F I L 
F I L 
F I L 
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is, in the ellipsis and hyperbola, called the 
figure of that diameter. ■ 
b igure, in fortification, the plan of any 
fortified place, or the interior polygon, 
which, when the sides and angles are equal, 
is called a regular, and when unequal, an ir- 
Tegular figure. 
b igure, in geometry: the superficies in- 
cluded between one or more lines, is deno- 
minated either rectilinear, curvilinear, or 
mixt, according as the extremities are bound- 
ed bv right lines, curve lines, or both. 
P igure, in grammar, a deviation from the 
natural rules ot etymology, syntax, and pro- 
sody, either for brevity/ elegance, or har- 
mony. 
I' igure, in logic, denotes a certain order 
and disposition of the middle term in any 
syllogism. 
Figures are fourfold : 1 . When the middle 
term is the subject of the major proposition, 
and the predicate ol the minor, we have what 
is called the first figure. 2. When the mid- 
dle term is the predicate of both the pre- 
mises, the syllogism is said to be in the se- 
cond figure. 3. If the middle term is the 
subject of the two premises, the syllogism is 
in the third figure; and lastly’, by making it 
the predicate of the major, and subject of the 
minor, we obtain syllogisms in the fourth 
figure. Each of these figures has a determi- 
nate number of moods, including all the j 
possible ways in which propositions differing j 
in quantity or quality can be combined, ac- 
cording to any disposition of the middle 
term, in order to arrive at a just conclusion. 
Figure, in painting and designing, de- 
notes the lines and colours which form the 
representation of any animal, but more parti- 
cularly of a human personage. Thus a paint- 
ing is said to be full of figures when there are 
abundance of representations of men; and a 
landscape is said to be without figures when 
there is nothing but trees, plants, mountains, 
&c. See Painting. 
Figure, in rhetoric, is a manner of speak- 
ing different from the ordinary and plain 
mode, and more emphatical, expressing a 
passion, or containing a beauty. See Rhe- 
toric. 
Figured, in music, a term applied to that 
descendant, which, instead of moving note 
by note with the bass, consists of a free and 
florid melody. A bass, accompanied with 
numerical characters, denoting the harmony 
formed by the upper or superior parts of the 
composition, and directing the chords to be 
plaved by the organ, harpsichord, or piano- 
forte, is called a figured bass. 
FIGURES: figures are not allowed to 
express numbers in indictments, but numbers 
must be expressed in words. Cro. Car. 109. 
Roman figures are good in pleading, but 
otherwise of English figures. 2 Lev. 102. 
FILACER, Filizer, o- Filaur, an offi- 
cer of the court of common-pleas, so called 
because he files those writs whereon he makes 
out process. There are fourteen of them in 
their several divisions and counties, and they 
make out all writs and processes upon ori- 
ginal writs, issuing out of chancery, as 
well in real, as in psrsonal and mixed actions; 
and in actions merely personal, where the 
defendants are returned summoned, they 
make out pones and attachments, which 
being returned and executed, if the defen 
dant appears not, they make forth a distrin- 
gas, and so ad infinitum, or until he does ap- 
pear; if he is returned nihil, then process of 
capias infinite, &c. They enter all appear- 
ances and special bails, upon any process 
made by them. They make the first scire 
facias upon special bail, writs of habeas cor- 
pus, distringas, nuper vicecomitem vel balii- 
vum, and duces tecum, and all supersedeas 
upon special bail or otherwise; writs of habeas 
corpus cum causa, upon the sheriff’s return, 
that the defendant is retained with other ac- 
tions; writs of adjournment of a term, in case 
of pestilence, war, or public disturbance. 
F1LAGO, a genus of the polygamia ne- 
cessaria order, in the syngenesia class of 
plants, and in the natural method ranking 
under the 49th order, composite. The re- 
ceptacle is naked; there is no pappus; the 
calyx is imbricated ; the female florets placed 
among the scales of the calyx. There are 
seven species, commonly known by the 
name of cudweed, natives of most parts of 
Europe, herbaceous, most of them annual. 
FILAMENT. See Botany. 
FILAMENTS, vegetable, form a sub- 
stance of great use in the arts and manufac- 
tures; furnishing thread, cloth, cordage, &c. 
For these purposes the filamentous parts of 
the cannabis and linum, or hemp and flay, 
are employed among us. But different ve- 
getables have been employed in different 
countries for the same uses. Putrefaction 
destroys the pulpy or fleshy matter, and 
leaves the tough filaments entire; by curi- 
ously macerating the leaf of a plant in water, 
we obtain the fine flexible fibres which con- 
stituted the basis of the ribs and minute veins, 
and which now form a skeleton of the leaf. 
The sieur de Flacourt, in his History of 
Madagascar, relates, that different kinds of 
cloth are prepared in that island from the 
filaments of the bark of certain trees boiled in 
strong lye; that some of these cloths are very 
fine, and approach to the softness of silk, but 
in durability come short of cotton ; that 
others are coarser and stronger, and last 
thrice as long as cotton; and that of these the 
sails and cordage of his vessel were made. 
The same author informs us, that the stalks 
of nettles are used for the like purposes in 
France. And sir Hans Sloane relates, in one 
of his letters to Mr. Ray, that he has been 
informed by several, that muslin and callico, 
and most of the Indian linens, are occasion- 
ally made from nettles. 
In some of the Swedish provinces, a strong 
kind of cloth is said to be prepared from hop- 
stalks; and in the Transactions of the Swedish 
academy for the year 1750, 'there is an ac- 
count of an experiment made in consequence 
of that report. Of the stalks, gathered in au- 
tumn, about as many were taken, as equalled 
in bulk a quantity of flax that would have 
produced a pound after preparation. The 
stalks were put into water, and kept covered 
with it during the winter. In March they 
were taken out, dried in a stove, and dressed 
as flax. The prepared filaments weighed 
nearly a pound, and proved fine, soft, and 
white : they were spun and woven into six 
ells of fine , strong cloth. The author, Mr. 
Shisler, observes, that hop-stalks take much 
longer time, to rot than flax ; and that if not 
fully rotted, the woody part will not separate, 
and the cloth will neither prove white nor 
fine. 
Hemp, flax, and all other vegetable fila- 
ments/ and thread or cloth prepared from 
them, 'differ remarkably from wool, hair, silk, 
and other animal productions, not only in the 
principles into which they are resoluble by 
fire, but likewise in some of their more in- 
teresting properties, particularly in their dis- 
position to imbibe colouring matters; many 
liquors, which give a beautiful and durable 
dye to those of the animal, giving no stain at 
ail to those of the vegetable kingdom. 
Fishing-nets are usually boiled with oak- 
bark, or other such astringents, which render 
them more lasting. Those made of fiax re- 
ceive from tins decoction a brownish colour, 
which, by the repeated alternations of water 
and air, is in a little time discharged, whilst 
the fine glossy brown, communicated bv the 
same means to silken nets, permanently re- 
sists both the air and water, and lasts as long 
as the animal filaments themselves. In like 
manner the stam of ink, or the black dye 
from solutions of iron, mixed -with vegetable 
astringents, proves durable in silk and wool- 
len ; but from linen the astringent matter is 
extracted by washing, and only the yellow 
iron-mould remains. 
Many other instances of this kind are 
known too well to the callico-printer, whose 
grand desideratum it is to find means of 
making the fibres of cotton receive the same 
colours that wool does. See Callico-Print- 
ing. 
FILARIA, a genus of insects of the order 
iutestina; body round, filiform, equal, and 
quite smooth; mouth dilated, with a round- 
ish concave lip. There are several species, 
some infesting the mammalia, others infest- 
ing birds, others infesting insects in their 
perfect state, and some infesting the larva.' of 
insects. The medinensis is the most remark- 
able species ; it inhabits the Indies, and is 
frequent in the morning dew, whence it en- 
ters the naked feet of the slaves, and creates 
the most troublesome itchings, accompanied 
with inflammation and fever. It must be 
cautiously drawn, out by means of a piece 
of silk tied round its head, for if the animal 
should break, the remaining part grows with 
redoubled vigour, and is olten fatal. It is 
frequently 12 feet long, and not larger than 
a horsehair. 
FILBERT, or Filberd. See Corylus. 
FILE, among mechanics, a tool used in 
metal, &c. in order to smooth, polish, or cut. 
This instrument is of iron, or forged steel, 
cut in little furrows, with chisels, and a mal- 
let, in a certain direction, and of a certain 
depth, according to the grain or touch re- 
quired. After cutting the file, it must be 
tempered with a composition of chimney 
soot, very hard and dry, diluted, and wrought 
up with urine, vinegar, and salt; the whole 
being reduced to the consistence of mustard. 
Tempering the files consists in rubbing them 
over with this composition, and covering 
them in loam; after which they are put into 
a charcoal fire, and taken out by the time 
they have acquired a cherry-colour, which is 
known by a small rod of the same steel put 
in along with them. Being taken out of the 
fire, they are thrown into cold spring-water, 
and when cold, they are cleaned with char- 
coal and a rag, and being clean and. dry, are 
kept from rust by lay ing them up in wheat 
bran. Iron files require more heating than 
