The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 18

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. _Yehezg[=e]l_, 'G.o.d shall strengthen'), the third of the great prophets, a priest, and the son of Buzi. He was carried away when young (about 599 B.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. The _Book of Ezekiel_ contains predictions made before the fall of Jerusalem, 586 B.C. (chaps. i-xxiv); prophecies against some of the neighbouring tribes (chaps. xxv-x.x.xii); prophecies concerning the future of Israel (x.x.xiii-x.x.xix); and a series of visions relating to the circ.u.mstances 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 458 B.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 a.s.sert that he returned to Babylon, and died there at the age of 120 years. _The Book of Ezra_ contains 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

F, the sixth letter of the English alphabet, is a labio-dental articulation, formed by the pa.s.sage of breath between the lower lip and the upper front teeth. It is cla.s.sed as a surd spirant, its corresponding sonant spirant being _v_, which is distinguished from _f_ by being p.r.o.nounced with voice instead of breath, as may be perceived by p.r.o.nouncing _ef, 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 mediaeval 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, or FAHAM-TEA, a name given to the dried leaves of the _Angraec.u.m 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 ma.s.ses and gradually extending the control of the State over the factors of production. Its policy, as expounded in _Fabian 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, notably _Fabian 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 (f[=a]'bi-[=i]), 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 (477 B.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 (218-201 B.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 pa.s.sions 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 the _moral_ of 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, aesop is the master of a simple but very effective style of fable. The fables of Phaedrus are a second-rate Latin version of those of aesop. 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-[=o]; O.F. _fabliaus_, Lat. _fabella_, dim. of _fabula_, story), in French literature, the short metrical tales of the Trouveres, 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 princ.i.p.al 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 n.o.bility 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 the _Annales des sciences naturelles_ from 1855-8, and were afterwards amplified in his _Souvenirs Entomologiques_ in 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 emba.s.sy to Pyrrhus, King of Epirus, who tried in vain to corrupt him by large presents. When consul in 279 B.C., Fabricius delivered up to Pyrrhus his treacherous physician, who had offered to poison his royal master for a sum of money. In grat.i.tude for the service the king released the Roman prisoners without ransom. In 275 B.C. Fabricius was chosen censor. He died about 250 B.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 his _Bibliotheca Latina_, _Bibliotheca Ecclesiastica_, and _Bibliotheca Antiquaria_.

FABRICIUS, Johann Christian, German entomologist, born 1743, died 3rd March, 1808. After studying at Copenhagen, Leyden, Edinburgh, and under Linnaeus at Upsala, he obtained the post of professor of natural history in the University of Kiel. In 1755 appeared his _Systema Entomologiae_, which gave to this science an entirely new form. In 1778 he published his _Philosophia Entomologica_, written upon the plan of the well-known _Philosophia Botanica_ of Linnaeus.

FACCIOLATI (f[.a]t-cho-la't[=e]), Jacopo, Italian cla.s.sical scholar, born 1682, died 1769; professor in the University of Padua. The most important work with which he was connected was the _Tot[=i]us Latinit[=a]tis 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, the _bones 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 the face, while the forehead recedes. See _Facial Angle_.

FACE'TIae, humorous sayings, witticisms, jests. There have been many collections of such. Amongst the most notable are the _Asteia_ (Jests) of Hierocles, an old Greek collection, the _Liber Facetiarum_ of Poggio Bracciolini, and Joe Miller's _Jest-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.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Facial Angle.

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 produces _facial 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 of x^3 + 6x^2 + 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 const.i.tuting 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 (from _factor_), 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 ma.s.ses 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 pa.s.sed for the regulation of factories and similar establishments. Considering that women and children were not qualified fully to protect themselves against the strain of compet.i.tion, the British legislature has pa.s.sed a series of Acts to regulate the conditions of their employment in factories. The immediate occasion of the first Act pa.s.sed 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 beginning of the nineteenth century. An Act was pa.s.sed (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 pa.s.sed up to 1878, when a general Factory and Workshop Act was pa.s.sed, 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 pa.s.sed, 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 6 on Sat.u.r.day and 56 in the week. In non-textile factories and workshops the hours may be 10 per day and 60 per week at most. Children (of 12 to 14 years) were not allowed to be employed more than 6 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, gla.s.s, 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 inst.i.tution. A short Act pa.s.sed 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'ULae (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 pa.s.sage 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.

FaeCES, the excrement.i.tious part evacuated by animals. It varies, of course, with different species of animals, according to their diet. The main const.i.tuents are una.s.similable 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 (f[=a]d), John, R.S.A., artist, born in Kirkcudbrights.h.i.+re 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 princ.i.p.al works are: _Shakespeare and his Contemporaries_; _An Incident of Scottish Justice_; _The Morning after Flodden_; _A Wappenshaw_; two series of drawings ill.u.s.trating _The Cotter's Sat.u.r.day Night_ and _The 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 princ.i.p.al 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). A number of Faed's works have been engraved in large size, and have been very popular.

FAENZA (f[.a]-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 called _faience_ (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.

f.a.gACEae, 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).

f.a.gGING, 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 'f.a.gs' 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 'f.a.gs'.

f.a.gGOT-VOTE, a term formerly applied in Britain to a vote procured by the purchase of property so as to const.i.tute a nominal qualification without a substantial basis. f.a.ggot-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 const.i.tute separate votes, and given to different persons, who need not be resident members of the const.i.tuency. The practice disappeared after the Reform Act of 1884.

f.a.gUET, emile, 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 a.n.a.lysis 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, f.a.guet somewhat depreciated the writers of the eighteenth century.

Among his numerous works are: _Le theatre contemporain_ (1880-91), _Dix-huitieme siecle_ (1890), _Seizieme siecle_ (1893), _Drame ancien et drame moderne_ (1898), _Histoire de la litterature francaise_ (1900), _Propos litteraires_ (1902), _Initiation into Literature_, and _Initiation into Philosophy_.

f.a.gUS. See _Beech_.

FAHLERZ (fal'erts), or grey copper ore, is of a steel-grey or iron-black colour. It occurs crystallized in the form of the tetrahedron, also ma.s.sive 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 a.r.s.enic.

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 (fa'r[.e]n-h[=i]t), 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 (see _Thermometer_), and made several valuable discoveries in physics. He was elected a fellow of the Royal Society of London in 1724.