FER 



person, delegated for that purpose by 

 the parties to the contract. 



FERJE, in natural history, an order of 

 quadrupeds, of which the distinguishing 

 characters are, fore-teeth conic, usually 

 six in each jaw; tusks longer; grinders with 

 conic projections; feet with claws ; claws 

 subulate ; food, carcasses, and preying on 

 other animals; this order comprehends 

 ttie following genera : 



Canis, Phpca, 



Didelphis, Sorex, 



Erinaceus, Talpa, 



Felis, V iverra, 



Mustela, Ursus, 



which see. 



FERJE nature. Animals ferae naturae, 

 of a wild nature, are those in which a 

 man hath not an absolute, but only a 

 qualified and limited property, which 

 sometimes subsists, and at other times 

 doth not subsist ; and this qualified pro- 

 perty is obtained either by the art and 

 industry of man, or the importence of the 

 animals themselves, or by special privi- 

 lege, as in case of game. 



A qualified property may subsist in ani- 

 mals ferae naturae by the art and industry 

 of man, either by his reclaiming and mak- 

 ing them tame, or by so confining them, 

 that they cannot escape and use their na- 

 tural liberty ; such as deer in a park, 

 hares or conies in an enclosed warren, 

 doves in a dove-house, pheasants or par- 

 tridges in a mew, hawks that are fed and 

 commanded by the owner, and fish in a 

 private pond or in trunks. These are no 

 longer the property of a man than while 

 they continue in his keeping or actual 

 possession ; but if at any time they regain 

 their natural liberty, his property instant- 

 ly ceases ; unless they have animum re- 

 vertenclj, which is only to be known by 

 their usual custom of returning. Larceny 

 cannot be committed of things ferae na- 

 ture while at their natural liberty ; but if 

 they are made fit for food, and reduced 

 to tameness, and known by the taker to 

 be so, it may be larceny to take them. 

 1 Haw. 94. See GAME. 



FERGUSON (JAMES,) an eminent ex- 

 perimental philosopher, mechanic, and 

 astronomer, was born in Bamffshire, in 

 Scotland, 1710, of very poor parents. At 

 the very earliest age his extraordinary ge- 

 nius began to unfold itself. He first learn- 

 ed to read, by overhearing his father 

 teach his elder brother; and he had made 

 this acquisition before any one suspected 

 it. He soon discovered a peculiar taste 

 for mechanics, which first arose on seeing 

 his father use a lever. He pursued this 



FER 



study a considerable length, while he was 

 yet very young ; and made a watch in 

 wood-work, from having once seen one. 

 As he had no instructor, nor any help 

 from books, every thing he learned had 

 all the merit of an original discovery ; ana 

 such, with inexpressible joy, he believed 

 it to be. 



As soon as his age would permit, he 

 went to service ; in which he met with 

 hardships, which rendered his constitu- 

 tion feeble through life. While he was 

 servant to a farmer, (whose goodness he 

 acknowledges, in the modest and humble 

 account of himself which he prefixed to 

 one of his publications) he contemplated 

 and learned to know the stars, while he 

 tended the sheep ; and began the study 

 of astronomy, by laying down, from his 

 own observations only, a celestial globe. 

 His kind master, observing these marks ot 

 his ingenuity, procured him the counte- 

 nance and assistance of some neighbour- 

 ing gentlemen. By. their help and in- 

 structions he went on gaining farther 

 knowledge, having by their means beer 

 taught arithmetic, with some algebra and 

 practical geometry. H.e had got some 

 notion of drawing, and being sent t 

 Edinburgh, he there began to take por- 

 traits in miniature, at a small price ; an 

 employment by which he supported him- 

 self and family for several years, both m 

 Scotland and England, while he was pur- 

 suing more serious studies. In London 

 he first published some curious astrono- 

 mical tables and calculations ; and after- 

 wards gave public lectures in experiment- 

 al philosophy, both in London and most 

 of the country towns in England, with the 

 highest marks of general approbation. 

 He was elected a Fellow of the Royal So- 

 ciety, and was excused the payment ot 

 the admission fee, and the usual annual 

 contributions. He enjoyed from the 

 King a pension of fifty pounds a year, be- 

 sides other occasional presents, which he 

 privately accepted and received from dif- 

 ferent quarters, till the time of his death ; 

 by which, and the fruits of his own la- 

 bours, he left .behind him a sum to the 

 amount of about six thousand pounds, 

 instead of which all his friends had al- 

 ways entertained an idea of his great po- 

 verty. He died in 1776, at 66 years of 

 age, though he had the appearance of 

 many more years. 



Mr. Ferguson must be allowed to have 

 been a very uncommon genius, especially 

 in mechanical contrivances and execu- 

 tions; for he executed many machines 

 himself in a very neat manner. He had 



