gorge. A bastion front consists of a face and a flank of each of two adjoining bastions, joined by a curtain (see fig. 3). Those at Verona, built by Micheli in 1523, are usually looked upon as the oldest extant. Tartaglia and Albert Dürer, painter and engineer; Marchi, an Italian, who died 1599; Errard Bois-le-Duc and De Ville, under Henry IV. and Louis XIII. of France; and the Count de Pagan, whose treatise appeared in 1645, did much towards laying the foundation of that science which Vauban subsequently brought almost to perfection. Born in 1633, this great engineer was equally distinguished in peace and in war. After having taught how fortresses could be rendered almost impregnable, he was led by the restless ambition of his master, Louis XIV., to demonstrate that the reduction of any work was a mere question of time and powder, so that even he himself could not construct a rampart that should withstand the fire brought against it by his system of attack. He constructed thirty-three new fortresses, improved above one hundred, and conducted personally more than fifty sieges. Coehoorn, director-general of the fortresses of the United Provinces, was the contemporary, rival, and opponent of Vauban; his masterpiece was Bergen-op-Zoom. Cormontaigne, Belidor, Bousmard, and Carnot may also be mentioned as conspicuous followers of Vauban's principal theories. Their works all begin by surrounding the place with a continuous polygon, on each side of which a bastion front, covered by outworks, is constructed. The enceinte, or main body of the place, is traced as follows, if the polygon taken is an octagon. The exterior side, about 380 yards long, ab (fig. 3), is bisected in c by the perpendicular cC, which is made one-sixth of ab; aC, bC are joined and produced, and the faces of the bastions ad, bg, each equal to two-sevenths ab, are measured along them. Next, from a and b as centres, with radius ag, arcs are described cutting aC, bC, produced in fand e; de, fg form the flanks of bastions, and ef the curtain. The rampart is formed from the earth excavated from the ditch, and the parapet built on it. It will be seen from the plan that the faces and curtain provide fire over the country beyond the ditch, while the flanks are built for fire into the ditch under faces and curtain, where an enemy is not visible from the faces or curtain. The capital of the bastion is a line bisecting its salient or forward angle, and it is seen that in this direction the defender's fire is not good; consequently the besieger CURTAIN TENAILLE is apt to advance his sap on that line, but is in his turn met by the engineer adding, in front of the curtain, a ravelin or redan (F in fig. 3). The covered way, G, 10 yards wide, is covered by the glacis, K, 8 or 10 feet high, and sloping gradually towards the country. Traverses in the covered way prevent its being enfiladed. The tenaille, C, is a low parapet sweeping the interior of the ravelin and the ditch; it also protects the scarp revetments of the bastions and curtain. The caponier, D, forming a communication between the tenaille and the ravelin, consists of a passage between two low parapets, each with a glacis sloping towards the ditch, which is swept by their fire. At the re-entering angles of the covered way places of arms, I, are formed by setting off 30 yards along each counterscarp for the gorge, and making the faces enclose a salient angle of 100°. These, and the salient place of arms, H, are convenient for preparing sorties. Vauban's second and third systems were methods of improving existing works of simpler design. Coehoorn's system had counterguards in front of the bastions and parallel to them. The angle of his ravelin was always 70°, and his flanks were protected by curved shoulders called orillons. Cormontaigne widened the gorge of his ravelin, thereby reducing the length of the bastion face exposed to breaching. He also revived the steplike formation of the covered way, originally seen in the system of the great German engineer Speckle (died 1589), which gives defenders a continued line of fire from each traverse along the covered way; and he placed redoubts in the re-entering places of arms. Modifications led up to the so-called modern French system, without great changes. Horn-works and Crown-works (q.v.) were added in front of ravelins, fausses brayes or lower parapets outside the bastions, cavaliers (elevated retrenchments) within them. Improved breaching-power in cannon, making escarp masonry an easy prey, then necessi tated counterguards and couvre-faces of masonry and earth. The tenaille or star trace consists of alternate salient and re-entering angles, the latter being not less than 90°. Ravelins and other outworks are added as in the bastion trace. It was chiefly used by Montalembert (1714-1800), but has many defects-e. g. the salients are easily enfiladed; the interior space is confined; the defence of the main ditch from the ramparts is very imperfect; and if DITCH a Fig. 4. Vauban's First System (profile): a, rampart; b, banquettes; c, parapet; d, revetment; e, escarp; f, counterscarp. casemates are used at the re-entering angles to remedy this defect, they can be destroyed by the enemy's fire passing along the ditch. The Polygonal System.-Early in the 19th century the German Engineers had recognised that the polygonal system' of fortification invented by Montalembert was better adapted to the increased range and accuracy of artillery fire. This system placed the parapets of the enceinte along the sides of the polygon, sometimes broken slightly outwards or inwards, and always flanked by strong casemated caponiers projecting from their centres. caponiers mount thirty to forty guns in two or three tiers, firing through masks or tunnels in These many cases, and are themselves protected by counterguards and ravelins, besides being flanked from batteries in rear. Fig. 5, a half-front of the Antwerp enceinte (1859), as fortified by General Brialmont of the Belgian Engineers, is perhaps the best example of this system. Besides simplicity, each front has greater length (1200 yards as against 400), better bombproof cover, communications, retrenchments, and flank defence. It is more easily adapted to the site. Its ravelins are wider, but support one another less, and it is more vulnerable to attack by mining. But the fortifications of Antwerp also illustrate another change in this science, by which advanced works close to the enceinte were replaced by a The continuous enceinte, built at enormous cost, are of steel, and have hydraulic machinery for raising them when the gun is to fire. In the Great War no cupolas proved really shellproof, so great is the weight of the modern shell, so powerful the shattering energy of its explosive charge, and so accurate its flight. In the case of these permanent works, the enemy usually knows their plan from peace-time, and can find cupola and gun even if these are disguised, while the besieger's guns, installed by night and camouflaged, may take days for the besieged to discover, and can be shifted if threatened. As an example of war experience, the first-class forts of Douaumont and Vaux, of the fortress of Verdun, were disarmed by the French in 1915; when the Germans attacked next spring, the forts were manned only by a company each of infantry. Coast fortifications used to be held as constituting a different problem, owing to the weight of ships' guns; but it has now been shown that in land warfare can be troubled with artillery just as heavy. Great closed works of permanent type are not needed; the batteries are hidden away carefully; anti-aircraft arrangements are perfected; the guns are put up on high ground if such is available. The enemy is kept at a distance by mines anchored in zones, searchlights help in preventing hina sweeping the mines up by night, submarines and destroyers perpetually threaten his near approach. Very seldom have warships successfully attacked coast works of good quality of construction, of armament, and of garrison. In the Russo-Japanese war (1904-5), the Japanese only once fought Port Arthur from the sea, and with no success. In the Great War the Allied fleets never dared attack the German permanent fortifications of the North Sea coast, while they often bombarded with some effect the batteries the enemy built on the Belgian coast. At the Dardanelles in 1915 the Allied fleets destroyed with little trouble the old permanent batteries near the water level, but were beaten by the big guns installed and concealed high up among the hills, running on rails and thus easily movable, and by the drifting mines floating down from the Sea of Marmora. Fig. 5.-Half-front of the Enceinte of Antwerp. they are to be looked upon as a help to a field army fighting a battle, rather than as a fortress meant to endure a siege with no help outside its own garrisons. When Napoleon was asked his view on fortifications, he replied, To gain time;' and it is the case that in the Great War time was gained by the Allies on some critical occasions. Another point is the assailant's necessity of calculating the effort required. Liége took thirteen days (5th to 17th August 1914) to capture, and its 25,000 garrison inflicted 42,000 casualties. Namur (19th to 25th August) cost 97,000 shells, which filled 25 long trains. Maubeuge (25th August to 8th September) held up 60,000 Germans, who were wanted on the Marne. Antwerp (28th September to 10th October) kept back 150,000 Germans, used 300,000 shells (100 trains), and 300 more trains for guns and stores. The most powerful form of detached fort depended substantially on two things: (1) the depth of the underground shelters and the nature of their covering; (2) the resisting power of the cupolas or overhead shields of the chief guns. These cupolas The cost of first-class works was coming, towards the end of the 19th century, to be judged prohibitive, and it was being said that the money would be better spent on perfecting the armament and equipment of the field troops. Consequently the patent increase in the destructive force of artillery was seldom adequately met by improvements in existing fortresses, while new ones of the first class meant the expenditure of many millions sterling. The experience of the Great War has been such that, if permanent works are to be newly built, or old works brought really up to date, the constructions will be on no formal plan. Tunnelling on a great scale, along with roomy subterranean barracks, magazines, and food stores, will be a feature; every part will be knitted to every other part by deep-down passages carrying, in the chief of them at least, tram and railway lines. Infantry will man field entrenchments, prepared on the outbreak or the imminent threat of war, all communicating with the deep chambers or tunnels by shafts or staircases. An immense number of machine-gun emplacements, rendered inconspicuous by siting and by disguises, will be dotted about everywhere, all having safe communications to the underground regions. There will be a complete network of duplicate and triplicate telephone-lines. The fort ress will have an ample endowment of air service, with tunnelled hangars, shellproof. All the guns of the defence, except the lightest, will be on rails, with many alternative emplacements for the deception of the enemy's observers, and every gun will be capable of immediate withdrawal into perfect safety when threatened with being overpowered. The fortress will also have to contain, in conditions of safety from bombardment of every sort, a great outfit of military workshops. BIBLIOGRAPHY.-Die beständige Befestigung (1909), by Brunner (Austrian); Fortification (1907), by G. S. Clarke; La Fortification permanente (1908), by Deguise (Belgian); Leitfaden für den Unterricht in der Befestigungslehre (1914, German official book); Textbook of Engineering at Woolwich. Fortiguerra, NICCOLO, an Italian poet, was born at Pistoia in 1674. He proceeded to Rome at an early period, and was speedily raised to the dignity of bishop and papal chamberlain by Clement XI. The greater part of his attention was given to letters; but he is now remembered only as the author of a satirical epic entitled Il Ricciardetto (1738), which is praised by his country; men for its natural humour, grace of style, and elegance of versification. The best edition is one published at Milan in 3 vols. in 1813. Fortiguerra died at Rome, 17th February 1735. Fort Madison, capital of Lee county, Iowa, on the Mississippi River, 19 miles SW. of Burlington by rail, with a state prison, and many manufactures; pop. 12,000. Fortrose, a watering-place of Ross-shire, on the inner Moray Firth, 10 miles NNE. of Inverness, was one of the Inverness burghs; and its two por tions, Chanonry and Rosemarkie, were constituted a royal burgh in 1590. The seat of a Columban monastery in the 6th century, of the bishopric of Ross from 1124, it retains the south aisle and chapter-house of a cathedral, demolished by Cromwell to furnish stones for his Inverness fort. Pop. 1000. Fort Royal. See FORT DE FRANCE. Fort St David, a ruined fortress on the coast of Madras Presidency, 100 miles S. of Madras, on the outskirts of Cuddalore. It became British in 1690, along with all the land round about to the distance of a randome shott,' and was an important place during the struggle with the French, forming the chief of the English settlements on the Coro mandel coast from 1746 to 1752. It is of interest also from associations with Clive (q.v.), who became governor in 1756. Fort St George. See MADRAS. Fort Scott, in Kansas, on the Marmiton River, 98 miles S. of Kansas city. A railway junction, it has foundries, machine-shops, flour and other mills, and trade in coal. Pop. 10,700. Fort Smith, in Arkansas, stands on the south bank of the Arkansas River, and has a large trade and some miscellaneous manufactures; pop. 30,000. Fort Sumter. See SUMTER. Fortuna, called by the Greeks Tyche, was in classical mythology the goddess of Chance. According to Hesiod, she was a daughter of Oceanus; according to Pindar, a sister of the Parcæ. She differed from Destiny or Fate in so far that she worked without law, giving or taking away at her own good pleasure, and dispensing joy or sorrow indifferently. She had temples at Smyrna, Corinth, and Elis. In Italy she was extensively worshipped from a very early period, and had many titles, such as Patricia, Plebeia, Equestris, Virilis, Primigenia, Publica, Privata, Muliebris, Virginensis, &c., indicating the extent and also the minuteness of her superintendence. Particular honours were paid to her at Antium and Præneste; in the temple of the former city two statues of her were even consulted as oracles. Greek poets and sculptors generally represented her with a rudder, as a symbol of her guiding power; or with a ball, or wheel, or wings, as a symbol of her mutability. The Romans proudly affirmed that when she entered their city she threw away her globe, and put off her wings and shoes, to indicate that she meant to dwell with them for ever. See Dreschler in Roscher's Lexicon der Mythologie. Fortunate Islands. See ATLANTIS, AVALON, ANTILLES, BRENDAN, Canaries, ELYSIUM. Fortunatus is the title of one of the best people's books (Volksbücher) ever written. originated about the end of the 15th century, though many of the tales and legends included in it are of much older date. The opinion that it was worked up into German from a Spanish or English original may safely be set aside. The substance of the book is that Fortunatus and his sons after him are the possessors of an inexhaustible purse of gold and a wishing-cap, which however, in the end, worldly prosperity alone is insufficient to produce prove the cause of their ruin. The moral is that lasting happiness. The oldest printed edition of the book now extant bears the date 1509. Later It German editions mostly bear the title, Fortunatus, von seinem Seckel und Wunsch-hütlein. It has been reprinted in the third volume (1846) of Simrock's Deutsche Volksbücher. Versions of the story have appeared in French, Italian, Dutch, Danish, Swedish, and even Icelandic. The first to dramatise the subject was Hans Sachs, in Der Fortunatus mit dem Wunschseckel (1553), after whom comes the English Thomas Dekker, with his Pleas ant Comedie of Old Fortunatus (1600), a work which had the honour to make its reappearance in German about the year 1620. The most poetical edition of the story is that given by Tieck in his Phantasus. See Schmidt, in Ersch and Gruber's Encyklopädie (sect. 1, vol. xlvi.). Fortune, ROBERT, a botanist and traveller in China, was born in the county of Berwick in 1813. After serving an apprenticeship as a gardener, he obtained employment in the Royal Botanic Garden at Edinburgh, and afterwards in the gardens at 1843, with the first of his journeys to China, on Chiswick. His real life-work began, however, in behalf of the Botanical Society of London. The results of this journey, the fruits of his observation of the flora of the country, its tea and cotton culture, appeared in 1847 in Three Years' Wanderings in Northern China. He subsequently visited methods of tea-cultivation, to carry plants from China on three separate occasions, to study the that country to India, and to collect seeds and plants for the government of the United States, Yedo and Peking (1863) was written after his fifth and last journey to the East. His other two books are A Journey to the Tea Countries of China (1852), and A Residence among the Chinese (1857). Fortune was for a few years director of the Botanical Gardens at Chelsea. He died 16th April 1880. Fortune-telling. See DIVINATION, PALMISTRY, and GYPSIES. Fortuny y Carbo, MARIANO, an eminent Spanish painter, was born at Reus in Tarragona, in 1839, and studied in the Academy of Barcelona and in Italy. When Spain declared war against the sultan of Morocco, Fortuny followed the army to Africa, and filled his portfolios with studies of Eastern life. He received a commission for his Battle of Tetuan,' which now hangs in the Chamber of Deputies, Barcelona; but the subject was little to his taste; and, disputes having arisen, this large work was never quite completed. It was the domestic and ceremonial aspects of Eastern life that Fortuny chose to portray, and these mainly for their purely artistic possibilities; the painter treating his subjects simply as colour-schemes made up of dusky countenances, and gorgeous draperies, and vivid sunlight. His touch was particularly incisive and dexterous, and the effects he aimed at were those depending on the sparkle and brilliancy of points of potent, infinitely varied colour. He afterwards stayed much in Paris, Granada, and in Madrid, where he studied the great Spanish masters, and married the daughter of Madrazo, the director of the Academy. The preliminaries of his own wedding suggested to the painter his celebrated picture of The Spanish Marriage,' and among other of his later works are his Book-lover in the Library of Richelieu and Academicians choosing a Model.' He also left some etchings of Eastern subjects. He died at Rome, 21st November 1874. See monographs by Davillier (illus. Paris, 1875) and Yriarte (Paris, 1885). Fort Wayne, capital of Allen county, Indiana, at the confluence of the St Joseph and St Mary's rivers, which form the Maumee, and on the Wabash and Erie Canal, 148 miles ESE. of Chicago. It is an important railway centre, and has several railway workshops, foundries, and manufactures of organs, woollens, and engines. It is the seat of a Catholic bishop, and contains a Catholic hospital, convents, and academies, besides several colleges of other churches. Pop. (1870) 17,718; (1880) 26,880; (1890) 35,392; (1910) 63,933; (1920) 86,549. A Fort William, a police-burgh of Inverness shire, near the head of salt-water Loch Linnhe, the west base of Ben Nevis, and the south end of the Caledonian Canal, 66 miles SSW. of Inverness. fort, built by Monk in 1655, and rebuilt in 1690, was vainly besieged by the Jacobites in 1746, about 1860 dismantled, and in 1890 demolished. Fort William, long one of the keys of the Highlands, is now a tourist centre. Pop. 2000. Fort William, a port of Ontario, Canada, on Lake Superior, 420 miles from Winnipeg, is the connection between the eastern and western sections of the Canadian Pacific Railway, and has a large trade, principally in grain; pop. 20,500. Fort William (INDIA). See CALCUTTA. Fort Worth, capital of Tarrant county, Texas, on the west fork of the Trinity River, 30 miles W. of Dallas, is a railway centre, with flour-mills, iron and oil industries, helium works, and stockyards; pop. (1880) 6663; (1910) 73,312; (1920) 106,482. Forty, a number regarded with superstitions veneration alike by Jews and Moslems, prominently figures in the Bible and in Mohammedan writings. To cite some interesting examples from the notes to Mr W. A. Clouston's Group of Eastern Romances and Stories (privately printed, 1889): The Flood continued 40 days (Gen. vii. 17); Isaac was 40 years old when he took Rebekah to wife (Gen. xxv. 20), and Esau was of the same age when he wedded the two Hittite damsels (Gen. xxvi. 34); Joseph and his kinsmen fasted 40 days for their father Jacob (Gen. 1. 3); thrice Moses fasted 40 days (Exod. xxiv. 18, xxxiv. 28; and Deut. ix. 9-25); during 40 days the Hebrew spies searched Canaan (Numb. xiii. 25); the Israelites were condemned to wander in the wilderness 40 years (Numb. xiv. 33); Eli judged Israel 40 years (1 Sam. iv. 18); Goliath defied the Hebrew army 40 days (1 Sam. xvii. 16); David and Solomon each reigned 40 years (2 Sam. v. 4; 1 Kings, ii. 11, xi. 42); Elijah fasted 40 days (1 Kings, xix. 8); Nineveh was to be destroyed after 40 days (Jonah, iii. 4); Ezekiel bore the iniquities of the house of Judah 40 days, a day for a year (Ezek. iv. 6); Christ was tempted by Satan in the wilderness after having fasted 40 days (Matt. iv. 2, and Mark, i. 13), and continued 40 days on earth after his resurrection (Acts, i. 3). For further biblical instances, see Exod. xxvi. 19; Josh. xiv. 7; Judges, iii. 11, viii. 28, xiii. 1; 2 Sam. xv. 7; 1 Kings, vi. 17, vii. 38; 2 Kings, viii. 9; Ezek. xxix. 11, 12; Acts, xxiii. 21; 2 Cor. xi. 24. Moslems mourn 40 days for their dead, and they deem a woman ceremoniously unclean during 40 days after childbirth; among the Israelites the period was 40 days when she had given birth to a male child, and twice 40 in the case of a female child. In Moslem fictions the number 40 very frequently occurs; for instance, in the well-known Arabian Tale of the Third Calender,' his voyage is prosperous for 40 days; he is entertained by 40 fairy damsels who absented themselves for 40 days. In the ever-fresh tale of Aladdin and his Lamp,' when the magic palace has disappeared the sultan allows him 40 days to find it and the fair princess. In the Persian romance of Násir, the hero is directed by the last will' of a pious hermit, whom he found dead in his cell, to spend 40 days in prayer for the restoration of the fairies' fountain; he shoots an arrow through a suspended finger-ring 40 times in succession; but his too expert archery caused an accident to the king, from which his majesty did not recover until he had been 40 days under medical treatment. In a subordinate story in the same romance poor Shah Mansur was in the power of a cruel sorceress for nearly 40 days: and in another interwoven story a young prince The general number of a gang of robbers in Eastern was tossed about in the sea in a boat for 40 days. tales is 40: we have a very familiar instance of this in the Arabian tale of Ali Baba and the Forty story of Ahmed the Cobbler (Malcolm's Sketches Thieves,' and another example is afforded us in the of Persia), where the king's treasury is plundered by 40 robbers. In Wales 40 loaves of bread and 40 dishes of butter are a common quantity in the records of rent paid to the Bishop of Llandaff. The fee of a bard for his song was 40 pence when he was a disciple, and twice forty for a master. The unthrifty Heir of Linne,' according to the fine old ballad, tried to borrow 40 pence of John o' the Scales, who had become the owner of his lands. tried cases when the damages claimed were under In Athens the Forty' (four from each tribe) ten drachmæ. See Aristotle, Athenian Constitution. Forty-shilling Freeholder. See PARLIAMENT, FREEHOLD. In Forum, the name applied by the Romans to a public space, especially the market-place in a city, as the principal place of meeting where public affairs were discussed, courts of justice held, and money transactions carried on. Rome the name applied particularly to the famous forum or forum magnum, the low level space extending from the foot of the Capitoline Hill to the north-east part of the Palatine, Unlike the fora of the emperors this was a slow growth, and was only possible after the valley had been drained by the great cloaca, The central space was the meeting-place of the plebs, Comitia Tributa; while the patricians, Comitia Centuriata, met on the Comitium, adjoining the Forum. See ROME. Forum Competens, in Law, is the court to the jurisdiction of which the party is amenable. Fos'cari, FRANCESCO, Doge of Venice during the most flourishing period of the Venetian power. Born about 1370, and elected doge in 1423, his ambition speedily involved the state in a conflict with Milan, which, however, in consequence of the doge's great military ability resulted in the aggrandisement of Venice by the Treaty of Ferrara (1433). The last years of the doge were embittered by the misfortunes that overtook his son, Giacopo, who was, by authority of the Council, three times tortured in his father's presence and banished, on the first two occasions on false charges, on the third occasion for having besought foreign intercession against the injustice to which he was being subjected. Giacopo died in Candia shortly after his last cruel torturing and banishment. The old doge was allowed to resign office in 1457, and died seven days later, on 1st November. Byron made the tragic history of father and son the subject of The Two Foscari. Fos'colo, UGO, originally NICCOLO, an Italian author, was born in Zante, one of the Ionian isles, on 26th January 1778. His education was begun at Spalato, and completed at Padua, where Cesarotti inspired him with his first love for literature. A man of passionate temperament, and withal an ardent patriot, Foscolo was bitterly disappointed when by the Treaty of Campo Formio Venice was given to Austria, and his disappointment found vent in the Lettere di Jacopo Ortis (1802), a sort of political Werther. Still, believing that France was destined to liberate Italy, he served in the French armies, and was present at the battle of the Trebbia and the siege of Genoa. But, becoming finally undeceived as to Napoleon's intentions with regard to his native land, he returned to Milan, where he published in 1807 his best poem, I Sepolcri, a work composed in the spirit of the ancient classic writers, and remarkable for its smooth and polished versification. About this time he wrote a translation of Sterne's Sentimental Journey, and two tragedies, Ajace and Ricciarda, both showing political tendencies. In 1809 he was appointed to the chair of Eloquence in Pavia, and occupied the post until the professorship was suppressed in all the colleges of Italy. His inaugural address, Dell' Origine e dell' Ufficio della Letteratura, although full of the same love of classic beauty which marks the Sepolcri, is turgid and affected in style, like the man himself. When in 1814 the Austrians entered Milan, Foscolo withdrew to Switzerland, and in 1816 he went on to London. There some of his best writings were published-viz. Essays on Petrarca, Discorso sul testo del Decamerone, Discorso sul testo di Dante, and various papers in the Quarterly and Edinburgh Reviews. His last years were embittered by poverty and neglect. He died October 10, 1827, of dropsy, near London. His remains were finally deposited in the church of Santa Croce, Florence, in 1871. His works and letters were published at Florence in 12 vols. by Le Monnier (1850-62). See Lives by Pecchio (1836), Carrer (1842), Artusi (1878), Antona Traversi (1884), De Winckels (1885-86), and Chiarini (1910); Studi by G. Manacorda (1921). Foss, or FOSSE (Lat. fossa, from fodio, 'I dig'), in Fortification, is a ditch or moat, either with or without water, the excavation of which has contributed material for the walls of the fort it is designed to protect. The foss is immediately without the wall, and offers a serious obstacle to escalading the defences. See FORTIFICATION. Fossa et Furca. See PIT AND GALLOWS. Fossano, a town of Piedmont, North Italy, picturesquely situated on a hill over the Stura, 15 miles NE. of Cuneo by rail, with a cathedral, a 14th-century castle, and remains of the old town walls. Its streets have an antique and gloomy appearance, the houses being built over low arcades, under which run the footways. It has an academy of sciences, a seminary, technical and veterinary schools, and manufactures of silk, leather, and hemp. Pop. 20,000. See BORGOGNONE. Fossil (Lat. fossilis, dug out of the earth'), a term formerly applied, in accordance with its derivation, to whatever was dug out of the earth, whether mineral or organic. The term is now restricted to remains and relics of plants and animals which have become embedded by natural causes. These fossils may consist of the harder and more durable parts of animals and plants, or they may be merely the casts or impressions of such remains, or the footmarks or tracks which animals may have left behind them on some soft surface which has been subsequently covered up and consolidated. They occur in nearly all the stratified aqueous rocks, which have on this account been called Fossiliferous strata. It is difficult or impos sible to detect them in metamorphic aqueous rocks, for the changes that altered the matrix have also affected the organisms, so as either almost or altogether to obliterate them. In the archæan schists they have escaped notice, if ever they existed; but they have been detected in schistose rocks of Paleozoic age in different parts of the world. The conditions in which fossils occur are very various. In some Pleistocene beds the organic remains are but slightly altered, and are spoken of as sub-fossil. In this state are the shells in some raised sea-beaches, and the remains of the huge struthious birds of New Zealand, which still retain a large portion of the animal basis. In the progress of fossilisation every trace of animal substance disappears; and if we find the body at this stage, without being affected by any other change, it is fragile and friable, like some of the shells in the London clay. Most frequently, however, a petrify. ing infiltration occupies the cavities left in the fossil by the disappearance of the animal matter, and it then becomes hardened and solidified; hence fossils were formerly, and still often are, called petrifactions. Sometimes the whole organism is dissolved and carried off by water percolating the rock, thus leaving a cavity which may be filled up with calcite, pyrite, gypsum, flint, chalcedony, or some other mineral; and we thus obtain the form of the organism, with the markings of the outer surface, but not exhibiting the internal structure. Not infrequently, as in the case of shells of molluses, &c., after the soft parts of the organism have been removed and replaced by inorganic matter (either before or after burial), the shell itself may be dis solved out so as to leave a cavity which shows the mould of the outer surface of the shell, and a cast of the interior. If the shell-space is not subsequently filled up by introduced mineral matter, the internal cast lies loose in the cavity like the kernel of a nut. Most commonly, however, the shell itself is replaced by hydrated mineral matter. The most advanced and perfect condition of fossilisation is that in which not only the external form, but also the most minute and complicated internal organisation, is retained; in which the organism loses the whole of its constituents, particle by particle, and as each molecule is removed its place is taken by a molecule of another substance, as silica or pyrites. In this way we find calcareous corals perfectly preserved in flint, and trees exhibiting in their silicified or calcified stems all the details of their microscopic structure-the cells, spiral vessels, or disc-bearing tissue, as well as the medullary rays and rings of growth. PTERIDOSPERMS. As the name indicates, a group of plants forming a link between ferns and seed-bearing plants. Known only in the fossil condition, they undoubtedly formed one of the |