the name of caprification has been given; but although sanctioned by a practice, the date of which is lost in antiquity, it has been conclusively proved by Professor Gasparrini that caprification produces no useful effect whatever upon the fig crop, and should be discontinued. (See Journal of the Horticultural Society,' vol. iii., in which the subject is very fully discussed.) FIGURATE NUMBERS. [NUMBERS, APPELLATIONS OF.] FIGURE (Geometry), a finite space, which has a boundary in every direction. The figure of a space is the notion we receive from observing its boundary. FIGURE OF THE EARTH. [GEODESY.] FIGURED BASE, in Music, is a line, or staff, written in the base clef, over the notes of which are placed figures representing certain chords. This is commonly called the thorough-base. [THOROUGHBASE.] The figured base is fallen into disuse, though we are of opinion that it might still be beneficially employed in scores. But in a piano-forte or organ part, when the harmony or accompaniment is given fully in the treble staff, figures are not only superfluous, but perplexing and incorrect. FILBERT, the fruit of a variety of the hazel-nut, or Corylus Avellana. [CORYLUS.] The term was originally applied to those kinds of nuts which have very long husks, but owing to the number of varieties that have of late years been obtained, this distinction, which was never scientific, appears to be nearly disregarded, and nut and filbert are almost synonymous terms, excepting that the wild uncultivated fruit, and those varieties which most nearly approach it, are never called filberts." The best sorts are the following: Frizzled filbert, excellent bearer. White filbert, bad bearers. taken off, and that they may appear regular, a small hoop is placed within the branches, to which the shoots are fastened at equal distances; by this practice, two considerable advantages are gained, the trees grow more regular, and the middle of each is kept hollow so as to admit the influence of the sun and air: but this in a large plantation would be almost impossible, nor indeed is it necessary, though in private gardens, where regularity and neatness are almost essential, it ought to be practised. In the third year a shoot will spring from each bud; these are suffered to grow till the following autumn, or fourth year, when they are cut off nearly close to the original stem, and the leading shoot of the last year shortened twothirds. In the fifth year several small shoots will arise from the base of the side-branches which were cut off the preceding year; these are produced from small buds, and would not have been emitted, had not the branches on which they are situated been shortened, the whole nourishment being carried to the upper part of the branch. "It is from these shoots that fruit is to be expected. These productive shoots will in a few years become very numerous, and many of them must be taken off, particularly the strongest, in order to encourage the production of the smaller ones; for those of the former year become so exhausted, that they generally decay; but whether decayed or not, they are always cut out by the pruner, and a fresh supply must therefore be provided to produce the fruit in the succeeding year. The leading shoot is every year shortened two-thirds, or more, should the tree be weak; and the whole height of the branches is not allowed to exceed six feet. Every shoot that is left to produce fruit should also be tipped, which prevents the tree being exhausted by making wood at the end of the branch. It frequently happens that a strong shoot springs from the root; and should any of the first year's or leading branches be decayed, or become unproductive of bearing wood, it will be advisable to cut that entirely away, and suffer the new shoot to supply its place, which afterwards is to be Cob-nut (Pearson's Prolific, 'Hort. Soc. Cat.'), a very prolific treated in the same way as is recommended for the others." (Hort. kind. Bond-nut. Cosford. Large square Downton. Northamptonshire, prolific. According to the most skilful cultivators, the soil on which the filbert succeeds best should consist of "a hazel loam of some depth, upon a dry subsoil;" but as this is not always found convenient, it should be remarked that it is not essential to the growth of the filbert, and some even recommend a dry poorish soil. The ground should be frequently dressed (at least once in two years), and a small quantity of manure given; woollen-rags are often used for this purpose with the greatest success, but manure of any kind will be found beneficial. Filberts are most successfully propagated by layers or suckers. The layering should be performed in the earlier part of the season, in order that the plants may be well rooted, and ready to plant either in a nursery, or where they are intended to remain, in the autumn. When they are raised from suckers, these are generally taken from the parent plant in the end of the season, and subjected to the same treatment as layers. If it be desirable that the trees should be dwarf, layering and grafting are recommended; but if strong plants are wanted, they are raised from suckers: it is also said they fruit sooner by the last method. The method of pruning depends in a great measure upon the object the cultivator has in view: if dwarf trees are wanted, the layer or sucker is shortened to about one foot and a half or two feet; if what are termed riders be desirable, then the stem is cut much higher; but if the shoot is weak it is better to cut it near the ground, and leave it the proper height at the next year's pruning. Afterwards, when any sucker makes its appearance at the bottom of the stem, it should be carefully removed, and not allowed to draw the nourishment from the parent plant. In the formation of the head, the chief thing to be observed is to form it regularly, cutting away all strong superfluous shoots, keeping it thin and open in the centre, and thus allowing the free passage of light and air. "There will be produced from the two and three years' branches, annually, short twigs of six or nine inches in length, which generally bear a great many nuts the following year; these should be thinned out, but not shortened, leaving them in tolerable quantity wherever they are produced, cutting them clean out the following winter, and leaving others in the same manner as those had been left the previous season." (Lindley's Guide,' &c.) About Maidstone, and other parts of Kent, the management of the filbert is better understood than in any other part of this country; and as the soil and other circumstances seem to suit its growth, immense quantities are grown for the London market. "That part of Kent where the filbert is chiefly cultivated is a loam upon a dry sandy rock. The Rev. W. Williamson advises every one to plant them where they are to remain, whether they are intended for a garden or a larger plantation; and after being suffered to grow without restraint for three or four years, to cut them down within a few inches of the ground. From the remaining part, if the trees are well rooted in the soil, five or six strong shoots will be produced. In the second year after cutting down, these shoots are shortened; generally one-third is Trans.' vol. iv.) Such, according to Mr. Williamson, is the method of cultivating the filbert in the far-famed grounds of Kent, by which thirty hundredweight per acre has been grown on particular lands; at the same time he acknowledges that failures are by no means unfrequent, but he attributes this to the excessive productiveness of successful years. The filbert is a monoecious plant, having its male organs in one flower and its female in another; and one modern writer, suspecting a want of male blossoms to be the cause of failure in particular seasons, suspended a quantity of the catkins of the common hazel over the female blossoms of some of his filberts, the result of which was a greater quantity of fruit than his trees had borne for many years. He then tried some with, and others without, the male flowers, when the former bore fruit, and the latter proved abortive, as he had anticipated. He therefore recommends unpruned hazels to be planted among the cultivated filberts, in order that impregnation may be effected. Great quantities of filberts are rendered useless by being attacked by the nut-weevil (Balaninus nucum), which perforates the nut in its young state, and deposits its egg: in a few days the maggot is hatched, and then feeds upon the kernel. Some recommend the trees to be shaken in June or July, as this is the time when the insect makes its appearance, but no remedy is known which can be said to be FILE MANUFACTURE. Files are steel tools having flat or curved surfaces so notched or serrated as to produce a series of fine teeth or cutting edges. They are indispensable for the working of most metallic and many other hard substances; and without their aid few articles of machinery could be produced. The use of the file must have preceded every step in the progress of finishing articles composed of iron and steel, in all cases where any intricacy of shape precluded the operation of grinding. In the first book of Samuel (chap. xiii. v. 21), the file is mentioned as the means of sharpening the mattocks, coulters, and other edged instruments of the Israelites; and it may be mentioned as a further proof of the antiquity of this tool, that in Homer's Odyssey,' Vulcan is represented as using the hammer and file in fabricating the net in which he entangled Mars and Venus. Files always are, or should be, made of steel of superior quality; as there are few instruments in which a defect in the metal is so completely destructive of utility. An axe, saw, or almost any other cutting instrument, though of inferior metal, may be made to do its duty by repeated whetting; but for a bad file there is no remedy,-no process of restoration. If too soft, the teeth wear down quickly; if too hard, they chip off. Steel for making files, being required to be of unusual hardness, is more highly converted than for other purposes, and is sometimes said to be double converted. The very large files called smiths' rubbers are generally forged immediately from the con verted bars, which are, for convenience, made square while in the state of iron. Smaller files are forged from bars or rods which are wrought as nearly as may be to the required form and size by the action of tilt-hammers, either from blistered bars or from ingots of cast steel. These bars are cut into pieces suitable for making one file each, which are heated in a forge fire, and then wrought to the required shape on an anvil by two men : one of whom superintends the work, and is responsible for the goodness of the file, while the other acts as general assistant. Files being of many different shapes and sizes, as square, triangular, flat, round, and half-round in their cross section, and parallel or tapering more or less towards the end, and ranging from the minute watchmaker's files of an inch or two in length, to the ponderous rubber of two or three feet, there are of course many varieties in the forging process. The square and flat files are generally shaped by the hammer only; but for those of a triangular or half-round section grooved bosses or dies of the required shape are attached to the anvil. Round files are made by means of the instrument known to smiths as a swage, which may be compared to a pair of such dies, one of which is inverted upon the other to receive the blows of the hammer. The projecting tang by which the file is to be inserted in a wooden handle is formed at this time, and the manufacturer's mark is impressed with a steel punch. The next operation is that of softening or annealing, to render the steel capable of being cut with the toothing instruments. The ordinary mode of performing this operation is to pile the steel blanks loosely upon the bottom of a brick oven, and heat them with a fire kindled beneath and around them, the heat being regulated by dampers. When the fire has been maintained sufficiently long, the pile is smothered with ashes, every aperture by which air could enter the oven is carefully closed, and the whole is left to cool gradually. The access of air during the heating tends to the oxidation of the steel, and is consequently injurious: and on this account a more careful method of annealing is sometimes adopted, by means of a closely-files to retain a greater quantity of salt, which fuses, and forms a procovered box filled with sand, into the midst of which the blanks are plunged. After annealing, the surface of the metal must be rendered very smooth and even before cutting the teeth. This may be done either by stripping, or filing, first across, and afterwards along the surface; or by grinding upon very large grindstones. The stripping process, which is tedious and laborious, was formerly in common use, and is still practised by some filemakers, especially in Lancashire, where excellent files are manufactured; but the other is now the most common method. The cutting of the teeth is usually performed by workmen sitting astride upon a board or saddle-shaped seat, in front of a well-lighted bench, upon which is fixed a kind of small anvil. Laying the blank file across the anvil, the cutter secures it from moving by a strap which passes over each end and under his feet, like the stirrup of the shoemaker. He then takes in his left hand a very carefully ground chisel made of the best steel, and in his right a peculiarly shaped | hammer, the handle of which is fixed at such an angle that the operator can, while making a blow, pull the hammer rather towards him. If the file be flat, or have one or more flat surfaces, the operator places the steel chisel upon it at a particular angle, and with one blow of the hammer cuts an indentation or furrow, completely across its face from side to side, but most commonly in an oblique direction; the metal displaced by this operation is not taken away, but is thrown up in the form of a prominent angular ridge, with a sharp cutting edge, on one side of the furrow. He then moves the chisel a little, and by a second stroke cuts another precisely similar furrow parallel to, and at a very short distance from, the first; and thus proceeds, stroke by stroke, until the whole surface is furrowed, beginning at the point and ending at the tang-end. In the course of cutting, the file is gradually moved from the operator by relaxing the pressure of the strap from time to time. In this state, the file is said to be single-cut, or single-float; and files so cut are used for brass and the softer metals, which are liable to clog a file of any other kind. For working iron and some other materials, double-cut, or cross-cut, files are used; in which the first row or series of cuts is crossed at an oblique angle by a second; the effect of which is to convert the surface into a collection of very small angular teeth, admirably adapted for the abrasion of hard substances. In making cross-cut files, a fine file is gently passed over the first series of cuts or teeth to reduce the prominences to an even surface before the second set is cut. Files for wood are usually cut with a triangular pointed punch or chisel, instead of one with a flat edge; such files, as well as some of the deepest and coarsest crosscuts, are called rasps. If the file be round or half-round, or have any curved surface, it is still cut with the same kind of tool; but as a straight-edged cutting tool can only make a short indentation upon a convex surface, it is necessary to go round the file by degrees, making several rows or ranges of minute cuts contiguous to one another. In addition to variations in the form and arrangement of the teeth of files, their size varies extremely. The largest and coarsest smiths' files are called rubbers; and others, arranged in order of fineness, are technically known as rough, bastard, second-cut, smooth, and deadsmooth files, the latter producing so fine a surface when applied to metal that the subsequent application of a burnisher is sufficient to polish it. In the art of file-cutting there are many points worthy of remark. The angle at which the cuts are made depends greatly on the purpose to which the file is to be applied, and is made an especial object of the cutter's attention. The cut, too, is not a mere indentation, made without reference to form; it is a triangular groove of particular shape, the production of which requires a most discriminating tact in the management both of the hammer and of the cutting-tool. Then, again, the strict parallelism of the several cuts can only be brought about by practised accuracy of hand and eye; since there is no guide, gauge, or other contrivance for regulating the distance. In a round file, too, the several rows or cuts are brought side by side in such an exact manner that it is difficult to conceive them to be formed singly and by hand. It is possible, in a half-round file 10 inches long, to make 20,000 chiselcuts, each produced by a distinct blow from a hammer; and files of that length are actually made single-cut, with 10,000 such indentations. The final process in the manufacture of files is the hardening of the steel, a process in which different manufacturers vary in practice. There are differences, too, depending on the degree of hardness required. In the ordinary process of hardening steel files three things must be particularly observed: first, to cover the surface of the file with some composition which, acting as a protecting varnish to it, may guard it from oxidation and scaling when exposed to the action of the fire, that the sharpness of the teeth may not be impaired, nor the surface rendered rough, which would cause it to clog when in use; secondly, to heat it very uniformly throughout to a red heat; and, thirdly, to cool it suddenly, by immersion in the freshest and coldest water, in such a manner as to impart the greatest degree of hardness, and to avoid the tendency to warping, which in long thin files is a difficult matter. A mixture very commonly used for the first-mentioned purpose consists of the grounds of malt liquor, or the cheapest kind of flour, yeast, and common salt. The use of the grounds is chiefly to enable the tecting varnish when in the fire. The heating is usually effected in an open fire of clean coke, the file, if small, being held by the tang end in a pair of tongs, and frequently withdrawn, to see that no part becomes over-heated. The proper temperature is indicated by a cherry-red colour. A kind of oven is sometimes used for large files, to facilitate the uniform application of heat, the oven being formed of fire-bricks, open at one end to receive the files and fuel, and the fire being urged by bellows. Some file-makers put sulphuric acid or other substances into the quenching-water, with a view to procuring the greatest possible hardness. All files should be immersed quickly; those of a flat, square, triangular, or round form, being plunged perpendicularly into the water; while the half-round, though kept perpendicular, should be moved a little horizontally in the direction of the round side, to prevent its becoming crooked. With every precaution the files are liable to take some degree of warp or curvature in this process, to remove which they are withdrawn from the water before they become quite cold and straightened. Owing to their hardness, files are unavoidably brittle, and they are especially liable to break by the tang, owing to their reduced substance; to remedy which, some makers temper the tang end by dipping it in a bath of melted lead. During the war of the French revolution, the supply of English files being impeded, the French file-makers were excited to great efforts to supply the deficiency; and these efforts are said to have resulted in the production of files of intense hardness, by dipping them into a composition of mutton suet, hog's lard, and arsenic. After hardening, the files are scoured with a brush dipped in water mixed with a little sand or coke-dust; then thoroughly washed to remove any saline particles which might tend to rust the file; next dipped in water in which quick-lime has been dissolved, in order to neutralise the effect of any which may yet remain; and finally dried before the fire, brushed over with oil or a mixture of olive-oil and turpentine, and wrapped up in oiled brown paper for sale. Before packing, files are sometimes tested by striking them gently on a piece of hard steel, and also rubbing them gently from end to end. When files, otherwise of good quality, are reduced to a useless state by wear, they are sometimes re-cut, the old teeth being completely removed by grinding. Re-cut files are, of course, somewhat thinner than when first made, but in all other respects they may be equally good, if the process is properly conducted. Owing to the superior quality of the steel, worn-out files bear a comparatively high value as old metal, and many are bought up for the purpose of converting them into screw-drivers and gun-barrels. Several highly ingenious machines have been contrived for superseding the tedious operation of file-cutting by hand; but, suited as the process may appear to be for the use of machinery, it has been found to present such great difficulties that few file-cutting engines have been brought successfully or extensively into operation. One very serious difficulty arises from the circumstance that if one part of the file be either a little softer than the adjacent parts, or narrower, so as to present less resistance to the blow of the hammer, a machine would, owing to the perfect uniformity of its stroke, make a deeper cut there than elsewhere; whereas a workman who has been employed in the trade from a boy can feel instantly when he arrives at any variation in the quality or condition of the steel, and at once adapts the weight of his blow to it. The application of machinery to the toothing of extremely fine-faced files seems conceivable however, because in such the set or direction of the teeth is a matter of much less importance than perfect equality of surface. The double dead-cut files of the 77 of some sort. FILE. French exhibit such a beautiful uniformity of delineation when examined with a magnifier, that no doubt seems to be entertained by many persons conversant with the art of their being cut by machinery But although the French are so successful in the production of this exquisitely delicate cutting, they are not equally so in the execution of the rougher sorts; and, consequently, English files are in high reputation in Paris, whither large quantities are regularly transmitted. As an example of minute but useless work, we may adduce the Danish file sent to the Great Exhibition in 1851. It was four-square, and weighed 10 lbs.; the file-cuts on the surface represented the royal arms, and views of several public buildings in Copenhagen. It was hollow, and contained a nest of ten files, one within another, the innermost being little more than an inch in length. Still more pretentious was a file made by Hiram Younge, a file-cutter in the employ of Messrs. Carr of Sheffield; it was 54 inches in length, and was covered all over with landscapes, emblems, symbols, inscriptions, foliage, and other devices, all produced by chisel-cuts of different lengths and depths. cutters. Belgium. FILLET, a flat rectangular moulding, of very frequent occurrence in architecture. It is used to terminate or divide other mouldings, as in the cavetto, which is surmounted with a fillet, and in the flutings of columns, which are divided by a fillet. The fillet is much used in FILTER; FILTRATION. Filters may be ranked as of four kinds : entablatures. [COLUMN.] those employed in straining various chemical liquids; those used for filtering water in small quantities for household use; those used on a large scale by the water companies; and those used on shipboard for 1. Chemical filters. The smaller kinds are strainers used in chemical converting salt water into fresh. operations for rendering fluids transparent by separating the suspended impurities which make them turbid; or for separating and washing the precipitates resulting from chemical analysis. They are usually made of unsized or blotting paper; and they are used either spread out upon cloth stretched on a wooden frame, or folded and placed in funnels, and having consequently the form of an inverted cone. They are either single or double, according to the purposes to which they are to be applied. [CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.] 2. Household filters. Various forms of filter are employed for the purpose of filtering water, either for drinking or culinary purposes. These filters generally depend upon passing water through sand or small pebbles and charcoal. It is well known that the Thames water, though it contains but little saline matter in solution, is frequently turbid, owing to mechanical admixture of earthy matter; and these earthy matters, in the Thames and other kinds of river water, it is the purpose of filters to remove, so as to render the water, though not so well adapted for other purposes. agreeable as spring-water for drinking on account of its flatness, yet A considerable portion of the river-water of Paris is filtered in large boxes, many in number, lined with lead, open at top, and having at establishments where it is employed. The filters made use of are small the bottom a layer of charcoal between two layers of sand. If the water is foul, the upper layer of sand requires to be renewed daily. At the Hôtel Dieu the boxes are hermetically sealed, and the water is forced through the filtering layers by artificial pressure. A very simple water-filter may be made of a common garden-pot, or similar vessel, with a bottom pierced with holes. Fill the lower part with round pebbles, then place a layer of smaller pebbles, then coarse sand, and lastly a layer, three or four inches in depth, of well-made pounded charcoal. The water, in percolating through these various strata, loses nearly all its mechanical impurities. A still simpler filter may be formed of a layer of sponge pressed between two perforated plates. A brief notice of three among the many machines invented within the last few years will illustrate the modes in which the cutting-action is brought about, and will also show that there are really machine-cut files now made in England. In 1856, a file-cutting machine, invented by Mr. Ross, was adopted in Messrs. Hetherington's works at Glasgow; and by the spring of the next year, five others had been added. The chief difficulty hitherto has been in the attainment of a proper modification of blow, so as to suit various qualities of steel, widths of file, and depths of cutting; and also to accommodate the blow to any irregularities of surface. These difficulties Mr. Ross has sought to remove, by an ingenious but very complex arrangement of mechanism -calculated to produce files of a medium degree of size and fineness. In Messrs. Preston and Macgregor's machine, patented in 1858, there is a shaft turned by a strap in the usual way; conical cams, fixed on the shaft, raise and lower a hammer-head and spindle; there are fixed guides on the anvil block; the upper swage is fixed at the lower end of the spindle, and the lower swage between the guides; and thus the blows of the hammer are brought down vertically. The lift of the hammer is varied by varying the distance between the cams on the shaft. There is a chisel-holder with a ball-joint, and a spring for There is a compensating moveretaining the holder in its place. ment for regulating the force of the blow. The file-blank is placed in a recess in the anvil. Messrs. Greenwood and Batley set up at Leeds, in 1859, a file-cutting machine of French invention. The file, in this arrangement, is placed in a self-adjusting bed, capable of turnMurray's Self-cleansing Domestic Tubular Filter is soldered to the ing in any direction; the chisel is fixed in a vertical slide, put in motion by a spring and cam and gives about a thousand blows in a minute. It is said to do about as much work as ten skilful file- end of the service-pipe. The enlarged part of the pipe contains a This form of machine is also in operation in France and perforated tube with several folds of flannel and linen wrapped round it. The smaller tap communicates only with the outer casing, so that no water can reach it that has not passed through the filtering tube. Files are among the articles which exemplify the importance of trade-marks. A mark was granted many years ago by the Sheffield The larger tap communicates with the interior of the tube; and by corporation to Daniel Brammall, to be stamped on his files; and so allowing it to run, the filter will cleanse itself. In Bird's Hydrostatic important was this in a commercial point of view, that on one occasion Syphon Water Purifier, the filtration is performed in two inverted cones containing filtering media, situated in the cylinder. When used, the instrument is immersed in the water to be filtered, and the pipe Brammall obtained 2000. damages against a rival manufacturer, for an infringement of the mark. This matter was adverted to by one On drawing out the air from the pipe, it acts as a syphon, of the jurors of the Paris Exhibition in 1855, in connection with uncoiled so as to hang with its stop-cock below the bottom of the the file-manufacture:-" The fundamental obstacle to the growth of instrument. this branch of industry results from the custom adopted by almost all and a stream of pure water flows. Foster's Pressure Filter, recommanufacturers of placing false marks on their produce. This deplor-mended for use by the Sanitary Board of Liverpool, consists of a porous stone, hollow in the inside, and contained in a metal jacket. able custom is due in part to the desire that unconscientious manufacturers, convinced of their real inferiority, have to turn to their This apparatus, when screwed into the service pipe, causes the water, own profit the resources of the best foreign manufacturers, acquired forced through the stone by the pressure of the main, to lose all its which draws the filtered water from the interior of the stone globe; by a long career of honesty and talent; it is encouraged by the retail pollutions, and come out pure and clear. There are two taps, one of dealers, who wish to keep manufacturers dependent on them, and to hinder the consumer from knowing the real marks of steel goods. the other the unfiltered from the exterior; and the apparatus is so Manufacturers, short of capital, submit in this matter to the terms arranged that the drawing of the unfiltered water cleanses the stone dictated to them by the dealers, renounce their individuality, and and increases its powers of filtration. The stamp upon their goods such marks as the buyer chooses to order, and even to substitute the name of the retail dealer for their own. history of the English steel trade proves that a skilful manufacturer, who consecrates his life to found the reputation of the trade-mark he has chosen, can leave in the sole possession of that mark a large fortune to his descendants. The government would, therefore, render skilful and conscientious manufacturers (the only ones that ought to be encouraged) an immense service in imposing upon each producer the obligation to place his own mark upon his manufactures." It is probable that this mention of government interference was due to a Frenchman, with whom such a mode of settling trade difficulties is In reference to the file-manufacture, the chief piracies occur familiar. in Germany, where English trade-marks are copied with unblushing effrontery. FILE, is a line of soldiers one behind the other. The term is commonly used also to designate a front and rear rank man together; or as in the expression so many rank and file, when it means so many soldiers who are not officers or sergeants. FILE MARCHING, is where a line of soldiers, either in single or double rank, facing to the right or left, march in that direction; each front and rear rank man then compose a file. FILIATION, ORDER OF. [BASTARDY.] Some of the filters recently made have for their object the maintenance of a uniform pressure of the fluid upon the filtering surface by as fast as it passes off through the filter. On a small scale this may be a self-acting contrivance, which admits the fluid from a reservoir just done by inverting a bottle, filled with the liquid to be filtered, with its which the filtering materials are placed; so long as the fluid in the open neck or mouth in the funnel or other vessel at the bottom of funnel is above the level of the mouth of the bottle, no fluid will flow take its place; but so soon as, by the process of filtration, the fluid in from the bottle into the funnel, because no air can enter the bottle to the funnel falls below the mouth of the bottle, air enters it, and consequently liquid flows out into the funnel until it rises high enough fluid to the filter is regulated by a ball-cock or valve connected with a again to prevent the admission of air. In other cases, the admission of float. In a few instances, hydrostatic or pneumatic pressure is employed to increase the rapidity of filtration, by closing the filtering pipe from an elevated cistern; by producing pressure by air or steam cylinder, and forcing the fluid into it, either by a force-pump or by a upon the surface of the fluid; or by occasioning a partial vacuum passed through it. When such pressure is applied, the water or other beneath the filter, in the vessel which receives the fluid after it has fluid is sometimes caused to ascend through the filtering materials, or to pass through them horizontally, or in any required direction. In steam from a boiler into the jacket, to heat the cylinder. The seasome filters, the action is compounded of descent by gravity and water within the cylinder is made to flow through all the compartascent by hydrostatic pressure; by which arrangement the fluid mayments, by means of the partitions; it gets heated as it goes, and throws be compelled to pass through a great quantity of filtering material in a small space. In one form, the filtration is carried on without any exposure to the access of air; both the vessel into which the impure fluid is put, and that which receives it after filtration, being hermetically closed. These two vessels are connected together by a small air-pipe, through which the air displaced from the lower vessel by the dropping of the fluid into it ascends into the upper vessel to occupy the space which it has just vacated. The process therefore is conducted without the contact of any more air than the vessels contain at its commencement, and without the escape of any vapours from the fluid; so that the most volatile liquids may be filtered without loss, and the injurious effects which in other cases might arise from the free admission of air are avoided. In Ransome's filter, patented in 1856, there is a cylindrical vessel, at the bottom of which is a layer of coarse grit; above the grit is a layer of fine sand; and above this a slab of Ransome's patent porous stone. In the middle of the porous slab is a hollow space containing a layer of charcoal. Above all these layers is a vessel for filtered water; and above and around this another for unfiltered. The impure water runs down to the bottom of the vessel, and then ascends through all the layers, leaving the impurities behind it. Filters of this kind are found to be more easily cleaned than those which act by descension. Ransome's patent stone has led to the production of a very small and simple filter, intended for troops, travellers, and emigrants. It consists of a small cylinder of porous stone, attached to a disc of wood; from which disc springs a short vulcanised india-rubber tube, with a mouthpiece. On placing the cylinder in unfiltered water, and drawing breath through the tube, water rises in a tolerable state of purity, and flows into the mouth. 3. Filtering Beds.-The processes for filtering water on a large scale, as now adopted by the chief water-works companies, will best be treated in the article WATER-WORKS. 4. Freshening Sea-Water.-This important process, becoming every year more appreciated and more extensively adopted, belongs rather to distillation than to filtering; but it was referred from DISTILLERY to this place, because many of the forms of apparatus employed comprise filtering as well as distilling arrangements. It may not at first sight appear evident how the saltness of sea-water can be removed by either of these processes. The explanation is found in the fact, that when ever water is converted into steam at an ordinary temperature, very few if any solid particles ascend with it. Salt, clay, sand, charcoal, alkalies, and oxides, are almost wholly left behind in the vessel in which the water is treated; the vapour which passes off consisting of aqueous particles and a little atmospheric air. If clear water, dirty water, or sea-water be placed in a common kettle on the fire, the steam that issues from the spout will be nearly alike in all three cases; it will be vapid and tasteless, but neither salt nor impure. The possibility of rendering sea-water drinkable is a question of very great importance to ship-owners, especially to the owners of emigrant and passenger ships, and to the royal navy; for, under present arrangements, a vast space and a vast number of tanks are necessary to contain fresh water enough for the wants of all the crew and passengers; and even if fresh when put on board, the water has a tendency to become foul by long keeping. The miseries suffered on ship-board by a deficiency of pure water are among the greatest to which passengers and crew are liable. All the many forms of apparatus invented for freshening sea-water are contrived with a view to making the best use of the fuel employed; those which are most economical are most likely in the end to be adopted. Grant's apparatus, brought forward in 1849, is so contrived that the same fire employed for the cooking of the crew's provisions will distil sea-water contained in a vessel above it, at the rate of one gallon per man per day. The water becomes aerated, or mixed with sufficient atmospheric air to impart briskness to it, by agitation in the vessel. McBride's apparatus, patented in the same year, condenses the heated sea water by a current of cold air, which gathers it into a condenser by means of a blowing or exhausting machine. Murdoch's apparatus comprises a pipe fitted in the top of the ship's cooking boiler, and another perforated pipe to admit air; an exhausting space sucks both the steam and the air down the pipe into a condenser beneath, thereby effecting simultaneously the distilling and the aerating. In Ericsson's apparatus, when the sea-water has been converted into vapour, the steam passes into and through a space between two concentric vessels; the inner vessel is kept cool by the flow of cold water through it, and the outer one by the evaporative action of the atmosphere on a wet cloth wrapper; and the steam being thus placed between two cool surfaces, becomes condensed into drinkable water. In Normandy and Fell's apparatus, the arrangement is somewhat peculiar. There is a cylinder surrounded by a steam-jacket. The cylinder is divided internally into four channels or compartments by partitions. Each of these compartments is turned up at one end, so as to allow the water to flow towards the other. The cylinder is connected at one end to a pipe with a condensing and aerating apparatus, contained within a closed tank; and at the other by a pipe with a box, into which the water to be purified is first introduced. A pipe brings off steam. This steam passes off through the pipe into the condenser, where it gets mixed with atmospheric air, and is finally condensed by coming in contact with the sides of the condenser. The steam which has been employed in heating the cylinder when condensed by cold, is drawn off by another pipe; although it is not pleasant to drink, through not being aerated, it is still good enough for washing. The residuum of the salt or impure water escapes by another pipe. Gravely's apparatus, patented in 1858, consists of two parts, a boiler and a condenser, the latter over the former. The bottom of the boiler is corrugated, to increase the heating surface, and there is a jacket to economise the heat. A pipe extends from an aperture in the top of the boiler to near the top of the condenser; a larger pipe is outside and concentric with this; and the space between them is an air-space. Messrs. Gravely have recently paid much attention to their apparatus, to render available as much as possible of the heat which in ordinary ships is usually generated in the cook-room; and their success has been such as to lead to a large employment of the apparatus in merchant ships. Grant's apparatus, applied some years ago to H. M. S. Arrogant, Plumper, Reynard, Dauntless, Termagant, and Encounter, has recently, modified and improved by other contrivances, been provided for a large number of ships in the royal navy. When Sir Charles Napier was in the Baltic with his fleet, eleven ships distilled 4,700 tons of sea-water; and did this so well, that the crew preferred the water thus obtained to ordinary fresh water. In the Black Sea during the same war, the ship Wye distilled 10,000 gallons a day. Very recently (1859) Dr. Normandy, improving on an apparatus in which he was concerned some years earlier, has brought it to a more efficient state than any other for the Royal Navy; it is now being largely adopted by the Admiralty, and by the great steam mail companies. FILTRATION. Å process used in chemical operations to separate solid from liquid matter. [CHEMICAL ANALYSIS.] FINA'LE (Ital. Fi-ná-le), the concerted piece of music by which the acts of an opera conclude: the last movement of a symphony, concerto, &c. FINANCE. [TAX; TAXATION.] FINE OF LANDS, one of the modes of conveying lands and hereditaments by matter of record. It was so called because it put an end not only to the actual suit of which it was the conclusion, but also to all other suits and controversies concerning the same matter. Divested of its technicalties, a fine may be described to be an amicable composition or agreement of a suit, either actual or fictitious, by leave of the king or his justices, whereby the lands in question become, or are acknowledged to be, the right of one of the parties. This mode of conveyance, which was in use from the earliest periods of English history of which we possess any authentic judicial records, has been recently abolished by the stat. 3 & 4 Wm. IV. c. 74; yet the rules by which it was governed form a very considerable branch of real property law, and it is therefore desirable briefly to describe its nature and effect. Fines were of four kinds :-1. A fine "sur conusance de droit, come ceo qu'il ad de son done;" that is, upon acknowledgment of the right of the cognizee, as that which he (one of the parties to the fine) had of the gift of the cognizor (the other party to the fine). This was the best and surest kind of fine, for thereby the cognizor (the person in possession, also called the deforciant from keeping the cognizee out of possession), in order to make good his covenant with the cognizee (the plaintiff), of conveying to him the lands in question, and at the same time to avoid the formality of an actual feoffment and livery, acknowledged in court a former feoffment, or gift in possession, to have been made by him to the plaintiff. This fine is therefore said to have been a feoffment of record, the livery thus acknowledged in court being equivalent to an actual livery; so that this conveyance was rather a confession of a former conveyance than a conveyance then originally made. 2. A fine "sur conusance de droit tantum," or upon the acknowledgment of the right merely; and not with the circumstance of a preceding gift from the cognizor. This was commonly used to pass a reversionary interest; for of such there could be no feoffment with livery supposed, as the possession during the preceding, or, as it is technically called, particular estate, belonged to a third person. [FEOFFMENT.] This kind of fine was worded in this manner: the cognizor acknowledges the right to be in the cognizee, and grants for himself and his heirs that the reversion after the particular estate determines shall go to the cognizee." 3. A fine "sur concessit," which was where the cognizor, in order to make an end of disputes, though he acknowledged no precedent right, yet granted to the cognizee an estate usually for life, or for years, by way of supposed composition. And this might be done reserving a rent or the like, for it operated as a new grant. 4. A fine sur done, grant, et render," which was a double fine, comprehended the fine sur conusance de droit come ceo," &c., and the fine "sur concessit." This might be used to create particular limitations of estate, whereas the fine "sur conusance de droit come ceo," &c., conveyed nothing but an absolute estate of inheritance, or at least of freehold. In this last species of fine, the cognizee, after the right was acknowledged to be in him, granted back again, or rendered to the cognizor, or perhaps to a stranger, some other estate in the premises. But in general, the first species of fine, sur conusance 66 "that de droit come ceo," &c., was the most used, as it conveyed a clear and absolute freehold, and gave the cognizee a seisin in law, without any actual livery, and it was therefore called a fine executed, whereas the others were but executory. Fines of all four kinds were thus levied, to use the technical term: First, the party to whom the land was to be conveyed commenced an action or suit at law against the party who was to convey, by suing out a writ or præcipe, called a writ of covenant. The action was founded upon the breach of a supposed agreement or covenant, that the one should convey the lands to the other. On this writ a fine, called a primer fine, amounting to about one-tenth of the annual value of the land, became due to the king. The suit being thus commenced, then followed,-Secondly, the "licentia concordandi," or leave to compromise the suit, upon which also another fine, called the king's silver, or sometimes the post fine, became due to the king, amounting to about three-twentieths of the annual value of the land. Thirdly, came the concord or agreement itself, which was required to be made either openly in the Court of Common Pleas or before the lord-chief-justice, or one of the judges of that court, or two or more commissioners in the county specially authorised; all of whom were bound by stat. 18 Ed. I. s. 4, to take care that the cognizors were of full age, sound memory, and out of prison. If a married woman was a cognizor she was privately examined by the parties before whom her acknowledgment was taken, whether she did it freely and willingly, or by compulsion of her husband. A fine was the only way in which a married woman could convey her freehold interest in lands. By these several acts the essential parts of the fine were completed, and even if the cognizor died, still the fine might be carried on in all its remaining parts, of which the next was-Fourthly, the note of the fine, which was simply an abstract of the writ of covenant and the concord; naming the parties, the parcels of land, and the agreement, for the purpose of enrolment of record in the proper office. The Fifth and last part was the foot of the fine, which included the whole matter, reciting the parties, day, year, and place, and before whom it was acknowledged or levied. Of this indentures were made or engrossed at the chirographer's office, and delivered to the cognizor and the cognizee, usually beginning thus: "hæc est finalis concordia" ("this is the final agreement"), and then reciting the whole proceeding at length. The note of the fine was read four times openly in the Court of Common Pleas, or as it was called, proclaimed, once in the term in which it was made, and once in each of the three succeeding terms, during which all pleas ceased, and these proclamations were endorsed upon the record. A table of the fines levied in each county in every term was affixed in some open part of the Court of Common Pleas all the next term, and a copy of the same was given to the sheriff of every county, who at the next assizes fixed the same in some open place in the court, for the more public notoriety of the fine. (Bl. Com., vol. ii. p. 351, Mr. Kerr's ed.) mind. A fine was a conveyance so effective that it bound not only those who were parties and privies to the fine, but all other persons whatsoever, unless they brought their action or made lawful entry within five years after proclamation made, except married women, infants, prisoners, persons beyond the seas, and such as were not of whole mind, who had five years allowed to them and their heirs after the death of their husbands, their attaining full age, recovering their liberty, returning into England, or being restored to their right Persons also who had not a present, but a future interest only, as those in reversion or remainder, had five years allowed them to claim in from the time their right accrued by the stat. 4 Henry VII. In order to make a fine of any avail at all, it was necessary that the parties should have some interest or estate of freehold in the lands to be affected by it. (Bl. Com., vol. ii. p. 358, Mr. Kerr's ed.) But it was not necessary that the freehold should be in either of the parties by right, and therefore when a fine was levied to strengthen a title, it was frequently considered necessary to make a feoffment, in order that the freehold might be in one of them by disseisin. [FEOFFMENT.] If neither of the parties had any interest at the time, although the fine had no proper operation, yet it might take effect as between them by way of estoppel. [ESTOPPEL.] c. 24. A plish the objects in view in the easiest and most effective manner. proper notice of the art of fingering, accompanied by the necessary examples, would require many pages; we shall therefore only remark in this place that, as a system, Clementi's is the best that we are acquainted with; though some few modern improvements have been made in its details. FINIAL, a term used to designate the knob of foliage, or the floral ornament which crowns the apex of pinnacles, pediments, canopies, low spires, and occasionally gables, pointed dripstones, &c. in Gothic buildings. Formerly, pinnacles were frequently called finials, but the term is now limited to the top ornament. [GOTHIC ARCHITECTURE.] FININGS. In brewing, and other manufacturing operations, a process of clarifying or clearing is required, for which some substance is employed under the name of fining. Some of these finings are made by the persons who are to use them; while others are purchased from the makers. Isinglass is made into finings by mixing it with beer or cyder, stirring until the isinglass is dissolved, straining through a sieve, and finally bringing it to a liquid state by mixing with the same kind of beverage as that which is to be fined. This is a fining much used by brewers. Distillers or rectifiers, in clarifying gin and cordials, use a fining composed of alum mixed either with carbonate of soda or salt of tartar and hot water. It is a disputed point whether finings are really necessary in wellbrewed malt liquors in good condition. Mr. Cooley and Dr. Ure decide this in the negative. The former observes: "Good liquors, either fermented or spirituous, need no artificial fining, as they always clarify themselves by repose. With those, however, which are out of condition, or of inferior quality, it is often necessary; as without such a proceeding they remain unsaleable. This is particularly the case with malt liquors." "Attempts to clarify it in the cask," says Ure," seldom fail to do harm. The only thing that can be used with advantage for fining foul or muddy beer is isinglass. The disadvantages resulting from the artificial clarification of fermented liquors are, that the liquors do not afterwards stand well on draught; that much of the conservative astringent matter which they contain is precipitated with the finings; that their piquancy and flavour are more or less diminished; and that they are more than usually liable to become flat and vapid, whether in cask or in bottle. The larger the proportion of finings used, the more marked are their injurious effects, and the shorter the interval which elapses before the accession of the several symptoms referred to. We have seen the most disastrous consequences follow the injudicious use of finings, more especially in respect to those liquors in which a certain amount of piquancy, astringency, and briskness is an essential condition. In one instance which came under our notice, upwards of thirty barrels of underground,' a very strong old ale, was thus reduced in value to less than one-third of its original cost; and in another, a large bottled stock of the finest old Burton was found to be utterly unsaleable. In both cases, the spoiled liquor was got rid of by mixing it in, and selling it with, 3d. and 4d. ale." ་ FINITE (in Mathematics), having a boundary, used as opposed to INFINITE. FIR, ECONOMICAL USES. In giving a brief notice of some of the remarkable and numerous uses of the fir-tree, we shall include at the same time the pine, which is so nearly allied to it as to have been placed by some botanists in the same genus. The timber of the fir and pine is, perhaps, all things considered, more generally useful than that of any other tree. It is far excelled in strength and toughness by the timber of the oak, elm, beech, &c.; but it is more easily worked, and is durable enough for a large number of purposes. Some kinds are useful for the masts of ships; others for parts of the hull; others for flooring-boards. What Michaux says of the use of the white pine in North America will serve as well as anything else to denote the wide range of usefulness possessed by this timber: "The ornamental work of the outer door, the cornices of apartments, and the mouldings of fire-places, all of which in America are elegantly wrought, are of this wood. It receives gilding well, and is therefore selected for looking-glasses and picture-frames. Carvers employ it exclusively for the images that adorn the bows of vessels, for which they prefer the kind called the pumpkin pine. At Boston, and in other towns of the Northern States, the inside of mahogany furniture and of trunks, the bottoms of Windsor-chairs of an inferior quality, water-pails, a great part of the boxes used for packing goods, the shelves for shops, and an endless variety of other objects, are made of white pine. In the district of Maine it is employed for barrels to contain salted fish, especially the kind called the sapling pine, which is of a stronger consistence. For the magnificent wooden bridges over the Schuylkill at Philadelphia, and the Delaware at Trenton, and for those which unite Cambridge and Charlestown with Boston, of which the first is 1500, and the second is 3000 feet in length, the white pine has been chosen for its durability. It serves exclusively for the masts of the numerous vessels constructed in the northern and middle states; and for this purpose it would be difficult to replace it in North America." If Michaux had lived to the present day, he would not have failed to notice the vast use of pine and fir timber in railway construction. In the newly-cleared regions of America, and in many parts of Russia, corduroy roads, as they are called, are made of FINGERING, in music, is the art of so applying the fingers to a trunks of pine and fir, slightly dressed, and laid transversely to the musical instrument, the piano-forte and organ especially, as to accom-length of the road. A fine was principally used as the mode of conveying the estates of married women, and renouncing their right to dower, as a means of barring estates tail, and remainders and reversions dependent upon other estates, and also for the purpose of strengthening defective titles. By the 3 & 4 Will. IV. c. 74, provision is made for the conveyance of the interest of married women in land, with the concurrence of their husbands, and after being examined to ascertain if they are acting voluntarily, by a deed to be acknowledged in the Court of Common Pleas; and provision is also made for the barring of estates tail by a deed enrolled but no provision is made for enabling parties whose titles are defective to strengthen them by any means analogous to a fine and nonclaim. FINGER-BOARD, the whole range of keys, white and black, of a piano-forte or of an organ. ARTS AND SCI. DIV. VOL. IV. |