F E L 



F E T 



shades of colour, such as white and red, 

 which from its abundance has obtained 

 its name ; amazon-stone, a blue or green 

 variety ; Norwegian Labrador feldspar, a 

 dark-green variety with a beautiful 

 changeableness of colour, obtained from 

 Frederickswarn, in Norway ; compact 

 feldspar, a feebly translucent variety, 

 with a splintery fracture ; slaty feldspar, 

 or clinkstone, a slaty variety; porcelain 

 earth, earthy feldspar, and claystone, va- 

 rieties, in a comparatively loose state of 

 aggregation, without lustre or transpa- 

 rency, and varying in their degree of com- 

 pactness. 



3. Tetarto-prismatic feldspar, or albite. 

 See Albite. 



4. Polychromatic or Labrador feldspar. 

 Lime feldspar. The polychromatischer 

 feldspath of Mohs. This beautiful mi- 

 neral was first discovered on the coast of 

 Labrador as a constituent part of syenite. 

 When light falls on it in certain direc- 

 tions it exhibits the most beautiful change- 

 ability of colour. It occurs massive and 

 disseminated. Cleavage splendent. Frac- 

 ture glistening. It has been subse- 

 quently found in different parts of Europe. 

 It contains about eleven per cent, of 

 lime and four of soda. It breaks into 

 rhomboidal fragments. In its changea- 

 bility of colour, it exhibits patches of 

 blue, green, yellow, red, and grey colour. 



5. Pyramidal feldspar, or scapolite. 

 Meionite. Pyramidaler feldspath of 

 Mohs. Of this species of feldspar there 

 are many varieties, namely, Weionite, 

 Scapolite, Paranthine, Wernerite, Di- 

 pyre, and Schmelzstein. These will be 

 all described under their several heads. 



FELSPA'THIC. > Any mineral in which 



FELSPA'THOSE. $ feldspar greatly predo- 

 dominates ; of the nature of feldspar. 



FE'LIS. (Lat.) A genus of quadrupeds 

 belonging to the order of Ferse, the cha- 

 racters of which are these : The fore- 

 teeth are equal ; the molares, or grinders, 

 have three points ; the tongue is fur- 

 nished with rough sharp prickles, point- 

 ing backward ; the claws are sheathed 

 and retractile, and being raised perpen- 

 dicularly, and hidden between the toes 

 when at rest, by the action of an elastic 

 ligament, lose neither point nor edge. 

 The species of this genus are very numer- 

 ous, and various with regard to size and 

 colour, though they are all similar with 

 respect to form. 



FE'LINE. Belonging to the genus Felis. 



FE'MORAL. (femoralis, Lat.) Belonging 

 to the thigh. 



FE'MUR. (Lat.) The thigh bone ; the 

 thigh. 



FB'RGUSONITK. A brownish-black ore, 

 occurring in quartz ; thus named after 

 Mr. Ferguson of Raith. 



FERN. (Sax. fearn.} Ferns are distin- 

 guishable from all other vegetables by 

 the peculiar division and distribution of 

 the veins of the leaves; and in arbore- 

 scent species by their cylindrical stems 

 without branches, and by the regular dis- 

 position and shape of the scars left upon 

 the stem, at the point from which the pe- 

 tioles, or leaf -stalks, have fallen off. The 

 brake, or fern, of our commons and waste 

 lands, is a familiar example of this re- 

 markable and numerous family of plants, 

 distinguished by the peculiar distribution 

 of the seed-vessels. The family of ferns, 

 both in the living and fossil flora, is the 

 most numerous of vascular cryptogamous 

 plants. The total number of living spe- 

 cies of ferns is about 1500. The large 

 tree ferns are confined almost exclusively 

 to the tropics ; an elevated and uniform 

 temperature and great humidity being the 

 conditions most favourable to their deve- 

 lopement. The existence of immense 

 fossil arborescent ferns from thirty to 

 forty feet in height in the coal formation, 

 is one of the strongest possible evidences 

 of the great diminution of temperature 

 and change of climate which the earth 

 has undergone. In the coal formation, 

 there are not fewer than 130 known spe- 

 cies of ferns, nearly all of which belong 

 to the tribe of Polypodiacese. An arbor- 

 escent fern, forty-five feet high, from 

 Silhet in Bengal, may be seen in the stair- 

 case of the British Museum. In the 

 strata of the secondary series there is a 

 considerable diminution in the absolute 

 and relative number of ferns ; and in 

 the strata of the tertiary series the 

 ferns seem to bear nearly the same 

 proportion to other vegetables as in 

 the temperate regions of the earth at 

 the present day. Buckland. Lyell. Man- 

 tell. 



FE'RREOUS. (ferreus, Lat.) Irony ; con- 

 taining iron ; resembling iron. 



FERRI'FEROUS. (from ferrum and fero, 

 Lat.) Producing iron ; yielding iron. 



FERRUGI'NEOUS. > (ferrugineus, Lat./cr- 



FERRU'GINOUS. $ rugineux,-euse, Fr. 

 ferruginoso, It.) Containing particles of 

 iron ; resembling iron ore ; rust-coloured ; 

 impregnated with iron ; anything con- 

 taining iron. 



FE'TID. (foetidus, Lat. fttide, Fr. fetido, 

 It.) Having a strong and disagreeable 

 smell. 



FE'TIDNESS. The quality of smelling 

 offensively. 



FE'TOR. (foetor, Lat. feteur, Fr. fetore, 

 It.) A strong offensive smell. 



FE'TUS. (ftetus, Lat.) Commonly writ- 



