FIBRIN 



2161 



FICTION 



only valuable animal fibers. Under the term 

 wool is included, besides the hair of sheep, 

 that of the alpaca, the Angora and other 

 species of goats, as well as the hair of the 

 camel, musk-ox and yak. All are described in 

 this work under their individual titles. From 

 wool fibers are manufactured many warm arti- 

 cles of wearing apparel. Silk fiber is obtained 

 from the silkworm (see SILK), and comes to 

 us in the form of silk thread and silk fabrics. 



Mineral Fibers. Asbestos furnishes the most 

 perfect example of mineral fiber, and its uses 

 are described under that title. Various metals, 

 however, are drawn into fine lengths and woven 

 into fabrics (see GOLD LACE), and glass is spun 

 into a fiber and used in manufactures. M.S. 



FI'BRIN, a tough, elastic, jellylike sub- 

 stance found in animal matter. It is fibrin 

 that causes the clotting of blood when it is 

 exposed to the air. When a drop of freshly- 

 drawn blood is examined under the microscope, 

 little strings of solid matter may be seen 

 forming in the watery part and entangling the 

 corpuscles. These threads, which consist of 

 fibrin, are formed by the action of a ferment 

 upon a proteid substance in the blood called 

 fibrinogen (see BLOOD). 



Fibrin itself is a proteid; that is, a substance 

 consisting of carbon, hydrogen, oxygen and 

 nitrogen (see PROTEIDS). It may be obtained by 

 switching a newly-formed blood clot with a 

 bundle of twigs. Fibrin mixed with other 

 substances will cling to them in threads, and 

 to free the fibrin from impurities it is neces- 

 sary to rinse it in cold water and then to boil 

 it in alcohol and ether. A substance some- 



what resembling animal fibrin is extracted from 

 corn, wheat and other grains, and is known as 

 vegetable fibrin. 



FICHTE, fiK'te, JOHANN GOTTLIEB (1762- 

 1814), a German philosopher whose influence 

 has been most strongly felt in the later devel- 

 opment of German philosophy. He was the 

 son of a poor ribbon-weaver, and his early 

 education was provided for by a wealthy noble- 

 man who was impressed by the boy's evident 

 ability. He studied theology and philosophy 

 at the universities of Jena and Leipzig, then 

 spent several years in tutoring. In 1791 he 

 went to Konigsberg, where he met Kant and 

 was encouraged by him to publish his Critique 

 of All Revelation. The outcome of this inci- 

 dent was his appointment in 1793 to the pro- 

 fessorship of philosophy at Jena. During his 

 five years there he continued to publish his 

 philosophical views, but was forced to resign 

 in 1798 because some of his theories were 

 considered opposed to accepted religious be- 

 liefs. For several years thereafter he lectured 

 in Berlin, in 1805 became professor of philos- 

 ophy at Erlangen and four years later was 

 appointed to the chair of philosophy in the 

 newly-founded University of Berlin. There 

 he remained until his death. 



Fichte's philosophy is based on the principle 

 that each person forms his own idea of the 

 external world, but that each one tends to 

 accept as true the same phenomena that are 

 observed by the senses of others. His theory 

 of education, that the chief aim of instruction 

 should be to develop character, has been highly 

 regarded. See KANT, IMMANUEL; PHILOSOPHY. 





ICTION, fik'shun. The child who de- 

 mands that somebody "make up a story" for 

 him is calling literally for fiction, since fiction 

 means just that something made up. So far 

 as the derivation is concerned, then, the word 

 might be used to describe many kinds of 

 literature, for poems and dramas are "made up" 

 as surely as are stories. In common use, how- 

 ever, it is restricted to one form of litera- 



136 



t ur e to prose narratives of imaginary events 

 and characters. But there are differences in 

 such narratives. Some could never possibly 

 have happened they deal with the super- 

 natural, the marvelous, and make no pre- 

 tense at being true to life. Such are fairy 

 tales and many of that class of longer stories 

 known as romances. The novel, on the other 

 hand, and most of the short stories which com- 



