FLANNEL 



2204 



FLAX 



FLANNEL, flan' el, a woolen material, soft 

 and yielding in texture, varying in weight and 

 quality, made from loosely-woven yarn. Its 

 origin is uncertain, but is assigned to Wales, 

 where the fabric was manufactured as early 

 as the -sixteenth century. In modern times so 

 many materials come under the term flannel 

 that the word can hardly be considered as 

 having an individual meaning. The flannel 

 trade has suffered severe competition by the 

 great increase in the number of imitations, 

 but there is always a ready demand for the 

 genuine article, as experience has confirmed 

 its hygienic value for undergarments and bed- 

 coverings. 



FLATFISH, a name given various fishes, 

 chiefly of salt waters, which have flattened 

 bodies, with both eyes on one side of the 

 head, and which swim on their sides. Some 

 of the most important food fish, such as the 

 flounder, turbot, halibut and sole, are flatfish. 

 When these fish are first hatched, they are 

 like all other fish, with eyes placed on both 

 sides of the head. They soon begin to flatten, 

 however, one eye moves over close to the 

 other, the mouth becomes twisted, and the 

 blind side, which is kept downward, loses its 

 color. See each fish named, in its place in 

 these volumes. 



FLAT 'HEADS, the popular name for the 

 small civilized tribe of Salish Indians, now liv- 

 ing on a reservation in Montana. 



Originally the Salish were one of the most 

 powerful of all the Western tribes, possessing 

 great hunting-grounds on Flathead Lake and 

 in Flathead Valley, Montana. They were 

 courageous in war, honorable in all their deal- 

 ings with white traders, and generally distin- 

 guished for their superiority over other tribes. 

 None other of the Indian missions proved so 

 successful as the Flathead mission, established 

 in 1841 by a Jesuit priest, Father de Smet. 



The name Flathead seems a curious contra- 

 diction, for the Salish were one of the few 

 tribes that did not follow the old Indian cus- 

 tom of artificially deforming the head. This 

 primitive practice has now died out, but in 

 the early days it was common among the tribes 

 living along the Columbia River and on the 

 Pacific coast, such as the Choctaw, Catawba, 

 Natchez, Chinook, and others, to whom the 

 term flathead was very properly applied. 

 Among the Chinooks, indeed, a naturally- 

 formed skull was considered a mark of dis- 

 grace and fit only for slaves. The flattening 

 was done in babyhood by making the cradle 



with a projecting head-board of wicker which, 

 pressing down upon the infant's head, pre- 

 vented natural growth and resulted in a peaked 

 skull. It is likely that the name Flatheads was 

 given to the Salish by their western neighbors 

 in contempt and because they looked upon 

 their own deformed heads as pointed rather 

 than flattened. See INDIANS, AMERICAN. 



FLATTEfcY, flat ' er i, a cape at the southern 

 entrance to the Strait of Juan de Fuca, in the 

 state of Washington. It is the extreme west- 

 ern point of the United States, exclusive of 

 Alaska. The name was conferred on this point 

 by Captain James Cook, who stated that he 

 was flattered by the false hope of finding a 

 safe harbor there. There is a lighthouse half 

 a mile northwest of the cape, on Tatoosh 

 Island. 



FLAVELLE, flavel', JOSEPH WESLEY (1858- 

 ), a Canadian merchant and philanthropist, 

 noted no less for his active and generous in- 

 terest in many good causes than for his success 

 in business. He was born near Peterborough, 

 Ontario, and attended the public schools of 

 that city, but after 1887 made his home in 

 Toronto. His business interests are varied; 

 he is president of a firm of pork-packers, and 

 is an officer in several banks, a trust company 

 and several large industrial firms. He en- 

 dowed a professorship of Hebrew in Victoria 

 University and a traveling fellowship in the 

 classics in the University of Toronto, and is a 

 governor of the latter. He has also been 

 active in the management of the Toronto 

 General Hospital and the General Board of 

 Missions of the Methodist Church. In 1915 

 he was appointed chairman of the Imperial 

 Munitions Board, a position corresponding to 

 that of Minister of Munitions in Great Britain, 

 but not a Cabinet office. The concentration 

 in his hands of 1 the executive and administra- 

 tive duties regarding the supply of munitions 

 was widely approved. In 1915 Flavelle was 

 appointed a member of the national commis- 

 sion to inquire into agriculture, immigration, 

 transportation and marketing of food products, 

 with a view particularly to stimulating produc- 

 tion in Canada to meet new conditions caused 

 by the war. G.H.L. 



FLAX, flaks, one of the most useful plants 

 known to man, cultivated for its long, silky 

 fiber, from which linen thread and cloth are 

 made, and for its seed, which yields a valuable 

 oil. The products of the flax fiber are found 

 in wonderful variety, and include rare and 

 delicate laces, shirtings and toweling, handker- 



