FOUNDATION 183 FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, was appointed captain of the aviation section of the Signal Corps. He was promoted to be major in 1917 and in the same year was made temporary brigadier-general of the Signal Corps. He made a special study of aviation and was the senior military aviator in point of service. He commanded air service troops on the Mexican border and in 1917-1918 was chief of the air Oervice of the A. E. F. FOUNDATION, act of founding or fixing the base; the base of an edifice; original; rise; origin; that part of a building which rests on the ground; the base or groundwork of anything; estab- lishment. A donation or legacy to support an institution; an established revenue, particularly for a charity; endowment; settlement; institution. In architecture, the word foundation may be applied either to the surface or bed on which a building rests, or to the lower part of the building which rests on the natural bed. (1) Foundation as the bed. The best that can be had is solid rock, or any kind of resisting incompres- sible stratum, free from water. Where there is no chance of water, sand forms a solid foundation. When the soil is soft, loose, and shifting, a solid bearing can be obtained only by driving piles or long beams of wood sharpened at the end, through the soft soil, till they reach a hard bottom. This is then planked or laid with cross beams, on which the su- perstructure is built. The piers of many bridges are formed in this manner. Where the soil is soft, but not shifting, as in the case of made or deposited earth, the method of converting is adopted — i. e., a large surface is laid with broken metal or gravel, and run together with hot lime, so as to form a broad, solid, artificial rock, on which the building may rest. (2) Foundation as the base of the building. The broader and larger the lower course of the mason work, the stronger the wall. The stones should, if possible, extend through and through, and project on each side of the wall. The Romans formed solid bearings of concrete as above described. In the dark ages, when there was want of knowledge combined with want of materials and means, many buildings fell from the yielding of the foundations. But knowl- edge came with experience, and the foun- dations of later buildings, during the 14th and 15th centuries, were built with extreme care, and on the virgin soil; the stones being as finely dressed as those above ground, were necessary to resist a strong thrust. FOUNDING Act of casting metals. FOUQUE, BARON FRIEDRICH DE LA MOTTE, a German author; bom in Brandenburg, Germany, Feb. 12, 1777. His first contributions to literature were: "Romances from the Vale of Roncesval" (1805); "Story of the Noble Knight Galmy and a Fair Duchess of Brittany" (1806) ; "Alwin" (1808) ; followed by the hero-drama "Sigurd the Snake-Killer" (1808) ; the epic poem,"Bertram du Gues- clin" (1821); etc. In 1840 he pub- lished an autobiography. The work by which he is chiefly known to-day is "Un- dine" (1811) ; "Sintram" is also still familiar. He died in Berlin, Jan. 23, 1843. FOUQUET, NICOLAS, a French statesman; born in Paris in 1615. He was Viscount of Melun and of Vaux, and Marquis of Belle Isle, finance minister under Louis XIV. of France. Attaching himself closely to Mazarin, he received in 1650 the important appointment of procureur-general to the parliament of Paris, and three years later was ad- vanced to be superintendent of finance. His rapid advance made him ambitious of succeeding Mazarin as first minister, and in order to secure himself friends and a party he distributed money with a lavish hand; but he had a formidable rival in Colbert. Fouquet's plans were, however, brought to naught; for, in the first place, Louis himself took the reins of power into his own hands when they slipped from the grasp of the dead cardi- nal, and, in the second place, instigated thereto by Colbert, he suddenly arrested Fouquet in September, 1661. After a trial extending over three years, Fou- quet was sentenced to perpetual exile and the loss of all his property, but the sentence was afterward altered to life- long imprisonment. He died in the for- tress of Pignerol, March 23, 1680. FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, ANTOINE QUENTIN. one of the most execrated figures of the French Revolution; born in Herovel, France, in 1747. His early career was immoral, but insignificant. On the outbreak of the Revolution, he figured as one of the fiercest democrats. By Robespierre he was appointed, first, a member , then director and public accuser, of the revolutionary tribunal. Without education, or sense of justice, he executed the bloody orders of the Committee of Public Safety. Incapable of friendship, or of anything even re- motely allied to generosity, he systemati- cally abandoned his successive coadju- tors in their hour of need, and sent to the scaffold, without the slightest com- punction, Danton and Herbert, Robes- pierre and St. Just. He himself died by the guillotine, May 7, 1795.
