FUN 



FUR 



in the funds, for time, refuse to fulfil theu- 

 engagements, in which case those who 

 have trusted them have no legal remedy 

 whatever, the settlement of debts thus 

 incurred resting, like all debts incurred 

 by other kind of gaming, entirely on the 

 honour of the party. 



The dividends on the public fundsjwere 

 long expressly exempted from all taxes, 

 charges, and impositions, whatsoever; 

 they have, however, in common with all 

 other descriptions of income, been lately 

 made subject to the property tax. See 

 STOCKS. 



FUNERAL expenses, in law, are allow- 

 ed previous to all other debts and charges; 

 but if the executor or administrator be 

 extravagant, it is a species of devastation 

 or waste of the substance of the deceased, 

 and shall only be prejudicial to himself, 

 and not to the creditors or legatees of the 

 deceased. But, in strictness, no funeral 

 expenses are allowable against a creditor, 

 except for the shroud, coffin, ringing the 

 bell, parson, clerk, grave-digger, and 

 bearer's fees,but not for pall or ornaments. 



FUNGUS, in surgery, denotes any 

 spongy excrescence. 



FUNGI, mushrooms. The name of one 

 of the seven families, or tribes, into which 

 all vegetables are divided by Linnaeus in 

 his " PhilosophiaBotanica." In the sexual 

 system they constitute the fourth order 

 of the class Cryptogamia. It is the name 

 also of the fifty-eight order ofthe " Frag- 

 ments." These plants are rarely branch- 

 ed, sometimes creep, but are mest com- 

 monly erect. Such as are furnished with 

 branches have them of a light spongy 

 substance like cork. Mushrooms differ 

 from the fuci, in that those, which, like 

 the fuci, have their seeds contained in 

 capsules, are not branched as that nu- 

 merous class of sea-weed is. The great- 

 est part of mushrooms have no root ; 

 some, in their stead, have a number of 

 fibres, which, by their inosculations, 

 frequently form a net with unequal 

 meshes, some of which produce plants 

 similar to their parent vegetable. The 

 stamina in these plants are still undeter- 

 mined. The seeds are either spread 

 over the surface of the plant, or placed 

 in cavities which are open, and resem- 

 ble the open capsules of some of the 

 fuci. In mushrooms which are branch- 

 ed, the seeds are frequently visible by the 

 naked eye, and always to be distinctly ob- 

 served with the assistance of a good mi- 

 croscope. See AGARIC, &.C. 



These plants, particularly the powder 

 ofthe lycoperdon, puff-ball, mixed into a 



paste with white of egg, are very astrin- 

 gent, and of familiar use for stopping vio- 

 lent haemorrhages. As a vegetable food, 

 they are, at best, suspicious. Several fun- 

 gi are rank poison. Agaric is on excres- 

 cence found upon the trunks and large 

 branches of several trees, but chiefly upon 

 the larch, and some oaks. It is of two 

 sorts, the male and female ; the former is 

 yellow, hard, and woody, and used for 

 dyeing black; the latter is covered witha 

 yellow bark, and white within : it tastes 

 sweet at first, but becomes bitter after be- 

 ing held a short time in the mouth. This 

 is the sort used in medicine. 



FUR, or FCTHB, in commerce. See 

 FURR. 



FURIA, in natural history, a genus of 

 the Vermes Intestina class and order, 

 having a body linear, equal, filiform, and 

 ciliate, each side with a single row of re- 

 flected prickles pressed close to the body: 

 one species only is mentioned by Gmelin, 

 viz. the F. infernalis, Which, inhabits 

 the vast marshy plains of Bothnia and 

 Finland, where it crawls up shrubs and 

 sedge-grass, and being carried forwards 

 by the wind, penetrates suddenly into the 

 exposed parts of men and cattle, where 

 it quickly buries itself under the skin, 

 leaving a black point where it had enter- 

 ed, which is frequently succeeded by ex- 

 cruciating pains, inflammation, and even 

 death. This fatal termination takes no 

 length of time, a few hours, or a day, be- 

 ing sufficient for the whole process, un- 

 less the animal be almost instantly ex- 

 tracted by means of the knife or a milk 

 poultice. 



FURLING, in the sea language, signi- 

 fies the wrapping up, and binding any 

 sail close to the yard; which is done by 

 hauling uponjthe clew-lines,buntlines, &c. 

 which wraps the sail close together, and 

 being bound fast to the yard, the sail is 

 furled. 



FURLING lines, on ship board, small 

 lines made fast to the top-sail, top-gallant- 

 sail, and mizen-yard-arms, to furl up the 

 sails by. 



FURLONG, a long measure, equal to 

 one-eighth of a mile, or forty poles. It is 

 also used, in some law-books, for the 

 eighth-part of an acre. 



FURNACES. See LABORATORY. 



FURR, in commerce, signifies the skin 

 of several wild beasts, dressed in alum 

 with the hair on, and used as part of 

 dress, by magistrates and others. The 

 kinds mostly made use of are, those of 

 the ermine, sable, castor, hare, rabbit, &c. 

 It -was not till the later ages that the furs 



