FLAMEN FLAMSTEED. 



207 



his wife, Peronelle, were buried), and endowed with 

 considerable revenues seven old ones at Paris. This 

 narrative, together with a copy of the book, was re- 

 turned to the king, and the volume deposited in the 

 royal library, where, says our authority, it is still pre- 

 served. In 1 4 1 3 , Flamel, although the art of prolong- 

 ing life to a period of a thousand years was one of the 

 secrets of his treatise, died, having nearly attained 

 the age of one hundred. Paul Lucas tells us, in his 

 account of his second voyage, that, on the 9th of July, 

 1705, at Burnus Baschi, near Brussa, in Natolia, he 

 fell in with an Usbec dervise, who was not only per- 

 fectly well acquainted with the story of Flamel, but 

 who affirmed that both he and his wife were yet alive, 

 were then about 400 years old, and belonged to a 

 society of seven adepts, who travelled about the 

 world, meeting at some appointed spot every twenty 

 years, and that Brussa was their next rendezvous. 

 Some have asserted that Flamel grew rich by pillag- 

 ing the Jews during the persecutions directed against 

 them in France. Others have accounted for his 

 riches by attributing them to his success in commer- 

 cial speculations, at that period comparatively but 

 little understood. Several treatises on alchemy have 

 been ascribed to him. They are, however, generally 

 considered as spurious. Among them are Sommaire 

 Philosophigue, a treatise on the transmutation of 

 metals, printed in 1561, and Le Desir desire. 



FLAMEN ; in Roman antiquities, a priest who 

 was consecrated to one particular divinity; s&flamen 

 Dialis, the priest of Jupiter (fromflamen A/o?, Jovis), 

 who was the highest of all the flamens ; and flamen 

 Martialis, a priest of Mars, &c. The name is derived 

 from the cap or fillet which they wore on the head. 

 The flamens of Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus were the 

 flamines majores, and were taken from the patricians 

 only ; the others (according to Festus, twelve in num- 

 ber) were called minores. When the emperors were 

 deified, they, also, had flamens, as the flamen Au- 

 gitsti. 



FLAMINGO (phcenicopterus, L.). Theflamingo, 

 although, one of the most remarkable of all the aqua- 

 tic tribes 'for its size, beauty, and the peculiar delicacy 

 of its flesh, is by no means well known as regards its 

 habits and manners. The body of the flamingo is 

 smaller than that of the stork ; but, owing to the 

 great length of the neck and legs, it stands nearly 

 five feet high. The head is small and round, and 

 furnished with a bill nearly seven inches long, which 

 is higher than it is wide, light and hollow, having a 

 membrane at the base, and suddenly curved down- 

 wards from the middle. The long legs and thighs 

 of this bird are extremely slender and delicate, as is 

 also the neck. The plumage is not less remarkable 

 than its figure, being of a bright flame-coloured red 

 in the perfect bird. The young differ greatly from 

 the adult, changing their plumage repeatedly. The 

 flamingoes liveand migrate in large flocks, frequenting 

 desert sea-coasts and salt-marshes. They are extpemely 

 shy and watchful. While feeding, they keep together, 

 drawn up artificially in lines, which, at a distance, 

 resemble those of an army; and, like many other gre- 

 garious birds, they employ some to act as sentinels, 

 for the security of the rest. On the approach of dan- 

 ger, these give warning by a loud sound, like that of 

 a trumpet, which may be heard to a great distance, 

 and is the signal for the flock to take wing. When 

 flying, they form a triangle. Their food appears to 

 be mollusca, spawn, and insects, which they fish up 

 by means of their long neck, turning their head in 

 such a manner as to take advantage of the crook in 

 their beak. They breed in companies, in inundated 

 marshes, raising the nest to the height of their bodies, 

 by heaping up the mud, with their feet, into a hillock, 

 which is concave at the top. On tlie top of this pyr- 



amid the female lays her eggs, and hatches them by 

 sitting on them, with her legs hanging down, like 

 those of a man on horseback. Dampier, who de- 

 scribes the ridiculous posture of these birds, while 

 fulfilling this office, justly supposes it must arise from 

 the great length of their limbs, which renders it im- 

 possible to fold them under their bodies, as in other 

 birds. The young, which never exceed three in 

 number, do not fly until they have nearly attained 

 their full growth, though they can run very swift- 

 ly a few days after their exclusion from the shell. 

 They occur in all the warm countries of the globe, 

 sometimes visiting the temperate shores. This bird 

 was held in high repute among the luxurious Romans ; 

 and Apicius, so famous in the annals of gastronomy, 

 is recorded by Pliny to have discovered the exquisite 

 relish of the flamingo's tongue, and a superior mode 

 of dressing it. Dampier, and other travellers, speak 

 variously respecting the flesh of this bird. Although 

 some esteem the flesh very highly, and consider that 

 of the young equal to the flesh of the partridge, others 

 say that it is very indifferent. In some parts these 

 birds are tamed, principally for the sake of their 

 skins, which are covered with a very fine down, and 

 applicable to all purposes for which those of the 

 swan are employed. When taken young, they soon 

 grow familiar, but they are not found to thrive in the 

 domesticated state, as they are extremely impatient 

 of cold. They are caught by snares, or by making use 

 of tame ones. The method is, to drive the latter into 

 places frequented by the wild birds, and to lay meat 

 for them there. No sooner do the wild flamingoes see 

 the others devouring this food, than they flock around 

 to obtain a share. A battle ensues between the par- 

 ties, when the bird-catchers, who are concealed close 

 by, spring up and take them. There are two species, 

 one of which visits Europe, and the other North 

 America. The species are, P. antiquorum (Temm.), 

 of a rose colour, with red wings, having the quills 

 black. It, inhabits the warm regions of the old con- 

 tinent, migrating in summer to southern, and some- 

 times to central Europe. P. ruber ; deep red, with 

 black quills. This species is peculiar to tropical 

 America, migrating in the summer to the southern, 

 and rarely to the middle States. 



FLAMSTEED, JOHN, an eminent English astron- 

 omer, was born at Derby, in Derbyshire, in 1646, 

 He was educated at the free school of Derby, but, 

 owing to his precarious state of health, he was not 

 sent to the university. He was early led into astro- 

 nomical studies by a perusal of Sacrobosco's book De 

 Sphcera, and prosecuted them with so much ardour 

 and success, that, in 1669, he calculated an eclipse of 

 the sun, that was omitted in the Ephemerides, for the 

 following year, and sent the result, with other calcu- 

 lations, to the royal society. In 1671, he visited Lon- 

 don, where he was introduced to some of the most 

 eminent mathematicians of the age, and, on his jour- 

 ney homewards, passed through Cambridge, where 

 he visited doctor Barrow and Sir Isaac Newton, and 

 entered himself of Jesus college. In 1673, he wrote 

 a treatise on the True and Apparent Diameters of all 

 the Planets of which Sir Isaac Newton made some 

 use in his Principia. In 1674, he composed his Ephe- 

 merides, to show the futility of astrology. He also 

 made two barometers, which Sir Jonas Moore pre- 

 sented to the king, who appointed him to the new 

 office of astronomer royal, with a salary of .100 

 a year. About this time, having graduated M.A., 

 he took orders, and obtained the living of Burstow, 

 in Surrey. The royal observatory at Greenwich was 

 soon after erected, where he resided for the remain- 

 der of his life, assiduously employed in the cultivation 

 of his favourite science. He died in 1719, when he 

 hud printed a great part, and, with a slight excep- 



