alkali metals, but the magnesium, calcium and barium salts yield carbonates only. The free acid, when heated with concentrated sulphuric acid, is decomposed into water and pure carbon monoxide; when heated with nitric acid, it is oxidized first to oxalic acid and finally to carbon dioxide. The salts of the acid are known as formates, and are mostly soluble in water, those of silver and lead being the least soluble. They crystallize well and are readily decomposed. Concentrated sulphuric acid converts them into sulphates, with simultaneous liberation of carbon monoxide. The calcium salt, when heated with the calcium salts of higher homologues, gives aldehydes. The silver and mercury salts, when heated, yield the metal, with liberation of carbon dioxide and formation of free formic acid; and the ammonium salt, when distilled, gives some formamide, HCONH2. The esters of the acid may be obtained by distilling a mixture of the sodium or potassium salts and the corresponding alcohol with hydrochloric or sulphuric acids.
Formamide, HCONH2, is obtained by heating ethyl formate with ammonia; by heating ammonium formate with urea to 140° C.,
2HCO·ONH4 + CO(NH2)2 = 2HCONH2 + (NH4)2CO3;
by heating ammonium formate in a sealed tube for some hours at 230° C., or by the action of sodium amalgam on a solution of potassium cyanate (H. Basarow, Ber., 1871, 4, p. 409). It is a liquid which boils in vacuo at 150°, but at 192–195° C. under ordinary atmospheric pressure, with partial decomposition into carbon monoxide and ammonia. It dissolves mercuric oxide, with the formation of mercuric formamide, (HCONH)2Hg.
FORMOSA, a northern territory of the Argentine republic, bounded N. by Bolivia, N.E. and E. by Paraguay, S. by the Chaco Territory, and W. by Salta, with the Pilcomayo and Bermejo forming its northern and southern boundaries. Estimated area, 41,402 sq. m. It is a vast plain, sloping gently to the S.E., covered with marshes and tropical forests. Very little is known of it except small areas along the Bermejo and Paraguay rivers, where attempts have been made to form settlements. The unexplored interior is still occupied by tribes of wild Indians. The climate is hot, the summer temperature rising to a maximum of 104° F. Timber-cutting is the principal occupation of the settlers, though stock-raising and agriculture engage some attention in the settlements on the Paraguay. The capital, Formosa (founded 1879), is a small settlement on the Paraguay with a population of about 1000 in 1900. The settled population of the territory was 4829 in 1895, which it was estimated had increased to 13,431 in 1905. The nomadic Indians are estimated at 8000.
FORMOSA (called Taiwan by the Chinese, and following them by the Japanese, into whose possession it came after their war with China in 1895), an island in the western Pacific Ocean, between the Southern and the Eastern China Sea, separated from the Chinese mainland by the Formosa Strait, which has a width of about 90 m. in its narrowest part. The island is 225 m. long and from 60 to 80 m. broad, has a coast-line measuring 731 m., an area of 13,429 sq. m.—being thus nearly the same size as Kiushiu, the most southern of the four chief islands forming the Japanese empire proper—and extends from 20° 56′ to 25° 15′ N. and from 120° to 122° E. It forms part of the long line of islands which are interposed as a protective barrier between the Asiatic coast and the outer Pacific, and is the cause of the immunity from typhoons enjoyed by the ports of China from Amoy to the Yellow Sea. Along the western coast is a low plain, not exceeding 20 m. in extreme width; on the east coast there is a rich plain called Giran, and there are also some fertile valleys in the neighbourhood of Karenko and Pinan, extending up the longitudinal valleys of the rivers Karenko and Pinan, between which and the east coast the Taito range intervenes; but the rest of the island is mountainous and covered with virgin forest. In the plains the soil is generally of sand or alluvial clay, covered in the valleys with a rich vegetable mould. The scenery of Formosa is frequently of majestic beauty, and to this it is indebted for its European name, happily bestowed by the early Spanish navigators.
On the addition of Formosa to her dominions, Fuji ceased to be Japan’s highest mountain, and took the third place on the list. Mount Morrison (14,270 ft.), which the Japanese renamed Niitaka-yama (New High Mountain), stands first, and Mount Sylvia (12,480 ft.), to which they give the name of Setzu-zan (Snowy Mountain), comes second. Mount Morrison stands nearly under the Tropic of Cancer. It is not volcanic, but consists of argillaceous schist and quartzite. An ascent made by Dr Honda of the imperial university of Japan showed that, up to a height of 6000 ft., the mountain is clothed with primeval forests of palms, banyans, cork trees, camphor trees, tree ferns, interlacing creepers and dense thickets of rattan or stretches of grass higher than a man’s stature. The next interval of 1000 ft. has gigantic cryptomerias and chamoecyparis; then follow pines; then, at a height of 9500 ft., a broad plateau, and then alternate stretches of grass and forest up to the top, which consists of several small peaks. There is no snow. Mount Morrison, being surrounded by high ranges, is not a conspicuous object. Mount Sylvia lies in 24° 30′ N. lat. There are many other mountains of considerable elevation. In the north is Getsurôbi-zan (4101 ft.); and on either side of Setzu-zan, with which they form a range running due east and west across the island, are Jusampunzan (4698 ft.) and Kali-zan (7027 ft.). Twenty-two miles due south of Kali-zan stands Hakumosha-zan (5282 ft.), and just 20 m. due south of Hakumosha-zan begins a chain of three peaks, Suisha-zan (6200 ft.), Hoo-zan (4928), and Niitaka-yama. These five mountains, Hari-zan, Hakumosha-zan, Suisha-zan, Hoo-zan and Niitaka-yama, stand almost exactly under 121° E. long., in the very centre of the island. But the backbone of the island lies east of them, extending S. from Setzu-zan through Gokan-zan, and Noko-zan and other peaks and bending S.W. to Niitaka-yama. Yet farther south, and still lying in line down the centre of the island, are Sankyakunan-zan (3752 ft.), Shurogi-zan (5729 ft.), Poren-zan (4957 ft.), and Kado-zan (9055 ft.), and, finally, in the south-east Arugan-zan (4985 ft.). These, it will be observed, are all Japanese names, and the heights have been determined by Japanese observers. In addition to these remarkable inland mountains, Formosa’s eastern shores show magnificent cliff scenery, the bases of the hills on the seaside taking the form of almost perpendicular walls as high as from 1500 to 2500 ft. Volcanic outbreaks of steam and sulphur-springs are found. Owing to the precipitous character of the east coast few rivers of any size find their way to the sea in that direction. The west coast, on the contrary, has many streams, but the only two of any considerable length are the Kotansui, which rises on Shurogi-zan, and has its mouth at Toko after a course of some 60 m. and the Seirakei, which rises on Hakumosha-zan, and enters the sea at a point 57 m. farther north after a course of 90 m.
The climate is damp, hot and malarious. In the north, the driest and best months are October, November and December; in the south, December, January, February and March. The sea immediately south of Formosa is the birthplace of innumerable typhoons, but the high mountains of the island protect it partially against the extreme violence of the wind.
Flora and Fauna.—The vegetation of the island is characterized by tropical luxuriance,—the mountainous regions being clad with dense forest, in which various species of palms, the camphor-tree (Laurus Camphora), and the aloe are conspicuous. Consul R. Swinhoe obtained no fewer than 65 different kinds of timber from a large yard in Taiwanfu; and his specimens are now to be seen in the museum at Kew. The tree which supplies the materials for the pith paper of the Chinese is not uncommon, and the cassia tree is found in the mountains. Travellers are especially struck with the beauty of some of the wild flowers, more especially with the lilies and convolvuluses; and European greenhouses have been enriched by several Formosan orchids and other ornamental plants. The pine-apple grows in abundance. In the lowlands of the western portion, the Chinese have introduced a large number of cultivated plants and fruit trees. Rice is grown in such quantities as to procure for Formosa, in former days, the title of the “granary of China”; and the sweet potato, taro, millet, barley, wheat and maize are also cultivated. Camphor, sugar, tea, indigo, ground peanuts, jute, hemp, oil and rattans are all articles of export.
The Formosan fauna has been but partially ascertained; but at least three kinds of deer, wild boars, bears, goats, monkeys (probably Macacus speciosus), squirrels, and flying squirrels
