FERRERS 



Ferrers, GEORGE (c. 1500-79). 

 English politician and poet.'. He 

 was page of the chamber to Henry 

 VIII, who took him with him in 

 the Scottish and French wars and 

 bequeathed him 100 marks. He 

 is mainly remarkable for having 

 produced and probably written 

 masques for Edward VI' s Christ- 

 mas entertainments in 1551-52 

 and for having contributed several 

 tragical episodes to Baldwin's 

 Mirror for Magistrates, 1559-78. 



Ferret (Putorius). Domesti- 

 cated variety of the polecat, kept 

 for hunting rabbits. According to 

 Roman writers the polecat came 

 from Africa, and although it is now 

 quite unknown there, it is probable 

 that it was originally domesticated 

 in N. Africa or Spain, and after 

 wards introduced into Italy. As a 

 result of domestication, the polecat 

 became smaller and slimmer, and 

 albinos became the rule instead of 

 the exception. In this way the 



Ferret. The domesticated polecat used 

 for rabbiting 



ferret developed. It is a some- 

 what delicate animal, and its in- 

 tolerance of cold suggests its Medi- 

 terranean origin. It breeds readily 

 with the wild polecat, and the 

 brownish variety known as the 

 polecat -ferret is probably the 

 result of such crosses. The ferret is 

 only semi -domesticated. It has no 

 affection for its owner, is very 

 ferocious, and is as likely to bite 

 the hand that feeds it as any other. 

 It therefore needs to be handled 

 with caution, the best way being to 

 grasp it close behind the shoulders. 



The method of hunting a rabbit 

 warren with ferrets is to net or stop 

 all the holes except one, at which 

 the ferret is inserted. The rabbits, 

 finding an inveterate enemy on 

 their track, bolt for the holes and 

 are thus caught in the nets. It is a 

 common practice to muzzle the 

 ferret, otherwise, if it catches a 

 rabbit in the burrow, it will remain 

 there to make a meal of it. 



Ferrets need great care to keep 

 them in good health, warmth and 

 scrupulous cleanliness being the 

 chiet essentials; Plenty of warm 

 litter must be provided, and the 

 hutch should be thoroughly cleaned 

 and disinfected at least once a 

 week. The food should consist of 

 fresh bread and milk, and a little 

 raw meat may be given once a 



Enrico Ferri, 

 Italian socialist 



3125 



week. Ferrets breed freely in cap- 

 tivity and usually rear two 

 families in the year. See Rabbit. 



FerrexandPorrex. One of the 

 titles under which the earliest ex- 

 tant English tragedy is known. 

 See Gorboduc. 



Ferri, ENRICO (b. 1856). Italian 

 socialist. Born near Mantua, Feb. 

 2f>, 1850. he was educated in that 

 , city and at Bo- 

 logna, taking a 



r^^Hk ' ; Ie 8 al degree, 

 I j 1877, and 



studying under 

 Lombroso, 

 1879. In 1880 

 UK he became pro- 



fessor of crimi- 

 nal law at Bo- 

 logna univer- 

 sity, andin 1891 

 succeeded the criminologist Carrara 

 at Pisa university. Appointed to a 

 chair in the new university at 

 Brussels, 1895, he received a simi- 

 lar appointment at the College des 

 Sciences Sociales at Paris, 1901 . A 

 radical deputy, 1886-93, in the 

 Italian chamber, he afterwards 

 joined the socialist party. 



Ferric Salts. Iron forms with 

 acids, two series of salts, ferrous and 

 ferric. The ferric salts are generally 

 yellowish or reddish brown in col- 

 our, and are reduced to the ferrous 

 state by means of zinc. Ferric 

 chloride (FeCl 3 ) is prepared in the 

 anhydrous state by heating iron 

 wire in a current of dry chlorine gas. 

 and hi the form of solution by dis- 

 solving iron wire in hydrochloric 

 acid and then passing chlorine into 

 the liquid until it smells of the gas. 

 As a tincture ("steel drops") 

 ferric chloride is employed in medi- 

 cine as a tonic. With a soluble thio- 

 cyanate, ferric chloride gives an in- 

 tense blood-red colour. Ferric sul- 

 phate, Fe,(S0 4 ) 3 , obtained by oxi- 

 dising ferroxis sulphate by means of 

 nitric acid, is used in dyeing cotton 

 black, in combination with log- 

 wood. Iron alum is a compound of 

 ferric sulphate and potassium sul- 

 phate. This and ferric nitrate are 

 employed in dyeing. Ferric oxide, 

 which occurs naturally and is also 

 produced by distilling ferrous sul- 

 phate, is known as red ochre and 

 colcothar, and used as colouring 

 matter and polishing material. 



Ferricyanides. Salts of ferri- 

 cyanhydric acid, H 3 Fe(CN) 6 , first 

 made 'by Gmelin by decomposing 

 lead ferricyanide with dilute sul- 

 phuric acid and evaporating the 

 solution after filtration. Potassium 

 ferricyanide or red prussiate of 

 potash is prepared by passing 

 chlorine through a solution of po- 

 tassium ferrocyanide or over the 

 dry salt until it no longer gives a 

 blue colour with a ferric salt. 



FERRIER 



The salt is in deep red crystals 

 and forms with water a dark yellow 

 solution which darkens with age 

 and becomes converted into ferro- 

 cyanide. On adding ferrous sul- 

 phate (green vitriol) to potassium 

 ferricyanide solution a blue preci- 

 pitate known as Turnbull's blue is 

 obtained. When chlorine is passed 

 into a solution of potassium ferri- 

 cyanide a green precipitate known 

 as Prussian green is formed, the 

 appearance of which is the indi- 

 cation that the end of the process 

 has been reached. Potassium ferri- 

 cyanide, a powerful oxidising agent, 

 when employed with caustic potash, 

 is used in the preparation of ferro- 

 prussiate paper upon which " blue 

 prints" are made. See. Colour 

 Printing. 



Ferrier, SIR DAVID (b. 1843). 

 British physician. Born at 

 Aberdeen, he was educated at the 

 ^ PMI^HH^K university 

 i there and a t 

 I Edin burgh 

 fc^ ; i and Heidel- 

 I berg. Having 

 iSLr'- m^m taken his med- 

 ical degree at 

 Edinburgh, he 

 began to prac- 

 tise as a spe- 



Sir David Ferrier, c i a 1 i s t and 



British physician soon won a 

 Mauu&Fox reputation as 



an authority on the brain. In 1889 

 he was appointed professor of neu- 

 ro-pathology at King's College, 

 London, and he was also consulting 

 physician at King's College Hos- 

 pital. His many honours include 

 an F.R.S. Ferrier, who was 

 knighted in 1911, wrote The 

 Functions of the Brain, etc., 1876. 



Ferrier, JAMES FREDERICK 

 (1808-64). Scottish metaphysician. 

 Born at Edinburgh, June 16, 1808, 

 he was professor of moral philo- 

 sophy and political economy at St. 

 Andrews from 1845 until his 

 death, June 11, 1864. Like Berke- 

 ley, he is an idealist and im- 

 materialist. There is no such thing 

 as independent matter, all external 

 things exist only subjectively ; the 

 only material world which really 

 exists is one with which intelli- 

 gence also exists. The conscious 

 subject is inseparably connected 

 with the conceived object. At the 

 same time, he does not deny the 

 existence of the real material world 

 per se, as distinct from that known 

 to us through thesubjective medium 

 of space and time, but declares it to 

 be simply unknowable. His writ- 

 ings are distinguished by a clear- 

 ness of style extremely rare in 

 the discussion of abstruse subjects. 

 His most important works are 

 Institutes of Metaphysics, 1854, 

 and Lectures on Greek Philosophy. 



