FITZ FIXED STARS. 



203 



duty of the cardinal chamberlain to break it. The 

 city of Rome gives such a ring to every newly 

 elected pope. The validity of papal documents 

 depends upon the observation of these formalities, 

 and the want of them leads to the conclusion that 

 they are counterfeit. 



FITZ (the old French word for Jpls, son) ; a syl- 

 lable frequently prefixed to the English surname 

 (Fitz-Herbert, Fitz-Clarence, Fitz-James), which, like 

 the Scottish Mac, the Irish 0', and the Hebrew Ben, 

 signifies son, and, in union with the name to which it 

 is prefixed, indicates the ancestor of those who bear 

 it. We must also add the essential distinction, that 

 Fitz always denotes illegitimate descent. Thus there 

 are Fitz-Clarences, sons of the late duke of Clarence, 

 now William IV., and the actress, Mrs Jordan. 

 There are many noble families of such an origin, 

 who include their royal progenitors in their genea- 

 logical tables. 



FIUME (in the Croatian dialect, Reka; in Ger- 

 man, St F'eit-am-Flaum) ; a seaport at the bottom of 

 the gulf of Quarnaro, on the Adriatic, and capital of 

 the Hungarian Litorale, which belongs to the king- 

 dom of Croatia. Fiume contains 743 houses, and 

 7600 inhabitants. It is the seat of government of 

 the Litorale, of a commercial tribunal, a health office, 

 gymnasium, &c. The manufactures of the city are 

 important; particularly those of rosoglio, tobacco, 

 cloth, sugar, potash, wax, cordage, &c. Its com- 

 merce consists of the export of these and other pro- 

 ductions, as wine, &c. ; and of imports for the 

 inland countries of Austria, as salt, spice, rice, &c. 

 From 1809 to 1813, Fiume was in possession of 

 France, and formed a part of the Illyrian provinces. 

 It is about fifteen leagues from Trieste. In 1772, it 

 was declared a free port. Lat. 45 19' 39" N. ; Ion. 

 14 26' 44" E. 



FIXED OILS. There are two species of oil in 

 vegetables, agreeing in the common properties of 

 unctuosity and inflammability, but essentially differ- 

 ent in many of their chemical qualities. The one, 

 being capable of being volatilized without decompo- 

 sition is named volatile oil (q. v.) ; the other is 

 denominated fixed oil. The latter is generally con- 

 tained in the seeds and fruits of vegetables, and varies 

 in its properties, according to the plants by which it 

 is afforded. The fixed oils are extracted by pressure, 

 and, accordingly, are frequently called expressed oils. 

 When the process is aided by heat, the action of which 

 is to render the oil morefluid, the product is esteemed 

 less pure. The purest oils are those expressed from 

 the fruit of the olive, or the seeds of die almond ; 

 others, less pure, come from flax-seed and hemp- 

 seed. These oils are usually fluid, but of a some- 

 what thick consistence, and liable to congeal at very 

 moderate colds ; palm oil is even, naturally, concrete. 

 When fluid, they are transparent, of a yellow or yel- 

 lowish green colour, and capable of being rendered 

 quite transparent by the use of animal charcoal. 

 They are inodorous and insipid, at least if they have 

 been obtained with due care ; and free from the 

 mucilaginous and extractive matter of the plants 

 from whence they come ; are lighter than water, 

 with which they do not unite, and are very sparingly 

 soluble in alcohol, with the exception of castor-oil. 

 At a temperature below 600 Fahr., they remain 

 unchanged. In the neighbourhood of this tempera- 

 ture, however, they begin to boil, and to disengage 

 an inflammable vapour ; but the oil thus distilled is 

 altered in its properties ; it loses its mildness, be- 

 comes more limpid and volatile, a portion of carbon 

 being likewise deposited. Transmitted through an 

 ignited tube, fixed oil is converted into carbonic acid 

 and carbureted hydrogen, with a small portion of 

 acid liquor, and a residuum of charcoal. In the open 



air, it burns with a clear white light, and formation 

 of water and carbonic acid gas. Accordingly, the 

 fixed oils are capable of being employed for the pur- 

 poses of artificial illumination, as well in lamps as for 

 the manufacture of gas. 



Fixed oils undergo considerable change by ex- 

 posure to the air. The rancidity which then takes 

 place is occasioned by the mucilaginous matters 

 which they contain becoming acid. From the opera- 

 tion of the same cause, they gradually lose their 

 limpidity, and some of them, which are hence called 

 drying oils, become so dry, that they no longer feel 

 unctuous to the touch, nor give a stain to paper. 

 This property, for which linseed oil is remarkable, 

 may be communicated quickly, by heating the oil in 

 an open vessel. The drying oils are employed for 

 making oil-paint, and, mixed with lamp-black, con- 

 stitute printers' ink. During the process of drying, 

 oxygen is absorbed in considerable quantity. This 

 absorption of oxygen is, under certain circumstances, 

 so abundant and rapid, and accompanied with such 

 a free disengagement of caloric, that light, porous, 

 combustible materials, such as lamp-black, hemp, or 

 cotton seed may be kindled by it. Many instances 

 of spontaneous combustion have occurred from this 

 cause ; and particularly in the Russian arsenals, 

 where, at length, a series of experiments was insti- 

 tuted to ascertain the accompanying circumstances. 

 It appears from these investigations, that if hemp, 

 flax, or linen cloth steeped in linseed oil, lie in a 

 heap, and be somewhat pressed together and con- 

 fined, its temperature rises, a smoke issues from it, 

 and, at length, sometimes within twenty-four or even 

 twelve hours, it takes fire. The same thing happens 

 with mixtures of oil and fine charcoal, and with lamp- 

 black wrapped up in linen ; from whence it is con- 

 jectured, that many extensive fires, which have 

 broken out in cotton manufactories, and for which no 

 cause could be assigned, must have arisen from this 

 spontaneous inflammability of oils. 



Fixed oils unite with the common metallic oxides. 

 Of these compounds, the most interesting is that 

 with the oxide of lead. When linseed oil is heated 

 with a small quantity of litharge, a liquid results 

 which is powerfully drying, and is employed as oil 

 varnish. Olive-oil, combined with half its weight of 

 litharge, forms the common diachylon plaster. The 

 fixed oils are readily attacked by alkalies. With 

 ammonia, they form a soapy liquid, to which the 

 name of volatile liniment is applied. They are 

 oxidated by a number of the acids. Sulphuric acid 

 soon renders them black ; the oxygen of the acid 

 attracting part of the hydrogen of the oil, and caus- 

 ing the deposition of charcoal ; and if heat is applied, 

 a large portion of sulphurous acid is disengaged, and 

 even sulphur is evolved. Nitric acid renders them 

 thick ; if heat is applied, the action is more rapid, 

 and a yellow colour is communicated, the oil being 

 rendered concrete. Chlorine thickens oil, and ren- 

 ders it white. When boiled in sulphur, a compound 

 is formed of a brown colour, a very fetid smell, and 

 acrid taste. It likewise, when heated, dissolves 

 phosphorus, forming a liquid which becomes lumin- 

 ous, when exposed to the air. Olive-oil, accord- 

 ing to the analysis of Gay-Lussac and The'nard, con- 

 sists of carbon 77.213, oxygen 9.427, and hydrogen 

 13.360. 



FIXED STARS ; those stars which appear to 

 remain always at the same distance from each other, 

 and in the same relative position. The name com- 

 prehends, therefore, all the heavenly bodies, with 

 the exception of the planets, with their moons, and 

 the comets. But besides the apparent motion of the 

 fixed stars, resulting from the diumal rotation of our 

 earth upon its axis and from the precession of the 



