FOCUS FOG. 



be punished. There are distinct places for these 

 l\ro sorts of souls, and to each a station is assigned 

 according to its deserts. The god Fo was born to 

 save mankind, and bring back those who had strayed 

 from the path of righteousness ; he suffered for their 

 sins, and obtained for them a blissful resurrection in 

 the other world. He gave his followers only these 

 five commandments : not to kill any living creature ; 

 not to take the property of another ; to avoid im- 

 purity and unchastity ; not to speak falsely ; and to 

 refrain from wine. The priests of Fo inculcate, par- 

 ticularly, the practice of certain works of charity, 

 and especially of liberality towards themselves. 

 They recommend the building of convents and 

 temples, in which they may deliver others from the 

 punishment which they deserve, by their prayers 

 and pious exercises. They teach that whoever 

 disobeys their commandments will suffer the most 

 dreadful torments after death, and that his soul will 

 enter the bodies of the vilest and most unclean ani- 

 mals. Their principal secret doctrines, into which 

 but few are initiated, are the following : The origin 

 and end of all things is the void and nothing. 

 The first human beings sprung from nothing, and 

 have returned to nothing. The void constitutes 

 our being. All that exists sprung from nothing, 

 and the mixture of the elements, and all must 

 return whence it came. All things living and 

 inanimate together constitute one whole ; differing 

 from each other, not in essence, but only in form and 

 qualities. The original essence of all things is pure, 

 unchangeable, highly subtile and simple, and, be- 

 cause it is simple, the perfection of all other beings. 

 It is perfect, and therefore exists in an uninterrupted 

 quiet, without possessing virtue, power, or intelli- 

 gence ; nay, its very essence consists in the absence 

 of intelligence, activity, and want or desire. Who- 

 ever desires to be happy, must constantly endeavour 

 to conquer himself, and become like the original 

 essence. To accomplish this, he must accustom him- 

 self not to act, desire, feel, nor think. According to 

 Klaproth, his precept was, " Endeavour to annihilate 

 thyself,.for, as soon as thou ceasest to be thyself, thou 

 becoinest one with God, andreturnest into his being." 

 The public worship of Fo, which became a national 

 religion, is called, in India, Bramanism. Under 

 various forms, it is spread through Hindostan, Thibet, 

 and Tartary. The other followers of Fo adopt the 

 doctrine of the void and nothing. All, however 

 believe in the transmigration of souls, and that, when 

 a soul first appears on earth, and animates a human 

 body, it inhabits the body of a Bramin. After his 

 death, it passes into the bodies of other men, or o: 

 beasts, according to the preponderance of his gooc 

 or bad actions, till it enters the class of Samaneeans 

 and finally appears in the body of a perfect Sama 

 ncean, who has no more crimes to expiate ; they an 

 all wiped off by former migrations ; he need no 

 longer revere the gods, who are only the servants o 

 the Supreme God of the universe. Free from pas 

 sions, and incapable of committing any impurities, hi 

 dies only to return into the Deity, from whom hi 

 soul had emanated. This Supreme Being, the essence 

 of all things, is eternal, invisible, incomprehensible 

 almighty, merciful, just, beneficent, and originatec 

 from itself. It cannot be represented by any image 

 neither can it be worshipped, because it is elevate 

 above all worship; but its attributes may be repre 

 sented, and adored, and worshipped. This is th 

 source of the worship of images by the nations o 

 India, and of the multitude of particular tutelar 

 deities in China. All the elements, the changes o 

 the weather, the phenomena of -the atmosphere, every 

 rank and profession, has its particular genius. Thes 

 gods of fire, water, soldiers, &c. , are only the princ 



al officers of the Supreme God Seng- Wang- Mau, 

 v\\o looks down from his seat in the highest region 

 f the heavens, in undisturbed quiet, upon the doings 

 f mankind. Every Chinese makes an image of his 

 uardian genius in wood or stone, and pays to it his 

 eligious homage three times a day. The Samaiuean, 

 ist in continual contemplation and meditation on the 

 upreme God, makes it his chief concern to destroy 

 imself, in order to return, and be absorbed in the 

 osom of that Being which created all things out of 

 othing, and is himself a pure spirit. When this 

 lure Spirit created matter, he assumed a material 

 orm, and separated the male and female organs, 

 vhich were united in him. The creation of the uni- 

 erse was effected by their reunion. The Lingam 

 see Indian Mythology) is the symbol of this first act 

 if the Deity, by which Brama, Vishnu, and Iswara 

 i'ere produced. These beings are not gods,but qua- 

 ities or attributes of the Supreme Deity. 



FOCUS, in optics, is a point wherein several rays 

 :oncur or are collected, after having undergone either 

 efraction or reflection. This point is thus denomina- 

 ed, because, the rays being here brought together 

 and united, their joint effect is sufficient to burn 

 >odies exposed to their action ; and hence this point 

 s called the focus, or burning point. It must be 

 observed, however, that the focus is not, strictly 

 peaking, a point; for the rays are not accurately 

 collected into one and the same place or point, owing 

 o the different nature and refrangibility of the rays 

 >f light, to the imperfections in the figure of the lens, 

 and other similar impediments. The focus, therefore, 

 s a small circle, which Huygens has demonstrated to 

 )e one-eighth the thickness of the lens, when it is 

 convex on both sides ; that is, it cannot be less than 

 this* but, in imperfect glasses, it exceeds the above 

 measure sometimes considerably. 



FODDER, or POTHER, in mining ; a measure 

 containing 2200^ weight, as of lead ; but in London 

 "t is 200G. 



FOE, DANIEL. See Defoe. 



FCETUS, in anatomy ; a term applied to the off- 

 spring of the human subject, or of animals, during 

 its residence in the womb. See Embryo. 



FOG. There is a constant ascent of watery parti 

 cles from the surface of the earth, occasioned by the 

 evaporation from masses of water and moist bodies. 

 Part of the water which rises in vapour is intimately 

 united with the atmospheric air, which holds it in 

 solution. This portion of aqueous matter is invisible, 

 and exists in the greatest quantity in very warm and 

 serene weather. Thus, in the hot days of summer, 

 any cold body (as a vessel filled with iced water) is 

 immediately covered with little globules of water, 

 which are the vapour of the atmosphere precipitated. 

 But when the air is saturated, the watery particles 

 which continue to rise are no longer dissolved, but 

 remain suspended in vesicular vapours, which form 

 clouds (q. v.) when they rise to a great height, and 

 fogs when they hover near the surface of the earth. 

 Fogs are more frequent in those seasons of the year 

 when there is a considerable difference of tempera- 

 ture in the different parts of the day ; as, for instance, 

 in autumn, when, in the warmest part of the day, 

 the air is capable of holding a great quantity of aque- 

 ous matter in solution, which, on cooling, towards 

 evening, it is no longer capable of dissolving. In 

 hot weather, the air is not so easily saturated, and in 

 cold weather, the process of evaporation is very slow, 

 so that, in these cases, fogs are less common. In low, 

 moist places, and in confined places, as valleys, forests, 

 bays, or lakes, surrounded by high hinds, they are 

 much more prevalent than in open countries, or ele- 

 vated spots, where they are quickly dispersed by the 

 \v inds. There is another atmospherical phenomenon, 



