FERMENTATION. 5 1 5 FERN. The most important case is presented by the transformation of ordinary alcohol into vinegar. Jn making malt vinegar, dilute aleohol is allowed to trickle slowly over beech shavings slimy with the acetic organisms, Bacterium aceti. Bj the time the liquid reaches the bottom of the cask, the alcohol has become converted into acetic acid. The oxidation takes place in two steps repre sented, respectively, according to the following chemical equations. 1. CH.CH ,OH + O = CH 3 CHO + II Alcohol Oxygen Aldehyde Water II. CH3CHO + = CH.COOH Aldehyde Oxygen Acetic Acid Precisely the same changes take place when aleohol is subjected to the action of ordinary chemical oxidizing agents in the laboratory. (3) Compound fermentations arc combinations of splitting and oxidative fermentations. They include mainly putrefactions, the chemical changes of which are little known. The products are numerous and often ill-smelling. See En- zymes; Digestion, Organs of; Respiration, Organs of; Vinegar; Alcohol; Beer; Brew- ing ; Distilled Liquors. FERMENTED AND DISTILLED LIQ- UORS. See Distilled Liquors; Liquors, Fer- mented and Distilled. FERMO, fer'm&. A city in the Province of Ascoli Pieeno, Italy, 1020 feet above the sea, not far from the Adriatic, of which it has a splendid view, and 37 miles south of Ancona (Map: Italy, H 4). The cathedral rests on the foundations of a famous temple of Juno; at the main gate are the ruins of a very ancient wall; and in the city hall, part of which dates from the fourteenth Century, are Roman antiquities and inscriptions. Fermo has a lyceum, a gymnasium, an industrial school, a theatre, and a public library; is lighted by electricity ; and ships large quantities of grain, -ilk. and wool via Porto San Giorgio, which is three miles distant. Its name comes from that of the ancient Firmum Picenum, whose ruins are in the vicinity. Population, in 1901 (com- mune ) . 20,542. FER'MOR, Arabella. The daughter of James Fermor of Tusmore, the theft of whose curl by Lord Petre inspired Pope's "Rape of the Lock." She died in 1738. FERMOR, far'mor, William. Count (1704- 71 ) . A Russian soldier, born at Pskov, in the gov- ernment of that name. He was commissioned lieu- tenant-general in 1740. and in 1758 was placed in command of the Russian Army in the war against Frederick the Great. On August 25 of that year he was defeated by Frederick at Zorn- dorf, and in 1759 relinquished the command to General Soltikoff. He was subsequently for a time Governor of Smolensk. FERMOY, fer-moi '. A town in the east of ('oik County, Ireland, on the right bank of the Blaekwater. 19 miles northeast of Cork (Map: Ireland. C 4). The hills to the south of the town reach an altitude of 1388 feet in Knockinskeagh. Fermoy is an important garrison town with bar- rack accommodation for 3000 troops. It is the seat of an extensive Roman Catholic establish- ment comprising a cathedral, episcopal palace, two convents, and a college. Agricultural prod- ucts and grist-mills constitute the principal in- dustries. Fermov dates from the foundation of a Cistercian abbey in the twelfth century; ite 1 1 1 1 n importance i - due to 1 he entei prise ol Sir John Anderson, who built the barracks, platted the town, and established i lil-coach service throughoui Munster at the beginning of the nine teenth century. Population, about 1 FERN (AS. fearn, OHG farn, Get. I a n probably connected with Skt. parna, Eei leaf, and with Russ. paporotl, I r. raith, fern), A plant of the order Filicales, one of the three great living groups of pteridophytes. The group con- tain- about ioimi ot 1 he 1500 - pa ies belonging 1 the pteridophytes, and then fore is usually cor id ered to be the representative group. Although known in considerable numbers in the temperate regions, its chief display is in the tropics, where' ferns form a striking and characteristic feature of the vegetation. In habil ferns vary from tin >■ with delicate and filmy moss-like leaves to trei like form-, rising to a height of •';."> in 4."> feet, and crowned by a rosette of leave- 15 to 20 feet long. The various species of ferns are prevail- ingly terrestrial plants, but some of them are aquatic, even floating; while there are numerous; forms, especially in the tropics, which are epi- phytic — thai is, they grow- upon oilier plants. The I'ilicales differ from the other groups of pterido- phytes chiefly in having a few large leave- which do both foliage work and spore-bearing. The al- ternation of generations (q.v.) is very distinct, the sexual plant (gametophyte) being represented by the prothalliuiii, and the sexless plant (sporo- phyte) by the leafy plant. The prothalliuiii is like a small liverwort, with a dorsiventral body, and numerous rhizoids extending from its under surface. It is so thin that all of the cells contain chlorophyll, and it is usually short-lived. The antheridia (male organs) and archegonia (fe- male organs) are usually developed on the under surface of the prothalliuiii. and differ from those of the mosses in that they are sunken in the tis- sue of the prothalliuiii and open on the surface, more or less of the neck of llie archegonia pro- jecting. The eggs are not different from those formed within the archegonia of mosses, but the sperms are very different. The fern sperm is a long spirally coiled body, blunt behind, and taper- ing to a long beak in front, where numerous cilia are developed. The sexless, leafy plant consists in the main of a subterranean dorsiventral stem, which gives out secondary roots from beneath and sends up char- acteristic aerial leaves which have long been called 'fronds.' The leaves are recognized not merely by their ordinary habit of branching, but better by their venation, which i- forking or di- ehotomous (q.v.), and by their vernation, which is coiled or cireinate. The spore-vessels (spo- rangia) are borne for the most part on the under surface of the foliage leaves, usually closely asso- ciated with the veins, and organized into groups of definite form known as 'sori.' The sorus may be round or elongated, and i- usually covered by a delicate flap known as the 'indusium' (q.v.), which arises from the epidermis. Occasionally the snri are extended along the under surface of the margins of the leaf, as in the maiden-hair fern and common brake, in which case they are protected by the inrolled margin. While in most cases the leaves doing foliage work also produce sporangia, there are some forms in which the two kinds of work are separated, certain leaves doing only foliage work and other- producing spores.
