FERGUSON 121 FERN Liberty Belles" (1901) and was at once successful. She played in 1907 in Lon- don, in "The Earl of Pawtucket." In the following year she toured the United States in several plays. This was fol- lowed by other appearances as star and leading woman. She became one of the most popular of the American actresses. She was also well-known in moving pictures. In 1916 she married Thomas Benedict Clarke, Jr. FERGUSON, PATRICK, inventor of the breech-loading rifle; born in 1744 in Pitfour, Scotland. Entering the army in 1759, he served in Germany and Tobago. In 1776 he patented his rifle, firing seven shots a minute, and sighted for ranges of from 100 to 500 yards; and with it he armed a corps of loyalists, who helped at the battle of Brandy- wine (1777) to defeat the American army. Three years later, on Oct. 7, 1780, Major Ferguson fell, defending King's Mountain, South Carolina, with 800 militia against 1,300 Americans. This affair, which was not unlike that of Majuba Hill, turned the tide of S. warfare. FERMENTATION, a change which oc- curs in an organic substance, by which it is decomposed. Alcoholic fermentation was known to the ancients, and is the change which sugar undergoes under the influence of yeast. Before fermentation takes place, cane sugar is transformed into glucose, thus Ci2H-On-fH20 = 2CeH,206. About 95 per cent, of the glucose is converted into alcohol, C6HuO.=2C02+2C2H5-OH. Of the other 5 per cent., about 1 part is used by the growth of the yeast, the other 4 parts are converted into succinic acid, glycerin, carbonic acid, and free hydrogen : a larger quantity of these secondary products is formed if the fermentation is slower, or is made with more exhausted and impure yeast. Fer- mentation takes place most readily at about 24° to 30°. The saccharine liquid becomes turbid, gives off COj, and be- comes warmer than the air; when the evolution of CO- ceases, the yeast or ferment, torula cerevisise, separates from the liquid which now contains alcohol, glycerin, and succinic acid in the place of the sugar. A small quantity of acetic acid is always formed, probably from the decomposition of the yeast. Most of the natural saccharine juices, as beet-root, potato, and grape juice, when fermented, yield small quantities of alco- hols, homologous with ethylic alcohol, forming fusel oil, which contains propyl, butyl and amyl alcohols, also a small quantity of caprioic oenanthyl, and cap- rylic alcohols. Butyric fermentation is the convers'or. of lactic acid, etc., into butyric acid, due to the presence of Vibrio, according to Pasteur. Lactic fermentation is the con- version of sugar into lactic acid, said to be due to the presence of Penicillium glaucum. It takes place when 2 gallons of milk are mixed with 6 pounds of raw sugar, 12 pints of water, 8 ounces of putrid cheese, and 4 pounds of zinc white; the mixture is kept at a tempera- ture of 30° for some weeks. If the fer- m.entation is allovv'ed to go further, the lactic acid, CH,-CH'OH-CO -OH, is con- verted into butyric acid, CHs'CH-'CHa- CO 'OH. Mucus fei'mentation is the con- version of sugar into mannite, C.Hi Oc,. gum, C12H20O10, and carbonic acid, COl> under the influence of a peculiar fer- ment. Tannous fermentation is the con- version of tannin, in a solution of galls, into gallic acid, C.tH..OiT+0,2 = 3C-Hc06 + 6CO2+2H2O. FERMO, a walled city of central Italy, till 1860 capital of a delegation of same name, forming part of the states of the Church in the province of Ascoli, 3 miles from the Adriatic, and 32 S. S. E. of An- cona. Its harbor on the Adriatic, called Porto di Fermo, is small, and but little frequented. Fermo was founded by the Sabines before Rome existed, v/as colon- ized by the Romans toward the beginning of the First Punic War, and was re- peatedly sacked by the Goths and other barbarians. In the 8th century the city was transferred to the Holy See. Pop. about 5,000. FERMOY, a town in the county of Cork, Ireland. It is situated on both banks of the Blackwater. It is the site o^ a cathedral, archbishop's palace, tv»'o convents, and a college. The chief in- dustries are agricultural products and grist mills. It is an important garrison town with accommodations for 3,000 troops. Pop. about 12,00D. FERN, in botany: (1) General: The filical alliance, consisting of vascular acrogens, with marginal or dorsal one- celled spore cases, usually surrounded by an elastic ring; spores of only one kind. Ferns are leafy plants springing from a rhizome, which creeps below or on the surface of the ground or rises into the air like the trunk of a tree. This trunk does not taper, but is 0' equal diameter at both ends. It is cov ered by a hard, cellular, fibrous rind ; its wood, when any is present, consist?; of large, scalarif orm or dotted ducts ; the vernation of the leaves is circinate. their venation often dichotomous. Re- productive oi'gans, consisting of spore cases, arise from the veins on the lower
