FELLING 



of a dervish sect, whose ritual de- 

 monstration, zikr, is the occasion 

 of much festivity, wherein quarter- 

 staff, nabut, is a favourite game. 

 The veneration of trees and stones, 

 and the universal employment of 

 amulets, mark the persistence of 

 the predynastic animism of the 

 Nile valley. The sedentary pea- 

 santry of Palestine, also called 

 fellahln, are largely descended from 

 the primitive Canaanite stock. Ex- 

 cept for a few colonies introduced 

 under Mehemet All, they have no 

 ethnic identity with their Egyp- 

 tian namesakes. 



Felling. Urban dist. of Dur- 

 ham, England. It is 1 m. S.E. of 

 Gateshead, of which it forms a 

 suburb. It has a station on the 

 N.E.R., also coal -mining, engineer- 

 ing, shipbuilding, and other indus- 

 tries. Pop. 25,026. See Gateshead. 



Fellmonger. Dealer in the 

 pelts of slaughtered sheep, one who 

 separates the wool from the hides. 

 The skins may be soaked in lime- 

 water until the roots of the fibre 

 are loosened sufficiently to come 

 away with ease, a method which 

 gives the so-called sliped wool. 

 Alternatively the skins may be 

 hung in moist air until bacterial 

 action has loosened the fleece, 

 and this is the method adopted hi 

 Mazamet, France, the chief centre 

 of fellmongering. Chemical means 

 may be substituted, the flesh side 

 of the hide being painted over- 

 night with a solution of sodium 

 sulphide. See Leather. 



Fellow. Word meaning a male 

 person. It is now used in two 

 senses. In general speech, usually 

 in a slighting sense, it means a 

 man, and academically it refers 

 to certain members of colleges at 

 Oxford, Cambridge, or elsewhere, 

 and to members of learned socie- 

 ties. The original meaning was 

 that of a companion, hence the 

 phrase fellow-countryman, and 

 this survives in its use at the 

 universities, where it is the equi- 

 valent of the Latin socius. 



In the colleges of Oxford and 

 Cambridge, a fellow is a member 

 of the governing body and founda- 

 tion, and a fellowship is a coveted 

 distinction only bestowed on 

 scholars of exceptional ability. 

 Before the reforms of 1877-81 

 fellows were usually chosen for 

 life, or until marriage. To-day the 

 fellows are chosen by the existing 

 fellows, usually for a definite term 

 of years. /They may be elected on 

 a reputation or after examination, 

 or because suitable for a particular 

 vacancy on the teaching or man- 

 aging staff. Many of them act as 

 tutors, and form the group that 

 with the head is responsible for 

 the daily work of the college. 



3 1 OS 



The fellows of 

 Eton and Winches- 

 ter form the gov- 

 erning body. The 

 fellows of Trinity 

 College, Dublin, 

 who are divided 

 into senior and 

 junior fellows, are 

 elected after ex- 

 amination, and 

 hold the position 

 for life. King's Col- 

 lege, London, and 

 some other col- 

 leges, have fellows, 

 but their duties are 

 rather different from those at the 

 older universities. Following this 

 use, fellow is used for member of a 

 learned society. See University. 



Felo de se (late Lat. felo, evil 

 doer, i.e. slayer ; de se, of himself). 

 English legal term, meaning a 

 man who commits a " felony 

 against himself " hi other words, 

 a suicide. A suicide used to be 

 buried, as Thomas Hood puts it, 

 " at four cross roads, with a stake in 

 his inside." This ended in 1824, 

 and the body of a suicide was 

 ordered to be buried in the usual 

 burial-ground without divine ser- 

 vice, between 9 p.m. and midnight. 

 In 1882 the night burial was abol- 

 ished and a religious service per- 

 mitted ; but the Burial Service of 

 the Church is not allowed by the 

 rubrics to be used. See Suicide. 



Felony. Class of crime in Eng- 

 lish law. By common law all 

 crimes are either felonies or mis- 

 demeanours. Nobody knows for 

 certain the original distinction 

 between them ; one theory is that 

 a felony was originally a crime 

 involving a breach of the king's 

 peace. Certainly until 1870 the 

 lands and goods of a felon were 

 forfeited to the crown. 



Jurymen are sworn separately in 

 a trial for felony, but together for 

 misdemeanour. The accused is 

 called the prisoner at the bar in 

 felony, but the defendant in mis- 

 demeanour. To be convicted of 

 felony after a previous conviction 

 for felony is itself a felony. To con- 

 ceal a felony is a crime misprision 

 of felony. A prisoner convicted of 

 felony must be " called upon " 

 that is, asked if he has anything to 

 say before sentence is passed. 



Felsite. Close-grained or com- 

 pact rock of varying colour. It 

 consists of altered lava which has 

 lost its glassy structure. Small 

 crystals of felspar and quartz are 

 scattered through the ground- 

 mass of the rock. See Rhyolite. 



Felspar. Important group of 

 rock-forming minerals, variable in 

 chemical composition, crystalline 

 form, and colour. Chemically they 



Felspar. Huge masses of orthoclase, weighing 

 tons, at Carne, near Veryan, Cornwall 



many 



are silicates of alumina with vari- 

 able proportions of potassium, 

 sodium, or calcium : hence some- 

 times distinguished as potash- 

 felspar, soda-felspar, lime-felspar. 

 Widely distributed, they are 

 usually opaque and dull of colour. 

 A few varieties are handsome, and 

 are cut as gem stones. Amazon 

 stone is a potash felspar of a verdi- 

 gris green colour with bluish tinge, 

 found in N. America and the Urals. 

 Sunstone is a semi -translucent, 

 almost white material, showing by 

 reflected light a brilliant red me- 

 tallic glitter, and is obtained in 

 Siberia, Norway, and N. America. 

 Moonstone is a translucent white 

 felspar emitting by reflected light 

 a milky, bluish gleam. In cry- 

 stalline form felspars are either 

 monoclinic or triclinic. 



Monoclinic species are orthoclase 

 (potash-felspar) and its glass-clear 

 variety sanidine. Other varieties 

 are adularia (colourless), moon- 

 stone, sunstone (aventurine). Tri- 

 clinic species include microcline (a 

 potash-felspar), anorthoclase (so- 

 da-potash felspar), and the plagio- 

 clase felspars. See illus. p. 2389. 



Felsted School. English public 

 school. It was founded in 1564 by 

 Richard, Lord Riche, and is now 

 governed by a scheme dating from 

 1876. It consists of the school 

 house, divided into four houses, 

 another house, and a junior house, 

 the accommodation being for about 

 300 boys. It stands in grounds of 

 42 acres, and there are scholar- 

 ships to the school. The village of 

 Felsted, sometimes called Felstead, 

 is 3 m. S.E. of Dunmow and has a 

 station on the G.E.R. Pop. 1,969. 



Felt (A.S.). Cloth made of wool, 

 hair or fur, or mixtures, compacted 

 by moistening, heating, rolling, 

 and pressing. Some felts are woven, 

 but the true felts are unwoven. 

 Wool possesses the highest felting 

 properties, and the fur or hair of 

 the ox, goat, hare, rabbit, and 

 beaver are readily felted. 



The principal hat felts are 

 made of rabbit ("coney" in the 

 trade), hare, beaver, musquash, and 



