F1NGO 



3151 



FINLAND 



prints of every sailor in the Ameri- 

 can merchant marine were taken 

 for classification of able seamen, 

 etc., and the prevention of fraud, 

 while hi the war department finger 

 print records were kept of every 

 soldier. It has been shown that the 

 chance of identity of two finger 

 prints is less than one in sixty -four 

 thousand millions, and the prints 

 of one finger, therefore, are enough 

 to decide the question of identity. 

 If, as is customary, the prints of 

 three or more fingers are taken 

 the possibilities of error are en- 

 tirely eliminated. 



All finger print impressions are 

 divided into two groups of four 

 types and eight distinct patterns, 

 such as loops, arches, etc. The ten 

 fingers in the Henry system are 

 divided into five pairs, and by a 

 special way of numbering these 

 pairs the classification of a par- 

 ticular finger print is made simple. 

 See Scotland Yard. 



Bibliography. Classification and 

 Uses of Finger Prints, Sir E. R. 

 Henry ; Asquith Committee Report 

 on Means of Identification of Habit- 

 ual Criminals, 1894 ; Origin of 

 Finger Printing, Sir W. J. Her- 

 schel, 1916. 



Fingo OR AMAFENGTJ (Zulu, 

 wanderers). Collective name for 

 Bantu-speaking peoples of Kaffir 

 stock whose tribal unity was de- 

 stroyed by the Zulus under Chaka. 

 In 1835 the Cape government gave 

 them asylum near the Great Fish 

 river ; this Fingoland reserve be- 

 came, in 1877, one of the Transkei 

 districts. Always friendly to the 

 British, they have become largely 

 Europeanised and Christianised, 

 with a high educational standard. 

 They furnish labour contingents 

 for the harbours and mines. 



Finial (Lat. finis, end). In archi- 

 tecture, a foliated ornament cap- 

 ping a pinnacle, gable, or stair- 

 post. Occasionally the finials of 



shop of the Pollaiuoli. He is stated 

 by Vasari to have invented engrav- 

 ing on metal, but he was only one 

 of the pioneers in this craft, which 

 he practised together with niello 

 work, of which he was a master. 

 Intarsias by him are to be seen in 

 the sacristy and the cathedral 

 museum, Florence ; his prints and 

 drawings are in the Uffizi gallery 

 and the British Museum. There has 

 been much controversy as to his 

 alleged invention of engraving. 



Fining (Lat. finis, end). Pro- 

 cess by which liquids are freed of 

 solid matter and impurities, and 

 thus clarified. Though somewhat 

 akin to filtering, it is used in a 

 special sense in the brewing and 

 distilling industries, various sub- 

 stances such as isinglass, sulphate 

 of lime, etc., being employed to 

 collect and carry off the matter in 

 solution, leaving the liquid bright 

 and clear. In fining syrups white 

 of egg may be used, the albumen 

 being dissolved by heat. Wines are 

 similarly fined without the ap- 

 plication of heat, the alcohol act- 

 ing as the solvent. (See Brewing ; 

 Distilling.) Fining is also a process 

 in glass-making, and was used in 

 the production of malleable iron 

 before the introduction of pud- 

 dling. 



Finistere. Dept. of France. In 

 the extreme N.W. of the country 

 and part of Brittany, it is bordered 

 by the sea on three sides. The Aulne 

 is the most important river. The 

 coast is rocky and broken, but con- 

 tains some good harbours. Off it 

 are Ushant and other islands. It 

 is a hilly, though not mountainous, 

 region, and much of the land is 

 covered by forest and heath, use- 

 less for growing crops. Elsewhere, 

 however, especially in the south, 

 there is fertile land which produces 

 asparagus, onions, and other vege- 

 tables, as well as apples and fruit. 

 Oats and wheat are grown ; cattle 

 and horses are reared, while the 

 peasants also keep bees and make 

 butter. Many of the inhabitants are 

 employed in the fisheries. The dept. 

 has five arrondissements. Quimper 

 is the chief town, but Brest is the 

 most important. Morlaix is also a 

 flourishing port. Area, 2,713 sq. m. 

 Pop. 809,711. 



Finisterre. Cape on the N.W. 

 extremity of Spain, in the prov. of 

 Corunna. Off the cape two naval 

 actions were fought in 1747 be- 

 tween the British and French, re- 

 sulting in the defeat of the latter. 

 Admiral Anson commanded the 

 British forces on May 3, and 

 Admiral Hawke on Oct. 14. 



FINLAND: THE LAND AND ITS PEOPLE 



B. N. Rudmose Brown, M.A., Professor of Geography, Sheffield 



This article describes the country of the Finns and deals also with 

 its language, literature, history, etc. See also Finns ; Russia ; 

 Sweden ; and, articles on A bo ; Helsingfors, and other places -in the land 



I 



Finial. 1 and 2. From Canterbury Cathedral. 3. Norwich 

 Cathedral. 4. Lady Chapel, Winchester Cathedral 



stair-posts themselves acted as 

 supports for statuary, as those at 

 Cromwell House, Highgate, where 

 they are surmounted by Round- 

 head figures. 



Finiguerra, MASO (c. 1426-64). 

 Italian goldsmith and engraver. 

 Born probably at Florence, details 

 of bis life are uncertain. He was 

 trained as a gpldsmith in the work- 



This republic of N. Europe lies 

 between Russia on the E., Sweden 

 and the Gulf of Bothnia on the W., 

 Norway on the N., and the Gulf of 

 Finland on the S. The country has 

 an area of 144,253 sq. m. Hel- 

 singfors is the capital. 



Its coast-line, which is entirely 

 on the Baltic, is 1,000 m. long, 

 low-lying, highly 

 indented, and 

 fringed with 

 islands of which 

 the Aaland Islands 

 in the S.W. are 

 the most import- 

 ant. The country 

 consists of a great 

 plateau, at an 

 elevation of 300 to 

 500 ft., with low- 

 lands round the 

 coast. The southern half of the 

 plateau has about 25 p.c. of its 

 area occupied by thousands of 

 shallow lakes, many of them linked 

 by short natural and artificial 

 channels. In the N. the plateau is 

 more elevated and rugged, rising in 

 many places to heights of over 

 3,000 ft., but there are no well-de- 

 fined mountain ranges. The north- 



ern part of the country is known as 

 Lapland and is inhabited by the 

 nomad race of Lapps. 



Of Finnish lakes the largest 

 are Saima, 502 sq. m. ; Inari, 534 

 sq. m. ; Paijane, 429 ; and Ulea- 

 trask, 387. Half 

 of Lake Ladoga 

 (7,000 sq. m.) is 

 Finnish and half 

 Russian. Thereare 

 numerous short 

 rivers which are 

 broken by rapids, 

 and are navigable 

 only in stretches, Finland arms 

 but are useful for floating timber. 

 Finland has a short, hot summer 

 and a long, cold winter. Rainfall is 

 not heavy, and there is compara- 

 tively little snow, but it lies on the 

 ground from Oct. to March. Rivers 

 and lakes are frozen from Dec. to 

 May. Abo, Hango, and Helsingfors 

 are the only ports open in winter. 

 Coniferous forests cover 60 p.c. of 

 the country. Wild animals include 

 reindeer, bear, wolf, and lynx. 

 Mosquitoes are a plague. The popu- 

 lation numbers 3,329,401, and is 

 v found mainly in the S. and along 

 "the W. coast. In the days of 



