F AM 



323 



FAS 



a lower place by the force of gravity. 



8. l>escent of water, as the falls of Clyde. 



3. Diminution, as the fall of prices. 



4. Extent of descent, as the river has 



&fall of two feet per mile. 5. The loose 



end of a tackle. 6. A Scotch superficial 



measure, 1 fall = 36 ells. 7. A Scotch 



long measure, 1 fall = 223'2 imp. inches. 



8. The loss of their first estate by our 

 first parents, Adam and Eve. 



FALLING-HOME Applied to the timbers 

 or upper parts of the sides of a ship, when 

 they curve inwards. 



FALLING-SLUICE, a certain description of 

 flood-gate, in connection with mill-dams, 

 rivers, canals, &c., which are self-acting, 

 or contrived to fall down of itself in the 

 event of a flood, whereby the water-way 

 is enlarged. 



FALLO'PIAN. In anatomy, an epithet ap- 

 plied to two tubes, canals, or ducts, of a 

 tortuous figure, arising from the womb, 

 and joined to the fundus, one on each 

 side. Their use in the process of concep- 

 tion was first pointed out by Gabriel Fal- 

 lopius, an Italian anatomist of the six- 

 teenth century. The term fallopian is 

 also sometimes applied to Poupart's liga- 

 ment. 



FALSE, Lat. fahits, not true. Appli- 

 cable to subjects physical and moral. In 

 music, those chords which do not contain 

 the intervals appertaining to them in 

 their perfect state are termed false, and 

 the same term is applied to those intona- 

 tions of the voice which do not truly ex- 

 press the intended intervals, and, indeed, 

 to all ill-adjusted combinations. A false 

 cadence is one wherein the bass rises a 

 tone or semitone, instead of rising a 

 fourth, or falling a fifth. In law, the epi- 

 thet is applied to something illegal, as 

 /2e-imprisonment. A. false flower is one 

 which does not seem to produce fruit. A 

 false gem is a counterfeit one, a paste. A 

 false roof is the part of a house between 

 the roof and the covering. There are also 

 false alarms, false attacks, false weights, 

 false coin, false foundations, &c. False fire 

 is a species of blue signal fire. 



FALSE KEEL. The timber added to the 

 main keel of a ship, both to serve as a 

 defence, and also, by deepening the ver- 

 tical surface, to give the ship a better 

 hold of the wind. 



FALSET'TO. In music, an Italian term 

 for a feigned voice, an octave above its 

 natural pitch. 



FA'LCN, a provincial name given to 

 some shelly strata in the neighbourhood 

 of the Loire, and which resemble in their 

 lithological characters what we term crag. 



FAMIL'IAR SPIRITS, demons supposed to 

 be perpetually within call, and at the 

 ervice of their masters. 



FAMILY. In natural history, a collection 

 f a cumber of genera, which are nearly 



allied to each other by characters derived 

 from their organisation : the term is some- 

 times loosely applied. In mathematics, a 

 family of curves is a congeries of several 

 kinds of curves, all of which are definei 

 by the same equation, but in a different 

 manner, according to their different 

 orders. 



FAN, Sax. fann, Fr. van, Lat. vannut. 

 1. A well-known hand ornament used by 



ladies. 2. An apparatus for winnowing 



grain: it consists of a series of boards, 

 arranged edgewise round an axle, which 

 is made to revolve with the necessary ve- 

 locity ; called in Scotland fanners. 



FANAL'. In architecture, a, French name 

 for a pharos or light-house, or, more par- 

 ticularly, the lantern placed in it. 



FANDAN'GO, an old Spanish dance, which 

 proceeds gradually from a slow and uni- 

 form to the most lively motion. It is 

 seldom danced except at the theatre. 



FAN'FARE, a French name fora short 

 warlike piece of music, composed for 

 trumpets, kettle drums, &c. 



FAN'NER. In mechanics, a contrivance 

 of vanes or flat discs, revolving about a 

 centre, for the purpose of creating a 

 draught by producing a current of air. 

 Used in windows, &c. to ventilate apart- 

 ments. 



FANTA'SIA. In music, an Italian name 

 for an instrumental composition, supposed 

 to be struck off in the heat of imagina- 

 tion, and in which the composer is allowed 

 to give free scope to his ideas, unconfined 

 by the rules of science. The fantasia dif- 

 fers from the capricio in this, that when 

 it is finished it no longer exists. 



FANTOCCI'NI It., fantoccio, puppet. 

 Dramatic representations, in which pup- 

 pets are substituted in the scene for 

 human performers. 



FAR'CIN, } In farriery, a disease of 



FAR'CT. j horses, which appears to be 

 a peculiar inflammatory affection of the 

 absorbent vessels below the skin. It is of 

 the nature of scabies or mange. 



FARI'NA, Lat., from far, corn. Meal or 

 flour of any species of corn, or starchy 

 root, as potato, arrow-root, &c. The fa- 

 rina fcecundans of botanists is the fecun- 

 dating dust or pollen contained in the an- 

 thers of plants. Farina fossilis is a name 

 for mineral agaric. 



FARI'NOSE. In entomology, having the 

 surface covered with dust resembling 

 flour (farina], which the slightest touch 

 removes. Most of the Lepidoptera are 

 fariaose. 



FAR'RIERT, from ferrariw, of ferrum, 

 iron. Originally the art of shoeing horses. 

 In the modern acceptation of the term, 

 it includes the whole veterinary art, as it 

 relates to the management of horses, 

 cows, &c.,and their diseases. 



F.A.8., an abbreviation of 1'rattrmtot*. 



Y 2 



