FIALA 127 FICZE perature is insupportably hot, and, on the other hand, the cold of winter is sufficiently severe to be acutely felt by the natives Some wheat is raised, but maize and barley form the staple gi-ains. Dates, figs, legumes, and pomegranates form an abundant source of food to the denizens. Fezzan derives its chief im- portance as being a depot for the great caravan traffic between Egypt and Bar- bary, and the countries to the E. and S. of the Niger. Capital, Mourzouk. Fez- zan after the Turkish-Italian War (1911-1912) was by the Treaty of Ouchy placed with Tripoli under the dominion of Italy. FIALA, ANTHONY, an American ex- plorer; born in Jersey City Heights, in 1869. He was educated at Cooper Union and at the National Academy of Design in New York. After several years spent in various employments, in- cluding that of an art engraver, he be- came war correspondent for the Brook- lyn "Daily Eagle" in the Spanish- American War, in which he took part as a 1st lieutenant of the infantry. In 1901-1902 he was photographer for the Baldwin-Ziegler Polar Expedition, and from 1903 to 1905 commanded a second expedition sent out under the same aus- pices. He accompanied Colonel Theo- dore Roosevelt on the latter's trip through the Brazilian wilderness in 1913-1914, and made extensive explora- tions in that region. He served as cap- tain in the machine-gun troop on the Mexican border in 1916-1917, and dur- ing the World War served as major in the National Army. He wrote "Fight- ing the Polar Ice" (1906). FIBER, or FIBRE, a filament, or thread, the minute part of either animal or vegetable substances. The scientific use of fiber is described with regard to the animal kingdom under muscle and tissue; and with regard to the vegetable kingdom, under vegetable tissue, wood, and woody fiber. In its more popular but perfectly accurate use, the word includes the hair and wool of quadru- peds, the threads of the cocoons of silk worms, etc.; the fibers of the leaves of plants and of their inner bark, the elon- gated cells or hairs connected with the seeds of plants, and the ordinary mate- rials used in making cordage and textile fabrics. Mineral substances are called fibrous in structure even when it is im- possible to detach the apparent fibers. The only fibrous mineral which has been used for textile fabrics is Amiantfms, a variety of asbestos, but that only to a very limited extent. The animal sub- stances used are divided into two classes 1 — the first including hair and wool, and the second the silk of cocoons. Nearly all textile fabrics are made from the first, and the wool of the sheep is the most important division of the class. The hair of the goat, alpaca, camel, bison, and other animals is also used. The hair of most animals is, however, in general, too short to allow of its being used for textile manufacture. The vegetable kingdom yields the largest number of useful fibers, which are ob- tained from natural orders very differ- ent from each other. The carogenous or cryptogamous plants do not, how- ever, afford any. From exogenous plants, fibers are obtained from the inner bark, as in the case of flax, hemp, etc., and from the hairs of the fruit, as in cotton. In endogenous plants the fiber is sometimes obtained from the fruit, as in the cocoanut fiber. The spathe of some palms is also used. Some of the slender palms called rat- tans, and the bulrush, etc., are much used, on account of their fibrous nature, for wicker-work, chair-bottoms, and simi- lar purposes. The most valuable fibers obtained from endogenous plants come from the leaf or leaf-stalk. Among the useful vegetable fibers those of flax, hemp, and cotton have long held the first place. The principal additions, of late years, have been New Zealand flax, jute, Sunn or Sunn hemp, coir. Pita flax, Abaca or Manila hemp, Chinese grass, and some others. One of the most important uses of vegetable fiber is in the manufacture of paper. FICHTE, JOHANN GOTTLIEB, a German philosopher; born in Rammen- au in Upper Lusatia, May 19, 1762; wrote his treatise, "Essay Toward a Critique of All Revelation" (1792), as a "letter of introduction" to Kant. He was appointed Professor of Philosophy in the University of Jena in 1794; and the following year published his "Doc- trine of Science," a fundamental depar- ture from Kant. Of his philosophical writings the most important are: "The Doctrines of Science" (1794) ; "Founda- tions of the Whole Doctrine of Science" (1794) ; "Introduction to the Doctrine of Science" (1798) ; "Svstem of Moral Doctrine" (1798) ; "Man's Destiny" (1800). He died in Berlin, Jan. 27,1814. FICKE, ARTHUR DAVISON, an American writer, born in Davenport, la., in 1883. He graduated from Har- vard University in 1904 and after study- ing law was admitted to the bar in 1908. He was the author of several volumes of prose and poetrv, including "From the Isles" (1907) ; "The Happy Princess" (1907); "The Breaking of Bonds"
