204 



FIXMILLNER FLAG. 



equinoxes (see Precession of the Equinoxes) and the 

 aberration of light (see Aberration), a very slow, 

 proper motion has been observed in them, so that it 

 is not strictly true that the fixed stars remain in the 

 same relative position. It has been found that 

 Sirius, for example, has, since the time of Tycho- 

 Brahe, moved about two minutes from its place, &c. 

 But Herschel (On the Proper Motion of the Sun and 

 Solar System, in the Philosophical Transactions, 

 Tol. 73) has proved that this apparent change of 

 place results from a real motion of our whole solar 

 system in the celestial spaces. Stars have also been 

 seen to appear suddenly hi the heavens, and again to 

 disppear. Of others it has been remarked that their 

 sire appears alternately to increase and to diminish. 

 Then- distance from our earth is, in the most literal 

 sense of the word, immeasurable. The most powerful 

 telescopes cannot give them a sensible diameter. 

 We can obtain an idea of their size from the circum- 

 stance that, although we approach them by forty 

 millions of miles, (the diameter of the earth's orbit), 

 and recede from them as far, we can find no differ- 

 ence in them. Huygens, by comparing the light of 

 Sirius with that of the sun, tried to determine its 

 distance from the earth, and, upon the supposition 

 that Sirius is of the same size as the sun, made its 

 distance 27,664 times greater. However conjec- 

 tural such determinations must be, they entirely 

 succeed in proving to us that the celestial spaces 

 have an extent beyond the power of the human mind 

 to conceive. We are in equal uncertainty with 

 regard to the nature and constitution of the fixed 

 stars ; but it is in the highest degree probable that 

 they are luminous worlds or suns, around which, as 

 around our sun, planets revolve in determined paths, 

 receiving from them light and heat. The fixed 

 stars are divided according to the differences in their 

 brilliancy, which are very visible to the naked eye, 

 into stars of the first, second, third magnitude, &c. 

 But, besides these stars, which appear in the heaven 

 as distinct bright points of light, the eye, in the 

 clear winter nights, sees here and there little white 

 clouds. These nebulous spots are groups of innu- 

 merable stars, which the telescope reveals to us ; 

 and the limited power of our instruments alone pre- 

 vents us from looking forward without end, into the 

 infinite regions of space. 



In order to distinguish more easily the fixed stars 

 from each other, names were given to the most re- 

 markable of' them in very ancient times, and they 

 were divided into groups or constellations, (q. v.) 

 Astronomers have given descriptions of all the 

 stars, according to their situations, with their 

 names, magnitude, &c. Cassini, Lalande, Zach, 

 and Piazzi have done so ; and great praise is due to 

 J. E. Bode's Uf&nographia, sive Astrorum Descrip- 

 tio, xx. Tabulis eeneis incisa, ex recentissimis et absolit- 

 tissimis Astrorum Observationibus (Berlin, 1801). 

 To the text is added, in the German and French 

 languages, a General Account and Description of 

 Stars, with the Right Ascension and Decimation of 

 17,240 Stars ; 34 Folios. 



FIXMILLNER, PLACIDUS, a Benedictine monk 

 and astronomer in the monastery of Kremsmunster, 

 in Upper Austria, was born, May 28, 1721, and died, 

 August 27, 1791. He was forty years professor of 

 the canon law at a school for young noblemen at 

 Kremsmunster; but he owes his reputation to his 

 astronomical writings and observations. His uncle, 

 the abbot of the monastery, established a mathema- 

 tical hall, and at a later period, an observatory for 

 the monastery. The works of Lalande, and the 

 assistance of a common carpenter of the village, who 

 did not know how to read or write, were Fixmill- 

 ner's chief aids in carrying this institution into effect. 



Under his direction, the artisan made the quadrants, 

 zenith-sectors, transit instruments and clocks ; and 

 the observatory of Kremsmunster became one of the 

 most distinguished in Germany. Its history, by Fix- 

 millner, is given in the Decennium Astronomicum ab 

 An. 1765 ad An. 1775; andActa Astr. Cremissa- 

 mensia ab An. 1776 ad An. 1791. Fixmillner pub- 

 lished also some of his observations in the scientific 

 journals of Germany. By his numerous observa- 

 tions of Mercury (then very difficult to make), La- 

 lande was enabled to compile his accurate tables of 

 that planet. Fixmillner was one of the first observers 

 and calculators of the orbit of Uranus, or Herschel, of 

 which he constructed tables. He was the first who 

 scientifically examined and proved the truth of 

 Bode's supposition, that the star thirty-four of Tau- 

 rus, observed by Flamsteed in 1690, and afterwards 

 lost, was the same as this planet. He made all his 

 oalculations himself, and always twice over. As a 

 man, he was mild and amiable. 



FIXTURES, in law, are things attached to land, 

 and that pass with it to the heir, and not, as personal 

 property, to the executor ; such as lime-kilns, mill- 

 stones, structures for fish-ponds, pumps, chimney- 

 pieces, stoves, funnels, fixed tables, benches, wain- 

 scoting, &c. The question as to what are, and what 

 are not fixtures, is of some importance, not only 

 between the heir and executor, but between the 

 landlord and tenant ; and, because too rigid a rule 

 would discourage improvements by tenants, if they 

 were obliged to leave the structures, on which they 

 might have bestowed great expense, on the premises 

 at the expiration of their leases, the law is very 

 liberal in allowing them to remove such articles as 

 they have put up during the term of the lease, for 

 carrying on their trade or business, though the arti- 

 cles, when in use, may have been fixed to the 

 freehold. 



FLACCUS, CAICJS VALERIUS ; a Roman poet of 

 the latter half of the first century, who lived in Padua 

 (Patavium), and died young. He sung the expedi- 

 tion of the Argonauts in an epic poem (Argonautica), 

 of which seven books and part of the eighth have 

 remained to us. His model was the Alexandrian 

 Apollonius Rhodius. Flaccus cannot be compared 

 with Virgil, yet his poem is not without peculiar 

 beauties and fine passages. His early death pre- 

 vented him from giving it its highest polish. New 

 editions, from those of Nicholas Heinsius and Peter 

 Burmann, have been published by Harles (1781) and 

 Wagner (1805) with commentaries. 



FLACIUS, MATTHIAS, surnamed lllyricus, a cele- 

 brated theologian, born at Albona, in Illyria, 1520, 

 died at Frankfort on the Maine, in 1575. His true 

 name was Flack, to which he gave the Latinized form 

 of Flacius, according to the custom of his age. He 

 was a pupil of Luther and Melancthon, and was so 

 rude and violent in his religious controversies, that 

 even now, in some parts of Germany, rude, vulgar fel- 

 lows are called by a term derived from his name,.F/az. 



FLAG ; an ensign or colours, a cloth on which 

 are usually painted or wrought certain figures, and 

 borne on a staff; in the army, a banner by which 

 one regiment is distinguished from another ; in the 

 marine, a certain banner by which an admiral is dis- 

 tinguished at sea from the inferior ships of his squad- 

 ron ; also the colours by which one nation is distin- 

 guished from another. In the British navy, flags are 

 either red, white, or blue, and are displayed from the 

 top of the main-mast, fore-mast, or mizzen-mast, ac- 

 cording to the rank of the admiral. When the flag 

 is displayed at the main-top-gallant-mast head, the 

 officer distinguished thereby is known to be an ad- 

 miral ; when from the fore-top-gallant-mast head, a 

 vice-admiral ; and when from the mizzen-top-gallant- 



