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FAL 



In most universities there are four facul- 

 ties, viz., arts, including languages and 

 philosophy, theology , physic, and civil law. 

 4. The faculty of advocates is a body of 

 lawyers, who plead in all actions before 

 the Court of Session in Scotland, and their 

 elective president is called the Dean of 

 Vacuity. Similarly there are faculties of 

 physicians and surgeons, of civil-engi- 

 neers, &c., some of which have peculiar 

 privileges granted by charter, others are 

 merely professional associations. 



FJJ'CES, Lat. pi. of fax; the alvine ex- 

 cretions. The fossil fa?ces of certain fishes 

 are called coprolites ; the excrement of 

 dogs and wolves, album grcecum ; of mice, 

 album ncgrum. 



FA FEN'TO. In music, a feigned F, or a 

 feint upon that note. 



FA'GOTTO, the same as BASSOON, which 

 see. 



FA'OCS, the beech-tree ; a genus* of four 

 species. Monoecia Polyandria. Name from 

 Qaycii, to eat, its nut being one of the first 

 fruits used by man. Britain, North Ame- 

 rica, &c. 



FAHL'ERZ, gray copper-ore, called also 

 panabase, from the many oxides it con- 

 tains. 



FAHL'UNITE, a name for automolite or 

 octahedral corundum, found at Fahlun, 

 in Sweden. 



FA'IENCE, ) A fine sort of pottery glazed 



FA'YENCE. J and painted, named after 

 Faenza, in Italy. 



FAINTING. See SYNCOPE. 



FAINTS, the impure spirit which comes 

 over first and last in the distillation of 

 whiskey. The first sort is called strong, 

 and the latter weak faints. This impure 

 spirit is strongly impregnated with a 

 fetid essential oil. 



FAIRT, Fr. fte, a fay, or imaginary spi- 

 rit, whence feer, to enchant, and J 'eerie, a 

 fairy-land. The native land of the fairy 

 mythology is Arabia, whence it was 

 brought to Europe by the Troubadours, 

 but the radix of the word is doubtful. 

 Fairies were much in favour at one time, 

 but they are now consigned to nurseries 

 and to mines. The fairy of the English 

 miners answers to the cobalt of the Ger- 

 man mines. 



FAI'RY RING, ) A phenomenon fre- 



FAI'KY CIRCLE. ) quently seen in lea 

 fields. There are two species : one con- 

 sists of a round and apparently beaten 

 path, with grass in the mid He; the other 

 is a circular patch, of which the grass 

 appears destroyed. Both of these were 

 formerly ascribed to the dances of the 

 fairies (believed at present in some parts 

 of the country). Some have supposed 

 them to be the effect of lightning, but 

 they are now generally believed to be 

 produced by an unknown species of fun- 

 ftu which grows, in' a circle from the 



centre outwards, destroying the grass at 

 it extends. 



FAKE'ER, ) A name common in the East 



FAKOR'. / Indies for a Mohammedan 

 mendicant or devotee. The word in Ara- 

 bic means a poor mac, and in Ethiopia 

 an interpreter. 



FALCA'DE, from falx, a sickle. In the 

 menage, a horse is said to make a falcade 

 when he throws himself on his haunches, 

 two or three times, as in very quick cur- 

 vets. 



FAL'CATE, Lat. falcatus, sickle-shaped, 

 from falx, a sickle. The moon is said to 

 be falcate when it appears horned : hence 

 also a figure formed by two curves bend- 

 ing the same way and meeting- in a point 

 at the apex, the base terminating in a 

 straight line is called a falcate. 



FAL'CO, a falcon. The genus Falco, Lin., 

 is subdivided into two great sections. 

 The first comprises the noble birds of prey, 

 the falcons, properly so called. To this 

 belongs the common falcon (F. com munis, 

 Gm.), and the gerfalcon (Hierofalco, Cuv.). 

 The second section comprises the ignoble 

 birds of prey, or those of the genus which 

 cannot be employed in falconry. To this 

 belongs the eagle (Aquila, Bris.), the 

 goshawk (Astur, Bech.), the sparrow- 

 hawk (JViwM, Cuv.), the kite (3/t/ww, 

 Bech.), the honey-buzzard (Pertiis, Cuv.), 

 the buzzard (Buteo, Bech.), the harriers 

 (Circus, Bech.), and the snake-eater or 

 secretary (Serpentarius, Cuv.). Order Ac- 

 cipitres, family Dittrnee. See FALCON. 



FAL'CON, a bird of prey, the Falco coin- 

 munis, Gm., capable of being trained to 

 sport, and which has given name to that 

 kind of hunting in which birds of prey 

 are used. It inhabits the whole of the 

 northern regions, and builds in the most 

 inaccessible cliffs. The female is gene- 

 rally one third larger than the male, 

 which on this account is by sportsmen 

 termed a tarsel, or tercelet, the name fal- 

 con being reserved to the female. The 

 name falcon is also used to designate a 

 particular size of ordnance. The bore is 

 fli inches, and the weight of the shot 2J 

 Ibs. 



FAL'CONET, a little falcon. A piece of 

 ordnance whose bore is 4i inches, and 

 shot lilb. 



FAL'OONRY, the art of taking birds by 

 means of falcons and other birds of prey 

 (see FALCON). The sport is ancient, and 

 was of such high repute in England, that 

 some of the nobility hold their estates on 

 condition of providing the sovereign with 

 hawks. 



FAL'DAGE, from Wei. fald, a fold. A 

 privilege, which anciently several lor is 

 reserved to themselves, of setting up folds 

 of sheep in any fields within their manors, 

 the better to manure them. 



FALL. 1. Descending from a higher to 





