Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/199

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FLORIO
159
FLOWER

000 a year for current expenses. In 1919 there were 43 instructors and 988 students. President, A. A. Murphree, LL.D.

FLORIO, JOHN, an English lexicographer, and the translator of Montaigne; born in London, England, about 1553. His father was a Protestant exile and Italian preacher in London. Florio appears as a private tutor in foreign languages at Oxford about 1576, and two years later published his “First Fruits, which yield Familiar Speech, Merry Proverbs, Witty Sentences and Golden Sayings,” accompanied by “A Perfect Induction to the Italian and English Tongues.” In 1581 Florio was admitted a member of Magdalen College, and became a teacher of French and Italian. He enjoyed the patronage successively of Leicester, the Earl of Southampton, and other noble persons. His next work was “Second Fruits, to be gathered of Twelve Trees, of divers but delightsome Tastes to the Tongues of Italian and English men,” with, annexed to it, the “Garden of Recreation,” yielding 6,000 Italian proverbs (1591). His Italian and English dictionary, entitled “A World of Words,” was published in 1598. Florio was appointed reader in Italian to Queen Anne, and afterward groom of the privy chamber. In 1603 he published in folio his famous translation of Montaigne. It was long believed that the pedantic Holofernes in “Love's Labor's Lost” was a study after Florio. He died in Fulham, in 1625.

FLOTOW (flō′tō), FRIEDRICH ADOLPHUS VON, a German composer; born in Teutendorf, Mecklenburg-Schwerin, Germany, April 26, 1812. He studied music in Paris, but his earlier operas did not find favor with the Parisian opera house directors, so he had to content himself with performances in the aristocratic private theaters. At length “Medusa's Shipwreck” was successfully produced at the Renaissance Theater in 1839. This was followed by “Camoen's Slave” (1843) and “The Soul in Pain” (1846), performed in London as “Leoline.” “Alexander Stradella” was first performed at Hamburg in 1844, and his most successful work, “Martha,” at Vienna in 1847. Among his other works are: “Indra” (1853); “The Phantom” (1869); and “The Enchantress” (1878). He was director of the court theater at Schwerin in 1855-1863; the last years of his life were chiefly spent at Vienna. He died in Darmstadt, Germany, Jan. 23, 1883.

FLOTSAM, JETSAM, and LIGAN, in law: Flotsam, or floatsam, is derelict or shipwrecked goods floating on the sea; jetsam, goods thrown overboard which sink and remain under water; and ligan, goods sunk with a wreck or attached to a buoy, as a mark of ownership. When found such goods may be returned to the owner if he appear; if not, they are the property of the crown.

FLOUR MILL, a mill for grinding and sifting flour.

FLOWER, in botany, a developed terminal bud inclosing the organs of reproduction by seed. The earlier botanists limited it to the corolla of a plant, but Linnaeus extended it to include the calyx, corolla, stamens, and pistil. The two last are the only essential parts. This is the modern sense of the term. The manner in which its parts are arranged is called their estivation, and the calyx, corolla, and other parts are generally believed to be transformed leaves arranged on a branchlet; but many writers consider the petals to be transformed stamens. The arrangement of flowers on a branch or stem is called Inflorescence (q. v.). The term Flower of Constantinople, or Flower Constantinople, is a translation of the old name Flos constantinopolitanus, given to the plant now called Lychnis chalcedonica. It is named also flower of Bristowe. The flower of the Axe is Lobelia urens, found in England only near Axminster in Devon; the flower of Crete is Mesembryanthemum tripolium; and flower of Jove Lychnis flos jovis; flower of four hours, Mirabilis dichotoma; flowers of heaven, a fungal, Nostoc cœruleum; and flowers of tan, Æthalium, a gasteromycetous fungal. It is so called from its growing on tan. In chemistry, flowers used to be the name given to bodies of a powdery or mealy consistence or form, e. g., flowers of sulphur, a name sometimes given to sublimed sulphur. In printing, ornamental types or blocks for borders of pages, cards, and the like.

FLOWER, ROSWELL PETTIBONE, an American financier; born in Jefferson co., N. Y., Aug. 7, 1835; began his business and political career in Watertown, N. Y., where he organized the Jefferson County Democratic Club. His success in politics attracted the attention of Samuel J. Tilden, through whose influence he was appointed chairman of the Democratic State Committee in 1847. Four years later he was elected to Congress, and in 1886 was appointed president of the Subway Commission. He was re-elected to Congress in 1888 and 1890, and in 1891 was elected governor of New York. From the close of his term till his death he applied himself to the interests of his large banking house