The New Gresham Encyclopedia Part 20

FALKLAND (f[a:]k'land), an ancient royal burgh of Scotland, county of Fife, 21 miles north of Edinburgh. It was once the residence of the Scottish kings, and possesses remains of an ancient palace and some curious old houses. There was formerly a castle here, in which David, eldest son of Robert III, was starved to death by order of his uncle the Duke of Albany, but no trace of it now remains. Falkland Palace was garrisoned by Rob Roy in 1715. Pop. 781.

FALKLAND ISLANDS, an island group belonging to Great Britain, in the South Atlantic Ocean, about 300 miles east of the Straits of Magellan. They consist of two larger islands, East Falkland and West Falkland, containing respectively about 3000 and 2300 sq. miles, with a great number of smaller ones surrounding them; total area, 6500 sq. miles. They are hilly and boggy, entirely dest.i.tute of trees, but covered with a variety of gra.s.ses very nutritive for the sheep and cattle the rearing of which is the princ.i.p.al industry. Fish and sea-fowl abound. Wool, frozen meat, hides, and tallow are the chief exports; value in some years 600,000. The climate is equable and very healthy. The Falkland Islands were discovered by Davis on the 14th Aug., 1592. In 1710 a French vessel from St. Malo touched at them, and named them iles Malouines. Settlements were afterwards formed on them by the French, Spaniards, and British alternately, but the British have ultimately retained possession of them. They now form a Crown colony which has a Governor and other officers appointed by the Government. Port Stanley, in East Falkland, is a thriving settlement, and has now a wireless station. During the European War the Germans suffered a naval defeat off the Falkland Islands in Dec., 1914. Pop. of the group, 3275.

FAL'LACY (Lat. _fallax_, apt to mislead), in logic, is when an argument is used as decisive of a particular issue, which in reality it does not decide. Properly a fallacy is a fault in the form of reasoning (see _Logic_), but the term is applied also to faults in the substance of the argument such as the _pet.i.tio principii_, or proving one proposition by a.s.suming another which is identical with it; _ignoratio elenchi_, or mistaking the point at issue; _post hoc ergo propter hoc_, or arguing as if sequence were the same thing as cause and effect.

FALLIeRES, Clement Armand, eighth President of the French Republic, born at Mezin, department of Lot-et-Garonne. The son of peasants, he studied law, was mayor of Nerac for some years, and in 1876 was elected to the Chamber of Deputies. Under-Secretary of State in the Ministry of the Interior in 1880, he became Minister of the Interior in 1882, Minister of Public Instruction from 1883 to 1885, and subsequently Minister of Justice and Public Instruction. He entered the Senate in 1890. In 1899 he became President of the Senate, and on 16th Jan., 1906, was elected President of the Republic. During his tenure of office Fallieres displayed decided democratic principles and a tendency towards the Left. It was due to his initiative that a Ministry of Labour was formed in 1909. His term of office ended in Jan., 1913. Fallieres was one of France's most democratic Presidents.

FALL OF BODIES. All bodies on the earth, by virtue of the attraction of gravitation, tend to the centre of the earth. A ball held in the hand presses downward; if dropped, it descends vertically; if placed on an inclined plane, it rolls down, in doing which it presses the plane with a part of its weight. In the air bodies fall with unequal velocities, a piece of paper, for instance, more slowly than a ball of lead; and it was formerly thought that the velocity of the fall of bodies was in proportion to their weight. This error was attacked by Galileo, who, experimenting with b.a.l.l.s of different substances which he dropped from the tower of Pisa, was led to the conclusion that the resistance of the air acting on different extents of surface was the cause of the unequal velocities, and that in a vacuum all bodies would fall with the same velocity. The truth of this last proposition was first demonstrated by Newton in his celebrated 'guinea-and-feather' experiment, where a guinea and feather are shown to fall side by side in the vacuum of the air-pump. This experiment proves that the force of gravitation in bodies is proportional to their inertia, that is, to their ma.s.s. The laws of falling bodies, that is of bodies falling freely in a straight line and through a distance short in comparison with that of the earth's centre, are the following:

1. When a body falls from rest it acquires velocity at the rate of about 32.2 feet per second every second. This number, which represents the acceleration due to the force of gravity, varies slightly with the locality, increasing from the equator to the poles, and diminis.h.i.+ng as we recede from the surface of the earth. (See _Gravity_.) At the end of five seconds, therefore, the body would be found to be moving at the rate of 5 32.2, that is, 161 feet per second.

2. The s.p.a.ce fallen through in the first second is half of 32.2, that is, 16.1 feet; and the s.p.a.ce fallen through in any given time is found by multiplying the square of the number of seconds by 16.1. Thus in three seconds a body falls 9 16.1 feet, or 144.9 feet.

3. The square of the velocity acquired by falling through any number of feet is found by multiplying twice that number by 32.2. Thus if a body falls 9 feet, the square of the velocity acquired is 2 32 9, or 576 if we take 32 instead of 32.2; and taking the square root of 576, we find that a velocity of 24 feet is acquired in a fall of 9 feet.

4. When a body is projected vertically upward with a given velocity, it continues to rise during a number of seconds found by dividing the number that expresses the velocity of projection by 32.2; and it rises to a height found by dividing the square of that number by 2 32.2, or 64.4. For a machine used in verifying the laws of falling bodies, see _Attwood_.

FALL OF MAN, a commonly received doctrine of Christianity, founded upon the historical narrative contained in the third chapter of the book of _Genesis_, together with the allusions to the same matter in other parts of Scripture. Adam, having eaten of the forbidden fruit, is said to have fallen; and the relation of mankind in general to this fall is stated by St. Paul in the words: "By one man's disobedience many were made sinners"

(_Rom._ v. 19). Thus, in the fall of Adam, all men are held to have fallen and to have contracted 'original sin', alienating them from G.o.d and rendering them morally inadequate. The doctrine of the fall does not stand alone in Scripture. It is argued by some interpreters that in the original sentence p.r.o.nounced on the transgressors there is contained the promise of a redemption, and that the whole scope of Scripture is directed to the development of this promise, and of the divine scheme of providence a.s.sociated with it.

FALLOPIAN TUBES, in anatomy, are two ducts each of which opens by one extremity into the womb, at either angle of the fundus, and terminates at the other end in an open trumpet-shaped mouth, which receives the ovum as it escapes from the ovary and transmits it to the womb. They are named after Fallopius or Fallopio, an Italian anatomist of the sixteenth century, who first recognized their functions.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fallow Deer (_Cervus dama_)]

FALLOW DEER, a European and Western Asiatic deer, the _Cervus dama_. It is smaller than the stag, of a brownish-bay colour, whitish beneath, on the insides of the limbs, and beneath the tail. The horns, which are peculiar to the male, are very different from those of the stag; they are not properly branched, but are broader towards the upper part, and divided into processes down the outside. A simple snag rises from the base of each, and a similar one at some distance from the first. It was introduced at an early period into Britain, possibly by the Romans, and is kept in many English parks.

FALLOW LAND, ground that has been left uncultivated for a time, in order that it may recover itself from an exhausted state. Strictly speaking, fallow ground is left altogether without crops; but in agricultural usage strict fallow is not always adopted, and the term fallow is applied to various modes of treatment, of which at least three distinct varieties are recognized: _bare fallow_, _b.a.s.t.a.r.d fallow_, and _green-crop fallow_. Bare fallow is that in which the land remains completely bare for a whole year; in b.a.s.t.a.r.d fallow it is ploughed up and worked after the removal of a spring or summer crop, preparatory to the sowing of a root or forage crop, to occupy the ground during autumn or winter; in green-crop fallow the land is sown with a root-crop, such as turnips or potatoes, placed in rows far enough apart to admit of the intermediate s.p.a.ces being stirred, pulverized, and cleaned, during its growth, by horse or hand implements.

FALL RIVER, a city and port, Bristol County, Ma.s.sachusetts, United States, on an arm of Narraganset Bay, on Taunton River, 53 miles S.S.W. of Boston.

It is at the head of deep-water navigation, and the terminus of a line of steamers from New York. It contains several handsome streets, and has extensive cotton, woollen, and calico-printing factories, as well as ironworks. Pop. 129,828.

FALMOUTH, a seaport and munic.i.p.al borough of England, in Cornwall, 250 miles W.S.W. of London. There is a good harbour there, with a fine roadstead affording excellent refuge for s.h.i.+pping. Falmouth was at one time an important packet station, but is now chiefly a port of call, its princ.i.p.al trade being in supplies and stores for s.h.i.+pping. Falmouth and Penryn together give name to a parliamentary division of the county, returning one member to Parliament. Pop. 13,318.

FALSE IMPRISONMENT, the unlawful imprisonment or detention of any person.

Every confinement of the person is imprisonment, whether in a common prison or a private house, or even by forcibly detaining one in the streets or highways. The law punishes false imprisonment as a crime, besides giving reparation to the party injured, through an action of trespa.s.s.

FALSE PERSONATION (English law). All forms of false personation, for the purpose of obtaining the property of others, are made penal by express statute. To personate the owner of any share, stock, or annuity, &c., is felony, and renders the offender liable to penal servitude for life, or to a modified term of penal servitude or imprisonment. The false personation of voters at an election is a misdemeanour punishable with imprisonment and hard labour, for a term not exceeding two years.

FALSET'TO (IT.) applies, in singing, to the notes above the natural compa.s.s of the voice. It is also called the _head_ or _throat_ voice, in contradistinction to the _chest_ voice, which is the natural one. The falsetto voice is produced by tightening the ligaments of the glottis.

FALSE WEIGHTS AND MEASURES. The using of false weights and measures is an offence at law punishable by fine. By various British statutes standards are provided for weights and for measures of capacity or dimension, and all contracts of sale, &c., are referred to such standards unless there is a special agreement to the contrary. See _Weights and Measures_.

FAL'STER, an island belonging to Denmark, situated at the entrance of the Baltic, east of Laaland, from which it is separated only by a narrow strait; flat, well watered, and wooded; productive in grain, pulse, potatoes, and, above all, fruit; area, 183 sq. miles. The princ.i.p.al town is Nykjobing. Pop. 37,460.

FALUN, or FAHLUN (fa'l[u:]n), a town of Sweden, on Lake Runn, 130 miles north-west of Stockholm. It has an excellent mining-school, museums, and mineralogical collections. Within the town boundary is the famous Falun copper-mine, formerly the richest in Sweden, and worked for 500 years. Pop.

11,966.

FAMA CLAMO'SA ('a clamant report'), in the ecclesiastical law of Scotland, is a public report imputing immoral conduct to a clergyman, licentiate, or office-bearer of the Church. When the fama has become so notorious that it cannot be overlooked, the presbytery, after due inquiry, and if no particular party comes forward to inst.i.tute a process, usually appear as accusers themselves.

FAMAGOS'TA, or FAMAGUSTA, a seaport on the east coast of Cyprus. It is of remote antiquity, was an important place during the Middle Ages under the Lusignan kings of Cyprus and the Venetians, but, after being captured by the Turks in 1571, it declined. It has improved under the British, and has got a new harbour. Pop. 5327.

FAMATI'NA, a district and mountain range in the Argentine Republic, province of La Rioja, rich in copper; highest summit, the Nevada de Famatina, 19,758 feet high.

FAMILIAR SPIRITS, demons or evil spirits supposed to be continually within call and at the service of their masters, sometimes under an a.s.sumed shape, sometimes attached to a magical ring, or the like, sometimes compelled by magic skill, and sometimes doing voluntary service. We find traces of this belief in all ages and countries, under various forms.

FAMILY, in zoological cla.s.sification, a group of species more comprehensive than a genus and less so than an order, a family usually containing a number of genera, while an order contains so many families. Family names usually terminate in -[)i]dae (after Latin patronymics, such as aeac[)i]dae, sons or descendants of aeacus). In botany it is sometimes used as a synonym of natural order.

FAMILY COMPACT, the name given to an alliance organized by the Duc de Choiseul, first minister of Louis XV, between the various members of the Bourbon family, then sovereigns of France, Spain, the Two Sicilies, Parma, and Piacenza, mutually to guarantee each other's possessions. It was signed 15th Aug., 1761, and entailed on Spain a war with England.

FAMINE, an extreme scarcity of food affecting considerable numbers of people at the same time. Its causes are either natural, such as crop failures due to disease or to excessive or deficient rainfall, the effect of these being aggravated when the crop concerned is one on which the population mainly depends; or political and economic, such as war, or defects in the organization of production and distribution. In the Early and Middle Ages famines were frequent; but the rapidity of modern communication and transport made famines rare in Europe, until the conditions caused by the Great War produced great scarcity in Central Europe. In Ireland the years 1814, 1816, 1822, 1831, 1846 were marked by failure of the potato crop, and in the last-mentioned year the dearth was so great that 10,000,000 were voted by Parliament for relief of the sufferers. India has been the seat of many great famines, which recur at more or less regular intervals; but of late the British officials have been successful in organizing preventive and relief measures, such as improvement in railways and irrigation, the multiplication of industries, and the inst.i.tution of a famine insurance grant. Amongst the more recent famines are that in North-West India (1837-8), in which above 800,000 perished; that in Bengal and Orissa (1865-6), when about a million perished; that in Bombay, Madras, Mysore (1877); that of 1896-7; and that of 1900 in Bombay, Punjab, &c., perhaps the most serious on record, when the Government spent 10,000,000 in relief. In China a great famine took place in 1877-8, in which over 9 millions are said to have perished; another took place in 1888-9, owing to the overflow of the Yellow River.

FAN, the name of various instruments for exciting a current of air by the agitation of a broad surface. (1) An instrument made of wood or ivory, feathers, thin skin, paper, variously constructed and mounted, and used by ladies to agitate the air and cool the face. As an article of luxury the fan was well known to the Greeks and Romans. Fans are said to have been introduced into England from Italy in the reign of Henry VIII, and Queen Elizabeth was very fond of them. There is a collection of fans at the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. (2) Any contrivance of vanes or flat discs revolving by the aid of machinery, as for winnowing grain, for cooling fluids, urging combustion, or a.s.sisting ventilation, is also so called.

FANAR'IOTS, or PHANARIOTS, the inhabitants of the Greek quarter, or Phanar, in Constantinople, particularly the n.o.ble Greek families resident there since the times of the Byzantine emperors. The dragoman or interpreter of the Porte and other high officials used to be taken from their number. They have now mostly lost their influence at Constantinople, and have in many cases transferred themselves to Athens.

FANAT'ICISM, a term applied more particularly to the extravagance manifested in religious matters by those who allow themselves to be hurried away by their fancy and feelings, to the adoption not only of wild enthusiastic views, but also of inordinate and not infrequently persecuting measures. By an extension of the term it is also sometimes applied to other forms of extravagance.

FANCY, a term approaching imagination in meaning. In its general acceptation it refers both to the forms of the imagination and to the mental faculty which produces them; but it is used frequently for the lighter or more fantastic forms of the imagination, and for the active play of that faculty which produces them. See _Imagination_.

FANEUIL HALL (fan'[=u]-il), a public building in Boston, famous as the place where stirring speeches were made at the outbreak of the war for American independence. It was built between 1740 and 1742 by a Huguenot merchant named Peter Faneuil.

FANFARE (Sp. _fanfarria_, brag), a short, lively, loud, and warlike piece of music, composed for trumpets and kettle-drums. Also small, lively pieces performed on hunting-horns, in the chase.

FAN-FOOT, a name given to a North African lizard of the genus Ptyodactylus (_P. lobatus)_, one of the geckoes, much dreaded in Egypt for its supposed venomous properties.

FANNING ISLAND, a coral island in the centre of Polynesia, lat. 3 51' N., long. 159 22' W. Since 1888 it belongs to Britain, is a landing-place of the Canada-Australia cable, and the stretch from this to Vancouver, 3458 miles, is the longest in the world. The island was discovered by Edmund Fanning in 1798. Area, 15 sq. miles; pop. about 200. It forms one of a small group sometimes called Fanning Islands.

FANO, a seaport of Italy, on the Adriatic, province of Pesaro e Urbino, 29 miles north-west of Ancona. It is a handsome town, and has a triumphal arch erected to Augustus, and other antiquities. Pop. (commune), 25,000.

FAN-PALM, a name sometimes given to the talipot palm or _Cor[)y]pha umbraculif[)e]ra_, a native of Ceylon and Malabar. See _Talipot Palm_.

FANS, an African race of people inhabiting the region of the west coast about the Gaboon River and the Ogoway. They are an energetic race, skilled in various arts, and are rapidly increasing in numbers (about 300,000).

They are cannibals, but contact with Europeans is leading them to give up the practice.

FANSHAWE, Sir Richard, an English diplomatist, poet, and translator, born in 1608, died at Madrid in 1666. He studied at Cambridge, was secretary of the English Emba.s.sy at Madrid, and took the Royal side on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1641. He was made a baronet in 1650, was taken prisoner at Worcester, but permitted to go at large on bail. After the Restoration he was employed on several diplomatic missions, and in 1664, as Amba.s.sador at Madrid, negotiated a peace between England, Spain, and Portugal. His poetical abilities were above mediocrity, as is evinced by his translations of the _Lusiads_ of Camoens, the _Pastor Fido_ of Guarini, the Odes of Horace, and the fourth book of the _aeneid_.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fan-tail Pigeon]

FAN-TAIL, a variety of the domestic pigeon, so called from the fan-like shape of their tails. Also a name applied to certain birds (species of Rhipidura) of the fly-catcher family, native to India, Australia, and New Zealand.

FANTEES', a people of West Africa inhabiting the coast district of the Gold Coast Colony, between the Ashantis and the sea. They were at one time the most numerous and powerful people situated immediately on the Gold Coast seaboard; but their power was almost entirely broken after 1811 by repeated invasions of the Ashantis, and they have since lived under British protection. The soil is fertile, producing fruits, maize, and palm-wine.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fan-tracery Vaulting, Gloucester Cathedral]

FAN-TRACERY, in architecture, elaborate geometrical curved work, which spreads over the surface of a vaulting, rising from a corbel and diverging like the folds of a fan. Fan-tracery vaulting is much used in the Perpendicular style, in which the vault is covered by ribs and veins of tracery, of which all the princ.i.p.al lines diverge from a point, as in Henry VII's chapel, Westminster Abbey.

FARAD, the practical unit of capacity for electricity, in the electromagnetic system of units. The capacity of a conductor or condenser whose potential is raised by one volt when given a charge of one coulomb.

This unit is too large for most purposes, and capacities are usually expressed in microfarads (q.v.).