FINGER-BOARD. 62 i FINING. FINGER-BOARD (AS. finger, Icel. fingr, Goth, figgrs, OHG. fingar, Ger. Finger, linger + board). In stringed musical instruments, the thin strip of wood glued upon the neck, above which the strings are stretched and on which the player presses his finger when shortening the strings. At its lower end the ringer-board pro- jects over the sounding-board of all instruments played with the bow, but in other varieties, as in the guitar, it is glued down on both neck and sounding-board. In some stringed instruments plucked with the fingers the finger-board is divided by frets to enable the player more read- ily to find the correct pitch. See Keyboard. FINGERING. In music, the method of ap- plying the fingers to the keys, holes, strings, etc., of musical instruments. The simplest fingering is upon the brass wind-instruments, whose keys are so few that they can be manipulated by one hand without change of position. The wood- wind instruments come next in order of difficulty, various functions being assigned to each finger, and sometimes the same key being pressed by different fingers. For the fingering of stringed instruments, such as the violin, see Position. The most complicated fingering, however, is on instruments having keyboards. The method of notation for fingering used at present on the pianoforte in which the thumb is marked X and the fingers 1, 2, 3, 4 (English) ; or the thumb 1. and the fingers 2, 3, 4, 5 (German), is the outcome of a long series of experiments, promi- nent among the reformers being Liszt. Tausig, and Biilow. Consult: Whittingham, Companion 1o All Instruction Books for Keyed Instruments (London): Reinagle. .1 Few Words on Piano- forte Playing, with Rules for Fingering (London, 1854 i -. I ramer, Studies for the Pianoforte (New York. 1828). See also articles on the various instruments. FINGER-SPONGE. See Glove-Sponge. FINGER SYMBOLISM. A representation of numbers, common in the Middle Ages. Since (inly one number could conveniently be repre- sented at one time upon the abacus (q.v.), it is possible that the finger symbolism was invented to enable the calculator to hold in mind the numbers with which he was working. Nicolaus Rhabdas of Smyrna, a mediseval Greek (four- teenth century I. describes the finger symbolism in use in his time and long before: thus, 80 was represented by laying the thumb of the left hand upon the palm, bending the forefinger closely over the first joint of the thumb, and slightly bending (lie remaining fingers. See (low. History of Greek Mathematics (Cambridge, 1884). For the work oi Rhabdas, consul! Notices ei extraits des manu- its de I" Bibliotheque Rationale, vol. xxxii. (Paris, 1880). FIN'IAL (from Lat. finis, end). An orna- ment executed in the round, generally carved to resemble foliage, and forming the upper ter- mination of peaks, pinnacles, gables, spires, and other pointed structures. Finials are found in many differenl styles; m Greek architecture, in the ei|iiisite choragic nnnient of Lysicrates 01 ol initial form; in Roman areln ire, on the summit of the Pantheon and the temple at Tivoli; in Chinese at ehitecture, over pagodas and pavilions; in Mohammedan ovei domes and minarets, and in similar positions in Christian monuments; but it was not until the twelfth century that the linial proper was developed. During the latter part of that century and the whole of the thirteenth century, finials of the most perfect form and of infinite variety were used as the crowning orna ments of every salient point in the buildings of the period, and as one of the special features of the Gothic decorative system throughout Eu- rope. The architects of the fourteenth century in finials, as in other ornaments, imitated more closely the forms of natural foliage; but their finials had neither the variety of design nor the vigor of outline of those of the preceding ecu tury. In the late Gothic of the fifteenth and six teenth centuries, the finials became more and more meagre in form, and are frequently only four crockets set upon a bare pyramidal terminal. Some variety of effect is often obtained during this period by surmounting the finial with a gilded vane. Finials were carved both in stone and in wood, and in the latter material with great delicacy and minuteness. In connection with metal-work, finials of metal were used, and whatever the material adopted, its natural capa- bilities were made a source of special beauty. The finial had no place in the system of Renaissance architecture, and was used only when a mixed style prevailed, as in Germany and England. We thus find in Elizabethan archi- tecture a variety of finials; they are. however, almost entirely of a geometric form and without foliage, and are frequently, especially when ter- minating wooden gables, combinations of finial and vane, partly wood and partly iron. In the strict classic, the only traces of the finial are in the balls, obelisks, etc., used as terminations, and also in the shields and supporters (them- selves a remnant of feudalism) which form the crowning ornament of gate-piers, pedestals, etc., and which really correspond more closely to the ancient anthemion terminations. FINIGTJERRA, fe'ne-gwer'ra, Tomaso. An Italian goldsmith of the fifteenth century, born in Florence, and also called 'Maso.' lie is presumed to have been a pupil of Lorenzo Ghi- berti, whom he assisted in his work on the doors of the Baptistery in Florence. Finiguerra has been said to have been the inventor of en- graving on metal, but this statement cannot be received as truthful in view of the evidence that engraving originated with the Germans. Vasari -:n - it was discovered accidentally by Finiguerra.
bile lie was using liquid sulphur on silver plate,
the line of his graver became filled with black, and when the sulphur was removed a distinct drawing remained. There are several of his plates in the Cabinet of Prints, in Paris, and the sulphur print Vasari mentions is in the British ln, cum. Benvenuto Cellini speaks of Maso's skill in enameling. FINING i from /,'».-. OEng. finen, to refine, from fine, pure, from OF.. Fr. fin, from l.at. fnii- tus, p.p. of /iuire, to end. from finis, end), or ClABTFICATION. The process by which turbid liquors such as beer or wine are clarified or mada clear. The simplest method of filling is by p ing a liquid through a porous substance, such as charcoal, a cloth, or filtering paper, which re- tains the solid- and allows the clear fluid to p through, but this method can be u ed only with
