FAMINE FEVER 



3079 



Fan. Examples of delicate and artistic work. 1. Pachly painted gilt fan, decorated in Vernis Martin lacquer, period of 

 Louis XIV, formerly belonging to Queen Victoria. 2. Silk fan with medallions painted by F. Boucher (1703-70). The 

 ivory stick is carved and enriched with gold. 3. English fan made to commemorate the recovery from illness of George 

 III in 1789, now in the British Museum. 4. White lace fan mounted on mother-of-pearl, formerly belonging to the 



Empress Eugenie 



conditions of drought, and the de- 

 pendence of a race upon one kind 

 of food, as maize in S. America, rice 

 in China, or the potato in Ireland. 



Although scarcity is only par- 

 tially preventable, the careful 

 organization and governmental 

 supervision of agricultural produc- 

 tion in most parts of Europe and 

 America has virtually freed civili- 

 zation from the dread of starvation 

 in normal circumstances. But all 

 the foresight and accumulated ex- 

 perience of man is by no means 

 equal to combating the conditions 

 of serious dearth which follow pro- 

 longed hostilities. During and after 

 the Great War of 1914-18 famine 

 spread widely throughout Europe, 

 especially in Russia, Germany, 

 Austria, the Balkans, Czecho-Slo- 

 vakia, and certain parts of France 

 and Belgium. 



The greatest recorded famines 

 occurred at an early period in his- 

 tory, when the world was entirely 

 dependent upon local and circum- 

 scribed supplies. In 439 B.C. Rome 

 was visited by a famine so severe 

 that thousands cast themselves into 

 the Tiber. In Egypt famine lasted, 

 A.D. 1067-72, while in 1005 Saxon 

 England, and eleven years later 

 the whole of Europe, experienced a 

 prolonged period of terrible dearth. 

 Another great European famine 

 occurred in 1162, driving the popu- 

 lation in many countries to canni- 

 balism and brigandage, Ireland 

 has frequently suffered from 

 periods of scarcity, especially se- 

 vere visitations occurring in 1491, 



1822, and from 1846-47, when the 

 potato crop failed with conse- 

 quences of the most disastrous 

 kind, thousands perishing from the 

 " famine fever " which followed. 

 In the period of dearth which fol- 

 lowed the Thirty Years' War in 

 Germany multitudes perished from 

 hunger. 



Chiefly through its liability to 

 conditions of drought, the East 

 has been peculiarly susceptible to 

 famine. In 1877, 1888, and again 

 in 1920, N. China suffered from ap- 

 palling famine. India has, perhaps, 

 more than any other country ex- 

 perienced frequent dearth over 

 'widespread localities. Native re- 

 cords speak of disastrous famines 

 in 450, 941, 1022, 1033, 1052-60, 

 1344-45, 1396-1407, 1631, 1769-70, 

 when 3,000,000 people perished; 

 1782-84 and 1790-92. Later ones 

 were in 1866, when over a million 

 natives perished ; 1869, when 

 1,500,000 died; 1877, 1897, and 

 in 1899-1900, when the loss of life 

 was estimated at 1,000,000. 



Famine Fever. Popular name 

 for relapsing fever (q.v.). 



Fampoux . Village of France, in 

 the dept. of Pas-de-Calais. It lies 

 slightly N. of the river Scarpe, 5 m. 

 E. of Arras. It was stormed by the 

 British, April 10, 1917. Severe 

 fighting took place here in April, 

 1918, and at the end of Aug. in 

 the same year the British in their 

 great offensive advanced E. of it 

 See Arras, Battles of. 



Famund OR Faemund. Lake of 

 Norway, in Hedemarken, near the 



Swedish border. It lies in a moun- 

 tainous district, at an alt. of 2,199 

 ft., 85 m. S.S.E. of Trondhjem. It 

 is 37 m. long from N. to S., with a 

 maximum width of 5 m. 



Fan (Lat. vannus). Implement 

 for agitating the air, especially used 

 for cooling the face. Fans have been 

 used from the earliest ages in hot 

 countries, and in their primitive 

 form they were made of feathers 

 stuck into long handles. In Europe 

 they came into general use in the 

 16th century, and were known as 

 early as the 14th century, having 

 probably been introduced from the 

 East. They were usually made of 

 feathers, straw, silk, etc., with 

 handles of ivory, gold, silver, and 

 wood, often richly carved and en- 

 crusted with precious stones. 



The folding fan, an invention of 

 the Japanese, was adopted in Eu- 

 rope towards the end of the 16th 

 century. Fan painting became an 

 art in the middle of the 17th cen- 

 tury, and printed fans, illustrating 

 pastoral scenes, and reference to 

 politics, etc., also became the vogue. 

 Fans have always played a sym- 

 bolic part in ceremonial, and even 

 now are used in the East, and are 

 carried on state occasions in papal 

 processions in Rome. See Punkha ; 

 consult also Fans and Fan Leaves, 

 collected and described by Lady 

 Charlotte Schreiber (English), 1888 

 and (Foreign) 1890 ; History of the 

 Fan, G. W. Rhead, 1910. 



FAN PAINTING. Both folding 

 and non-folding fans have been the 

 object of elaborate decoration. 



