FERNANDEZ FERRAUA. 



173 



fest a tendency to suffer this change. The conditions 

 requisite for enabling the putrefactive process to 

 commence, are moisture, air, and a certain tempera- 

 ture. The temperature most favourable is between 

 60 and 100 Fahr. The products of the process 

 may be divided into the solid, liquid, and gaseous. 

 The liquids are chiefly water, together with a little 

 acetic acid and oil. The gaseous products are light, 

 carbureted hydrogen, carbonic acid, and, when nitro- 

 gen is present, ammonia. Pure hydrogen, and pro- 

 bably nitrogen, are sometimes disengaged. Another 

 elastic principle, supposed to arise from putrefying 

 vegetable remains, is the noxious miasmata of 

 marshes. The origin of these, however, is exceed- 

 ingly obscure. The solid product is a dark, pul- 

 verulent substance, consisting of charcoal, combined 

 with a little oxygen and hydrogen, which, when 

 mixed with* a proper quantity or earth, is called 

 vegetable mould. 



FERNANDEZ, or JUAN FERNANDEZ, an 

 island in the South Pacific ocean, about 110 leagues 

 west of Chile ; about four leagues long, and hardly 

 two wide ; of an irregular shape ; Ion. 78 52' W. ; lat. 

 33 40' S. It is noted for the refreshments it has af- 

 forded to navigators from its wild goats, vegetables, 

 and water. The governor of the island is appointed 

 by the president of Chile. Alexander Selkirk, a 

 Scottish sailor, being left on this island by his captain, 

 lived here from the year 1705 to 1709 in solitude. 

 This circumstance gave rise to the celebrated 

 romance of Robinson Crusoe, by De Foe. Many 

 have affected to doubt the fact of De Foe being in- 

 debted to Selkirk ; but a paper, by Sir Richard 

 Steele, in a now forgotten periodical, (The English- 

 man, No. 26, December 3, 1713), proves that the 

 misfortunes of Selkirk must have furnished the out- 

 line of the above-mentioned romance. 



FERNANDO DE NORONHA, or NARONHO ; 

 an island in the Atlantic, full of mountains, which 

 have the appearance of volcanoes, but are covered 

 with verdure ; not above three miles in length, and 

 in shape resembling a laurel leaf; about 210 miles 

 from the coast of Brazil ; Ion. 32 38' W.; lat. 3 56' 

 S. It is defended with forts. The water is in 

 general brackish, and sometimes no rain falls for 

 three or four years together. It is a place of banish- 

 ment for male criminals ; no females are permitted 

 to visit the island. The garrison, consisting of about 

 120 men, is relieved yearly. 



FERNANDO PO, or FERNAND PAO ; an 

 island of Africa, in the Atlantic, near the coast of 

 Benin, about 60 miles in circumference. The land 

 lies high, and the soil is fertile in manioc, sugar- 

 canes, rice, fruit, and tobacco. The inhabitants are 

 rude and uncivilized. Lou. 8 40* E.; lat. 3 28' N. 

 Population, 1200. 



FERNEY; a village famous for having been a 

 long time the residence of Voltaire, in the French 

 department of the Ain, on the frontiers of Switzer- 

 land, about 5 miles from Geneva. Under Louis 

 XIII. and XIV., the inhabitants, who were mostly 

 Protestants, were compelled to leave their country 

 to escape religious persecution. Voltaire purchased 

 an estate there in 1762, and endeavoured, by his 

 activity, and the assistance of every kind which he 

 extended to settlers, to increase the village, to intro- 

 duce the mechanic arts, and especially the manufac- 

 ture of clocks, by means of skilful workmen, whom 

 he brought from Geneva. The numerous foreigners 

 also who came from every part of the civilized world 

 to see Voltaire, the man of the age, contributed to 

 enrich the place. In 1775, its population amounted 

 to 1200. After the death of Voltaire, it declined 

 very rapidly, and contains at present but 600 inhabi- 

 tants. The chateau which Voltaire occupied is 



kept by his heirs in the same state in wh'ch he left 

 it, and is visited as an object of curiosity by 

 travellers. 



FERNOW, CHARLES Louis, a distinguished Ger- 

 man writer on the fine arts, was born November 19, 

 1763, at Blumenhagen, in the Uckermark, where his 

 father was a common labourer. His early years 

 were those of a talented youth struggling with 

 poverty and other difficulties ; he had, besides, the 

 misfortune to shoot an acquaintance by accident. 

 After finishing his apprenticeship to an apothecary, 

 he became acquainted with Mr Carstens, to whom 

 he was much indebted for the cultivation of his 

 talents. He soon abandoned his business, and main- 

 tained himself by portrait painting and giving les- 

 sons in drawing. After some time, he went to Jena, 

 where he became acquainted with many literary 

 men ; among others, with Baggesen, who proposed 

 to Fernow to accompany him to Switzerland and 

 Italy. He performed part of the journey with Bag- 

 gesen, and continued it by the aid of others. In 

 1794, he arrived in Rome, where he found Mr Cars- 

 tens, with whom he lived. He now began the 

 study of the theory and history of the fine arts, and 

 Italian literature, and, when he ceased to receive 

 assistance from his friends, delivered lectures. In 

 1803, he returned to Germany, married an Italian 

 lady, and was appointed extraordinary professor at 

 the university of Jena. In 1804, he received an ap- 

 pointment at Weimar, where he died Dec. 4, 1808. 

 His Romische Studien (Roman Studies), Zurich, 

 1806 1808, 3 vols.; his learned and tasteful edition 

 of the Italian poets, Jena, 1807 1809, 12 vols.; 

 and his Italienische Sprachlehre (Italian Grammar), 

 second edit., Tubingen, 1815, 2 vols., preserve his 

 name in literature. We also owe to him the bio- 

 graphy of his friend Carstens, and the commence- 

 ment of the edition of Winckelmann's works, Fer- 

 now's life has been written by his friend Johanne 

 Schoppenhauer. 



FERNS (Alices) ; a family of plants, included by 

 Linnaeus in his class cryptogamia. They are herba- 

 ceous, or shrubby, and some tropical species are ar- 

 borescent. The fructification is inconspicuous, gene- 

 rally consisting of very small capsules, placed on the 

 inferior surface of the frond, but sometimes upon a 

 distinct stem ; the seeds are very numerous, and ex- 

 tremely minute ; the frond is simple, lobed, or pal- 

 mated, but more frequently pinnated, and involute 

 when young. This family includes many genera, 

 and a great number of species which inhabit the 

 whole earth, some of them being widely diffused, 

 particularly in the northern hemisphere, while others 

 are very much limited in their range. Between the 

 tropics, several species form small trees, having 

 something of the aspect of palms, and are considered 

 one of the greatest ornaments of those regions. One 

 climbing fern (lygodium palmatum) inhabits the 

 United States, but is rare, though it occurs as far 

 north as Boston. 



FERONIA ; one of the most ancient Italian god- 

 desses, who presided over woods and orchards. The 

 ancient grove, not far from Anxur (Terracina), was 

 consecrated to her, and Is very celebrated. Emanci- 

 pated slaves received a cap in her temple as a badge 

 of freedom. 



FERRARA ; formerly a duchy in Upper Italy. 

 The ancient house of Este, originally from Tuscany, 

 and distinguished as early as the ninth century, held 

 the office of vicars in Ferrara. (See Este.) The 

 male line of this house having become extinct in 

 1597, the succession devolved on duke Caesar, of a 

 collateral line, from whom Clement VIII. wrested it 

 in 1598, and annexed it to the States of the Church, 

 as a vacant fief. The dukes of Modena endeavoured 



