FIR 



FIR 



stiff; and when the flooring-boards are 

 required to be laid down very soon, a 

 fourth or fifth part of quick-lime in pow- 

 der, formed by dropping a small quan- 

 tity of water on the limestone a little 

 while before it is used, and well mixed 

 with this rough plaster, will cause it to 

 dry very fast If any cracks appear in 

 the rough plaster-work near the joist 

 when it is thoroughly dry, they ought 

 to be closed by washing them over with 

 a brush wet with mortar-wash ; this 

 wash may be prepared by putting two 

 measures of quicklime and one of com- 

 mon sand in a pail, and stirring the mix- 

 ture with water, till the water becomes 

 of the consistence of a thin jelly. Be- 

 fore the flooring-boards are laid, a small 

 quantity of very dry common sand should 

 be strewed over the plaster-work, and 

 struck smooth with a hollow rule, moved 

 in the direction of the joists, so that it 

 may lie rounding between each pair of 

 joists. The plaster-work and sand should 

 be perfectly dry before the boards are 

 laid, for fear of the dry-rot. The me- 

 thod of under-Hoorir.g may be success- 

 fully applied to a wooden staircase ; 

 but no sand is to be laid upon the rough 

 plaster-work. The method of extra-lath- 

 ing may be applied to ceiling joists, to 

 sloping roofs, and to wooden partitions. 

 The third method, which is that of in- 

 ter-securing, is very similar to that of 

 under-flooring; but no sand is after- 

 wards to be laid upon it. Inter-securing 

 is applicable to the same parts of a 

 builuing as the method of extra-lathing, 

 but it is seldom necessary. The author 

 of this invention made several experi- 

 ments, in order to demonstrate the effi- 

 cacy of these methods. In most houses 

 it is only necessary to secure the floors ; 

 and the extra expense of under-flooring, 

 including all materials, was at that time 

 only about ninepence per square yard, 

 and with the use of quick-lime a 'little 

 more. The extra expense of extra.-lath- 

 ing is no more than sixpen6e per square 

 yard for the timber, side walls and parti- 

 tions; but for the ceiling about nine- 

 pence per square yard. But in most 

 houses no extra-lathing is necessary. 



FIIIE, in the art of war, a word cf 

 command to the soldiers, to discharge 

 their muskets; to the cavalry, to dis- 

 charge their carbines or pistols; to the 

 grenadiers, to fire their grenadoes; and 

 to the gunners, to fire the guns. 



FIBE, running, is when a rank of men, 

 drawn up, fire one after another: or, 



when the lines of an army are drawn 

 out to fire on account of a victory, each 

 squadron or battalion takes it from ano- 

 ther, from the right of the first line to 

 the left, and from the left to the right of 

 the second line. 



FIRE arms, are all sorts of arms charged 

 with powder and ball, as cannon, mus- 

 quets, carabines, pistols, blunderbusses, 

 Sec. See CANNON, GUN, &c. 



FIIIK ball, in the art of war, a composi- 

 tion of meal-powder, sulphur, salt-petre, 

 pitch, &e. about the bigness of a hand- 

 grenade, coated over with flax, and 

 primed with a slow composition of a 

 fusee. This is to be thrown into the ene- 

 my's works in the night-time, to discover 

 where they are ; or to fire houses, galle- 

 ries, or blinds of the besiegers ; but they^ 

 are then armed with spikes, or hooks of 

 iron, that they may not roll oft', but stick 

 or hang where they are designed to have 

 any effect. 



FIRE pots, in the military art; small 

 eacthen pots, into which is put a charged 

 grenade, and over that powder enough 

 till the grenade is covered ; then the pot 

 is covered with a piece of parchment, 

 and two pieces of match across lighted : 

 this pot being thrown by a handle of 

 match where it is designed, it breaks 

 and fires the powder, and burns all that 

 is near it, and likewise fires the powder 

 in the grenade, which ought to have no 

 fuse, to the end its operations may be the 

 quicker. 



FIRE ship, in the navy, a vessel charged 

 with artificial fire-works, which, having 

 the wind of an enemy's ship, grapples 

 her, and sets her on fire. 



FIRK engine. See ENGINE. 



FIRKIN, an English measure of capa- 

 city for things liquid, being the fourth 

 part of the barrel : it contains nine gallons 

 of beer. 



FIRLOT, a dry measure used in Scot- 

 land. The oat-firlot contains 21 pints 

 of that country; the wheat firlot contains 

 about 2,211 cubical inches; and the bar- 

 Jy-firlot, 31 standard pints. Hence it 

 a'ppears that the Scotch wheat-firlot ex- 

 ceeds the English bushel by 33 cubical 

 inches. 



FIRMAMENT, in the Ptolemaic as- 

 tronomy, the eighth heaven or sphere, 

 with respect to the seven spheres of 

 the planets which it surrounds. It is 

 supposed to have two motions, a diurnal 

 motion, given to it by the primum mo- 

 bile, from east to west about the poles 

 of the ecliptic ; and another opposite 



