Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 04.djvu/210

From Wikisource
Jump to navigation Jump to search
This page needs to be proofread.
LEFT
170
RIGHT

FORBES 170 FORCE AfghanWar, and to South Africa for the Zulu War. Afterward he revised his letters and reports, and recast them into historical narratives of the various cam- paigns. He died in London, March 29, 1900. FORBES, WILLIAM CAMERON, an American public official, born in Milton, Mass., in 1870. He graduated from Harvard in 1892, and entered the bank- ing business, becoming a partner in the banking firm of J. M. Forbes & Co. From 1904 to 1908 he was a member of the Philippine Commission and secretary of commerce and police in the govern- ment of the Philippine Islands. He was successively vice-governor and governor- general, resigning the latter position in 1913. FORBES-ROBERTSON. SIR JOHN- STONE, an English actor, born in Lon- don in 1853. His early years were spent FORBES-ROBERTSON as a painter. He went on the stage at the age of 21, and at once exhibited un- usual talent. He acted as leading man for Sir Henry Irving and Sir Squire Bancroft. In 1895 he appeared with Mrs. Patrick Campbell in "The Notori- ous Mrs. Ebbsmith." In the same year he began his career of manager in Lon- don, playing the part of Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet," following this with "Othello" and "Hamlet." In the latter he scored a great success. He made fre- quent tours to the United States, where he appeared in Shakespearean plays, several plays by George Bernard Shaw, and others. He was recognized as one of the most distinguished actors of his time. He was knighted in 1913. PORCE, in physics, an influence or exertion which, if made to act on a body, has a tendency to move it when at rest, or to affect or stop its progress if it be already in motion. The strength of man's arms is a force, so is the power of a horse or ox to pull a vehicle, or turn a wheel, or set in action an agri- cultural machine. Gravity, friction, elasticity of springs or gases, electrical or magnetical attraction or repulsion are forces. Accelerated force is the in- creased force which a body exerts in consequence of the acceleration of its motion. Active force is force which tends to move another body from a state of rest. Animal force is the muscular strength of man, horses, asses, cattle, or other animals viewed as a moving power. Composition of forces is produced by two other forces acting on a body. If they operate in the same direction the resultant or the resulting force will be the sum of both. If the two forces act in opposite directions and are equal, they will make the body remain at rest; and if they are unequal, they will move in the direction of the greater force; and with a force equivalent to their differ- ence. If the lines of direction make an angle with each other, the resultant will be a mean force in an intermediate di- rection. If many forces act, the result- ant is the line of motion or state of rest produced by their conjoint action. Reso- lution of forces is the decomposition of a force into the forces which have com- bined to produce it. The theory of the conservation of force, or of energy, is the doctrine or principle that in all cases force is con- served — i. e., kept in existence even when it appears to perish. Just as a certain definite amount of matter exists in the universe, to which man cannot add, and from which he cannot subtract an atom, so a definite amount of force, incapable of being increased or diminished, exists like the former, in the universe. It can, however, be transformed so as to look quite unlike its former self; but in every case the force or energy communicate! to a body or system of bodies is with- dravvTi from some fund of energy pre- viously existing. The theory of the cor- relation of force, or energy, is the doc- trine or principle that the different kinds of force in the universe are so correlated together that any one can be trans- formed into an exactly equivalent amount of another. There is equality when one can do precisely the same amount of