fig
for any Way difabled from conveying the whole aliment Into the inteftines j for, what is left having time to undergo a com- plete fermentation, is thereby changed into a harfH fort of vi- negar. See the article E\zAKT-bur?i, Append. Spirits, winc^j, acids, bitters, aromatics* and the hotter ariti- fcorbutic plants retard alimentary fermentation, by their power of correcting putrefaction; However, they rhay have their feveral ufes ; fome for checking immoderate fermentation, when by reafon of a putrid effluvia, or a defect of it, the ali- ment may ferment too violently; and others, again/for bracing theftomach, and fitting it for expelling its contents in due time. All thefe facts correfpond with digeftion ; for the moft nou- rifhing and digeftable food to people in health, confifts in a due mixture of animal and vegetable fubftances with water: fcorbutic or putrid habits require acids, wine, or qther anti- feptics. An acid abounding in the ftortiach, is corrected by abforbents ; and, in a want of natural heat, and a debility of the ftomach, wines, bitters, and warm and acid fubftances become neceflary. See Pringle, Obferv. on the Difeafes of the Army, Append, p. 350, feq.
Fermentations have been ufually fuppofed to engender great heat, and after vefcence has been ufed as a fynonimous term to exprefs it by ; it has not been imagined all this while, that many of the moft: violent of them are, inftead of heat, at- tended with a very violent cold, as is eafily proved by the thermometer.
It might be fuppofed, that water pouted into fpirit of wine mould cool fo fiery a liquor ; but on the contrary, experi- ment prove3, that there is always a confiderable heat from this mixture, and that this heat is greater, as the proportion of the water is fo. There is another phenomenon however in regard to fpirit of wine more remarkable than this : as water, which is a cold phlegmatic liquor, might naturally be fuppofed to cool it, fo a mixture of the eftential vegetable oil might be as naturally expected to heat it ; thefe being difpofed the moft readily of all bodies to take fire, and be- ing compofed almoft entirely of a fulphureous matter ; yet thefe liquors, mixed with fpirit of wine, produce cold and not heat with it ; and water, which generates fo great a heat •with fpirit of wine, has no effect at ail with thefe oils. The reafon of all this phenomena is, that water will not mix with oil, but that falts will. All fpirit of wine contains 2. great deal of water, and all eftential oils are well known to contain a great deal of eftential fait. The water added to oils makes no change, becaufe it mixes not with them ; with fpirit of wine it makes a heat by mixing with the water in that fpirit, and diffipating the fulphur it is well known to contain ; and the oils cool the fpirit on the common principle of all falts cooling water, the falts originally contained in thefe oils immediately diflolving on the mixture, in the water con- tained in the fpirit of wine : and the degree of cold, which is different with the different oils, is wholly regulated by the greater or leffer quantity of fait the feveral oils contain. Mem. Acad. Par. 1727.
FERMENTED liquors (Suppl.) are efteemed great antidotes to putrefaction ; accordingly the abftinence from them is afligned as one cauie why the Turks are more fubjedt than other people to the plague, and other contagious diftempers. It is like- wife obferved, that beer, wine, and fpirituous liquors com- ing more into general ufe, has been one great means of fup- preffing putrid difeafes. See Pringle, Obferv. on the Difeafes of the Army, p. 286, 294.
FERN (Suppl.)— Dwarf-FzRK, theEnglifti name of a genus of plants called by botanift s flicula. Seethe article Filicula, Suppl.
Sweet Fern, a name by which fome call the ?nyrrbis, or wild chervil. See the article Myrrhis, Suppl.
FERRET, the Englifh name of an animal of the mujlela kind. See the article Mustela, Suppl.
FERRY-^r. See the article Bac, Suppl
"FEWER (Suppl.) — Ardent Ffver. See the article Inflam- matory fever, Append.
Bilious Fever. See the article Bilious, Append.
Malignant Fever, or jail Fever, the fame with that called hofpital fever. See the article Hospital fever, Append.
FEVERFEW (Suppl.) — .S^/W^-Feverfew, in botany, a name fometimes given to the parthenkan of authors. See the article Parthenium, Suppl.
FEWMET, among fportfmen. See the articleFuMET, Append.
FJANTS, or Fuants, the dung of a badger, or fox, and of all other vermin. Ruft. Diet, invoc.
FIDDLE, (Cycl.) — Fiddle-^, the name of a fpecles of la- patbum. See the article Lapathum, Suppl.
FIGv-/fWj ficus, in botany. See the article Ficus, Suppl.
Indian Fig, a name fometimes given to a genus of plants called by authors opuntia. See the article Opuntia, Suppl.
Infernal Tig, a name by which ibme call the argemone, called by authors the thorny Mexican poppy. See the article Ar- gemone, Suppl.
Pharaoh's Fig, a name fometimes ufed for a cenus of plants called by authors mufa. See the article Musa, Suppl.
Marigold Fig, a name ufed by fome for thefcoides of Tourne- fort, called by Linn&us mejembrytiyithcmum. See the article Ficoides, Suppl.
FLO
FiG-Jhzll, a fpecies of 'doliumx See the article HoliuM, Suppl FILACEOUS, a term applied to fitch roots of plants as are fuJ T
of filaments. See the article Filament, Cycl. FILAGO, in botany, a name ufed by Vaillant for the gnapha-
Uum, or cud-weed. See the article Gnaphalium, Suppl. FILBERT-/;-^, in botany, the Englifh name of the hazle,
called by authors corylus. See the article Hazle, Suppl. FlLLAR-bcrfe, that yoked immediately to a cart. See the ar- ticle Cart, Suppl. FILLY, a term ufed in many parts of the kingdom for a female
colt. See the article CoLt, Supt-l. Ladies FINGER. Sec the article Ladies, infra. FINGRIGO, in botany, a name ufed by fome for a genus of plants called byPiumier^/Wo. Seethe article Pisoni a, Suppl. FIR (Suppl.) — Scotch Fir, a name commonly given to the
mountain-pine. See the article Pine, Suppl, FIRE-engine, the common name of a machine to raife water by fire, or rather by the force of water turned into fleam. 1 he firft who gave a hint of the pofllbi lity of fuch a machine Was the marquis of Worcefter, in his Century of Inventions, printed at London in 1663. Captain Savery took the hint from him, and put the engine in practice: the captain's en- gine is defcribed in Harris's Lexicon Technicum, under the head Engine. Farther improvements were afterwards made by Meff. Ncwcomen and Cawley, who brought it to the form in which it is now moft commonly ufed. The moving force in this machine is the expanfion of water into ftcam ; and that power is raifed by fire, from whence the engine takes its name.
It is notpoffible in a few words, and without figures, to give any adequate idea of this moft philofophical and ufeful con- trivance. Dr. Defagnlicrs has given a very full defcription of the engine, in his Courfe of Experimental Philofophy ; and as we may fuppofe that none of the curious in mechanics will choofe to be without the doctor's book, we mall content ourfelves with referring to his fecond volume, from p. 465 to 490.
This engine working by the fteam into which water rifes after it boils, fhould entitle it more properly to the name of the fleam-engine, than to that of fire-engine, by which the en- gines for extingui filing fires are fometimes called. It is confidered as a defect in this fire or fleam-engine, that the veffel in which the water is always kept boiling, is fo large when only an inconiiderable part of the water is employed in the work. Mr. Blake has therefore endeavoured to regu- late the juft proportion between the altitude and bafe of the cylindrical veflel employed in this machine ; and he finds that the broader the cylinder is, the better. See Phil. Traniadt. vol. xlvii. p. 197, feq.
This engine to raife water by fleam feems to have received a farther improvement from Monf. De Moura, a Portuguefe gentleman, who, by an ingenious contrivance, has rendered it capable of working itfelf. See Phil. Tranfadt. vol. xlvii. p. 436, feq.
As to the engines for putting out fires, thofe of Mr. Newf-
ham feem to have merited univerfal approbation : for a detail
of their conftrudtion, fee Defaguliers, Courfe of Experim,
Philof. vol. ii. p. 505, feq.
FIRM ore. See the article Lead ore, Suppl.
FISH (Suppl.) — Needle Fish. See the article Needle, infra.
Eisn-gartb, a wear or dam in a river for the taking of fijh.
Ruft. Diet, in voc. FITCH, or Fitchow, a name given to the pole-cat, or to the fkin or fur of that animal. See the article Putorius, Suppl, FIVES, among farriers, the fame with Vives. See the ar- ticle Vives, Suppl. FIXEN, among fportfmen. See the article Vixen, Append. FLAG (Suppl.) — Conz-FLAg, a name by which fome writers
call the gladiolus. See the article Gladiolus, Suppl. Sweet-fcented Flag, a name ufed by fome for the acorus of bo- tanical writers. See the article Acorus, Cycl. and Suppl. Flag is alfo ufed for a kind of rufh called fedge, as well as for the upper part of the turf, pared off to burn. Ruft. Diet, in voc. FhAG-wor?n, a kind of worm fo called on account of its being found in flaggy ponds, and other fedgy places. Ruft. Diet. in voc. FLAREING, among feamen. See the article Flair, Suppl. FhEA-bane (Suppl.) — African FLEA-bane, a term fometimes ufed for a genus of plants otherwife called tarconanthus and parthenium. See the article Parthenium, Suppl. Sweet FhEA-bane, the Englifh name of a diftinct genus of plants, called by Linnaeus erigeron. See the article Erige- ron, Suppl. FLIX-weed, the name of a genus of plants called by Tournefort
and others eryflmitm. See the article Erysimum, Suppl. FLO AT-boards, thofe boards fixed to water-wheels of under- fhot mills, ferving to receive the impulfe of the flream, where- by the wheel is carried round. See the article Water- Wheel, Append.
It is a difadvantage to have too great a number of 'float- boards. The beft rule in this cafe is, to have juft fo many, that each of them may come out of the water as foon as poffible, after it has received and acted with i« full impuhe ; or, which 1 comes
