FORGET-ME-NOT 



2267 



FORREST 



Forgery is most common in connection with 

 signatures to important documents, and espe- 

 cially with respect to checks, whose amounts 

 may be largely increased by skilful and un- 

 lawful work with a pen. In common speech 

 this latter crime is known as "raising a check." 

 See CRIME. 



FORGET-ME-NOT, the dainty, meek flower 

 of an herb common in the United States, 

 Southeastern Canada and England. Some spe- 

 cies grow in ditches and damp meadows; 

 others are found only in dry places. For most 

 successful cultivation 

 a cool, moist soil is 

 best. The species 

 most often seen has 

 lancelike, downy 

 leaves on a weak 

 stem, with loose 

 clusters of small, 

 five - petaled, sky- 

 fa 1 u e flowers with 

 yellow eyes. The 

 flower buds are pink. 



One species culti- 

 vated in greenhouses 

 and valued for its 

 brilliancy is the 

 dark-blue forget-me- 

 not of the Azores. The sweet forget-me-nots, 

 That grow for happy 

 Another species, lovers, 



with short, soft -TENNYSON: The Brook. 



leaves, gave this genus of plants the Greek 

 name Mtosotis, meaning mouse-ear. In Eng- 

 land the forget-me-not is sometimes called 

 scorpion grass, but in many languages the name 

 of this plant is the same forget-me-not. 



In the language of flowers, the forget-me-not 

 stands for remembrance, and it is a symbol 

 of friendship, the world over. In Longfellow's 

 Evangeline he speaks of the stars as "the for- 

 get-me-nots of the angels." It is a favorite 

 flower with painters. See FLOWERS. 



FORMALDEHYDE, jawr mal' de hide, a 

 compound of carbon, hydrogen and oxygen, 

 discovered by A. W. Hoffman in 1867. It 

 may be obtained in several ways; one popular 

 method is by leading a mixture of vapor of 

 methyl-alcohol and air over a heated platinum 

 spiral. The solution is the commercial for- 



ilin. The chemically pure article is un- 



lown. Formaldehyde is a powerful disin- 

 fectant, and it is used also in the manufacture 

 of certain dyes. 



FORMOSA, jawr mo' sa, called TAINAN by 

 the Japanese, who took it from China, is an 



island in the Chinese Sea, separated from the 

 mainland of China by a strait about ninety 

 miles wide in its narrowest part. It covers an 

 area of 13,429 square miles, and is therefore 



CHINA 



FORMOSA 



The curved Hne separating the island from the 

 mainland marks Japan's line of ownership. 



larger than Maryland. The island is noted 

 for the majestic beauty of its scenery, to which 

 it owes the name Formosa the Beautiful, given 

 to it by early Spanish navigators. 



The soil is extremely fertile, and cereals are 

 produced in abundance, but tea is the most 

 important product. Much of the tea imported 

 into the United States and Canada comes from 

 Formosa, those two countries taking practically 

 all of the island's crop. This was formerly 

 shipped to Chinese ports, where it was re- 

 packed and forwarded, but now there is direct 

 communication between Formosan ports and 

 North America. Corn, sugar, pepper, camphor, 

 indigo, hemp and timber are also exported, the 

 principal trade being with China, Great Britain 

 and the United States. The inhabitants are for 

 the most part of Chinese and Malay descent, 

 but there are still numbers of aboriginal savage 

 tribes inhabiting the interior. 



The chief town is Tainan, but more than 

 seventy-five per cent of the commerce passes 

 through Tamsui, the port at the mouth of the 

 Tamsui-yei River. Formosa was ceded to 

 Japan in 1895 after China's defeat in the 

 Chinese-Japanese War (which see), and is ad- 

 ministered by a governor, who is subject to the 

 imperial authority of Japan. Population offi- 

 cially estimated in 1913, 3,512,607. 



FORMS OF ADDRESS'. See ADDRESS, 

 FORMS OF. 



FOR 'REST, EDWIN (1806-1872), a famous 

 American actor who honored his profession in 

 life, and upon his death left a large portion 

 of his ample estate to found a home for aged 

 and destitute men and women of the stage. 

 He was born in Philadelphia, where, in 1820. 

 he made his initial appearance in the title role 



