Green, The Soluble Ferments and Fermentation (Cambridge, 1899).
Parasitism: “On some Relations between Host and Parasite,”
Proc. Roy. Soc. vol. 47 (1890); “A Lily Disease,” Ann. of Botany,
vol. 2 (1888); Eriksson & Hennings, Die Getreideroste (vide supra);
Ward, “On the Question of Predisposition and Immunity in Plants,”
Proc. Cambridge Phil. Soc. vol. 11 (1902); also Annals of Bot.
vol. 16 (1902) and vol. 19 (1905); Neger, “Beitr. z. Biol. d.
Erysipheen” Flora, Bde. 88 and 90 (1901–1902); Salmon, “Cultural
Experiments with ‘Biologic Forms’ of the Erysiphaceae,” Phil.
Trans. (1904); “On Erysiphe graminis and its adaptative parasitism
within the genus, Bromus,” Ann. Mycol. vol. 11 (1904), also Ann.
of Bot. vol. 19 (1905). Symbiosis: Ward, “The Ginger-Beer
Plant,” Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. (1892); “Symbiosis,” Ann. of Bot. 13
(1899); Shalk, “Der Sinn der Mykorrhizenbildung,” Jahrb. f.
wiss. Bot. Bd. 34 (1900); Bernard, “On some Different Cases of
Germination,” Gardener’s Chronicle (1900); Pierce, Publ. Univ.
California (1900).
(H. M. W.; V. H. B.)
FUNJ (Funniyeh, Fung, Fungha), a very mixed negroid race, occupying parts of Sennar and the hilly country to the south between the White and Blue Niles. They traditionally come from west of the White Nile and are affiliated by some to the Kordofan Nubas, by others, more justifiably, to the negro Shilluks. These Funj, who became the dominant race in Sennar in the 15th century, almost everywhere assimilated the speech, religion and habits of the Arabs settled in that region. Until the 19th century they were one of the most powerful of African peoples in the eastern Sudan. About the end of the 15th century they overthrew the kingdom of Aloa, between the two Niles, and conquered the neighbouring peoples of the Sudan, Nubia and even Kordofan. The Funj had mixed much with the Arabs before their conquests, and had been converted to Islam. But they were still in many ways savages, for James Bruce (who traversed the district in 1772) says that their most famous king, Malek-el-Gahman, preferred human liver to any other food, and the Belgian traveller E. Pruyssenaere (1826–1864) found them still performing pagan rites on their sacred Mount Gula. Ernst Marno declared that as late as 1870 the most southern branch of the race, the Boruns, a non-Arabic speaking tribe, were cannibals. The Funj kings were content with levying tribute on their neighbours, and in this loose way Shendi, Berber and Dongola were once tributary. The Arab viziers gradually absorbed all power, the Funj sovereignty becoming nominal; and in 1821 the Egyptians easily destroyed the Funj domination. To-day the Funj are few, and represent no real type. They are a bright, hospitable folk. Many of them are skilful surgeons and go far afield in their work. The fellahin, indeed, call surgeons “Senaari” (men of Sennar). See further Sennar and Sudan (Anglo-Egyptian).
FUNKIA, in botany, a genus of rather handsome, hardy, herbaceous plants belonging to the natural order Liliaceae, and natives of China and Japan. They are tuberous, with broadly ovate or heart-shaped leaves and racemes of white or pale lilac, drooping, funnel-shaped flowers. They are useful for the borders of a shrubbery, the lawn or rock-work, or may be grown in pots for the greenhouse. The plants are propagated by dividing the crowns in autumn or when growth begins in spring.
FUNNEL (through an O. Fr. founil, found in Breton, from Lat. infundibulum, that through which anything is poured, from fundere, to pour), a vessel shaped like a cone having a small tube at the apex through which powder, liquid, &c., may be easily passed into another vessel with a small opening. The term is used in metal-casting of the hole through which the metal is poured into a mould, and in anatomy and zoology of an infundibulum or funnel-shaped organ. The word is thus used generally of any shaft or passage to convey light, air or smoke, as of the chimney of an engine or a steam-boat, or the flue of an ordinary chimney. It is also used of a shaft or channel in rocks, and in the decoying of wild-fowl is applied to the cone-shaped passage leading from a pond and covered with a net, a “funnel-net,” into which the birds are decoyed.
FUR (connected with O. Fr. forre, a sheath or case; so “an outer covering”), the name specially given to the covering of the skin in certain animals which are natives of the colder climates, lying alongside of another and longer covering, called the overhair. The fur differs from the overhair, in that it is soft, silky, curly, downy and barbed lengthwise, while the overhair is straight, smooth and comparatively rigid. These properties of fur constitute its essential value for felting purposes, and mark its difference from wool and silk; the first, after some slight preparation by the aid of hot water, readily unites its fibres into a strong and compact mass; the others can best be managed by spinning and weaving.
On the living animal the overhair keeps the fur filaments apart, prevents their tendency to felt, and protects them from injury—thus securing to the animal an immunity from cold and storm; while, as a matter of fact, this very overhair, though of an humbler name, is most generally the beauty and pride of the pelt, and marks its chief value with the furrier. We arrive thus at two distinct and opposite uses and values of fur. Regarded as useful for felt it is denominated staple fur, while with respect to its use with and on the pelt it is called fancy fur.
History.—The manufacture of fur into a felt is of comparatively modern origin, while the use of fur pelts as a covering for the body, for the couch, or for the tent is coeval with the earliest history of all northern tribes and nations. Their use was not simply a barbarous expedient to defend man from the rigours of an arctic winter; woven wool alone cannot, in its most perfect form, accomplish this. The pelt or skin is requisite to keep out the piercing wind and driving storm, while the fur and overhair ward off the cold; and “furs” are as much a necessity to-day among more northern peoples as they ever were in the days of barbarism. With them the providing of this necessary covering became the first purpose of their toil; subsequently it grew into an object of barter and traffic, at first among themselves, and afterwards with their neighbours of more temperate climes; and with the latter it naturally became an article of fashion, of ornament and of luxury. This, in brief, has been the history of its use in China, Tatary, Russia, Siberia and North America, and at present the employment of fancy furs among civilized nations has grown to be more extensive than at any former period.
The supply of this demand in earlier times led to such severe competition as to terminate in tribal pillages and even national wars; and in modern times it has led to commercial ventures on the part of individuals and companies, the account of which, told in its plainest form, reads like the pages of romance. Furs have constituted the price of redemption for royal captives, the gifts of emperors and kings, and the peculiar badge of state functionaries. At the present day they vie with precious gems and gold as ornaments and garniture for wealth and fashion; but by their abundance, and the cheapness of some varieties, they have recently come within the reach of men of moderate incomes. The history of furs can be read in Marco Polo, as he grows eloquent with the description of the rich skins of the khan of Tatary; in the early fathers of the church, who lament their introduction into Rome and Byzantium as an evidence of barbaric and debasing luxury; in the political history of Russia, stretching out a powerful arm over Siberia to secure her rich treasures; in the story of the French occupation of Canada, and the ascent of the St Lawrence to Lake Superior, and the subsequent contest to retain possession against England; in the history of early settlements of New England, New York and Virginia; in Irving’s Astoria; in the records of the Hudson’s Bay Company; and in the annals of the fairs held at Nizhniy Novgorod and Leipzig. Here it may suffice to give some account of the present condition of the trade in fancy furs. The collection of skins is now chiefly a matter of private enterprise. Few, if any, monopolies exist.
Natural Supplies.—We are dependent upon the Carnivora, Rodentia, Ungulata and Marsupialia for our supplies of furs, the first two classes being by far of the greatest importance. The Carnivora include bears, wolverines, wolves, raccoons, foxes, sables, martens, skunks, kolinskis, fitch, fishers, ermines, cats, sea otters, fur seals, hair seals, lions, tigers, leopards, lynxes, jackals, &c. The Rodentia include beavers, nutrias, musk-rats or musquash, marmots, hamsters, chinchillas, hares, rabbits, squirrels, &c. The Ungulata include Persian, Astrachan, Crimean,
