FOR 



FOIl 



chattels, unless the party were killed in 

 flying from, or resisting those who had 

 arrested him : in wiiich case, it is said 

 that the forfeiture shall relate to the 

 time of the offence. 



FOKFICULA, in natural history, the 

 eai~tvig, a genus of insects of the order 

 Coieoptera. Antennae setaceous ; feelers 

 unequal, filiform ; shells half as long as 

 the abdomen; wings tolded up under the 

 shells ; tail armed with a forceps. There 

 are eighteen species enumerated by Gme- 

 lin, two of which are natives of Europe, 

 viz. F. auricularia, and F. minor. The 

 former flies only by night, and can scarce- 

 ly be made to expand its wings by day. 

 The female deposits her eggs, which are 

 rather large, white, and oval, under 

 stones, in any damp situation, where they 

 may be secure from too great heat or 

 drought. From the eggs are hatched the 

 larvae, which are small, but possessing the 

 general aspect of the parent animal, ex- 

 cept being of a white colour. The pa- 

 rent insect, it is said, broods over her 

 young, as the hen over her chickens. 

 They change their skin ai certain inter- 

 vals during the earlier stages of their 

 growth, and thus gradually acquire a 

 darker colour, till at length the wing- 

 sheaths and wings are formed, and the 

 animals may be considered as perfect. 

 The usual food of the earwig consists of 

 decayed fruit : it will, however, if kept 

 without food, attack and devour its own 

 species. Gmelin seems toagree with the 

 vulgar notion of its creeping into the 

 ears of such as sleep in the open air; but 

 Dr. Shaw regards it as an ancient, though 

 generally received error. Others have, 

 however, taken for granted, that such ac- 

 cidents may happen; and 'observe, that 

 when this or any other insect falls into the 

 ear, a little oil poured in will immediately 

 kill it, after wnich it may be picked out, 

 or discharged with a syringe of warm wa- 

 ter. 



FORGE, properly signifies a little fur- 

 nace, wherein smiths and other artificers 

 of iron or steel, &c. heat their metals red 

 hot, in order to soften and render them 

 more malleable and manageable on the 

 anvil. An ordinary forge is nothing but 

 a pair of bellows, the nozzle of which is 

 directed upon a smooth area, on whick 

 coals are placed. The nozzle may also 

 be directed to the bottom of any furnace, 

 to excite the combustion of the coals 

 placed there, by which a kind of forge is 

 formed. In laboratories there is generally 

 a small furnace consisting of a cylindrical 

 piece, open at top, which has at its lower 

 side a hole for receiving the nozzle of a 



double bellows. This kind of forge Fur- 

 nace is very convenient for fusions, as the 

 operation is quickly performed, and with 

 few coals. In its lower part, a little above 

 the hole for receiving the nozzle of the 

 bellows, may be placed an iron plate of 

 the same diameter, supported upon two 

 horizontal bars, and pierced near its cir- 

 cumference with four holes, diametrically 

 opposite to each other. By this disposi- 

 tion the wind of the bellows, pushed for- 

 cibly under this plate, enters at these 

 holes ; and thus the heat of the fire is 

 equally distributed, and the crucible in 

 the furnace is equally surrounded by it. 

 As the wind of bellows strongly and ra- 

 pidly excites the action of the fire, y forge 

 is very convenient when a great heat is 

 required. The forge, or blast bellows, is 

 used to fuse salts, metals, ores, &c. It is 

 much used also in works which require 

 strong heat, without much management; 

 and chiefly in the smelting of ores, and 

 fusion of metallic matters. 



FOUGE, in the train of artillery, is gene, 

 rally called a travelling forge, and may not 

 be improperly called a portable smith's 

 shop : at this forge all manner of smith's 

 work is made, and it can be used upon a 

 march, as well as in camp. 



FOBGE is also used for a large furnace, 

 wherein iron ore, taken out of the mine, 

 is melted down ; or it is more properly 

 applied to another kind of furnace, 

 wherein the iron ore, melted down and 

 separated in a former furnape, and then 

 cast into sows and pigs, is heated and 

 fused over again, and beaten afterwards 

 with large hammers, and thus rendered 

 more soft, pure, ductile, and fit for use. 



FORGERY, is where a person counter- 

 feits the signature of another, with intent 

 to defraud ; which by the law of England 

 is made a capital felony. This law is now 

 extended by statute to the counterfeiting 

 of almost every written instrument which 

 is either a security for money, or a public 

 document or voucher upon which money 

 may be received, or by which any one 

 may be defrauded of money, by the act of 

 imposing upon him such a false instru- 

 ment. To enumerate the several statutes 

 upon the subject would here be impossi- 

 ble. It is generally punished with the 

 most rigorous severity. We shall add a 

 few detached points with respect to the 

 cases of forgery, which maybe useful to 

 explain cases of frequent occurrence. 



Forgery may be committed by making 

 a mark in tlie name of another person. 

 It may be also committed in the name of 

 a person who never had existence. Thus, 

 indorsing a real bill of exchange with a 



