Human EyeSection of the Human Eye
Vision.—The retina renders the eye sensible of light, and we may therefore consider it as the essential organ of vision. The function of the other portions is to focus the luminous rays on the surface of the retina, a condition necessary for distinct vision and the clear perception of objects. The visual impressions are transmitted from the retina to the brain by means of the optic nerve. The two optic nerves converge from the eyes toward the centre of the base of the brain, where there is a partialinterlacement of their fibres in such a manner that a portion of the right nerve goes to the left side of the brain, and a part of the left nerve to the right side; this is called thechiasmaorcommissureof the optic nerves. The principal advantage of having two eyes is in the estimation of distance and the perception of relief. In order to see a point as single by two eyes we must make its two images fall on corresponding points of the retinas; and this implies a greater or less convergence of the optic axes according as the object is nearer or more remote. To accommodate the eye to different distances the lens is capable of altering itself with great precision and rapidity. When we look at a near object, the anterior surface of the lens bulges forward, becoming more convex the nearer the object; the more distant the object the more the lens is flattened. When the transparency of the cornea, the crystalline lens, or any of the contents of the globe of the eye is destroyed, either partially or entirely, then will partial or total blindness follow, since no image can be formed upon the retina; but although all the media and the cornea be perfectly transparent, and retain their proper forms, which likewise is necessary to distinct vision, yet injury or inactivity of the optic nerve, or injury of the parts of the brain with which it is connected, may produce disturbance of vision or total blindness. Defective vision may also arise from the crystalline lens being so convex as to form an image before the rays reach the retina (a defect known as short sight or myopia), in which case distinct vision will be procured by interposing a concave lens between the eye and the object of such a curvature as shall cause the rays that pass through the crystalline lens to meet on the retina; or the lens may be too flat, a defect which is corrected by convex lenses. In old age, and in fact in most people after about forty-five years of age, the elasticity of the lens becomes reduced, and convex lenses become necessary to make it possible to focus near objects. This condition is known aspresbyopia. In the lower organisms the organs of sight appear as mere pigment spots. In higher forms, simple lenses or refracting bodies occur. Insects, crustaceans, &c., have large masses of simple eyes or ocelli aggregated together to form compound eyes—the separate facets or lenses being optically distinct, and sometimes numbering many thousands. In the cephalopods well-developed eyes presenting a distant analogy in structure to those of the highest animals are found; and in all vertebrate animals the organ of vision corresponds generally to what has been described, though they vary much in structure and adaptation to the surroundings of the animal.—Cf. J. Herbert Parsons,Diseases of the Eye.
Eye(ā), a municipal borough, England, county Suffolk, 19 miles north of Ipswich. Up till 1885 it sent a member to Parliament, and it still gives its name to a parliamentary division of East Suffolk. Pop. 1781.
Eyebright(Euphrasia officinālis), a small plant belonging to the nat. ord. Scrophulariaceæ, which is common in Britain and most parts of Europe, in North Asia, &c. It is an annual, half-parasitic on grass-roots, from 3 to 8 inches high, often much branched. The whole plant has a bitter taste. Under the name ofeuphrasyit formerly enjoyed a great reputation in diseases of the eyes.
Eyemouth, a fishing-town of Berwickshire, Scotland, at the mouth of the Eye, an important place in the thirteenth century. Pop. 2477.
Eye-piece, in a telescope, microscope, or other optical instrument, the lens, or combination of lenses to which the eye is applied. As the use of a single lens limits the field of view, eye-pieces are generally formed from two lenses or lens systems, called the eye-lens and the field-lens, placed at a distance apart. The Ramsden or positive eye-piece consists of two lenses of equal focal length placed at a distance apart equal to two-thirds of the focal length of either lens. The object looked at requires to be a short distance in front of the field-lens. In the Huyghens or negative eye-piece the focal lengths of the field- and eye-lenses are in the ratio 3 to 1, and the distance between the lenses is twice the focal length of the eye-lens. As a result the image formed by, say, the objective of a telescope is in focus when between the two lenses.
Eylau(ī´lou), a small town, about 28 miles distant from Königsberg, in Prussia, famous for a bloody battle fought between Napoleon and the allied Russians and Prussians, on the 7th and 8th of Feb., 1807. Both sides claimed the victory. The loss of the Allies was about 20,000 men, while that of the French must have been considerably greater.
Eyre(ār), Edward John, Australian explorer and colonial governor, born in Yorkshire 1815, died in 1901. He went to Australia in 1833, in 1839 discovered Lake Torrens, and in 1840 explored its eastern shores and the adjacent Flinders Range. He then commenced his perilous journey along the shores of the Great Australian Bight, and reached King George's Sound, in Western Australia, a distance of 1200 miles, with a single native boy, having left Adelaide more than a year before. In 1845 he publishedDiscoveries in Central Australia. After filling several governorships, he was appointed Governor of Jamaica in 1862. In 1865 he was confronted with a negro rebellion, which he crushed with some severity, and was recalled. On his return to England John Stuart Milland other so-called humanitarians took measures to try him for murder, but failed. Tennyson and Carlyle were among his most strenuous defenders.
Eyre, Lake, a large salt-water lake of South Australia. Area about 4000 sq. miles, but it is subject to great fluctuations in size.
Eze´kiel(Heb.Yehezgēl, 'God shall strengthen'), the third of the great prophets, a priest, and the son of Buzi. He was carried away when young (about 599B.C.) into the Babylonian captivity. His prophetic career extended over a period of twenty-two years, from the fifth to the twenty-seventh year of the captivity. TheBook of Ezekielcontains predictions made before the fall of Jerusalem, 586B.C.(chaps. i-xxiv); prophecies against some of the neighbouring tribes (chaps. xxv-xxxii); prophecies concerning the future of Israel (xxxiii-xxxix); and a series of visions relating to the circumstances of the people after the restoration.
Ezra, a celebrated Jewish scribe and priest. Under his guidance the second expedition of the Jews set out from Babylon to Palestine in the reign of Artaxerxes I, about 458B.C.The important services rendered by Ezra to his countrymen on that occasion, and also in arranging, and in some measure, it is believed, settling the canon of Scripture, are specially acknowledged by the Jews, and he has even been regarded as the second founder of the nation. Josephus states that he died in Jerusalem; others assert that he returned to Babylon, and died there at the age of 120 years.The Book of Ezracontains an account of the favours bestowed upon the Jews by the Persian monarchs, the rebuilding of the temple, Ezra's mission to Jerusalem, and the various regulations and forms introduced by him. It is written partly in Hebrew and partly in Chaldee; this has led some to conclude that it is the work of different hands.
F, the sixth letter of the English alphabet, is a labio-dental articulation, formed by the passage of breath between the lower lip and the upper front teeth. It is classed as a surd spirant, its corresponding sonant spirant beingv, which is distinguished fromfby being pronounced with voice instead of breath, as may be perceived by pronouncingef, ev. The figure of the letter F is the same as that of the ancient Greek digamma, which it also closely resembles in power. As a mediæval Roman numeral F stands for 40, and with a bar above it, it is 40,000. F, in music, is the fourth note of the diatonic scale.
Faam-tea, orFaham-tea, a name given to the dried leaves of theAngræcum fragrans, an orchid growing in the Mauritius and in India, and much prized for the fragrance of its leaves, an infusion of which is used as a stomachic and as an expectorant in pulmonary complaints.
Faber, Frederick William,D.D., a theologian and hymn-writer, the nephew of George Stanley Faber, born at Durham in 1814, died 26th Sept., 1863. In 1845 he became a convert to Roman Catholicism, and founded the oratory of St. Philip Neri, afterwards transferred to Brompton.
Fabian Society, a Socialist organization, founded in 1888, whose object, as defined by the basis which members are required to sign, is the nationalization of all land and industrial capital for the benefit of the whole community; this result to be attained, not by any violent upheaval, but by educating the minds of the masses and gradually extending the control of the State over the factors of production. Its policy, as expounded inFabian Essays(1889) by a number of its early members, is frankly opportunist, and contemplates the use of existing political machinery and the acceptance of any measure of reform which will further the ultimate aims of the society. The name is derived from that of the Roman general, Quintus Fabius Maximus, known as Cunctator from the cautious tactics by which he ultimately defeated Hannibal. Prominent members of the society at different times have been Bernard Shaw, Sidney Webb, H. G. Wells, and J. A. Hobson. The society has branches in Great Britain, the Colonies, and America, and has issued a number of publications, notablyFabian Tracts. A research department recently established has done useful work. The growth of the labour movement has rather diminished the importance of the society, and has led to some secessions from its ranks.
Fabii(fā´bi-ī), an ancient and renowned family of Rome, who, having undertaken the duty of defending Roman territory against the incursions of the Veientines, established themselves at a post on the River Cremera. Being drawn into an ambush, they were killed to a man (477B.C.). A boy who happened to be left in Rome became the second founder of the family. Among its celebrated members in aftertimes was Fabius Maximus, whose policy of defensive warfare was so successful against Hannibal in the second Punic War (218-201B.C.); and Quintus Fabius Pictor, who lived about the same time and wrote a history of Rome in Greek, thus being the earliest Roman historian.
Fable(Lat.fabula, narrative), in literature, a term applied originally to every imaginative tale, but confined in modern use to short stories, either in prose or verse, in which animals and sometimes inanimate things are feigned to act and speak with human interests and passions for the purpose of inculcating a moral lesson in a pleasant and pointed manner. The fable consists properly of two parts—the symbolical representation and the application, or the instruction intended to be deduced from it, which latter is called themoralof the tale, and must be apparent in the fable itself. The oldest fables are supposed to be the Oriental; among these the Indian fables of Pilpay or Bidpai, and the fables of the Arabian Lokman, are celebrated. Amongst the Greeks, Æsop is the master of a simple but very effective style of fable. The fables of Phædrus are a second-rate Latin version of those of Æsop. In modern times Gellert and Lessing among the Germans, Gay among the English, the Spanish Yriarte, the Italian Pignotti, and the Russian Ivan Krylov, are celebrated. The first place, however, amongst modern fabulists belongs to the French writer La Fontaine. R. L. Stevenson wrote a collection of fables.—Cf. Walter Jerrold,The Big Book of Fables.
Fabliaux(fab´li-ō; O.F.fabliaus, Lat.fabella, dim. offabula, story), in French literature, the short metrical tales of the Trouvères, or early poets of the Langue d'Oil, composed for the most part in the twelfth and thirteenth centuries. These productions were intended merely for recitation, not for singing, and had as their principal subjects the current gossip and news of the day, which were treated in a witty and sarcastic way. The fabliaux lashed not only the clergy and nobility in their degeneracy, but even mocked the religious chivalrous spirit, and the religious and knightly doctrines and ceremonies.
Fabre, Jean Henri, French entomologist, born at Sainte-Leone, Aveyron, in 1823, died 11th Oct., 1915. The son of very poor parents, he received a free education at Rodez, and then went to the normal school at Vaucluse, and at the age of eighteen he began his career as teacher. He was in charge of a primary school, and in his spare time studied mathematics and physics. He subsequently became professor of physics at the College of Ajaccio, and his interest in insects having in the meantime been aroused, he turned his entire attention to entomological pursuits. His reputation as a naturalist increased, and his work was praised by Darwin. He was particularly noted for the remarkable patience with which he investigated the life-history of insects, and for his minute and painstaking observations. His works first appeared in theAnnales des sciences naturellesfrom 1855-8, and were afterwards amplified in hisSouvenirs Entomologiquesin 10 volumes, published between 1878 and 1907. He was made a chevalier of the Legion of Honour, and in 1912 the French Government granted him a pension. His works were translated into English by A. Texeira de Mattos.
Fabria´no, an episcopal city of Italy, province of Ancona. Pop. 23,750.
Fabricius, Gaius (with the cognomen Luscinus), an ancient Roman, celebrated on account of his fearlessness, integrity, moderation, and contempt of riches. After having conquered the Samnites and Lucanians, and enriched his country with the spoils, of which he alone took nothing, he was sent on an embassy to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, who tried in vain to corrupt him by large presents. When consul in 279B.C., Fabricius delivered up to Pyrrhus his treacherous physician, who had offered to poison his royal master for a sum of money. In gratitude for the service the king released the Roman prisoners without ransom. In 275B.C.Fabricius was chosen censor. He died about 250B.C.
Fabricius, Johann Albrecht, a German scholar, born at Leipzig in 1668, died in 1736. He became professor of rhetoric and moral philosophy at Hamburg, and published many learned works, amongst which are hisBibliotheca Latina,Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica, andBibliotheca Antiquaria.
Fabricius, Johann Christian, German entomologist, born 1743, died 3rd March, 1808. After studying at Copenhagen, Leyden, Edinburgh, and under Linnæus at Upsala, he obtained the post of professor of natural history in the University of Kiel. In 1755 appeared hisSystema Entomologiæ, which gave to this science an entirely new form. In 1778 he published hisPhilosophia Entomologica, written upon the plan of the well-knownPhilosophia Botanicaof Linnæus.
Facciolati(fa˙t-cho-lä´tē), Jacopo, Italian classical scholar, born 1682, died 1769; professor in the University of Padua. The most important work with which he was connected was theTotīus Latinitātis Lexicon, compiled by Forcellini under his direction and with his co-operation.
Face, the front part of the head, the seat of most of the sense-organs. The bony basis of the face, exclusive of the thirty-two teeth (these not being in the strict sense bones), is composed of fourteen bones, called, in anatomy, thebones of the face. The anterior part of the brain-case (frontal bone) also forms an important feature of the face. Of all these bones the lower jaw only is movable, being articulated with the base of the skull. The other bones are firmly joined together and incapable of motion. In most mammals the jaws project much more than in men, and form the prominent feature of theface, while the forehead recedes. SeeFacial Angle.
Face´tiæ, humorous sayings, witticisms, jests. There have been many collections of such. Amongst the most notable are theAsteia(Jests) of Hierocles, an old Greek collection, theLiber Facetiarumof Poggio Bracciolini, and Joe Miller'sJest-Book.
Facial Angle, an angle of importance in the method of skull measurement introduced by Camper, the Dutch anatomist, who sought to establish a connection between the magnitude of this angle and the intelligence of different animals and men, maintaining that it is always greater as the intellectual powers are greater. Suppose a straight line drawn at the base of the skull, posteriorly across the external orifice of the ear to the bottom of the nose, and another straight line from the bottom of the nose, or from the roots of the upper incisors, to the most prominent part of the forehead, then both lines will form an angle which will be more or less acute. In apes this angle is only from 45° to 60°; in the skull of a negro, about 70°; in a European, from 75° to 85°. In another mode of drawing the lines the angle included between them varies in man from 90° to 120°, and is more capable of comparison among vertebrate animals than the angle of Camper. Though of some importance in the comparison of races, this angle is fallacious as a test of individual capacity.
Facial AngleFacial Angle.1, European. 2, Negro.
1, European. 2, Negro.
Facial Nerve, a motor nerve which supplies the muscles of expression on either side of the face. Injury to this nerve producesfacial paralysis, the result of which is that the affected side is smooth, unwrinkled, and motionless, the eyelids are wide open and cannot be closed, and the muscles of the sound side having it all their own way drag the mouth to that side.
Factor, in arithmetic, is any number which divides a given number without a remainder, thus 3, 5, 7 are all factors of 105. In algebra, any expressions multiplied together to form a product are said to be factors of the product; for example,x+ 1,x+ 2,x+ 3 are factors ofx3+ 6x2+ 11x+ 6.
Factor, in commerce, an agent employed to do business for another in buying or selling, or in the charge of property. A factor differs from a broker in holding a wider and more discretionary commission from his employer, in being able to buy and sell in his own name, and in having a lien on goods for his outlay. The difference, however, depends so much upon the usage of the particular trade, or upon the special instructions constituting the agency, that no exact line of demarcation can really be drawn between them. The term factor has in common usage generally given place to the terms agent and broker, the former applied in the more general, the latter in the more restricted sense. It is still retained in some special cases, as in that of house-factors and factors on landed property in Scotland, who have charge of the letting and general management of house property, farms, &c.; called in England estate agents.
Fac´tory(fromfactor), a name which appears originally to have been given to establishments of merchants and factors resident in foreign countries; it now more commonly signifies a place in which the various processes of a particular manufacture are carried on simultaneously. The rapid growth of factories in this sense is a comparatively recent development of industry, resulting from the free use of machinery and the consequent subdivision of labour. Amongst the advantages of the factory system are generally counted: first, increased productiveness arising from the minute division of labour; second, the mechanical accuracy and the cheapness of the product turned out by machinery; third, the facilities for union and co-operation for common improvement afforded by bringing large masses of workmen together. But this last consideration is probably more than counter-balanced by the smaller amount of independent intelligence called forth in the individual worker, through the monotony of the minutely subdivided operations. Decided disadvantages of the factory system are the unhealthiness of the crowded rooms, where the air is full of deleterious elements; and the increasing demand on the labour of women and children, interfering as it does with the economy of domestic life.—Bibliography: R. W. Cooke-Taylor,Factory System and Factory Acts; B. L. Hutchins,A History of Factory Legislation.
Factory Acts, Acts passed for the regulation of factories and similar establishments. Considering that women and children were not qualified fully to protect themselves against the strain of competition, the British legislature has passed a series of Acts to regulate the conditions of their employment in factories. The immediate occasion of the first Act passed to regulate factory employment in England was the outbreak of an epidemic disease which committed great havoc among the younger persons employed in factories in the district round Manchester at the beginningof the nineteenth century. An Act was passed (1802) in which provision was made for the regular cleansing and ventilation of mills and factories, and also for limiting the hours of labour to twelve daily. In 1819 an Act followed which prescribed an hour and a half for meals in the course of a working day, and prohibited children under nine years of age being employed in factory work at all. Various Acts were passed up to 1878, when a general Factory and Workshop Act was passed, consolidating the previous series of statutes. Its scope was extended by a further series of enactments, until in the year 1901 the last general Act was passed, which consolidates and amends all previous legislation. The Act contains general provisions regarding drainage, sanitary conveniences, overcrowding, ventilation, fencing of dangerous machinery, &c. Factories are distinguished from workshops as making use of steam or other mechanical power. In textile factories the hours of labour for women and young persons (the latter between 14 and 18 years of age) are restricted to 10, but only 6½ on Saturday and 56 in the week. In non-textile factories and workshops the hours may be 10½ per day and 60 per week at most. Children (of 12 to 14 years) were not allowed to be employed more than 6½ hours on any one day. (The Education Acts now prohibit almost entirely the employment of 'school children' in factories and workshops.) Provision is made for a certain number of annual holidays. Special provisions for particular kinds of factories are made, and under these the employment of females and young persons is regulated in bleaching- and dyeing-works, lace-factories, manufactories of earthenware, lucifer matches, percussion caps, cartridges, blast-furnaces, copper-mills, forges, foundries, manufactories of machinery, metal, india-rubber, gutta-percha, paper, glass, tobacco, letterpress printing, bookbinding, &c. The Act of 1901 included laundries carried on by way of trade or for the purposes of gain. An Act of 1907 extended the Act of 1901 to laundries carried on as ancillary to another business or incidentally to the purposes of any public institution. A short Act passed in 1911 gave power to make regulations applicable to cotton-cloth factories. Certain exceptions in regard to working over-time are provided for; thus women may sometimes work 14 hours a day. So far there has been no direct interference in any of the Factory Acts with the labour of adult male persons; but it is obvious that indirectly the position of the male labourer also is affected by legislation of this sort.
Fac´ulæ(Lat.facula, a torch), bright markings on the sun's disc, i.e. portions more brilliant than the general surface. They are supposed to be parts of the luminous surface, or photosphere, which are elevated to a greater height, and therefore suffer less absorption of their light in its passage through the overlying gases and vapours. Like the spots, they are in a state of constant change, and exhibit a similar periodicity in numbers and extent.
Faculties, Court of, in English law, a jurisdiction or tribunal belonging to the archbishop. It does not hold pleas in any suits, but has power to grant licences or dispensations, such as, to marry without banns, or to remove bodies previously buried.
Faculty, the members, taken collectively, of the medical or legal professions; thus we speak of the medical faculty, and (in Scotland) of the faculty of advocates. The term is also used for the professors and teachers collectively of the several departments in a university; as, the faculty of arts, of theology, of medicine, or of law.
Faculty, in law, is a power to do something, the right to do which the law admits, or a special privilege granted by law to do something which would otherwise be forbidden.
Fæces, the excrementitious part evacuated by animals. It varies, of course, with different species of animals, according to their diet. The main constituents are unassimilable parts of the food, on which the digestive process has no effect, and other portions, quite nutritious, but which have escaped digestion, also certain waste matters, &c. In disease the composition varies extremely.
Faed(fād), John,R.S.A., artist, born in Kirkcudbrightshire in 1820, died in 1902. He showed artistic talent at an early age, and in 1841 went to Edinburgh to study. Some years later he acquired a considerable reputation, and was elected to the Royal Scottish Academy in 1851. Among his principal works are:Shakespeare and his Contemporaries;An Incident of Scottish Justice;The Morning after Flodden;A Wappenshaw; two series of drawings illustratingThe Cotter's Saturday NightandThe Soldier's Return;John Anderson, My Jo;Auld Mare Maggie;The Gamekeeper's Daughter;The Hiring Fair.
Faed, Thomas,R.A., younger brother of the preceding, born at the same place in 1826, died in 1900. He studied in Edinburgh, where at an early age he became known as a clever painter of rustic subjects. In 1852 he settled in London, where he won a high reputation. The subjects he painted are for the most part domestic or pathetic, and in these he invented and told his own story, and that with a success that emulates Wilkie. Among his principal works are:Sir Walter Scott and his Friends(1849),The Mitherless Bairn(1855),The First Break in the Family(1857),Sunday in the Backwoods(1859),His Only Pair(1860),From Dawn to Sunset(1861),The Last o' the Clan(1865). Anumber of Faed's works have been engraved in large size, and have been very popular.
Faenza(fa˙-en´za), an episcopal city of N. Italy, in the province of and 19 miles south-west of Ravenna. It is supposed to have been the first Italian city in which the earthenware calledfaience(q.v.) was introduced. The manufacture still flourishes here, and there is also a considerable trade in spinning and weaving silk. Pop. (commune), 40,164.
Fagaceæ, a nat. ord. of apetalous Dicotyledons, all trees and shrubs, mostly natives of temperate regions. It includes the beeches and oaks, and the sweet chestnut (Castanea).
Fagging, a custom which formerly prevailed generally at most of the English schools, and is still practised at Eton, Winchester, Harrow, Rugby, and one or two other places. It consists in making the junior boys act as servants or 'fags' in the performance of multifarious menial offices for elder boys, such as carrying messages or preparing breakfast for their master, in return for which the elder boy accepts a certain responsibility for keeping order, and becomes the recognized adviser and protector of his 'fags'.
Faggot-vote, a term formerly applied in Britain to a vote procured by the purchase of property so as to constitute a nominal qualification without a substantial basis. Faggot-votes were chiefly used in county elections for members of Parliament. The way in which they were usually manufactured was by the purchase of a property which was divided into as many lots as would constitute separate votes, and given to different persons, who need not be resident members of the constituency. The practice disappeared after the Reform Act of 1884.
Faguet, Émile, French literary historian, critic, and journalist, born at La Roche-sur-Yon in 1847, died in 1916. He became professor of poetry at the Sorbonne in 1897. Endowed with a keen power of analysis and a wealth of original ideas, he was one of the most brilliant French critics of the nineteenth century. Whilst praising the literature of the seventeenth century, Faguet somewhat depreciated the writers of the eighteenth century. Among his numerous works are:Le théâtre contemporain(1880-91),Dix-huitième siècle(1890),Seizième siècle(1893),Drame ancien et drame moderne(1898),Histoire de la littérature française(1900),Propos littéraires(1902),Initiation into Literature, andInitiation into Philosophy.
Fagus. SeeBeech.
Fahlerz(fäl´erts), or grey copper ore, is of a steel-grey or iron-black colour. It occurs crystallized in the form of the tetrahedron, also massive and disseminated. Its fracture is uneven or imperfectly conchoidal. Specific gravity, 4.5-5.1.Tetrahedrite, the typical species, is composed of copper, sulphur, and antimony. Part of the copper is often replaced by iron, zinc, silver, or mercury, and part of the antimony by arsenic.
Fahlunite, a mineral of a greenish colour occurring in six-sided prisms. It is a pseudomorph after iolite, and consists mainly of hydrous aluminium silicate. It takes its name from Fahlun in Sweden.
Fahrenheit(fä´rėn-hīt), Gabriel Daniel, German physicist, known for his arrangement of the thermometer, was born at Danzig in 1686, died in 1736. Abandoning the commercial profession for which he had been designed, he settled in Holland to study natural philosophy. In 1720 he effected a great improvement by the use of quicksilver instead of spirits of wine in thermometers. He invented the Fahrenheit scale (seeThermometer), and made several valuable discoveries in physics. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1724.
Faidherbe(fā-derb), Louis Léon César, a French general, born in 1818, died in 1889. He entered the army in 1840, served in Africa and the West Indies, was appointed Governor of Senegal in 1854, and afterwards of a district in Algiers from 1867 to 1870. After the fall of Napoleon III, he was summoned by the Government of the National Defence to France and appointed commander of the army of the north. He fought some bloody but indecisive battles with the Germans under Manteuffel and Goeben. After the war he was elected to the Assembly by Lille, his native place, but on the triumph of Thiers retired from politics to private life. He wroteÉpigraphie Phénicienne, and valuable monographs on Senegal, the Sudan, and other parts of Africa.
Faience(fa˙-yens´), imitation porcelain, a kind of fine pottery, superior to the common pottery in its glazing, beauty of form, and richness of painting. Several kinds of faience are distinguished by critics. It derived its name from the town of Faenza, in Italy, where a fine sort of pottery calledmajolicawas manufactured as early as the fourteenth century. The majolica reached its greatest perfection between 1530 and 1560. In the Louvre, the Musée de Cluny, the British and Victoria and Albert Museums, at Berlin, and at Dresden are rich collections of it. The modern faience appears to have been invented about the middle of the sixteenth century, at Faenza, as an imitation of majolica, and obtained its name in France, where a man from Faenza, having discovered a similar kind of clay at Nevers, had introduced the manufacture of it. True faience is made of a yellowish or ruddy earth, covered with an enamel which is usually white, but may be coloured. This enamel is a glass rendered opaque by oxide of tin or othersuitable material, and is intended not only to glaze the body, but to conceal it entirely. SeePottery.—Cf. M. L. Solon,The Old French Faience.
Failly(fa˙-yē), Pierre Louis Charles Achille de, French general, born in 1810, died in 1892. He distinguished himself in the Crimean War, and commanded a division against the Austrians in 1859. He was the means of introducing the Chassepôt rifle into the French army, and commanded the troops which dispersed Garibaldi's irregulars at Mentana. At the outbreak of the Franco-German War Failly received the command of the 5th Corps, but was very unfortunate or unskilful in his organization of operations. His masterly inactivity in the early weeks of the war caused great popular indignation in France. Sedan ended his career as a soldier.
Failsworth, a town of England, in Lancashire, 4 miles north-east of Manchester, with cotton-mills. Silk-weaving and hat-making are also carried on. Pop. 16,972.
Fainéants(fā-nā-a˙n˙; Fr., 'do-nothings'), a sarcastic epithet applied to the later Merovingian kings of France, who were puppets in the hands of the mayors of the palace. Louis V, the last of the Carlovingian dynasty, received the same designation.
Fainting, orSyncope, a sudden suspension of the heart's action, of sensation, and the power of motion. It may be produced by loss of blood, pain, emotional disturbance, or organic or other diseases of the heart. It is to be treated by placing the patient on his back in a recumbent position or even with head slightly depressed, sprinkling cold water on his face, applying stimulant scents to the nostrils, or anything which tends to bring back the blood to the brain. The admission of fresh cool air and the loosening of any tight articles of dress are important.
Fairbairn, Patrick, Scottish theologian, born 1805, died 1874. He became a minister of the Established Church, but joined the Free Church at the disruption in 1843. In 1853 he was appointed professor of divinity in the Free Church College, Aberdeen, and in 1856 principal of the Free Church College, Glasgow. Among his works are:Typology of Scripture;Jonah: his Life, Character, and Mission;Ezekiel;Prophecy;Hermeneutical Manual;Pastoral Epistles of St. Paul. He edited and wrote extensively for theImperial Bible Dictionary.
Fairbairn, Sir William, British civil engineer, born at Kelso, Roxburghshire, in 1789, died 18th Aug., 1874. He was apprenticed as an engine-wright at a colliery in North Shields, and commenced business on his own account in Manchester with James Lillie in 1817, where he made many improvements in machinery, such as the use of iron instead of wood in the shafting of cotton-mills. About 1831, his attention having been attracted to the use of iron as a material for shipbuilding, he built the first iron ship. His firm became extensively employed in iron shipbuilding at Manchester and at Millwall, London, and had a great share in the development of the trade. He shares with Stephenson the merit of constructing the great tubular bridge across the Menai Strait. Fairbairn was one of the earliest members of the British Association for the Advancement of Science, of which he was president in 1861 and 1862. He was created a baronet in 1869. Sir William wrote many valuable professional books and papers, amongst which are:On Canal Steam Navigation(1831);Iron: its History, Properties, and Manufacture(1841);Application of Iron to Building Purposes(1854);Iron Ship-building(1865). His brother Sir Peter, born 1799, died 1861, had also great mechanical ability, and founded large machine-works at Leeds.
Fairfax, Edward, the translator into English verse of Tasso'sJerusalem Delivered, was the natural son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, and born in the last quarter of the sixteenth century. He settled at Newhall, in the parish of Fewston, Yorkshire, to a life of studious leisure. The first edition of his translation bears the date of 1600. One or two eclogues by him also remain. He died in 1635.
Fairfax, Thomas, Lord, parliamentary general during the English Civil War, born in 1611 at Denton, in Yorkshire, died at Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, 12th Nov., 1671. He was the son and heir of Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax, to whose title and estates he succeeded in 1648. After serving in the Netherlands with some reputation, he returned to England, and on the rupture between Charles I and the Parliament joined the forces of the latter. In 1642 he was appointed General of the Horse, and two years later held a chief command in the army sent to co-operate with the Scots. In 1645, on the resignation of the Earl of Essex, Fairfax became general-in-chief of the Parliamentary army. After the victory at Naseby he marched into the western counties, quelling all opposition, put down the insurgents in Kent and Essex in 1647, and captured Colchester. In April, 1649, he was occupied along with Cromwell in suppressing revolt in the army; but positively declined to march against the Scottish Presbyterians. He was a member of Cromwell's first Parliament. He co-operated in the restoration of Charles II, being one of the committee charged to secure his return.
Fairford, a town in Gloucestershire, England, 8 miles east by south of Cirencester, with a church the twenty-eight windows of which are filled with beautiful stained glass, formerly ascribed to Albert Dürer, but now known to have beendesigned and executed in England. Fairford was the birth-place of John Keble. Pop. 1410.
Fair Head, a basaltic promontory on the north coast of Ireland, County Antrim, rising to the height of 636 feet.
Fairies and Elves.The fairies of folk-belief must be distinguished from the fairies of imaginative literature. Shakespeare, for instance, drew upon the fairy-lore of living tradition to create a new fairy mythology (as inA Midsummer Night's Dream) which became a literary convention. In the fairy stories of Hans Andersen the folk-material was similarly used in a free and individual manner. A distinction must likewise be drawn between the Celtic fairies and the Teutonic elves. The former are mainly females, like the nymphs of Homer, ruled over by a fairy queen, while the latter are mainly males, ruled over by an elf-king. Mab, the fairy queen, had no consort in British fairy literature until Oberon, King of the Fairies, was imported from mediæval romance. His name 'Auberon', anciently 'Alberon', is identical with that of the German elfin king 'Alberich'. Indeed, the very names 'fairy' and 'fay' were introduced into these islands from abroad. More than one class of supernatural beings referred to in Gaelic as theside(Irish) orsith(Scottish), and pronouncedshee, are now called 'fairies'. These include the Danann deities of Irish mythology and 'the mothers' (Y Mamau) of Welsh folk-lore. The wordsideorsithhas the secondary meaning of 'peace', and refers to the silence of death and the silence of fairy movements. It may also be translated as 'supernatural', 'Otherworld', or 'unearthly'. Mysterious diseases that come in epidemics and afterwards disappear are referred to as diseases of the side or sith. Cat demons arecait shith, the cuckoo iseun sith, the mythical 'water horse' iseach sith, a monstrous dog that passes over land and sea by night iscu sith, while the 'will-o'-the-wisp' isteine sith('supernatural fire'). In Icelandsiderefers to the dwellings (earth mounds, &c.) of the Dananns, &c., as well as to the supernatural inhabitants. The fairies of folk-belief always come from the west on eddies of wind, and cannot be seen except by those who have 'second sight', or those whose eyes have been anointed with a green balsam possessed by fairies. Sometimes the fairies render themselves visible to all, but one who grasps the garment of a fairy finds his hand closing on nothing. The usual height of fairies is about 3 feet, but they have power to shrink and pass through a crack in a door. They may also assume great stature. The Danannsideof Ireland are of human or above human height. In Scotland 'green ladies' are of ordinary human size. The chief fairy colours are blue (the eyes), golden (the hair), and green, red, and grey (for clothing). Occasionally fairy beings are white and black. A black fairy with a red spot above the heart is referred to in Scottish stories, but is rare. He can be slain by piercing the red spot. Thesideorsithmay be attired entirely in green with red caps, or have red cloaks and green skirts. A beautiful fairy queen may suddenly transform herself into an ugly old hag with black and white face and garments, as did the fairy who carried off Thomas the Rhymer to the Underworld. The dead were supposed to go to Fairyland, the Pagan Paradise. Those who died before their time were doomed to visit their former haunts as 'green ladies', i.e. green ghosts, until their measure of life was completed. Stories that tell of visions of the dead in the Underworld refer to them feasting and dancing, or reaping corn and plucking fruit in well-watered valleys. The resemblance of the Celtic Agricultural Paradise to the Otherworld of the Egyptian Osiris, which was originally situated under the ground, is of special interest. Both in the Underworld Paradise and on the 'Isles of the Blest' (the CelticAvalonor 'apple land' and 'Land of the Ever-Young') is a tree of life, which may be an apple tree, a hazel tree, or a rowan tree. The apples, nuts, or berries confer longevity on the gods and the souls of human beings that partake of them. On those human beings who have won their favour, the fairies bestow weapons, implements, musical instruments, songs, tunes, and medicines, and the power to work charms and foretell future events. In the Underworld, fairies engage in metal working and other industries. Sometimes they visit houses, and spin and weave with supernatural skill and speed in a single night big bales of clothing material, or make beautiful garments. Fairies possess gems, gold, silver, and copper in their underground dwellings. Cornish miners hear them working in their mines. The 'banshee' (Ir.ben-side) is a Fate who is seen washing the blood-stained clothing, or the 'death clothes', of those who are doomed to die a sudden death. She either howls, or sings a weird song, or can be heard 'knocking' as she strikes the clothing with a beetle during the washing, when a tragedy is at hand. Fairy women of great beauty have human lovers, but vanish for ever after a few meetings, with the result that their lovers become demented. Fairy men (fer-side) likewise upset the minds of girls. The fairies abduct human children, leaving 'changelings' in cradles, or carry off wives to act as 'wet nurses' or midwives. Men who die suddenly are supposed to be transported to Fairyland. King Arthur, the Rev. Mr. Kirk of Aberfoyle, Thomas the Rhymer, and others were removed to the Fairy Paradise. Among the Celticsidearepixies,geniti-glinni(valley genii),Bocanachs(male goblins),Bananachs(femalegoblins),Demna aeir(spirits of the air), &c. Fairies may appear in animal forms, chiefly as beautiful birds. Elves are workers in metals, like Wayland Smith, and guardians of treasure who assume the forms of fish, otters, serpents, &c. Black elves dwell under the ground, and white elves haunt the air and the sea. Sea-elves are 'nikkers'. The Greek 'Fates', like the Celtic fairies, spin, weave, and embroider wedding and other garments in a single night for those they favour, and sometimes appear in groups of three, as old hags, to foretell tragic events or work spells. Celtic 'women of theside' sometimes appear in groups of three. The nereids are, like the fairy ladies, beautiful and capricious, and are likewise invariably blue eyed and golden haired. 'Nereid born' refers to the changeling idea. Nereids travel on whirlwinds, and, like the Celtic fairies, cause spinning spirals of dust on highways. They confer gifts on mortals, and accept offerings of food. Lacon the poet sings, "I will set a great bowl of white milk for the nymphs". In the Scottish Highlands the milk offering was poured on the ground for those 'under the earth', or into a hollowed stone (clach-na-gruagaich). The Indian 'nagas' have power to change from serpent to human form, or to appear as half-human, half-reptile beings. Like the Celtic fairies, they have been referred to by some writers as aborigines who hid from invaders in earth-houses, in forests, and among the hills. In this connection P. C. Roy, the translator of theMahábhárata, writes: "Nagas are semi-divine and can move through air and water and ascend to high heaven itself when they like, and have their home at Patala (the Underworld). To take them for some non-Aryan race, as has become the fashion with some ... is the very height of absurdity.... None of these writers, however, is acquainted with Sanskrit, and that is their best excuse." The fairies and elves of China and Japan resemble those of Europe. In Polynesia there are fairy-like beings. They are calledPatupaiarehe, and dwell in lonely places, appearing only at night. Human beings receive gifts from them, or knowledge of how to make nets, weapons, &c. The changeling idea is as prevalent as in Europe. It is of special interest to find that the Polynesian fairies have, like the Celtic, fair hair and white skins. Other peoples believe in the existence of fairy-like beings. SeeFolklore.—Bibliography: T. Keightley,Fairy Mythology; E. S. Hartland,Science of Fairy Tales; Delattre,English Fairy Poetry from the Origins to the Seventeenth Century; H. A. Giles,China and the Chinese; J. G. Lawson,Modern Greek Folklore and Ancient Greek Religion; Sir George Grey,Polynesian Mythology; P. W. Joyce,Social History of Ancient Ireland.
Fair Isle, an island lying nearly midway between the Orkney and Shetland Islands, 3 miles long by 2 broad. It is inaccessible except at one point, and rises to the height of 711 feet. Some grain is grown, but the surface is mostly in pasture. The men engage in fishing; the women knit a well-known variety of hosiery, introduced, it is said, by Spaniards who escaped from the wreck of one of the vessels belonging to the Spanish Armada. There are two lighthouses. Pop. 147.
Fair Oaks, Battle of, fought at Fair Oaks, in Virginia, 7 miles east of Richmond, between the Confederates under General Johnston and the Union troops under General M‘Clellan, 31st May, 1862. The loss on each side was nearly 6000 men; the result was indecisive.
Fairs(Lat.feria, holiday, connected withfestus, feast), periodical meetings of persons having goods or wares for sale in an open market held at a particular place, and generally for the transaction of a particular class of business. The origin of fairs is obviously to be traced to the convenience of bringing together at stated times the buyers and sellers of the stock-produce of a district. In Europe the numerous festivals of the Church afforded the most favourable opportunity for the establishment of these markets. This association is indicated in the German name of a fair, which is identical with that used for the ceremony of the mass. In the Middle Ages fairs were of great importance, and were specially privileged and chartered by princes and magistrates, public proclamation being made of their commencement and duration. But modern facilities of communication have much diminished the necessity for periodical markets, and it is now chiefly amongst agriculturists that they are of much importance, large agricultural meetings being held in various districts for the sale of cattle and horses, and for the exhibition of agricultural implements. There are also, especially in Scotland, a considerable number of hiring fairs for farm servants. In the less developed commerce of the East, however, they still retain much of their ancient importance and magnitude. In Europe the most important fairs of the present day are those at Leipzig and Frankfort-on-the-Main in Germany, at Lyons in France, and Nijni-Novgorod in Russia. The last is, indeed, the largest fair in the world. The fairs of Great Britain now mostly consist of the weekly market-days of country towns and the agricultural meetings already mentioned. In many places the old fair-days are still kept, but are now merely an assemblage of penny-theatres, peep-shows, and such amusements. Amongst the fairs which were once celebrated saturnalia, or rather bacchanalia, may be mentioned Donnybrook Fair in the county of Dublin;Bartholomew and Greenwich Fairs, London; and Glasgow Fair. The first three are now extinct. Fairs in the sense of markets are unknown in the United States, but the term is usually given to ladies' fancy bazaars, collections of fine art or the higher industries for public exhibition.—Cf. C. Walford,Fairs, Past and Present.
Fair Trade, an economical policy advocated by many in Britain, which, while not opposed to free trade in principle, would meet the prohibitory tariffs that foreign countries may put on British goods by placing equally heavy duties on goods sent from these countries to Britain. SeeFree Trade.
Fairweather, Mount, on the west coast of North America, in Alaska territory. It rises to the height of 14,900 feet, and is covered with perpetual snow.
Fairy Ring, a circle, or part of a circle of grass, of a darker colour and more luxuriant growth than the surrounding herbage, superstitiously associated with fairy revels. Actually it is due to the growth of a subterranean fungus-mycelium, which gradually spreads outwards from a central point of origin, the older parts dying and serving as manure for the grass, which appears even more vigorous than it really is by contrast with that on the outermost edge of the ring, where the living mycelium has a bad effect upon the grass-roots. The commonest fairy-ring fungus isMarasmius oreades, the fairy-ring champignon.
Faith, the assent of the mind to the truth of what is declared by another, resting on his authority and veracity, either without other evidence or on probable evidence of any kind. In a special sense the term faith is used for the assent of the mind to what is given forth as a revelation of man's relation to God and the infinite, i.e. a religious faith. In Christian theology we have: first,historicalorspeculative faith, or belief in the historic truthfulness of the Scripture narrative and the claims of Scripture to an inspired and supernatural origin; second,evangelicalorsaving faith, that emotion of the mind (as Dwight defines it) which is called trust, or confidence exercised towards the moral character of God, and particularly of the Saviour.—Cf. W. R. Inge,Faith and its Psychology.
Faith-healing.The tenets of the Peculiar People and of other believers in healing by faith differ from the views of Christian Scientists in this respect: that, while the latter hold pain and disease to be illusions of the imagination, the faith-healer admits their existence, but affirms the possibility of their removal by non-scientific means. Some make use of anointing with oil, while others hold prayer and the laying-on of hands to be the only requisites. Faith-healing traces its source to the raising of the apparently dead, the curing of the sick, the restoration of sight to the blind, and other recorded miracles of Christ; thence through the miracles of the disciples and their successors, down to the performances of Dorothy Trudel in Switzerland, and the displays of Dowie in London (1904). Faith-healers flourish extensively in Sweden and America, while even in England 'Bethshans' (houses of cure) have been established. Faith, or some may say credulity, attributes the alleged cures to supernatural agency; science sees in them the action of 'suggestion', with an exalted and emotional state of mind in the patient, more especially when surrounded and encouraged by a crowd of expectant and credulous lookers-on. Excessive reliance on his or her own powers has not seldom brought a faith-healer within the menace of the law, owing to neglect to employ a qualified medical man, and the consequent death of the sufferer. In a broad sense of the term the belief in healing by faith has been at the root of 'touching' for the King's Evil, a practice followed by several English and French sovereigns (seeMacbeth, iv, 3, 141); of the value placed on relics; of alleged cures effected at such 'holy places' as St. Winifred's Well in Wales, and the miraculous grotto at Lourdes; and of the firm belief, not yet entirely extinct, in many rustic remedies, such as the removal of children's ailments by immuring a live shrew in a cleft ash tree.—Bibliography: F. Podmore,Mesmerism and Christian Science; G. B. Cutten,Three Thousand Years of Mental Healing.
Fakirs(fa˙-kērz'; literally 'poor men'), a kind of fanatic met with chiefly in India and the neighbouring countries, who retire from the world and give themselves up to contemplation. They are properly of the Mohammedan religion, but the term is often used for a mendicant of any faith. They are found both living in communities and solitary. The wandering fakirs gain the veneration of the lower classes by absurd penances and self-mutilations.
Falaise(fa˙-lāz), a town, France, department of Calvados, picturesquely situated on a rocky precipice (Fr.falaise) 23 milesS.S.E.of Caen. It contains several objects of interest, among others the ruined castle of the Dukes of Normandy, where William the Conqueror was born. Pop. 6850.
Falashas, inhabitants of Amhara, in Abyssinia, who claim descent from Jewish emigrants during the reign of Jereboam. SeeAbyssinia.
Falckenstein, Edward Vogel von, a Prussian general, born in 1797, died in 1885. In 1813 he entered the Prussian army, distinguishing himself at the battles of Katzbach and Montmirail. In 1848 he served in the Holstein campaign, and he acted as colonel and chief of staff in the warwith Denmark in 1864. In the war of 1866 he commanded the Seventh Army Corps. On the outbreak of the Franco-German War in 1870 he was appointed military governor of the maritime provinces.