F A C 



[ 166] 



F A L 



petite cdtes.) A superficies cut into 

 several angles. 



FA'CTAL. (from fades, Lai. facial, Fr.) 

 Belonging to the face, as the facial 

 nerves, &c. 



F'ACIAL ANGLE. An angle composed 

 of two lines, one drawn in the di- 

 rection of the base of the skull, 

 from the ear to the roots of the 

 superior incisores, the other from 

 that point to the superciliary ridge 

 of the frontal bone. The facial 

 angle of Camper was obtained by 

 drawing a line from the most pro- 

 minent part of the forehead to the 

 edge of the upper incisors, or front 

 teeth, and then, by making a basi- 

 lar line from the external aperture 

 of the ears to the lower edge of the 

 aperture of the nostrils, so as to 

 bisect the previous line. Camper 

 states this angle to be fifty-eight 

 degrees in the young Orang, seventy 

 degrees in the young Negro, and 

 eighty degrees in the European. 

 In consequence, however, of some 

 variations in the relative position of 

 the parts above mentioned, Cuvier 

 proposed, as a more certain mode 

 of ascertaining the facial angle, to 

 draw a basilar line parallel to the 

 floor of the nostrils, the angle 

 formed with which, by a facial line 

 drawn from the anterior convexity 

 of the forehead to the greatest pro- 

 minence of the sockets of the front 

 teeth, he states to be sixty-seven 

 degrees in the young Orang, seventy 

 degrees in the adult Negro, eighty- 

 five degrees in the adult European, 

 and ninety degrees in the European 

 child. 



F^'CES. (fax, Lat. used plurally only.) 

 Excrement; sediment. The fossil 

 faeces of certain fishes are called 

 coprolites; the excrement of dogs 

 and wolves, album graecum ; of 

 mice, album nigrum. 



FA'HLTJNITE. (from Fahlun, in Swe- 

 den, where it is found.) An earthy 

 mineral, called also Tricklasite ; it 

 occurs in masses, and in thin layers, 



and is of a dark red -brown colour 

 and opaque. It consists of silex 

 46'74, alumina 26*73, magnesia 

 2-97, oxide of iron 5- 11, and water 

 12-5. 



FAIRY-KING. In meadows and grass- 

 lands, circles of a different hue 

 from the surrounding grass are 

 often seen; these are commonly 

 called fairy-rings, from a vulgar 

 saying that at night fairies dance 

 thereon. The true cause of these 

 appearances, which have excited 

 the astonishment of many, is as 

 follows : they are external indica- 

 tions of the centrifugal growth of 

 the subterranean stems of certain 

 agarics, which, originally springing 

 from a common point, continually 

 spread outwards upon the same 

 place, the centres, or first formed 

 parts, perishing as the circum- 

 ference, or last formed parts, de- 

 velope themselves. 



FAIET-STONE. A name sometimes 

 given to the echinite. 



FA'LCATE. A figure formed by two 

 curves bending the same way, and 

 meeting in a point at the apex, 

 the base terminating in a straight 

 margin, resembling a sickle. 



FALLING-STONE. } A meteoric body, 



FALLING-STAE. j commonly called 

 an aerolite. 



FA'LTTN. ffaluniere, Fr. assemblage de 

 coquilles Irisees, qu'on trouve en masse 

 d une certaine profondeur de terre.J 

 A provincial name given to some 

 shelly strata in the neighbourhood 

 of the Loire, and which resemble, 

 in their lithological characters, what 

 is denominated the crag. Thefaluns, 

 or marls of Tourraine and the Loire, 

 constitute an extensive formation of 

 marl beds, which are now admitted 

 to be of later date than the most 

 recent of the fresh-water beds in 

 the Paris basin. They are regular 

 depositions, formed during an epoch 

 of tranquillity, and subjected to 

 laws of which the action is con- 

 tinued on the present shores. The 



