FEATHER STAR 



3103 



FECKENHAM 



Feather Star. Class of the Echi- 

 noderma (q.v.), otherwise known 

 as sea lilies. They resemble very 



Feather Star. Specimen of rosy 

 feather star, Comatula rosacea 



slender starfish, with long rays 

 bearing little branches or pinnules, 

 somewhat like feathers. They live 

 in deep water. Only one species, 

 the rosy feather star, occurs around 

 the British coasts. See Crinoidea. 



Featherstone. Urban district 

 and parish of Yorkshire (W.R.). It 

 is 2 m. S.W. of Pontefract, on the 

 L. & Y.R., and ia a coal-mining 

 centre. The place is specially 

 known because, during a strike, 

 there was a riot here, Sept. 7, 1893. 

 Colliery works having been de- 

 stroyed, the military arrived, and 

 order was not restored without 

 bloodshed. Pop. 14,374. 



Feathertop. Mt. of Victoria, 

 Australia. It lies N. of the Divid- 

 ing Range and rises to 6,303 ft. 



Featherweight. Literally a 

 weight absolutely exact, so much 

 so that the addition of a feather 

 would make it wrong. The term 

 is used in racing for the lightest 

 weight that can be carried by a 

 horse hi a handicap race. In box- 

 ing it refers to the lightest class 

 but one of competitors in a recog- 

 nized competition. Under English 

 rules such must not exceed 1261b. 

 in weight; under American rules 

 the figure is 115 Ib. See Boxing; 

 Handicap. 



Febrifuge (Lat. febris, fever; 

 fugare, to put to flight). Term 

 used for any medicine that cures 

 or attempts to cure fever. Anti- 

 pyrin and phenacetin are febri- 

 fuges, while quinine is another in 

 frequent use. 



Febris. In Roman mythology, 

 the personification of fever and 

 also the goddess who was supposed 

 to avert it. Three temples in Rome, 

 one on the Palatine, were sacred 

 to her. 



Febronianism. Reform move- 

 ment among the Roman Catholics 

 of Germany. It was started in 1763 

 by Johann von Hontheim, who 

 wrote under the name of Justinius 

 Febronius. Its object was to limit 



the autocratic power of the pope 

 and to secure a larger measure of 

 independence for national churches. 



February. Second month of 

 the Christian calendar, ordinarily 

 consisting of 28 days, in leap year 

 of 29. The name comes from Latin 

 februare, to purify, hi allusion to 

 the Lupercalia (q.v.), the Roman 

 expiatory festival, which, as well as 

 the Feralia, or general festival of 

 the dead, was celebrated at Rome 

 during this month. The month is 

 popularly known as February " fill- 

 dyke." January and February 

 were additions to the old Roman 

 calendar. See Calendar. 



Fecamp. Town and seaport of 

 Normandy, France. It stands on 

 the English Channel, at the mouth 

 of the river Fecamp, 28 m. N.N.E. 

 of Havre. The port, which has a 

 harbour and docks, has a trade in 

 coal, timber, etc. ; it is also a fishing 

 centre. There are some industries, 

 mainly shipbuilding, and here is 

 made the liqueur called benedictine. 



The most interesting building is 

 the church of the Trinity, built in 

 the 12th century, once the abbey 

 church. A magnificent building, 

 it has a spacious and noble interior, 

 while it has some fine memorials 

 and decorations, tombs, stained 

 glass, etc. S. Etienne is a 16th 

 century church, while the re- 

 maining monastic buildings are 

 now used for the town hall, library, 



Fecamp. Sea front looking north-east towards 

 harbour 



and museum. The town grew up 

 around a nunnery founded in the 

 7th century to hold a relic of the 

 True Blood, which was washed 

 ashore in the trunk of a fig tree. 

 Hence the name, a corruption of 

 ficus campus. Pop. 15,380. 



Fechner, GUSTAV THEODOE 

 (1801-87). German philosopher 

 and physicist. Born near Muskau, 

 Prussia, April 19, 1801, he was 

 professor of physics and afterwards 

 of philosophy in the university of 

 Leipzig. The founder of psycho- 

 physicism, he held that all mental 

 changes were accompanied by a 

 parallel change in the nervous 



system. His chief scientific works 

 are The Supreme Good, 1846, and 

 Elements of Psychophysics, 1860. 

 Fechner was also the author of 

 a number of 

 satirical 

 writings o n 

 various sub- 

 jects, p u b- 

 lished under 

 the name of 

 Dr. Mises. He 

 died Nov. 18, 



1887 8 e e Gustav Fechner> 

 Psychophysics. German philosopher 

 Fechter,CHABLEs ALBEKT(1824- 

 79). British-French actor. Born hi 

 London, Oct. 23, 1824, he was a 

 sculptor before he went on the 

 French stage in 1844. He soon 

 became recognized as the leading 

 French jeune 

 premier, not- 

 ably by his 

 Armand Du- 

 val hi Dumas 

 fils's La Dame 

 aux Camelias, 

 1852. He 

 appeared a t 

 ThePrincess's, 

 London, Oct. 

 27, 1860, as 

 Ruy Bias in a 

 version of Hugo's play, with great 

 success. His Hamlet, March 20, 

 1861, was enthusiastically received ; 

 but his Othello, Oct. 23, 1861, 

 , proved disappoint- 

 j ing. From 1863- 

 i 67 he was lessee of 

 The Lyceum, 

 where he played 

 in various melo- 

 dramas, such as 

 The Duke's Motto, 

 The Roadside Inn, 

 and The Corsican 

 Brothers. In 

 1870 he appeared 

 in New York. He 

 finally left Eng- 

 land in 1872, 

 remaining in 

 America until his 

 death, Aug. 5, 

 1879. 



Feckenham, JOHN (c. 1515-84). 

 Last abbot of Westminster. Born 

 about 1515 at Feekenham, near 

 Droitwich, he became a Benedic- 

 tine monk at Evesham. He was 

 rector of Solihull, Warwickshire, 

 and was confined in the Tower by 

 Cranmer, 1549-53. , When Mary 

 restored the monastery of S. Peter 

 at Westminster he was chosen 

 abbot. At the accession of Eliza- 

 beth he refused to acquiesce in the 

 reformation of the Church, oppos- 

 ing t'he new liturgy and the Act of 

 uniformity, 1559. The monastery 

 was soon afterwards dissolved and 

 Feckenham lived hi retirement. 



