FEC 



FEC 



There are two sorts of feathers found 

 on birds, viz. the strong 1 and hard kind, 

 called quills, found in the wing's and tail ; 

 and the other plumage, or soft feathers, 

 serving 1 for the defence and ornament of 

 the whole body. All birds, so far as yet 

 known, moult the feathers of their whole 

 body yearly. 



The feathers of birds make a conside- 

 rable article of commerce, particularly 

 those of the ostrich, heron, swan, pea- 

 cock, goose, and other poultry, for 

 plumes, ornaments of the head, filling of 

 beds, and writing pens. There are 

 scarcely any birds but what bed-feathers 

 maybe procured from, particularly those 

 of the domestic kind ; yet swans, geese, 

 and ducks, are those that furnish most, 

 and the best. Geese are plucked three 

 times a year, towards the end of May, 

 about Midsummer, and at the latter end 

 of August ; but chiefly when the feathers 

 are ripe, that is, when they are perceived 

 to fall off of themselves. The feathers 

 of dead birds are in the least esteem, 

 upon account of the blood imbibed by the 

 quill, which putrefying, communicates an 

 offensive smell to the feather, and takes 

 some time to evaporate ; for which reason 

 live birds should not be stripped till their 

 feathers are ripe. They are imported in 

 this country from Poland and Germany. 

 They are divided in white, half grey, and 

 grey, and valued accordingly. The best 

 feathers should be white, downy, void of 

 large stems, fresh, and sweet. Care should 

 be taken that no sand be intermixed, 

 which is frequently practised to increase 

 the weight. Ostrish feathers are dyed 

 and dressed by the feather-dressers, to 

 serve as ornaments. They are a very 

 costly article, brought to us from Africa, 

 and particularly the coast of Barbary. 

 See DOWN. 



FEATHER edged, among carpenters, 

 an appellation given to planks or boards, 

 which have one side thicker than the 

 other. 



FEATHER, prince's, a plant, otherwise 

 called amaranth. See AMARANTHUS. 



FECES. The excrementitious matter 

 of animals, evacuated per anum, consists 

 of all that food which cannot be employ- 

 ed for purposes of nutrition, considera- 

 bly altered, at least in part, and mixed or 

 united with various bodies employed du- 

 ring digestion, to separate the useless 

 part of the food from the nutritious. An 

 accurate examination of these matters 

 has long been wished for by physiolo- 

 gists, as likely to throw much new light 

 on the process of digestion ; but it must 



be admitted, that our knowledge on this 

 subject is still very imperfect. Some of 

 the older chemists have turned their atten- 

 tion to the excrements of animals ; (Van 

 Helmont's Gustos Errans, sect. 6 ; Opera 

 Helmont, p. 247; Neumann's Works, p. 

 585.) but no discovery of importance re- 

 warded them for their disagreeable la- 

 lour. Vauquelin has ascertained some 

 curious facts respecting the excrementi- 

 tious matter of fowls ; and in the summer 

 of 1806, a laborious set of experiments on 

 human feces was published by Berzelius, 

 undertaken, as he informs us, chiefly with 

 a view to elucidate the function of diges- 

 tion. (Gehlen's Jour. VI. 509.) About 

 two years before, Thaer and Einhof 

 had published a similar set of experi- 

 ments on the excrements of cattle, made 

 chiefly to discover, if possible, how 

 they act so powerfully as manure. (Ibid 

 III. 276.) 



The human feces, according to the 

 experiments of Berzelius, were found to 

 contain 



Water 73.3 



Vegetable and animal remains 7.0 



Bile 0.9 



Albumen 0.9 



Peculiar extractive matter . 2.f 



Salts 1.2 



Slimy matter, consisting of"^ 

 resin of bile, peculiar I 

 animal matter, and inso- f 

 luble residue . . . J 



100.0 



To Vauquelin we are indebted for an 

 analysis of the fixed parts of the excre- 

 ments of fowls, and a comparison of them 

 with the fixed parts of the food ,- from 

 which some very curious consequences 

 may be deduced. 



He found that a hen devoured in ten 

 days 11111.843 grains troy of oats ; these 

 contained 



136.509 grains phosphate of limer 

 219.548 silica 



356.057 



During these ten days she laid four eggs, 

 the shells of which contained 98.776 

 grains phosphate of lime, and 453.417 

 grains carbonate of lime ; the excrements 

 emitted during these ten days contained 

 175.529 grains of phosphate of lime, 



