805 



FETTBOLL. 



FIBRIN. 



808 



is a native of moist meadows, and forms a portion of most good 

 meadow herbage. Mr. Sinclair states that in point of early produce 

 thia grass ranks next to Meadow Fox-Tail (Alopccurits pratemis), and 

 is much more productive. 



f. ovina, P. rubra, and F. duriuscula are other agricultural grasses, 

 much smaller than the last, and contributing greatly to the value of 

 pastures. F. ovina has a fine succulent foliage, and, according to 

 Linnaeus, sheep have no relish for hills on which it does not abound ; 

 it is however unproductive. F, rubra is more abundant in its produce, 

 but less nutritious ; and its creeping root-like stems are said to impo- 

 verish the soil very much. F. duriiacitla is preferrible to both the 

 preceding ; it withstands dry weather better than most grasses, and 

 in combination with F. pratewii and Poa trivialis forms excellent 

 pasturage. It is most prevalent on light rich soils. F. dumetorum, 

 another species, will thrive in dry sandy situations, to which property 

 its value is chiefly owing ; but its nutritive qualities are slight, and it 

 is altogether an inferior species. 



(Babington, Manual of Britiih Botany.) 



FETTBOLL, a soft hydrous Silicate of Alumina allied to Halloy- 

 lite. [HALLOYLITE.] 



FEUILLEA, a genus of Plants belonging to the natural order 

 Oucwbitace<r, and named in honour of Louis Feuillee, a traveller in 

 Chili, the author of several works on botany. The flowers of this 

 genus are dioecious. The staminiferous flowers have the calyx 5-cleft 

 beyond the middle ; 5 petals rather joined at the base ; 5 stamens 

 inserted with the petals, and alternating with them ; sometimes there 

 are 10 stamens, but when this occurs 5 of them are always sterile. 

 The pistilliferous flowers have the tube of the calyx adnate to the 

 ovarium, with a 15-cleft limb. They have 5 petals, distinct or joined 

 at the base, and oblong ; 3 styles. Stigmas broad and bluntly bifid. 

 Fruit globose, fleshy, with a circular scar round the middle and five 

 other scars, 3-celled, with a solid bark, 'and a large fleshy trigonal central 

 axis. The ovules are numerous, standing erect upon the axis. The seeds 

 oval and compressed. Cotyledons flat and rather fleshy. This genus 

 is a native of the tropical regions of America, and most of the species 

 are frutescent climbing herbs. They have alternate, stalked, cordate, 

 smooth leaves, and small flowers. The tendrils are axillary, spirally 

 twisted, in place of peduncles. The seeds are oily and of a bitter 

 taste ; their unctuous matter causes them to be used for burning, and 

 their excessive bitterness renders them good anthelmintics ; they are 

 also cathartic. 



F. punctata has 3-lobed or ternate leaves, beset with glandular dots 

 on both surfaces along the nerves, but more especially beneath. The 

 lobes of the leaves are lanceolate and rather cut. It is a native of 

 St. Domingo. 



F. Irilobata has leaves which are rather glandular on both surfaces, 

 3-parted or trifid, the lower lobes obtuse, the upper ones acute. 

 This species is a native of Brazil. It is the P. scandens of some 

 authors, and the celebrated Nhandirhoba or Ghandirhoba of South 

 America, where it is held in great repute as an antidote to various 

 poisons, animal and vegetable. The natives employ it not only against 

 serpent-bites but also to counteract the baneful effects of the Manihot 

 anil Manchineel. M. Drapicz, after having made experiments expressly 

 to test its power, states that animals poisoned with hemlock, nux- 

 vnmica, Khut, Toxicodendron, &c., were restored by the administration 

 of the seeds of this plant. He recommends that the seeds be bruised in 

 a little water, and asserts that it is equally efficacious as an antidote 

 whether taken internally or applied to a poisoned wound. These 

 seeds act with great rapidity as emetics and purgatives. The oil 

 expressed from them is used as an application in pains in the joints. 



P. cordifolia has glandless cordate acuminate leaves, somewhat 

 3-lobed and rather serrated. It is a native of the West Indies, and 

 has likewise a reputation as a preventive of the ill effects of vege- 

 table poisons, and as an emetic and purgative. 



P. Javilla has glandless roundish leaves, sinuately cordate, and 

 acuminate. It is a native of New Granada in the woods near Turbaco, 

 where it is known by the name of Javilla. The seeds have winged 

 margins ; hence this species agrees with the genus Zanonia. 



The fruit of the Feuillta is as large as an apple, and from a fancied 

 resemblance it is called the Shaving-Box. 



A light rich soil is found to suit best the species of Feuillea, and 

 cuttings will easily take root in a hot-bed or glass frame exposed to 

 heat, Being creeping plants they are well adapted for training up 

 rafters in stoves. 



(Don, Dichlamydf.out Plant! ; Lindley, Flora, Medica; Burnett, 

 Outline* of Botany.) 



FEVEKFEW. [MATIUCARIA ; PYKETHRUM.] 



FIBER. [BEAVER.] 



FIBRE, ANIMAL. [Finnis; FIBROUS TISSUE.] 



1 II '.It K, VEGETABLE, one of the most elementary forms of 

 vegetable tissue. It consists of excessively delicate threads, twisted 

 spirally in the interior of a cell or tube. It is uncertain whether the 

 fibre is solid or hollow, its tenuity being such as to baffle all micro- 

 scopical observers who have yet examined it. It is thin elementary 

 fibre which, being turned spirally round a long delicate tube with its 

 spires in contact, forms the elastic spiral vessel. It occurs in the 

 interior of common cells, when its turns cross each other and produce 

 a netted appearance. It is frequent in the cellular tissue which forms 



the lining of an anther, and ia supposed to have some connection with 

 the opening of that organ. In its naked state, uncombiued with 

 membrane, it is supposed to be very rare. On the surface of some 

 seeds, as Collomia linearis, it has been observed in this condition in 

 great abundance, in the form of spiral threads of a highly elastic 

 nature. 



Vegetable Fibre should not be confounded with the woody fibre of 

 plants, which consists of tough straight tubes either single or adhering 

 in bundles. It is this which forms the thread of hemp, flax, and the 

 like. [TISSUES, VEGETABLE.] 



FIBRIN, an organic proximate principle found in both plants and 

 animals. When obtained from wheateu flour it is called Gluten. It 

 has the same properties whether obtained from vegetable or animal 

 sources. In the animal kingdom it is found in the muscles and the 

 blood. [BLOOD.] The fibrin of the blood is best obtained by what is 

 called whipping the blood, that is, by rapidly stirring a quantity of 

 fresh-drawn blood with a spoon or a piece of stick. During this 

 process the blood coagulates, and the coagulum adheres to the spoon 

 or stick. The red particles which are mixed with this coagulum may 

 be removed by washing it in large and repeated portions of water ; 

 the substance that remains is Fibrin nearly in a state of purity. 



During the state of life the fibrin is contained in solution in the 

 fluid part of the blood, the liquor sauguiuis. Professor Muller 

 obtained fibrin in a state of purity from frog's blood by opening one 

 of its large arteries, or by laying bare and incising the heart itself. 

 This blood being received into a watch-glass and the process of 

 coagulation watched, it was observed that previously to the complete 

 coagulation of the blood there formed a small colourless coagulum 

 clear as water. " Having brought a drop of pure blood," says Muller, 

 " under the microscope, and diluted it with serum, so that the blood- 

 corpuscles lay completely scattered about and separated from each 

 other, I observed that in the interval between the blood-corpuscles a 

 coagulum of previously dissolved matter was produced, by wliich the 

 whole separated blood-globules were connected together. I was then 

 able to remove at the same time all the blood-corpuscles, notwith- 

 standing their wide distribution and the size of the intervals between 

 them, by raising with a needle the fibrous coagulum occupying the 

 intervening spaces. As the blood-corpuscles of the frog are rendered 

 by a microscope uncommonly large, this observation admits of the 

 greatest distinctness, and allows no ambiguity to remain on the 

 subject. There is still however an easier and more convincing method 

 of proving that fibrin is dissolved in frog's blood. As I showed from 

 experiment that the blood-corpuscles of the frog are about four times 

 larger than the blood-corpuscles of men and Mammalia, I concluded 

 that perhaps the filter would keep them back, while it allowed the 

 corpuscles of men and Mammalia to pass. This is the case. The 

 experiment may be made on a small scale with the blood of a frog 

 alone : a small glass-funnel and a filter of common white filtering- 

 paper, or thick printing-paper, are the only requisites. The paper 

 must previously be moist, and it is well to add an equal quantity of 

 water to the fresh blood of the frog. The liquid which flows through 

 the filter, is an almost colourless clear serum diluted with water, with 

 a slight tinge of red, from the colouring matter dissolved by the 

 water. As however the solution of the colouring matter of frog's 

 blood by water requires a considerable time, the filtered fluid can 

 scarcely be termed reddish, and is sometimes quite colourless. If 

 instead of water a solution of sugar in water (one part of sugar to 200 

 or more of water) be employed, no colouring matter will be dissolved 

 during the filtration, and the filtered liquid is quite colourless and 

 without the slightest trace of mixture. If the filtered serum be 

 examined under the microscope no trace of corpuscles can be detected. 

 In this clear serum in the course of a few minutes a colourless 

 coagulum is formed, so clear and transparent that it is not even 

 detected after its formation until it is raised out of the fluid with a 

 needle. It gradually thickens, and becomes whitish and fibrous ; it 

 then assumes gradually the appearance of the coagulum of human 

 lymph. In this way the fibrin of the blood is obtained in the purest 

 state, and this has not hitherto been done." 



Pure fibrin is of a whitish colour, inodorous, and insoluble in cold 

 water ; it is a solid substance, tough, elastic, and composed of thready 

 fibres. 



The relative quantity of fibrin contained in the blood varies greatly, 

 according to the state of the system at the time it is obtained. 



Fibrin and Albumen, if not identical, are very closely allied, and 

 appear rather to differ in organisation than in essential chemical 

 character. For an account of the relations of Fibrin and Albumen 

 see PROTEIN. 



That variety of fibrin which constitutes muscular fibre is so inter- 

 woven with nerves, vessels, and cellular and adipose tissue, that its 

 properties are probably always more or less modified by foreign 

 matters. " To obtain the fibrin of a muscle, it must be finely minced 

 and washed in repeated portions of water at 60 or 70 till all colouring 

 and soluble substances are withdrawn, and till the residue is colour- 

 less, insipid, and inodorous; it ia then strongly pressed between folds 

 of linen, which renders it semi-transparent and pulverulent. Berzelius 

 observes that in this state it becomes so strongly electro-positive 

 when triturated, that tha particles repel each other and adhere to 

 the mortar, and that it still retains fat, which is separable by alcohol 



