133 



FLYING SAP. 



FOLK-MOTE. 



131 



position corresponding to that of the line N Q, in like manner be 

 sheered across the river. 



On broad rivers, and when objects o! great bulk and weight, as 

 horses, carriages, or artillery, are to be conveyed across, two boats or 

 barges placed in parallel positions, and carrying a platform extending 

 between their exterior gunwales, are employed : the bay or interval 

 between the vessels is as wide ,13 is consistent with the strength of the 

 platform, in order that as much as possible of* the current may act 

 against a side of the lower vessel. The vessels are made narrow and 

 deep, and each is provided with a mast, which may be from twenty to 

 thirty feet in height ; these are connected together at ten or fifteen 

 feet from the platform by two horizontal beams, one above the other, 

 and between them is a block of wood which is capable of sliding from 

 one mast to the other. The cable or chain is made to pass through a 

 perforation in the sliding piece, and the latter is placed contiguously 

 to either mast, according to the direction in which the vessels are to 

 move. A drawbridge is constructed on each side of the platform, and 

 one of them is let down to form a passage when the vessels arrive at 

 the landing-place on either side of the river. Each vessel has a rudder, 

 and the tillers are connected by a bar, in order that one man may be 

 able to turn both. 



For ample details concerning the subject of this article, see Sir 

 Howard Douglas on ' Military Bridges.' 



KLYINlr SAP, is the sap formed by placing and filling several 

 gabions at the same time, and not in succession as in the usual method 

 employed in making the second parallel in the attack of a fortress. 



FO, pronounced by the Chinese Full, is the name by which Buddha 

 ig worshipped in China. According to the Chinese authorities quoted 

 in Dr. Morrison's ' Chinese Dictionary ' (voL i. part i. pp. 92, 93), 

 the religion of Fo was introduced into China in the seventh year of 

 the reign of the Emperor Ming, about A.D. 50. Though the Chinese 

 government has usually discountenanced, and at some periods per- 

 secuted, the followers of Fo, they have always been very numerous ; 

 yet Sir J. F. Davis remarks, in his work on the Chinese (vol. ii. p. 94), 

 that, " the present condition in China of the religion of F6 is very far 

 f n n 1 1 flourishing ; and the extensive and magnificent establishments 

 which have been founded in former times are evidently in a state of 

 dilapidation and decay. It is rarely that one meets with any of their 

 nine or seven-storied pagodas in tolerable repair, though one or two of 

 these striking and elegant objects occur in almost every landscape. 

 Between Macao and Canton there are no less than four or five nine- 

 storied pagodas on elevated points by the river-side, and every one of 

 them is in a state of ruin." [BcDDHA.] 



FOCUS, Geometry. [ELLIPSE; HYPEHBOLA; PARABOLA.] 



FOCUS, a Latin word signifying a ktarfa or fire-place, used in 

 optics to denote the point at or near which the rays of light are 

 collected by a lens or mirror. Ita distance from the lens or mirror is 

 called the focal length. [LK58 ; MIRROR.] 



FOG. [MisT.] 



FOG SIGNALS. The blowing of a horn, the ringing of a bell, the 

 beating of a drum or gong or empty cask, the firing of a gun, in 

 short, any uncouth noise made on board a ship to warn others of her 

 u:e, is in a fog a means of safety. The Admiralty have rules for 

 the government of a fleet of men of war in thick weather, such as 

 occasional firing or ringing of a bell to indicate what tack a ship is 

 ni" in, &c. ; but little hag been done for single ships of the merchant 

 service on this important subject beyond certain regulations for the 

 une of light-houses and light-vessels, although every provision was 

 made in the Merchant Shipping Act of 1854, for the enforcing of such 

 regulations as might issue from authority. Difficulties evidently beset 

 the question, as the safe passage of a ship in foggy weather through 

 our crowded maritime highways must depend BO much on individual 

 precaution. 



As the principal commerce of the kingdom is becoming more and 

 more carried on by steamers, and their " whistles " are a powerful and 

 characteristic mode of warning, it might be well to organise a few 

 signals for general use, after the following manner. 



Let the mark " " represent, on paper, a sound from the steam 

 whistle, lasting while a person could leisurely count four, and the 

 mark " -~* " indicate another sound from the whistle, enduring while 

 a person could leisurely count two. 



It being in a fog so important to know in what direction a tteamer 

 it coming or proceeding, the following eight signals would form a com- 

 plete code, which might moreover, from their extreme simplicity, be 

 used either in a dark night or in hazy weather at any time. 



If a vessel ia standing towards the North, 1 



let her course be represented by . . J 



If North-East . _ ^ ^ 



It North-West . . , * _ w 



If East . . w ^ 



If Smith . . . >_^ 



If South-East . ^, ^ 



If South- West . . . _ _ ^ 



If West . . _ ^ 



A every lailing-veiwel is supposed to carry a " fog horn," the above 



signals so easily made on it, or on a bugle, or with a commoB whistle, 



Mioufh (on an pmpiwncy), would in many oases pro- 



bably prevent collision [COLLISIONS AT SEA]. And further, if a vessel 

 be on the starboard tack, close hauled, a prolonged blow would announce 

 it, and if close hauled on the port tack, a few short repeated sounds of 

 any sort would give sufficient notice : while a vessel at anchor might 

 make any beating sound. 



But all precautions taken on board ship in certain cases will prove 

 useless unless means be taken to give sounds from the shore. The 

 humane but partial and voluntary custom in some parts, of ringing a 

 village church bell on a coast in thick weather, if rendered compulsory, 

 or the sounding of a bell at certain conveniently situated coast- 

 guard stations along the shore, would not only alleviate the dangers 

 which at present threaten seamen, but it would be a boon to boatmen 

 and fishermen. For instance, three long sounds of equal length might 

 always be used to indicate the shore. 



An excellent fog-horn has recently been introduced from the United 

 States. 



Fog-signals, made with an explosive material, are also used on rail- 

 roads. They are placed on the rail ; the engine-wheel on passing over 

 it causes it to explode with a noise calculated to announce the approach 

 of the train to a considerable distance. 



FOIL, is a very thin sheet of metal, made usually for placing 

 beneath artificial gems to heighten their brilliancy. Foils are made of 

 tin, copper, tinned copper, or silvered copper the last for the best 

 work. They are left white for imitative diamonds, but are coloured for 

 imitative rubies, sapphires, &c. The best white foil is made by coating 

 a plate of copper with a layer of silver, and then rolling it into sheets 

 in the flatting mill. The coloured foils are prepared by coating the white 

 foil with coloured varnish. The principal colours used by artists are 

 employed, mixed with mastic, spirit, and drying oil, to form the 

 coloured varnishes. The following are examples : amethyst foil, lake 

 and Prussian blue finely ground in drying oil ; sapphire foil, Prussian 

 blue and drying oil ; garnet foil, dragon's blood and rectified spirit ; 

 emerald foil, pale shellac, alcohol, and acetate of copper ; ruby foil, 

 lake, isinglass, and shellac ; topaz foil, turmeric, annatto, and shellac. 



Sheet lead, so extremely thin as to resemble foil, is employed as a 

 lining for tea-chests. Mr. Wimshurst, one of the managers of the 

 Assam Tea Company, invented, in 1858, a very peculiar method of 

 producing this foil. It is said that England sells no less than 4000 

 tons of lead annually to the Chinese, chiefly to be made up into foil 

 for lining then- tea-chests; this they do rather clumsily. The Assam 

 Company paid from 2000J. to 3000/. a year for lead-foil made on the 

 old method of rolling ; but Mr. Wimshurst has effected a great saving 

 in this item by the adoption of his new method. He makes a cylinder 

 of lead, by casting in a mould having a mandril or core in the centre ; 

 the mould opens by a hinge into two halves, and liberates the metal. 

 A knife or cutter, as long as the cylinder, 'is gradually brought up to 

 it, and shaves the surface. The cylinder rotates slowly while being 

 thus cut. The mechanical arrangement is such that the cutting-blade 

 advances gradually towards the axis of the cylinder, and the rate of 

 this advance determines the thickness of the film. The film is received 

 on a collecting spindle, which can be removed with the coil upon it. 

 The cutting-machine acts equally well on a cylinder of tin or one of 

 lead, or of a combination of the two metals. 



FOLK-MOTE, or FOLK-GEMOTE, literally a meeting of the 

 people; an assembly under the Anglo-Saxon government, respecting 

 the nature of which some of our antiquaries have differed. Sir F. 

 Palgrave believes that it existed in Britain before the establishment of 

 the Saxons. Somner, in his ' Anglo-Saxon Dictionary,' calls it a 

 general assembly of the people for considering and ordering matters 

 of the Commonwealth. So the laws of King Edward the Confessor, 

 " Folemote, t. e., vocatio et oongregatio populorum et gentium omnium, 

 quia ibi omnes convenire debent, et universi qui sub protectione et 

 pace Domini Regis degunt." The continuation of this statute of 

 Edward the Confessor expressly directs that the meeting of the Fole- 

 mote should be held once in the year upon the 1st of May. " Statutum 

 est enim quod ibi elebcnt populi omnes, &c., semel in anno scilicet 

 convenire, scilicet in capite Kal. Mail." (Wilk., ' Leg. Anglo-Sax.,' 

 p. 204.) 



Brady, in his ' Introduction to Old English History,' Gloss, p. 47, is 

 entirely mistaken when he speaks of it as an inferior ordinary court, 

 held once a month. This was the Hundred Court. The Folk-mote 

 and Shire-mote (or general meeting of a county) were synonymous. 

 (Wilk. ut supr. Gloss, p. 404.) According to Sir F. Palgrave, the 

 Folk-mote was a representative assembly to which the various districts 

 sent their sheriff (gerefa) and four men. It certainly possessed judi- 

 cial powers, of which he gives examples (' Rise and Progress of the 

 English Commonwealth ') ; and jurors appear in many instances to 

 have been selected from among the representatives attending the Folk- 

 mote. The Folk-mote, indeed, appears to have had nearly the same 

 constitution, with powers, limited by the locality it represented, as the 

 Witenagemote ; to which frequently the same representatives were 

 sent as attended the Folk-mote. 



In later times a Folk-mote, according to Stow, among the citizens 

 of London, meant a meeting of themselves. Fabyan, in his ' Chro- 

 nicles ' (edit. 1811, p. 344), mentions a court of folk-mote held at 

 Paul's Cross in 1256 ; and another assembled by command of Henry III. 

 (ibid. p. 345), " where the king, according to the former ordinances 

 made, axed licence of the commonalty of the city to pass the sea." 



