FINCH 



2174 



FINE ARTS 



The latter process restores part of the oxygen 

 which was lost through the process of steriliza- 

 tion. The water supply systems of cities fre- 

 quently have filters acres in extent, having the 

 bottom filled with sand and charcoal through 

 which the water percolates and becomes puri- 

 fied before reaching the consumer. 



FINCH, a general name broadly applied to 

 that largest family of birds, the seed eaters, to 

 which about one-seventh of all the birds be- 

 long. Many of them are beautiful songsters. 

 Though most of the species are sober in color- 

 ing, some are very brilliant ; and there is a wide 

 range of variation. The chief distinguishing 

 feature of all individuals of this family is the 

 sharply-pointed, conical bill, made strong for 

 the crushing of seeds and hard objects. There 

 are about 550 species, and they are found in 

 all parts of the world except Australia. In 

 the United States and Canada they are espe- 

 cially abundant, and are represented by the 

 twittering sparrow, the sweet singing canary, 

 and by the chaffinch, goldfinch, bullfinch, bunt- 

 ing, crossbill, grosbeak, linnet, snowbird and 

 numerous others. See the article BIRD for lists 

 of birds described in these volumes. 



FINDLAY, OHIO, the county seat of Han- 

 cock County, a city known for its extensive 

 yield of natural gas, is situated in the north- 

 western part of the state, on the Blanchard 

 River. Toledo is fifty miles north, Sandusky is 

 fifty-nine miles northeast, and Columbus is 

 eighty-eight miles southeast. Five lines of 

 railways enter the city the Cincinnati, Ham- 

 ilton & Dayton; the Cleveland, Cincinnati, 

 Chicago & Saint Louis ; the Lake Erie & West- 

 ern ; the Toledo & Ohio Central, and the Find- 

 lay, Fort Wayne & Western. Three inter- 

 urban lines connect with cities north, east and 

 south. In 1916 the population was 14,858. 

 The area of the city is a little less than eight 

 square miles. 



Findlay is located in the great natural gas 

 and oi! fields of Ohio, and the surrounding 

 country is rich in agricultural products. Rich 

 beds of clay and large deposits of gravel, sand 

 and building stone are also found in the vicin- 

 ity. Important among the manufacturing es- 

 tablishments are those producing brick and 

 tile, beilers, pottery, automobiles, traction ditch- 

 ers, gloves, beet sugar, electric insulators, shoes, 

 furniture and carriages. There are also ma- 

 chine shops and foundries, bridge works, lime 

 kilns and sugar and oil refineries. The build- 

 ings of note are a $50,000 Federal building, 

 erected in 1905, an Elks' Home, and two public 



school buildings, erected in 1915 and 1916 at a 

 cost of $300,000. The city has a business school, 

 a library and Findlay College (Church of 

 God), the latter opened in 1886. 



The city was first settled in 1813 and was 

 incorporated in 1837. It was named in honor 

 of Colonel James Findlay, who built a fort 

 here in 1812, and who served during the War 

 of 1812 under General Hull. 



FINE, a punishment imposed by judicial 

 authority on a person convicted of a mis- 

 demeanor or a more serious crime. In case of 

 a misdemeanor the amount of the fine is 

 usually left to the judgment of the court, but 

 the penalty for greater offenses is imposed by 

 statute, which names maximum amounts which 

 may be assessed. In case a convicted person 

 is unable to provide the amount of fine im- 

 posed he must suffer imprisonment for such 

 time as the court may direct. An accused 

 person also has the right to appeal to a higher 

 court if he is fined an amount which he thinks 

 is excessive, as too heavy or extreme fines 

 are forbidden by the Constitution of the 

 United States (Amendment VIII), which de- 

 clares, "Excessive bail shall not be required, 

 nor excessive fines imposed, nor cruel and 

 unusual punishments inflicted." See MISDE- 

 MEANOR. 



FINE ARTS, the arts of man which minis- 

 ter not to his material necessities or con- 

 venience but to his love of harmony and 

 beauty. Architecture, sculpture, painting, mu- 

 sic and poetry are generally considered the five 

 principal, or greater, fine arts. 



Poetry, is the most complex of all the fine 

 arts in its resources, because it utilizes all the 

 other arts and all the phenomena of nature and 

 experiences of life. Music is the purest of the 

 fine arts, because the sources of pleasure in 

 it are purely artistic; it tells no story, repre- 

 sents no fact, but simply gratifies the sense of 

 rhythm and harmony and so gives pleasure. 

 In the modern use of the term the fine arts 

 are only the imitative arts, which appeal to 

 us through the eye and the term, therefore, 

 is often restricted to painting and sculpture. 

 That the interest of Americans and Canadians 

 in the fine arts is growing is evidenced by the 

 increasing numbers of people always to be 

 found in the art galleries and at musicales. 



To Hegel, the famous German philosopher, 

 architecture was the symbolic art appropriate 

 to ages of obscure and struggling ideas. Sculp- 

 ture was the classical art appropriate to ages 

 of clear and self-possessed ideas, and char- 



