FLAXMAN 



31 94 



FLECHE 



height. See Linen; consult also 

 Flax and its Products, H. R. 

 Carter, 1920. 



Flaxman, JOHN (! 755-1826). 

 English sculptor. BOSM at York, 

 July 6, 1755, he was tl.e son of a 

 ntt. ter of plas- 

 t c .: casts. 

 ^. i n g to 

 phj sical de- 

 foRnity, his 

 cbfdhood in 

 Lot.don was 

 patted mainly 

 in his father's 

 shop, where^ 

 he drew, mo- 

 delled, and 

 studied the 

 classics. In 

 1770 he entered the Academy 

 schools, having previously ex- 

 hibited and gained awards at the 

 Society of Arts, the Free Society of 

 Artists, etc. ; and in 1775 began to 

 be regularly employed by the 

 Wedgwoods in designing classical 

 friezes and medallions for their 

 ware. Married in 1782, Flaxman 

 and his wife went to Rome in 1787. 

 Returning in 1794, they settled in 

 London. In 1797 he was elected 

 A.R.A., and R.A. in 1800, and in 

 1810 was appointed professor of 

 sculpture. He died Dec. 7, 1826. 



Flaxman' s most notable monu- 

 mental works are in Westminster 

 Abbey and S. Paul's, his classical 

 figures and groups at Petworth, 

 Woburn, and other country seats, 

 and his characteristic memorial 

 reliefs are numerous in the British 

 cathedrals and churches. Collec- 

 tions of his drawings are in the 

 British and South Kensington 

 museums, and the Fitzwilliam 

 Museum, Cambridge. University 

 College, in Gower Street, London, 

 contains in the Flaxman gallery a 

 large number of his original draw- 

 ings and sketches in pen and pencil, 

 and also plaster casts from his clay 

 models. See Sculpture. 



Flea. Family of small wingless 

 insects, more or less parasitic on 

 other animals. The body is later- 

 ally compressed, and strongly en- 

 cased in a coating of chitin ; the 

 last pair of legs is very long, en- 

 abling the insect to jump about 200 

 times its own length. The jaws 

 are modified into a piercing instru- 

 ment and a sucking tube, and the 



Fleche, LA. 



Town of France. 

 It stands on the 

 Loir, 24 m. from 

 Le Mans, in the 

 dept. of Sarthe. It 

 is an agricultural 

 centre, trading in 

 corn, wine, etc., 

 and has also some 

 small manuf ac - 

 tures ; its build- 

 ings include a 

 town hall, mu- 

 seum, and the - 

 atre. More fa- 

 mous is the mili- 

 tary school here 

 known as the 

 Prytanee, from 

 which students 



Flea. Much enlarged specimens. 1. Rat flea. 2. Common 

 flea, Pulex irritans, male and, 3, female 



1 Phoioyraphea at Nat. Hist: Mustum, S. Kensington 



insect in the adult 

 stage lives by 

 sucking blood. 



Most of the 

 numerous species 

 confine their at- 

 tention to some 

 one genus of the 

 animal world. 

 While a rat flea 

 or chicken flea will 

 on occasion attack 

 man, it will not 

 stay with him. The 

 rat flea is known 

 to be the con- 

 veyer of plague, 

 and it is probable 

 that other fleas also 

 carry disease. The 

 human flea (Pulex 

 irritans) deposits 

 its eggs in the dust 

 of floors, where the 

 white, worm-like 

 larva feeds on 

 decaying organic matter, taking 

 about a month to attain maturity. 

 See Insects ; Parasite. 



Fleabane (Pulicaria and Eri- 

 geron). Herbs of the natural order 

 Compositae. P. dysenterica, a na- 

 tive of Europe, N. Africa, and the 

 Himalaya, is a perennial, with 

 creeping rootstock, erect stems, and 

 heart-shaped, oblong, woolly leaves. 

 The daisy-like flower-heads are 

 bright yellow. It was formerly used 

 as a medicine in dysentery. Cana- 

 dian fleabane (Erigeron canadense), 

 generally distributed in warm and 

 temperate re- 

 gions, is an an- 

 nual, with stem 

 1 or 2 ft. high, 

 and narrow, 

 lance-s h a p e d 

 leaves. The 

 small, yellow- 

 centred, white 

 flower -heads 

 are clustered. 





Flaxman. Two examples of his work. Mercury and 



Pandora, from a cast now in University College, London. 



Above, Pandora endowed by Athena and Hermes, from 



an illustration to Hesiod's Works and Days 



pass to St. Cyr. Founded in 1774, 

 this occupies the buildings of a 

 Jesuit college, and has a large 

 library. The earlier college, at 

 which Descartes was educated, 

 was founded in 1604 by Henry IV, 

 to whom there is a statue in the 

 market place. Pop. 10,700. 





Fleabane. Leaves and flowers of 

 Pulicaria dysenterica 



