FERRY 



out a chain crossing the bed of the 

 river. Where there is a strong 

 current in one direction only, the 

 ferry-boat may be attached to a 

 chain the other end of which is 

 moored in midstream some dis- 

 tance higher up, the current being 

 used to move the boat across by 

 oblique pressure. See Channel 

 Ferry ; Richborough ; Train Ferry ; 

 also illus. p. 2207. 



Ferry, JULES FRANSOIS CAMILLE 

 (1832-93). A French statesman. 

 Born at St. Die in the Vosges, April 

 15, 1832, he be- 

 came a lawyer 

 and a journal- 

 ist. In 1869 he 

 was chosen as 

 deputy for 

 Paris, being al- 

 ready known as 

 a vigorous op- 

 ponent of the 

 Jules Ferry, emperor. When 

 French statesman p arig wag be _ 



sieged, as prefect of the Seine he 

 was responsible for its government. 

 After being minister at Athens, he 

 returned to the Chamber of Depu- 

 ties in 1873 and entered the minis- 

 try in 1879. In 1880 he became 

 premier for a short term, and was 

 again premier, 1883-85, being in the 

 meantime minister for education. 

 In 1885 he retired, but was active in 

 politics until his murder by a 

 lunatic, March 17, 1893, just after 

 he had been chosen president of the 

 senate. Ferry did much to promote 

 secular education, and establish 

 French influence in Africa and 

 Indo-China. 



Ferrybridge. Hamlet of York- 

 shire ( W.R. ) , England. It stands on 

 the Aire, 2 m. N.E. of Pontefract, 

 on the M. & N.E.J.R. In 1461 it 

 was the scene of an engagement 

 during the Wars of the Roses. 



Ferryhill . Parish and market vill- 

 age of Durham, England. It is 6 m. 

 S. of Durham, on the N.E.R., with 

 ironworks and coal mines. Market 

 day, Fri. (alternate). Pop. 10,133. 

 Ferryman's House. Fortified 

 point on the E. bank of the Yser 

 canal, midway between Dixmude 

 and Ypres, for which there was 

 prolonged fighting in the winter of 

 1914. The troops engaged were 

 French of the 9th corps. The posi- 

 tion was of importance because, if 

 it remained in German hands, the 

 Germans might cross the Yser 

 canal and turn the defences of 

 Ypres, moving by a short line upon 

 Poperinghe, 6 m. to the rear of 

 Ypres. By attacking at this point 

 the French also took pressure off 

 the Belgians, who were being sub- 

 jected to artillery fire on the Yser. 

 On Dec. 4, 1914, the French 

 stormed the Ferryman's House, 

 and established themselves there. 



Count von Fersen, 

 Swedish soldier 



3127 



Fersen, FREDRIK AXEL, COUNT 

 VON (1719-94). Swedish soldier and 

 politician. Of Scottish descent, 

 Fersen was born at Stockholm, and 

 as a young man served with the 

 French army with distinction. In 

 1748, he fought against Prussia in 

 the Seven Years' War. Marshal of 

 the Swedish diet in 1755, and again 

 in 1769, Fersen was prominent as 

 leader of the aristocratic party (the 

 " Hats "). From 1786 he was an 

 open and powerful opponent of 

 Gustavus III, and was put under 

 arrest fora time in 1789, after 

 which he retired. 



Fersen, HANS AXEL, COUNT VON 

 (1755-1810). Swedish soldier. Born 

 at Stockholm, Sept. 4, 1755, he 

 served in the 

 Swedish army. 

 Afterwards he 

 resided at the 

 court of Louis 

 XVI of France, 

 with whom he 

 became a great 

 favourite. 

 During the 

 American War 

 of Indepen- 

 dence he fought under Lafayette. 

 When the king and Marie Antoi- 

 nette, to whom Fersen was devoted, 

 fled to Varennes in 1791, Fersen 

 was the driver of the coach. After 

 his return to Sweden he was mur- 

 dered by a mob, June 20, 1810, on 

 suspicion of having been concerned 

 in the death of the Crown Prince 

 Christian. 



Fertilisation.. Biological term 

 for the union of the male and fe- 

 male germ-cells which precedes re- 

 production in almost all multi- 

 cellular organisms, and in all the 

 higher animals. Plants and ani- 

 mals in which the sexual organs are 

 distinct produce male germ -cells, or 

 sperms, and female germ-cells, or 

 ova, respectively, but unless there 

 is a union at some period or other in 

 the life cycle of the individual be- 

 tween a male and a female germ- 

 cell, these cells perish, and repro- 

 duction does not occur. Some few 

 species consist only of female orga- 

 nisms, where fertilisation is absent, 

 and reproduction takes place by 

 parthenogenesis. 



In some other species the orga- 

 nism has both male and female re- 

 productive organs in the same indi- 

 vidual, and when the respective 

 germ -cells in such a case unite the 

 process is termed self -fertilisation. 

 This occurs in many plants, where 

 the pollen grains (male) unite with 

 the ovules (female), the result be- 

 ing a f ertilised ovum. In the higher 

 animals cross-fertilisation, how- 

 ever, is the rule, and in this process 

 the sperm and the ovum which 

 unite come from two distinct indi- 



' ^ FERTILISER 



viduals of opposite sexes. Cross 

 fertilisation takes place in some 

 plants frequently by the pollen 

 s grains and the ovules, which are 

 carried on the same plant, ripening 

 at different periods, so that they 

 become fertilised from the corre- 

 sponding elements of other plants 

 of the same species. The single cell 

 formed by the union of a male and 

 a female germ-cell is termed a 

 fertilised ovum, or a zygote. 



Fertilisation is brought about by 

 the activity of the male sperm-cell. 

 Under the microscope this cell is 

 seen to consist of a head and a tail, 

 and the essential part of the pro- 

 cess is the fusion of the head of the 

 sperm with the nucleus of the 

 female ovum. After this fusion the 

 sperm loses its tail and becomes a 

 rounded body, then termed the 

 male pronucleus. Gradually it 

 penetrates more and more deeply 

 into the female germ-cell, until it 

 unites with the female pronucleus 

 to form a combined or segmenta- 

 tion nucleus. Fertilisation is then 

 complete, and the cell thus formed 

 is the first stage in the develop- 

 ment of a new unicellular embryo, 

 totally unlike the parents from 

 which it springs, or the individual 

 into which it will develop. 



Cross -fertilisation is evidently 

 one of the latest products of evolu- 

 tion, since it is the usual method of 

 fertilising in the highest plants and 

 animals. It must, therefore, have 

 some very important function. It is 

 thought that one of the objects of 

 cross -fertilisation is to secure the 

 production of vigorous offspring, 

 and Darwin found in the case of 

 some plants which usually repro- 

 duce by cross -fertilisation that if 

 self - fertilisation was artificially 

 produced the resulting offspring 

 were feeble. Nevertheless, both 

 plants and animals which nor- 

 mally reproduce by partheno- 

 genesis produce healthy offspring. 

 It would appear, therefore, that 

 cross -fertilisation is essential for 

 the continued vigour of a species in 

 which that process is normal. See 

 Biology ; Embryology ; Eugenics ; 

 consult also The Flower and the 

 Bee, John H. Lovell, 1919; Prob- 

 lems of Fertilization, F. Rattray 

 Lillie, 1919. 



Fertiliser. Chemical substitute 

 for animal manures. It is used to 

 restore to the soil various elements 

 and ingredients abstracted from 

 it by plants in the course of cul- 

 tivation. Fertilisers are easily 

 procured, cleanly to handle, and 

 less likely to introduce insect pests 

 than the old-fashioned stable 

 manure. For flower gardens pro- 

 prietary complete fertilisers, the 

 bases of most of which consist of 

 dried blood and ground bones, may 



