FO U 



33i) 



FR A 



FOU'OASS, Lat. focata. In fortification, a 

 imall miiie six or eight feet under ground. 



FOUND. In architecture, the trench or 

 excavation made to receive the founda- 

 tion stones of a wall. 



FOUN'DER. In farriery, a painful spe- 

 cies of lameness occasioned by inflamma- 

 tion within the horse's hoof; hence called 

 also foot-founder. 



FOCN'DRY, the place or works where 

 founding of metals is carried on. 



FOUN'TAIN, from. font. Properly a spring 

 or stream of water rising up through the 

 superficial strata of the earth . The word 

 accords in sense with well, but that term 

 is now restricted to an artificial pit dug 

 to receive and contain water either by 

 drainage of the surface, or from the inte- 

 rior strata. There are also artificial foun- 

 tains of various forms, but all acting on 

 the principle of a pressure either from a 

 head of water or arising from the elasti- 

 city of the air. When fountains are 

 formed by the pressure of a head of 

 water, or any other fluid of the same 

 kind, with the fountain or jet, then will 

 this spout up nearly to the same height 

 as that head, allowing a little for the re- 

 sistance of the air, with that of the adju- 

 tage or tube, &c., in the fluid rushing 

 through ; but when the fountain is pro- 

 duced by any other force than the pres- 

 ure of a column of the same fluid as it- 

 elf, it will rise nearly to the altitude of 

 the fluid, whose pressure is equal to the 

 g\ ?en force that produces the fountain. 



FOURTEENTH. In music, the octave or 

 replicate of the seventh ; a distance com- 

 prehending thirteen diatonic intervals. 



FOURTH. In music, a distance compre- 

 hending three diatonic intervals, or two 

 tones and a half. 



FOUR-WAT COCK, ) a description of 



FOUR-WAY VALVE, j valve much used in 

 steam-engines for passing the steam to 

 the cylinder. A is the communication with 



the steam-pipp, II the passage to the 

 upper end of the cylinder, to the lower 

 end, and D the passage to the condenser. 

 By turning the centre a quarter of a revo- 

 lution the action is reversed, and the 



steam, instead of entering by the cylinder 

 at the upper end, will enter at the lower 

 end through C. 



Fox, a name common to several species 

 of the genus Cams, Lin. The common fox, 

 found from Sweden to Egypt, is the C. 

 wipes, Lin.; the tri-coloured fox of 

 America is the C. cinereo-argenteus, 

 Schreb. ; the little fox of the prairies of 

 North America is the C. velox, Hart. ; the 

 silver and black fox of North America is 

 the C. argentatus, Cuv. The African 

 foxes are the Megalotis of Illiger. These 

 are remarkable for the size of their ears. 

 Fox is also applied to a particular kind of 

 strand made of rope-yarn. 



FOXTAIL WEDGING. In carpentry, a pe- 

 culiar mode of mortising, in which the 

 end of the tenon is notched beyond the 

 mortise, and is split, and a wedge in- 

 serted, which being driven forcibly in, 

 enlarges the tenon, and renders the joint 

 firm and immovable. 



FKAC'TION, from frango, to break. A 

 part of a whole : appropriately, a part of 

 an integer, as J. Here the figure below 

 the line, called the denominator, shows 

 the number of parts into which the inte- 

 ger is divided, and the figure above the 

 line, called the numerator, shows the 

 number of these parts taken. Fractions 

 are called vulgar or common when the 

 denominator is written, and decimal, when 

 the denominator is 10, or a multiple 

 thereof, and not expressed (see DECIMAL; . 

 A fraction is moreover called simple when 

 it is expressed by a single numerator and 

 denominator, as $, and compound when 

 two fractions are connected by the word 

 of, as | of $. When the numerator is less 

 than the denominator, the fraction is 

 proper, but it is said to be improper when 

 the numerator is the greater of the two 

 terms. Thus $ is a proper fraction ; but s 

 is an improper one. 



FRAC'TURE, Lat. fractura. A breach in 

 any body, especially when caused by vio- 

 lence. Surgeons call the disruption of a 

 bone a fracture, and term it simple when 

 the bone only is divided, and compound 

 when the bone is broken with laceration 

 of the integuments. Mineralogists under- 

 stand by fracture the manner in which a 

 mineral breaks, and by which its texture 

 is displayed. They, therefore, speak of . 

 compact, fibrous, foliated, striated, con- 

 choidal, &c., fractures. Fracture is one 

 of the specific characters of minerals. 



FRJE'NUM (Latin), a bridle. A name 

 given by anatomists to several ligaments, 

 from their office in retaining and curbing 1 

 the motions of the parts they are fitted to. 



FHAOMEN'TARY, composed of fragments ; 

 applied to rocks. 



FRAISB or FRIEZE. In fortififation, a 

 kind of palisade or stake, placed hori/on- 

 taliy in the exterior face at tsuch rtua- 



z 2 



