FIACRE. 576 FIBRE. country with some' companions for France. They were kindly received by Faro, Bishop of Meaux. The Bishop gave him a residence in the forest of Breuil. in Brie, the region south of Meaux, where Fiacre built a cell, and gave asylum to such strangers as fell in his way. According to the Irish custom, no woman was allowed to enter the monastery. After his death, about 670, his shrine had the reputation of working miracles, and pilgrimages to it began. The day of his death was August 18th, but his festival is kept August 30th. Saint Fiacre is the patron saint of gardeners. The proprietor of the H6tel de Saint-Fiacre, in the Rue Saint-Martin, Paris, opened the first livery stable in Paris in 1640. A statue of the saint stood over the door, and this circumstance gave the name fiacre to a public carriage in France. FIAMMETTA, fe'a-met'ta. The name given by Boccaccio in his works to his lady-love, be- lieved to be Maria, daughter of Robert, King of Naples. FIAS'CO. A term borrowed from the Italian theatre, signifying a failure to please on the part of an actor or singer, although why the word, which simply means a flask, should come to be thus applied, is not altogether clear. FI'AT ( Lat., let it be) . In English legal proce- dure, an indorsement of a judge, master, or regis- trar upon an application for an order or rule, which serves in lieu of a formal order. It is in the nature of a brief memorandum. The purposes for which it may be employed are strictly lim- ited, and it is chargeable with a smaller fee than an order which is drawn up in due form. The term is also applied to the formal leave of the Attorney-General to take certain proceedings, indorsed upon an application. It was formerly also applied to an order that a commission in bankruptcy issue; but its use in that connection has been abolished by statute. FIAT MONEY. Inconvertible paper money, not even containing a promise to pay; but issued by the Stale with the bare assertion of its iden- tity with true money, although no provision is made for its exchange for specie. Fiat money was issued by the American colonies to a con- siderable extent, and the history of its rapid depreciation and final worthlessness is well known. When a government is forced to this measure, the state of its finances is virtually bankruptcy. The name 'tiat money' was first given to irredeemable paper currency during the so-called Greenback agitation in the United State- alter Hie Civil War. from Hie claim of I lie Greenback Party (hat the full nf the Govern- ment could itself give value to a circulating medium. FIBIGER. fg'M-gSr, Johannes Henbik Tau- n i: (1821—). A Danish divine and pert, born at Nykjobing, on the island of Falster. Sis poetic works include: Johannes <!• » Dober, a biblical drama t I sr»7 ( : Kors og Kjwrlighed, a tragedy of domestic life ( isr>si ; Vogle Sagn, stories-in-verse (186 Strid, a tragedy (1^78: mix popular) Oraabroderen, a narrative in Hi cantos (1882 I [lection of poems (1884). FIBONACCI, i. 'ho niivi.e. Leonardo, called 1 EONABDO PlSANO. One of the greate I ma the ma ticians of the Middle Vges. Be flourished at the opening of the thirteenth century, but little is known of his personal life. He early acquired a love for mathematics and science, and perfected his knowledge on his journeys to Egypt, Syria, Greece, and Sicily, where he seems to have sought the company of the learned men of his time. Re- turning from his travels, he devoted his time to writing, and the following works testify to his great learning: (1) Liber Abaci, composed in 1202, of which only a second edition is extant; (2) Practica Qeometricej (3) Liber Quadrate- rum; (4) Flos, treating of the cubic equation; (5) a letter to Theodorus, philosopher to the Emperor, relating to indeterminate analy- sis and to geometry. Fibonacci's name at- taches to a certain series, important in the theory of numbers, viz., 0, 1, 1, 2, 3, 5, S, 13 . . . , in which » n + 2 = «„+ 1 + « n . This series has many interesting properties; e.g. (1) the sum of the first n + 1 terms, u„, »,. »., . . . u n , increased by 1, equals «< n -t- 2 ; (2) the square of any term is one unit less than the product of the two ad- jacent to it. The works of Fibonacci were pub- lished by Prince Boncompagni (2 vols., Rome, 1857-62). Consult Lucas, Reclierches sur plu- sieurs ouvrages de LConard de Pise et sur diverses questions d'arithmetique superieure (Rome, 1877). FIBRE (Lat. fibra, filament). A term of very common use as applied to objects of a stringy or thread-like character, whether of the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom. Minerals are often described as of a fibrous structure or ap- pearance, in which there is, however, no possibil- ity of detaching the apparent fibres from the general mass, or in which they are inflexible, and brittle if detached; but a more perfect ex- ample of mineral fibre is found in amiantus, a variety of asbestos. For the scientific use of the term fibre with regard to the animal kingdom, see the article Muscle and Muscular Tissue; for its scientific use with regard to the vegetable kingdom, see Vegetable Tissue; Wood. In its more popular but perfectly accurate use, it includes the hair or wool of quadru- peds, the silken threads of the cocoons of silk- worms and other insects, the fibres of the leaves and of the inner bark of plants, and the elon- gated cells or hairs connected with the seeds of plants, the ordinary materials of cordage, and of textile fabrics. Of 'mineral substances, amiantus alone has been used for textile fabrics, and that only to a very limited extent. Animal and vegetable fibres have, from the earliest ages, supplied man with cordage, and with (doth. How the invention took place can only be matter of conjecture. It is noted as an interesting fact that the most valu- able commercial fibres of to-day were the promi- iieiii fibres of ancient times. Cotton, flax, hemp, as well as the common animal fibres, as hair, wool, and silk, were known and used in past ages. The animal fibres used for textile purpose- arc chiefly Of the two classes already mentioned — ( 1 ) the wool or hair of quadrupeds, and (2) the silk of tin coons of insects. To these may be added (3) the byssus of mollusks, but this class con- tains only the byssus of the pinna (q.v.) of the Mediterranean, an article of ancieni and high reputation, buf more of curiosity than of use. The skins and intestines of animals, although sometimes twisted or plaited for various u-es, can scarcely be reckoned among the fibrous ma-
