KOfXTAIX. 



FRACTIONS, COMMON AND DECIMAL. 



183 



o( the fountain, at Home, awl wrote a work, ' De Aquoductibus Urbis 

 Kooue CommvnUriiu,' in which be treat*, among other things, of the 

 distribution of the water* of fountain*. The public founUini of 

 Pompeii, come of which, are almost perfect, evince the knowledge which 

 the ancunU possessed of the property of water to rise to Hs level, and 

 their practical application of the principle. 



Section of Fountain, from Pompeii, (bowing the ascending pipe, a, a, a. 



Not only were the streets, but even the private houses of the 

 Pompeians, decorated with fountains ; and it appears that the ancients 

 were acquainted with that law by which fluids may be made to ascend 

 in a vertical jet to a height proportionate to the pressure which acts 

 upon them. 



Fountain, from the paintings of Fompril. 



One of the domestic fountains of the Pompeians is encrusted with 

 coloured glass and shells. The fountain of water flowed from a large 

 mask set on step*, placed within a large niche. 



At Rome, the proper distribution of the rivers which flowed through 

 her aqueducts was a matter of great importance, entrusted to the care 

 of an officer of very high rank. It appears from Frontinus, who filled 

 that office under the emperor Nerva, that the letting out of the public 

 waters to private persons was a source of revenue. The right to a 

 xupply of water was strictly personal, not attached to houses, so that 

 the supply was cut off at every change of ownership. The waters 

 which bad once been granted were sold by the superintendents, as they 

 fell in. to the highest bidders. Those whose means or interest were 

 inatittiuient to obtain a private pipe, were obliged to fetch water from 

 the public fountains. (' Pompeii,' vol. ii. pp. 73, 74.) 



The number of leaden pipes found in Pompeii leads us to conclude 

 that they were universally employed in fitting up the fountains of that 

 city. Some fountains flowed through bronze figures, of which several 

 are preserved in the museum at Naples. Specimens of the domestic 

 fountains of the Romans (of marble) may be seen in the Oncco- 

 Iloman Basement Room of the British Museum. 



Some of the cities of Italy and the East are adorned with fountains, 

 which are no less agreeable to the eye than useful to the inh.-il.it :.nts. 

 Of all places, modern Rome is perhaps mort abundantly furnixhed with 

 tbi* agreeable convenience, though thin profusion is prolwbly only a 

 tithe of the luxury with which the ancient city was supplied. Many 

 of the fountains of Rome arc highly decorated, of great magnitmi.-, 

 and very varied in their mode of ejecting the waters with which they 

 are supplied from the existing aqueduct*. The fountains of Trevi, and 

 the Pauline fountain at Han Pietro in Montorio, are immense piles of 

 architecture, the former highly decorated with sculpture. In Italy, 

 almost mrj species of design which the imagination can form has 

 been adopted by their ingenious artists in the construction of fountains. 

 Many of those produced during the Medicean period are works of great 



artistic power. The fountains of the Saracenic architects, as shown in 

 Spain, Cairo, and Constantinople, exhibited in their best day great 

 fancy, lightness, ami brilliancy of design, and a stylo singularly appro- 

 priate to the purpose and to the character of the surrounding 

 buildings. 



The city of Paris is well supplied with fountains, many of which 

 are elegantly designed. The fountains of Versailles and si . < 'loud in 

 France, ana the fountains at Wilhelmahohe near Camel, were the 

 largest in Europe prior to the construction of those at the Crystal 

 Palace, Sydenham. Now the entire " system of fountain*," as it is 

 called, at this latter place may take rank, both as regards extent and 

 brilliancy of effect, with anything previously produced. 



London, though well supplied with water, has few fountains which 

 make much pretension as works of art. During the past year, many 

 small mural fountains, and a few standard fountains have however 

 been erected in London and its vicinity, chiefly through the exertions of 

 a society called the Metropolitan Free Drinking-Fonntains Association. 

 The primary object of this society is to erect as large a number of free 

 drinking-fountains as possible, and with little loss of time. Eventually 

 it is hoped that 400 such fountains may be erected in and around the 

 metropolis. Utility rather than beauty, and economy of cost, are 

 consequently leading principles in the preparation of the fountains of 

 the association. In order, however, to combine a measure of ornament 

 with utility, several designs have been selected, each of which serves 

 as a pattern for a number of fountains ; but few if any of the design* 

 yet produced exhibit originality or fancy, and from the mode of re- 

 production the fountains show little individuality of character. Drinking 

 fountains, similar in principle to these, were first introduced at ; 

 pool a few years back by Mr. Melly, a merchant in that city, who at 

 his own cost erected several in the busiest localities. The example is 

 being followed throughout the country, and already several hundred 

 drinking-fountains have been erected. The majority of these are com- 

 paratively humble structures, but perhaps some of the most successful 

 in an artistic ]>oint of view have been erected in provincial towns. 



FOURTH, an interval in iniinic, and to be enumerated among the 

 discords ; though it seems to have puzzled many writers on music, 

 some of whom are much inclined to view it as a concord. [CONCORD.] 

 Its ratio is 4 : 8. Of fourths there are three kinds : the Itim 

 Fourth, the Perfect Fourth, and the Extreme Sharp, or Superluota 

 Fourth, (called also the Tritonnt, from being composed of three whole 

 tones). The first (c 8, F) is composed of a whole tone and two semi- 

 tones ; the second (c, P) of two whole notes and a semitone ; and the 

 third (c, r 8) of three whole tones. Example : 



1st. 



2nd. 



3rd. 



FOWLING, the act or art of taking birds with nets, by shooting, 

 snares, the use of bird-lime, or other devices. It is also sometimes 

 used for the taking of birds with hawks and falcons, more properly 

 called falconry. In Latin this sport is termed Aucupium. S, , 

 Bargiuus ' do Aucupio,' liber i., ' ad Franciscum Medicem Klorcnt. et 

 Senens. Principem, 4to. Flor. 1566. Oliua's ' Uccelliera,' 4to. Rom. 

 1684, is another work on fowling, the plates of which, representing the 

 different modes of following the sport, are extremely curious. In 

 KnglUh we have Blore's ' Gentleman's Recreation,' fol. Lond. 16S6 

 and 1716; and ' The Experienced Fowler, or the Gentleman's Recrea- 

 tion,' 16mo. Lond. 1704. 



FRACTIONS, COMMON AND DECIMAL. By a fraction is 

 meant, in the first instance, a part of any magnitude. Thus, " three 

 and a fraction " means three units and a part of a fourth. The next 

 meaning of the term confines fractions, in an arithmetical point of 

 view, to the aliquot parts or lubmidtiplet of the unit ; which unit must 

 therefore be divided into a number of equal parts, of which parts a 

 certain number is to be taken. 



Under the heads ADDITION, &c., will be found the various rules by 

 which operations containing fractions are conducted. We shall here 

 confine ourselves to fundamental points connected with the theory. 



A fraction is thus denoted : means the quantity obtained by 



6 



iliviiling a unit into b equal parts and taking a of those parts. If a be 

 greater than b, it will obviously be necessary to divide more units than 

 one, each into 6 equal parts, until enough have been subdivi.l 

 furnish the a parts required. It was usual, in English works on arith- 

 metic, to call fractions in which a is loss than 6, pmper fractions ; and 

 all others improper fractions ; this absurd distinction is now beginning 

 to be abolished. In the preceding fraction a is called the numerator, 

 and 6 the denominator. The first term is correct, for a is the number 

 of parts of a certain kind which are to be taken ; the second is not 

 quite so correct, for the denomination of which the number a is to be 



token, is not b, but ; the 4th part of a unit (not b units) is to be 



rcjx-ated a times. 



On the whole, the terms numerator and denominator are very appro- 

 priate ; but they are very long. Should they ever come into vulgar 

 use, they will be shortened into numer and denomtr ; and it would be 

 well if arithmeticians would do this for themselves. 



