F1L 



F1L 



perfect plants, are the same. In the 

 Sexual System, the fenjs constitute the 

 first order, or secondary division of the 

 twenty-fourth class, Cryptogamia; in 

 Tournefort's Method, they are the six- 

 teenth class; and in Ray's the fourth, 

 under the name of Capillares. Haller 

 denominates them Epiphyllospermas, that 

 is, plints that bear their seeds on the back 

 of the leaf: others term them Acaules, 

 because they have properly no stem. 

 These plants in figure approach the more 

 perfect vegetables, being furnished, like 

 them, with roots and leaves. The roots 

 creep and extend themselves horizontal- 

 ly under the earth, throwing out a num- 

 ber of very slender fibres on all sides. 

 The stem in these plants is not to be dis- 

 tinguished from the common foot-stalk, 

 or rather middle rib of the leaves ; so 

 that, in strict propriety,.the greater num- 

 ber of ferns may be said to be Acaules, 

 that is, to want the stem altogether: in 

 plants of the second section, however, the 

 middle rib, or stalk proceeding from 

 the root, overtops the leaves, and forms 

 a stem, upon which the flowers are sup- 

 ported. The leaves proceed either sin- 

 gly, or in greater numbers, from the ex- 

 tremities of the branches of the main 

 root. They are winged, or hand-shaped, 

 in all the genera, except in adder's-tongue, 

 pepper-grass, and some species of spleen- 

 wort. The flowers of the ferns, what- 

 ever be their nature, are in the greater 

 number of genera fastened, and as it were 

 glued to the back of the leaves; in some 

 they are supported upon a stem or stalk, 

 which rises above the leaves, and is ei- 

 ther, as we said above, a prolongation of 

 their middle rib, or issues out of the cen- 

 tre of the plant, unconnected with the 

 leaves altogether. From these different 

 modes of flowering arise the two sections, 

 or divisions, of this natural order, viz. 1. 

 those in which the parts of fructification 

 grow upon the leaves; 2. those in which 

 the flowers are borne upon foot-stalks 

 that overtop the leaves. 



F1LLAGREE work, a kind of enrich- 

 ment on gold or silver, wrought delicate- 

 ly, in manner of little threads or grains, or 

 both intermixed. In Sumatra, manufac- 

 tures of this kind are carried on to very 

 great perfection. But what renders tin's 

 a matter of great curiosity is, that the 

 tools made use of are very coarse and 

 clumsy. The gold is melted in a cruci- 

 ble of their own forming, and, instead of 

 sj they blow with their mouths 



through a piece of bamboo. They draw 

 and flatten the wire in a manner similar 

 to that adopted by Europeans. It is then 

 twisted, and thus a flower, or the shape 

 of a flower, is formed. Patterns of the 

 flowers or foliage are prepared on paper, 

 of the size of the gold plate on which the 

 fillagree is to be laid. According to this 

 they begin to dispose on the plate the 

 larger compartments of the foliage, for 

 which they use plain flat wire, of a larger 

 size, and fill them up with the leaves, A 

 gelatinous substance is used to fix the 

 work, and after the leaves have been 

 placed in order, and stuck on, bit by bit, 

 a solder is prepared of gold filings and 

 borax, moistened with water, which they 

 strew over the plate, and then putting it 

 in the fire a short time, the whole 

 becomes united. When the fillagree 

 is finished, it is cleansed with a so- 

 lution of salt and alum in water. The 

 Chinese make most of their fillagree of 

 silver, which looks very elegant ; but is 

 deficient in the extraordinary delicacy of 

 Malay work. 



FILLET, in heraldry, a kind of orle or 

 bordure, containing only a third or fourth 

 part of the breadth of the common bor- 

 dure. It is supposed to be withdrawn in- 

 wards, and is of a different colour from 

 the field. It runs quite round, near the 

 edge, as a lace over a cloak. It is also 

 used for an ordinary, drawn like a bar, 

 from the sinister point of the chief, across 

 the shield, in manner of a scarf; though 

 it sometimes is also seen in the situation 

 of a bend, fesse, cross, %.c. 



FILM, a thin skin or pellicle. In plants 

 it is used for that thin, woody skin, which 

 separates the seeds in the pods, and keeps 

 them apart. 



FILTER, in chemistry, a strainer com- 

 monly made of bibulous or filtering paper 

 in the form of a funnel, through which 

 any fluid is passed, in order to separate 

 the gross particles from it, and render it 

 limpid. There are several filters made 

 of flannel and linen cloth. The filter pro- 

 duces the same effect, with regard to li- 

 quids, that the sieve does in dry matters. 

 Filters are of two sorts: the first are sim- 

 ple pieces of paper or cloth, through 

 which the liquor is passed without farther 

 trouble ; the second are twisted up like a 

 skein or wick, and first wetted, and then 

 squeezed as dry as possible ; one end ia 

 put into the liquor to be filtrated, the 

 other end is to hang out below the- sur- 

 face of the liquor; by this means the 



