarian at Åbo. In 1801 he became professor of history and ethics, and in 1808 was elected a member of the Swedish Academy. On the cession of Finland to Russia, Franzén removed to Sweden, where he was successively appointed parish priest of Kumla in the diocese of Strengnäs (1810), minister of the Clara Church in Stockholm (1824) and bishop of Hernösand (1831). He died at Säbrå parsonage on the 14th of August 1847. From the autumn of 1793, when hisTill en ung FlickaandMenniskans anletewere inserted by Kellgren in theStockholmspost, Franzén grew in popular favour by means of many minor poems of singular simplicity and truth, asTill Selma,Den gamle knekten,Riddar St Göran,De Små blommorna,Modren vid vaggan,NyårsmorgonenandStjernhimmelen. His songsGoda gosse glaset töm,Sörj ej den gryende dagen förut,ChampagnevinetandBeväringssångwere widely sung, and in 1797 he won the prize of the Swedish Academy by hisSång öfver grefve Filip Creutz. Henceforth his muse, touched with the academic spirit, grew more reflective and didactic. His longer works, asEmili eller en afton i Lappland, and the epicsSvante Sture eller mötet vid Alvastra,Kolumbus eller Amerikas upptäcktandGustaf Adolf i Tyskland(the last two incomplete), though rich in beauties of detail, are far inferior to his shorter pieces.

The poetical works of Franzén are collected under the titleSkaldestycken(7 vols., 1824-1861); new ed.,Samlade dikter, with a biography by A. A. Grafström (1867-1869); also a selection (Valda dikter) in 2 vols. (1871). His prose writings,Om svenska drottningar(Åbo, 1798; Örebro, 1823),Skrifter i obunden stil, vol. i. (1835),Predikningar(5 vols., 1841-1845) andMinnesteckningar, prepared for the Academy (3 vols., 1848-1860), are marked by faithful portraiture and purity of style. See B. E. Malmström, in theHandlingarof the Swedish Academy (1852, new series 1887), vol. ii.; S. A. Hollander,Minne af F. M. Franzén(Örebro, 1868); F. Cygnaeus,Teckningar ur F. M. Franzéns lefnad(Helsingfors, 1872); and Gustaf Ljunggren,Svenska vitterhetens häfder efter Gustaf III.’s död, vol. ii. (1876).

The poetical works of Franzén are collected under the titleSkaldestycken(7 vols., 1824-1861); new ed.,Samlade dikter, with a biography by A. A. Grafström (1867-1869); also a selection (Valda dikter) in 2 vols. (1871). His prose writings,Om svenska drottningar(Åbo, 1798; Örebro, 1823),Skrifter i obunden stil, vol. i. (1835),Predikningar(5 vols., 1841-1845) andMinnesteckningar, prepared for the Academy (3 vols., 1848-1860), are marked by faithful portraiture and purity of style. See B. E. Malmström, in theHandlingarof the Swedish Academy (1852, new series 1887), vol. ii.; S. A. Hollander,Minne af F. M. Franzén(Örebro, 1868); F. Cygnaeus,Teckningar ur F. M. Franzéns lefnad(Helsingfors, 1872); and Gustaf Ljunggren,Svenska vitterhetens häfder efter Gustaf III.’s död, vol. ii. (1876).

FRANZENSBAD, orKaiser-Franzensbad, a town and watering-place of Bohemia, Austria, 152 m. W.N.W. of Prague by rail. Pop. (1900) 2330. It is situated at an altitude of about 1500 ft. between the spurs of the Fichtelgebirge, the Böhmerwald and the Erzgebirge, and lies 4 m. N.W. of Eger. It possesses a large kursaal, several bathing establishments, a hospital for poor patients and several parks. There are altogether 12 mineral springs with saline, alkaline and ferruginous waters, of which the oldest and most important is the Franzensquelle. One of the springs gives off carbonic acid gas and another contains a considerable proportion of lithia salts. The waters, which have an average temperature between 50.2° F. and 54.5° F., are used both internally and externally, and are efficacious in cases of anaemia, nervous disorders, sexual diseases, specially for women, and heart diseases. Franzensbad is frequently resorted to as an after-cure by patients from Carlsbad and Marienbad. Another important part of the cure is the so-calledmooror mud-baths, prepared from the peat of the Franzensbad marsh, which is very rich in mineral substances, like sulphates of iron, of soda and of potash, organic acids, salt, &c.

The first information about the springs dates from the 16th century, and an analysis of the waters was made in 1565. They were first used for bathing purposes in 1707. But the foundation of Franzensbad as a watering-place really dates from 1793, when Dr Adler built here the firstKurhaus, and the place received its name after the emperor Francis I.

See Dr Loimann,Franzensbad(3rd ed., Vienna, 1900).

See Dr Loimann,Franzensbad(3rd ed., Vienna, 1900).

FRANZ JOSEF LAND, an arctic archipelago lying E. of Spitsbergen and N. of Novaya Zemlya, extending northward from about 80° to 82° N., and between 42° and 64° E. It is described as a lofty glacier-covered land, reaching an extreme elevation of about 2400 ft. The glaciers front, with a perpendicular ice-wall, a shore of debris on which a few low plants are found to grow—poppies, mosses and the like. The islands are volcanic, the main geological formation being Tertiary or Jurassic basalt, which occasionally protrudes through the ice-cap in high isolated blocks near the shore. A connecting island-chain between Franz Josef Land and Spitzbergen is probable. The bear and fox are the only land mammals; insects are rare; but the avifauna is of interest, and the Jackson expedition distinguished several new species.

August Petermann expressed the opinion that Baffin may have sighted the west of Franz Josef Land in 1614, but the first actual discovery is due to Julius Payer, a lieutenant in the Austrian army, who was associated with Weyprecht in the second polar expedition fitted out by Count Wilczek on the ship “Tegetthof” in 1872. On the 13th of August 1873, the “Tegetthof” being then beset, high land was seen to the north-west. Later in the season Payer led expeditions to Hochstetter and Wilczek islands, and after a second winter in the ice-bound ship, a difficult journey was made northward through Austria Sound, which was reported to separate two large masses of land, Wilczek Land on the east from Zichy Land on the west, to Cape Fligely, in 82° 5′ N., where Rawlinson Sound branched away to the north-east. Cape Fligely was the highest latitude attained by Payer, and remained the highest attained in the Old World till 1895. Payer reported that from Cape Fligely land (Rudolf Land) stretched north-east to a cape (Cape Sherard Osborn), and mountain ranges were visible to the north, indicating lands beyond the 83rd parallel, to which the names King Oscar Land and Petermann Land were given. In 1879 De Bruyne sighted high land in the Franz Josef Land region, but otherwise it remained untouched until Leigh Smith, in the yacht “Eira,” explored the whole southern coast from 42° to 54° E. in 1881 and 1882, discovering many islands and sounds, and ascertaining that the coast of Alexandra Land, in the extreme west, trended to north-west and north.

After Leigh Smith came another pause, and no further mention is made of Franz Josef Land till 1894. In that year Mr Alfred Harmsworth (afterwards Lord Northcliffe) fitted out an expedition in the ship “Windward” under the leadership of Mr F. G. Jackson, with the object of establishing a permanent base from which systematic exploration should be carried on for successive years and, if practicable, a journey should be made to the Pole. Mr Jackson and his party landed at “Elmwood” (which was named from Lord Northcliffe’s seat in the Isle of Thanet), near Cape Flora, at the western extremity of Northbrook Island, on the 7th of September. After a preliminary reconnaissance to the north, which afterwards turned out to be vitally important, the summer of 1895 was spent in exploring the coast to the north-west by a boating expedition. This expedition visited many of the points seen by Leigh Smith, and discovered land, which it has been suggested may be the Gillies Land reported by the Dutch captain Gillies in 1707. In 1896 the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition worked northwards through an archipelago for about 70 m. and reached Cape Richthofen, a promontory 700 ft. high, whence an expanse of open water was seen to the northward, which received the name of Queen Victoria Sea. To the west, on the opposite side of a wide opening which was called the British Channel, appeared glacier-covered land, and an island lay to the northward. The island was probably the King Oscar Land of Payer. To north and north-east was the land which had been visited in the reconnaissance of the previous year, but beyond it a water-sky appeared in thesupposed position of Petermann Land. Thus Zichy Land itself was resolved into a group of islands, and the outlying land sighted by Payer was found to be islands also. Meanwhile Nansen, on his southward journey, had approached Franz Josef Land from the north-east, finding only sea at the north end of Wilczek Land, and seeing nothing of Payer’s Rawlinson Sound, or of the north end of Austria Sound. Nansen wintered near Cape Norway, only a few miles from the spot reached by Jackson in 1895. He had finally proved that a deep oceanic basin lies to the north. On the 17th of June 1896 the dramatic meeting of Jackson and Nansen took place, and in the same year the “Windward” revisited “Elmwood” and brought Nansen home, the work of the Jackson-Harmsworth expedition being continued for another year. As the non-existence of land to the north had been proved, the attempt to penetrate northwards was abandoned, and the last season was devoted to a survey and scientific examination of the archipelago, especially to the west; this was carried out by Messrs Jackson, Armitage, R. Koettlitz, H. Fisher and W. S. Bruce.

Further light was thrown on the relations of Franz Josef Land and Spitsbergen during 1897 by the discoveries of Captain Robertson of Dundee, and Wyche’s Land was circumnavigated by Mr Arnold Pike and Sir Savile Crossley. The latter voyage was repeated in the following year by a German expedition under Dr Th. Lerner and Captain Rüdiger. In August 1898 an expedition under Mr Walter Wellman, an American, landed at Cape Tegetthof. Beginning a northward journey with sledges at the end of the winter, Wellman met with an accident which compelled him to return, but not before some exploration had been accomplished, and the eastern extension of the archipelago fairly well defined. In June 1899 H.R.H. the duke of Abruzzi started from Christiania in his yacht, the “Stella Polare,” to make the first attempt to force a ship into the newly discovered ocean north of Franz Josef Land. The “Stella Polare” succeeded in making her way through the British Channel to Crown Prince Rudolf Land, and wintered in Teplitz Bay, in 81° 33′ N. lat. The ship was nearly wrecked in the autumn, and the party had to spend most of the winter on shore, the duke of Abruzzi suffering severely from frost-bite. In March 1900 a sledge party of thirteen, under Captain Cagni, started northwards. They found no trace of Petermann Land, but with great difficulty crossed the ice to 86° 33′ N. lat., 20 m. beyond Nansen’s farthest, and 240 m. from the Pole. The party, with the exception of three, returned to the ship after an absence of 104 days, and the “Stella Polare” returned to Tromsö in September 1900. In 1901-1902 the Baldwin-Ziegler expedition also attempted a northward journey from Franz Josef Land.

SeeGeographical Journal, vol. xi., February 1898; F. G. Jackson,A Thousand Days in the Arctic(1899).

SeeGeographical Journal, vol. xi., February 1898; F. G. Jackson,A Thousand Days in the Arctic(1899).

FRANZOS, KARL EMIL(1848-1904), German novelist, was born of Jewish parentage on the 25th of October 1848 in Russian Podolia, and spent his early years at Czortków in Galicia. His father, a district physician, died early, and the boy, after attending the gymnasium of Czernowitz, was obliged to teach in order to support himself and prepare for academic study. He studied law at the universities of Vienna and Graz, but after passing the examination for employment in the state judicial service abandoned this career and, becoming a journalist, travelled extensively in south-east Europe, and visited Asia Minor and Egypt. In 1877 he returned to Vienna, where from 1884 to 1886 he edited theNeue illustrierte Zeitung. In 1887 he removed to Berlin and founded the fortnightly reviewDeutsche Dichtung. Franzos died on the 28th of January 1904. His earliest collections of stories and sketches,Aus Halb-Asien,Land und Leute des östlichen Europas(1876) andDie Juden von Barnow(1877) depict graphically the life and manners of the races of south-eastern Europe. Among other of his works may be mentioned the short stories,Junge Liebe(1878),Stille Geschichten(1880), and the novelsMoschko von Parma(1880),Ein Kampf ums Recht(1882),Der Präsident(1884),Judith Trachtenberg(1890),Der Wahrheitsucher(1894).

FRASCATI, a town and episcopal see of Italy, in the province of Rome, 15 m. S.E. of Rome by rail, and also reached by electric tramway via Grottaferrata. Pop. (1901) 8453. The town is situated 1056 ft. above the sea-level, on the N. slopes of the outer crater ring of the Alban Hills, and commands a very fine view of the Campagna of Rome. The cathedral contains a memorial tablet to Charles Edward, the Young Pretender, whose body for some while rested here; his brother, Henry, Cardinal York, owned a villa at Frascati. The villas of the Roman nobility, with their beautiful gardens and fountains, are the chief attraction of Frascati. The earliest in date is the Villa Falconieri, planned by Cardinal Ruffini before 1550; the most important of the rest are the Villa Torlonia (formerly Conti), Lancelotti (formerly Piccolomini), Ruffinella (now belonging to Prince Lancellotti), Aldobrandini, Borghese and Mondragone (now a Jesuit school). The surrounding country, covered with remains of ancient villas, is fertile and noted for its wine. Frascati seems to have arisen on the site of a very large ancient villa, which, under Domitian at any rate, belonged to the imperial house about the 9th century in which period we find in theLiber Pontificalisthe names of four churchesin Frascata. The medieval stronghold of the counts of Tusculum (q.v.), which occupied the site of the ancient city, was dismantled by the Romans in 1191, and the inhabitants put to the sword or mutilated. Many of the fugitives naturally took refuge in Frascati. The see of Tusculum had, however, always had its cathedral church in Frascati. For the greater part of the middle ages Frascati belonged to the papacy.

See G. Tomassetti,La Via Latina nel medio evo(Rome, 1886), 170 seq.; T. Ashby inPapers of the British School at Rome, iv. (London, 1907).

See G. Tomassetti,La Via Latina nel medio evo(Rome, 1886), 170 seq.; T. Ashby inPapers of the British School at Rome, iv. (London, 1907).

(T. As.)

FRASER, ALEXANDER CAMPBELL(1819-  ), Scottish philosopher, was born at Ardchattan, Argyllshire, on the 3rd of September 1819. He was educated at Glasgow and Edinburgh, where, from 1846 to 1856, he was professor of Logic at New College. He edited theNorth British Reviewfrom 1850 to 1857, and in 1856, having previously been a Free Church minister, he succeeded Sir William Hamilton as professor of Logic and Metaphysics at Edinburgh University. In 1859 he became dean of the faculty of arts. He devoted himself to the study of English philosophers, especially Berkeley, and published aCollected Edition of the Works of Bishop Berkeley with Annotations, &c.(1871; enlarged 1901), aBiography of Berkeley(1881), anAnnotated Edition of Locke’s Essay(1894), thePhilosophy of Theism(1896) and theBiography of Thomas Reid(1898). He contributed the article on John Locke to theEncyclopaedia Britannica. In 1904 he published an autobiography entitledBiographia philosophica, in which he sketched the progress of his intellectual development. From this work and from his Gifford lectures we learn objectively what had previously been inferred from his critical works. After a childhood spent in an austerity which stigmatized as unholy even the novels of Sir Walter Scott, he began his college career at the age of fourteen at a time when Christopher North and Dr Ritchie were lecturing on Moral Philosophy and Logic. His first philosophical advance was stimulated by Thomas Brown’sCause and Effect, which introduced him to the problems which were to occupy his thought. From this point he fell into the scepticism of Hume. In 1836 Sir William Hamilton was appointed to the chair of Logic and Metaphysics, and Fraser became his pupil. He himself says, “I owe more to Hamilton than to any other influence.” It was about this time also that he began his study of Berkeley and Coleridge, and deserted his early phenomenalism for the conception of a spiritual will as the universal cause. In theBiographiathis “Theistic faith” appears in its full development (see the concluding chapter), and is especially important as perhaps the nearest approach to Kantian ethics made by original English philosophy. Apart from the philosophical interest of the Biographia, the work contains valuable pictures of the Land of Lorne and Argyllshire society in the early 19th century, of university life in Glasgow and Edinburgh, and a history of theNorth British Review.

FRASER, JAMES(1818-1885), English bishop, was born at Prestbury, in Gloucestershire, on the 18th of August 1818, and was educated at Bridgnorth, Shrewsbury, and Lincoln College, Oxford. In 1839 he was Ireland scholar, and took a first class. In 1840 he gained an Oriel fellowship, and was for some time tutor of the college, but did not take orders until 1846. He was successively vicar of Cholderton, in Wiltshire, and rector of Ufton Nervet, in Berkshire; but his subsequent importance was largely due to W. K. Hamilton, bishop of Salisbury, who recommended him as an assistant commissioner of education. His report on the educational condition of thirteen poor-law unions, made in May 1859, was described by Thomas Hughes as “a superb, almost a unique piece of work.” In 1865 he was commissioned to report on the state of education in the United States and Canada, and his able performance of this task brought him an offer of the bishopric of Calcutta, which he declined, but in January 1870 he accepted the see of Manchester. The task before him was an arduous one, for although his predecessor, James Prince Lee, had consecrated no fewer than 130 churches, the enormous population was still greatly in advance of the ecclesiastical machinery. Fraser worked with the utmost energy, and did even more for the church by the liberality and geniality which earned him the title of “the bishop of all denominations.” He was prominent in secular as well as religious works, interesting himself in every movement that promoted health, morality, or education; and especially serviceable as the friendly, unofficious counsellor of all classes. His theology was that of a liberal high-churchman, and his sympathies were broad. In convocation he seconded a motion for the disuse of the Athanasian Creed, and in the House of Lords he voted for the abolition of university tests. He died suddenly on the 22nd of October 1885.

A biography by Thomas Hughes was published in 1887, and an account of his Lancashire life by J. W. Diggle (1889), who also edited 2 vols. ofUniversity and Parochial Sermons(1887).

A biography by Thomas Hughes was published in 1887, and an account of his Lancashire life by J. W. Diggle (1889), who also edited 2 vols. ofUniversity and Parochial Sermons(1887).

FRASER, JAMES BAILLIE(1783-1856), Scottish traveller and author, was born at Reelick in the county of Inverness on the 11th of June 1783. He was the eldest of the four sons of Edward Satchell Fraser of Reelick, all of whom found their way to the East, and gave proof of their ability. In early life he went to the West Indies and thence to India. In 1815 he made a tour of exploration in the Himalayas, accompanied by his brother William (d. 1835). When Reza Kuli Mirza and Nejeff Kuli Mirza, the exiled Persian princes, visited England, he was appointed to look after them during their stay, and on their return he accompanied them as far as Constantinople. He was afterwards sent to Persia on a diplomatic mission by Lord Glenelg, and effected a most remarkable journey on horseback through Asia Minor to Teheran. His health, however, was impaired by the exposure. In 1823 he married a daughter of Alexander Fraser Tytler, Lord Woodhouselee, a sister of the historian Patrick Fraser Tytler. He died at Reelick in January 1856. Fraser is said to have displayed great skill in water-colours, and several of his drawings have been engraved; and the astronomical observations which he took during some of his journeys did considerable service to the cartography of Asia. The works by which he attained his literary reputation were accounts of his travels and fictitious tales illustrative of Eastern life. In both he employed a vigorous and impassioned style, which was on the whole wonderfully effective in spite of minor faults in taste and flaws in structure.

Fraser’s earliest writings are:Journal of a Tour through Part of the Himālā Mountains and to the Sources of the Jumna and the Ganges(1820);A Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822, including some Account of the Countries to the North-East of Persia(1825); andTravels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea(1826). His romances includeThe Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorasan(1828), and its sequel,The Persian Adventurer(1830);Allee Neemroo(1842); andThe Dark Falcon(1844). He also wroteAn Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia(1834);A Winter’s Journey (Tâtar) from Constantinople to Teheran(1838);Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, &c.(1840);Mesopotamia and Assyria(1842); andMilitary Memoirs of Col. James Skinner(1851).

Fraser’s earliest writings are:Journal of a Tour through Part of the Himālā Mountains and to the Sources of the Jumna and the Ganges(1820);A Narrative of a Journey into Khorasan in the Years 1821 and 1822, including some Account of the Countries to the North-East of Persia(1825); andTravels and Adventures in the Persian Provinces on the Southern Banks of the Caspian Sea(1826). His romances includeThe Kuzzilbash, a Tale of Khorasan(1828), and its sequel,The Persian Adventurer(1830);Allee Neemroo(1842); andThe Dark Falcon(1844). He also wroteAn Historical and Descriptive Account of Persia(1834);A Winter’s Journey (Tâtar) from Constantinople to Teheran(1838);Travels in Koordistan, Mesopotamia, &c.(1840);Mesopotamia and Assyria(1842); andMilitary Memoirs of Col. James Skinner(1851).

FRASER, SIR WILLIAM AUGUSTUS, Bart. (1826-1898), English politician, author and collector, was born on the 10th of February 1826, the son of Sir James John Fraser, 3rd baronet, a colonel of the 7th Hussars, who had served on Wellington’s staff at Waterloo. He was educated at Eton and at Christ Church, Oxford, entered the 1st Life Guards in 1847, but retired with a captain’s rank in 1852. He then set about entering parliament, and the ups and downs of his political career were rather remarkable. He was returned for Barnstaple in 1852, but the election was declared void on account of bribery, and the constituency was disfranchised for two years. At the election of 1857 Sir William, who had meantime been defeated at Harwich, was again returned at Barnstaple. He was, however, defeated in 1859, but was elected in 1863 at Ludlow. This seat he held for only two years, when he was again defeated and did not re-enter parliament until 1874, when be was returned for Kidderminster, a constituency he represented for six years, when he retired. He was a familiar figure at the Carlton Club, always ready with a copious collection of anecdotes of Wellington, Disraeli and Napoleon III. He died on the 17th of August 1898. He was an assiduous collector of relics; and his library was sold for some £20,000. His own books compriseWords on Wellington(1889),Disraeli and his Day(1891),Hic et Ubique(1893),Napoleon III.(1896) and theWaterloo Ball(1897).

FRASER, the chief river of British Columbia, Canada, rising in two branches among the Rocky Mountains near 52° 45′ N., 118° 30′ W. Length 740 m. It first flows N.W. for about 160 m., then rounds the head of the Cariboo Mountains, and flows directly S. for over 400 m. to Hope, where it again turns abruptly and flows W. for 80 m., falling into the Gulf of Georgia at New Westminster. After the junction of the two forks near its northern extremity, the first important tributary on its southern course is the Stuart, draining Lakes Stuart, Fraser and François. One hundred miles lower down the Quesnel, draining a large lake of the same name, flows in from the east at a town also so named. Farther on the Fraser receives from the west the Chilcotin, and at Lytton, about 180 m. from the sea, the Thompson, its largest tributary, flows in from the east, draining a series of mountain lakes, and receiving at Kamloops the North Thompson, which flows through deep and impassable canyons. Below Hope the Lillooet flows in from the north. The Fraser is a typical mountain stream, rapid and impetuous through all its length, and like most of its tributaries is in many parts not navigable even by canoes. On its southern course between Lytton and Yale, while bursting its way through the Coast Range, it flows through majestic canyons, which, like those of the Thompson, were the scene of many tragedies during the days of the gold-rush to the Cariboo district. At Yale, about 80 m. from its mouth, it becomes navigable, though its course is still very rapid. In the Cariboo district, comprised within the great bend of the river, near Tête Jaune Cache, are many valuable gold deposits. With its tributaries the Fraser drains the whole province from 54° to 49° N., except the extreme south-eastern corner, which is within the basin of the Columbia and its tributary the Kootenay.

FRASERBURGH, a police burgh and seaport, on the N. coast of Aberdeenshire, Scotland. Pop. (1891), 7466; (1901), 9105. It is situated 47¼ m. by rail N. of Aberdeen, from which there is a branch line, of which it is the terminus, of the Great North of Scotland railway. It takes its name from Sir Alexander Fraser, the ancestor of Lord Saltoun, whose seat, Philorth House, lies 2 m. to the south. Sir Alexander obtained for it in 1613 a charter as a burgh of royalty, and also in 1592 a charter for the founding of a university. This latter project, however, was not carried out, and all that remains of the building intended for the college is a three-storeyed tower. The old castle of the Frasers on Kinnaird Head now contains a lighthouse, and close by is the Wine Tower, with a cave below. The town cross is a fine structure standing upon a huge hexagon, surmounted by a stone pillar 12 ft. high, ornamented by the royal and Fraser arms. The port is one of the leading stations of the herring fishery in the north of Scotland and the headof a fishery district. During the herring season (June to September) the population is increased by upwards of 10,000 persons. The fleet numbers more than 700 boats, and the annual value of the catch exceeds £200,000. The harbour, originally constructed as a refuge for British ships of war, is one of the best on the east coast, and has been improved by the widening of the piers and the extension of the breakwaters. It has an area of upwards of eight acres, is easy of access, and affords anchorage for vessels of every size.

FRASERVILLE(formerly Rivière du Loup en Bas), a town and watering-place in Temiscouata county, Quebec, Canada, 107 m. (by water) north-east of Quebec, on the south shore of the St Lawrence river, and at the mouth of the Rivière du Loup, at the junction of the Intercolonial and Temiscouata railways. It contains a convent, boys’ college, hospital, several mills, and is a favourite summer resort on account of the angling and shooting, and the magnificent scenery. Pop. (1901) 4569.

FRATER,Frater HouseorFratery, a term in architecture for the hall where the members of a monastery or friary met for meals or refreshment. The word is by origin the same as “refectory.” The older forms, such asfreitur,fraytorand the like, show the word to be an adaptation of the O. Fr.fraitour, a shortened form ofrefraitour, from the Med. Lat.rejectorium. The word has been confused withfrater, a brother or friar, and hence sometimes confined in meaning to the dining-hall of a friary, while “refectory” is used of a monastery.

FRATERNITIES, COLLEGE, a class of student societies peculiar to the colleges and universities of the United States and Canada, with certain common characteristics, and mostly named from two or three letters of the Greek alphabet; hence they are frequently called “Greek Letter Societies.” They are organized on the lodge system, and each fraternity comprises a number of affiliated lodges of which only one of any one fraternity is connected with the same institution. The lodges, called “chapters,” in memory of the convocations of monks of medieval times, are usually designated by Greek letters also. They are nominally secret, with one exception (Delta Upsilon). Each chapter admits members from the lowest or freshman class, and of course loses its members as the students depart from college, consequently each chapter has in it at the same time members of all the four college classes and frequently those pursuing postgraduate studies. Where the attendance at a college is large the material from which fraternity members may be drawn is correspondingly abundant, and in some of the large colleges (e.g.at Cornell University and the University of Michigan) there are chapters of over twenty fraternities. All the fraternities aim to be select and to pick their members from the mass of incoming students. Where, however, the material to select from is not abundant and the rival fraternities are numerous, care in selection is impossible, and the chapters at any one college are apt to secure much the same general type of men. Many of the fraternities have, however, on account of a persistent selection of men of about the same tastes at different colleges, acquired a distinct character and individuality; for instance,Alpha Delta Phiis literary.

The first of these fraternities was thePhi Beta Kappa, founded at the College of William and Mary at Williamsburg, Virginia, in 1776. It was a little social club of five students: John Heath, Richard Booker, Thomas Smith, Armistead Smith and John Jones. Its badge was a square silver medal displaying the Greek letters of its name and a few symbols. In 1779 it authorized Elisha Parmelee, one of its members, to establish “meetings” or chapters at Yale and Harvard, these chapters being authorized to establish subordinate branches in their respective states. In 1781 the College of William and Mary was closed, its buildings being occupied in turn by the British, French and American troops, and the society ceased to exist. The two branches, however, were established—that at Yale in 1780 and that at Harvard in 1781. Chapters were established at Dartmouth in 1787, at Union in 1817, at Bowdoin in 1824 and at Brown in 1830. This society changed its character in 1826 and became non-secret and purely honorary in character, admitting to membership a certain proportion of the scholars of highest standing in each class (only in classical courses, usually and with few exceptions only in graduating classes). More recent honorary societies of similar character among schools of science and engineering areSigma XiandTau Beta Pi.

In 1825, at Union College,Kappa Alphawas organized, copying in style of badge, membership restrictions and the like, its predecessor. In 1827 two other similar societies,Sigma PhiandDelta Phi, were founded at the same place. In 1831Sigma Phiplaced a branch at Hamilton College and in 1832Alpha Delta Phioriginated there. In 1833Psi Upsilon, a fourth society, was organized at Union. In 1835Alpha Delta Phiplaced a chapter at Miami University, and in 1839Beta Theta Pioriginated there, and so the system spread. These fraternities, it will be observed, were all undergraduate societies among the male students. In 1910 the total number of men’s general fraternities was 32, with 1068 living chapters, and owning property worth many millions of dollars. In 1864Theta Xi, the first professional fraternity restricting its membership to students intending to engage in the same profession, was organized. There were in 1910 about 50 of these organizations with some 400 chapters. In addition there are about 100 local societies or chapters acting as independent units. Some of the older of these, such asKappa Kappa Kappaat Dartmouth,IKAat Trinity,Phi Nu Thetaat Wesleyan andDelta Psiat Vermont, are permanent in character, but the majority of them are purely temporary, designed to maintain an organization until the society becomes a chapter of one of the general fraternities. In 1870 the first women’s society or “sorority,” theKappa Alpha Theta, was organized at De Pauw University. There were in 1910, 17 general sororities with some 300 active chapters.

It is no exaggeration to say that these apparently insignificant organizations of irresponsible students have modified the college life of America and have had a wide influence. Members join in the impressionable years of their youth; they retain for their organizations a peculiar loyalty and affection, and freely contribute with money and influence to their advancement.

Almost universally the members of any particular chapter (or part of them) live together in a lodge or chapter house. The men’s fraternities own hundreds of houses and rent as many more. The fraternities form a little aristocracy within the college community. Sometimes the line of separation is invisible, sometimes sharply marked. Sometimes this condition militates against the college discipline and sometimes it assists it. Conflicts not infrequently occur between the fraternity and non-fraternity element in a college.

It can readily be understood how young men living together in the intimate relationship of daily contact in the same house, having much the same tastes, culture and aspirations would form among themselves enduring friendships. In addition each fraternity has a reputation to maintain, and this engenders an esprit du corps which at times places loyalty to fraternity interests above loyalty to college interest or the real advantage of the individual. At commencements and upon other occasions the former members of the chapters return to their chapter houses and help to foster the pride and loyalty of the undergraduates. The chapter houses are commonly owned by corporations made up of the alumni. This brings the undergraduates into contact with men of mature age and often of national fame, who treat their membership as a serious privilege.

The development of this collegiate aristocracy has led to jealousy and bitter animosity among those not selected for membership. Some of the states, notably South Carolina and Arkansas, have by legislation, either abolished the fraternities at state-controlled institutions or seriously limited the privileges of their members. The constitutionality of such legislation has never been tested. Litigation has occasionally arisen out of attempts on the part of college authorities to prohibit the fraternities at their several institutions. This, it has been held, may lawfully be done at a college maintained by private endowment but not at an institution supported by public funds. Inthe latter case all classes of the public are equally entitled to the same educational privileges and members of the fraternities may not be discriminated against.

The fraternities are admirably organized. The usual system comprises a legislative body made up of delegates from the different chapters and an executive or administrative body elected by the delegates. Few of the fraternities have any judiciary. None is needed. The financial systems are sound, and the conventions of delegates meet in various parts of the United States, several hundred in number, spend thousands of dollars in travel and entertainment, and attract much public attention. Most of the fraternities have an inspection system by which chapters are periodically visited and kept up to a certain level of excellence.

The leading fraternities publish journals usually from four to eight times during the college year. The earliest of these was theBeta Theta Pi, first issued in 1872. All publish catalogues of their members and the most prosperous have issued histories. They also publish song books, music and many ephemeral and local publications.

The alumni of the fraternities are organized into clubs or associations having headquarters at centres of population. These organizations are somewhat loose, but nevertheless are capable of much exertion and influence should occasion arise.

The college fraternity system has no parallel among the students of colleges outside of America. One of the curious things about it, however, is that while it is practically uniform throughout the United States, at the three prominent universities of Harvard, Yale and Princeton it differs in many respects from its character elsewhere. At Harvard, although there are chapters of a few of the fraternities, their influence is insignificant, their place being taken by a group of local societies, some of them class organizations. At Yale, the regular system of fraternities obtains in the engineering or technical department (the Sheffield Scientific School), but in the classical department the fraternity chapters are called “junior” societies, because they limit their membership to the three upper classes and allow the juniors each year practically to control the chapter affairs. Certain senior societies, of which the oldest is the Skull and Bones, which are inter-fraternity societies admitting freely members of the fraternities, are more prominent at Yale than the fraternities themselves. Princeton has two (secret) literary and fraternal societies, the American Whig and the Cliosophic, and various local social clubs, with no relationship to organizations in other colleges and not having Greek letter names.

At a few universities (for instance, Michigan, Cornell and Virginia), senior societies or other inter-fraternity societies exert great influence and have modified the strength of the fraternity system.

Of late years, numerous societies bearing Greek names and imitating the externals of the college fraternities have sprung up in the high schools and academies of the country, but have excited the earnest and apparently united opposition of the authorities of such schools.


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