PEN 3 



felonies, the true import of the word is in 

 a measure lost, or at least so mixed up 

 with the idea of hanging, that both law and 

 usage now conspire to limit the term of 

 felony to capital crimes. 



FEI/SPA.R In mineralogy, one of the 

 three ingredients of granite: quartz, and 

 niica, being the others. Next to quartz 

 it forms the chief ingredient of many 

 rocks. It is nearly opaque, harder than 

 glass, and of a lamellar structure. Prof. 

 Jameson divides it into five species: 1. 

 Rhombohedral felspar or Nepheline ; 2. 

 Prismatic felspar, comprehending com- 

 mon felspar, ice-spar, adularia, clink- 

 stone, amazon stone, porcelain earth, 

 <&c. ; 3. Tetarto-prismatic felspar or al- 

 bite: 4. Polychromatic or Labrador fel- 

 spar, a beautiful mineral first discovered 

 on the coast of Labrador, as a constituent 

 of syenite ; 5. Pyramidal felspar, compre- 

 hending scapolite, weionite, parathine, 

 wernerite, dipyre, and elaolite. The con- 

 stituents are silica, 66, alumina, 18, pot- 

 ash, 12, lime, 3, and some oxide of iron, 

 but the proportions vary in the species 

 and varieties. The name is altered from 

 the German, feldspath, from feld, a field, 

 and spath or spar, a shining substance. 

 Epithet felspathic. 



FELT, a fabric of hair, wool, &c., inter- 

 laced and pressed into a firm texture. 



FELCC'CA, Sp./eZuca, a little vessel with 

 6 oars and lateen sails, used in the Medi- 

 terranean. It is capable of going either 

 stem or stern foremost. 



FB'MALE-FLOWER, a flower which is fur- 

 nished with pistils and not with stamens. 



FE'MALE-SCREW, a screw, the spiral 

 thread of which is cut in the cavity of the 

 cylinder. 



FEME, FEMME (French), a woman. A 

 feme-covert is a married woman who is 

 under covert of her husband, and cannot 

 sue or be sued. A feme-sole, an unmar- 

 ried woman. A feme-sole merchant, a 

 woman who carries on trade alone with- 

 out her husband. 



FE'MUR, the thigh; also the os femoris 

 or bone of the thigh. In architecture, the 

 intersticial between the channels in the 

 triglyph of the Doric order. These // 

 are sometimes called the legs of the 

 triglyph. 



FEN'DERS. 1. Timbers placed in front 

 of a quay- wall or other work, to protect 

 it from injury by vessels, &c. ; these are 



also called fender piles. 2. Pieces of old 



rope, &c., made up into bundles and hung 

 over the sides of vessels to protect them 

 from contact with others, with the sides 

 3f docks, &c. 



FES'D OFF, to push off a boat or any 

 heavy body, to break the shock or avoid 

 contact. 



Fry SS'TRA 'Latin), a window, the name 

 given r .v una .omuts to two foramina in 



6 PER 



the ear, the one oval and the other round ; 

 the first situated between the cavity of 

 the tympan and the vestibule, and the 

 other leading from the tympan to the 

 cochlea of the ear. 



FE.NES'TRATE, Lat. fenestra, window. In 

 entomology, the naked hyaline transpa- 

 rent spots on the wings of butterflies. 



FEOD, low Latin,/<y/Mi. A feudal law 

 term for the right which the vassal had 

 in the land, to use the same, and take the 

 profits thereof, rendering unto the lord 

 the proper fees. 



FEO'DAL. In law, held of another. Se 

 FEOD. 



FEOFF'JIENT, law ~La.t. feoff amentum. The 

 grant of a fee or corporeal hereditament: 

 a grant in fee-simple. 



FE'R.S:. In zoology, the third class of 

 mammalia in the arrangement of Lin- 

 na?us, distinguished by having six sharp- 

 ish fore- teeth in the upper jaw, andtusk* 

 solitary. They are nearly all beasts of 

 prey. Epithet ferine. 



FE'R;E XATU'R.E. In law, beasts and 

 birds that are wild, as foxes, wild ducks, 

 &c. 



FERA'LiA,a festival observed among the 

 Romans on the 21st of February, in ho- 

 nour of the manes of deceased relations. 



FER DE FOURCHETTE. In heraldry, a 

 cross having at each end a forked iron, 

 like that formerly used by soldiers to rest 

 their muskets upon. 



FERENTA'RIA, a sort of light armed sol- 

 diers in the Roman army. 



FE'RIA, a holiday, as the feriee of the 

 Romish breviary. The ferite of the Ro- 

 mans answered in some measure to the 

 sabbaths of the Jews, but the name was 

 also given to holidays in general. 



FE'RIO. In logic, a mode in the first 

 figure, of syllogisms consisting of a uni- 

 versal negative, a particular affirmative, 

 and a particular negative. 



FES'ISON. In logic, a mode in the third 

 figure of syllogisms, closely allied to the 

 ferio of the first figure. 



FER'MENT, yeast or barm, quasi ferri- 

 mentum, from ferceo, to be hot. This is 

 the scum which collects on beer &c., 

 while fermenting. It has the property 

 of exciting fermentation in various other 

 substances in which water is present, and 

 seems to be the result of a chemical al- 

 teration which vegetable albumen and 

 gluten undergo, with contact of air 

 amidst a fermenting mass. 



FERMESTA'TION , from ferment. The re- 

 action which takes place among the 

 proximate principles of some vegetable 

 substances, (as sugar, starch, gluten, &c.) 

 when under the influence of water, air 

 and warmth, so that their ultimate prin- 

 ciples (carbon, oxygen, and hydrogen,) 

 combine in new proportions, and form 

 new compounds. Of this process there u* 



