F I L 
F I N 
F I N 
725 
steel ones. Files are of different forms, sizes, j 
cuts, and degrees of fineness, according to the , 
different uses and occasions for which they j 
are made. t hose in common use aie the 
square, flat, triangular, half-round, round, 
thin file, &c. each of which may be of dif- 
ferent sizes, as well as different cuts. 
q he rough or coarse-toothed liles are to 
take off the unevenness of the work which the 
hammer made in the forging; and the line- 
toothed files are to take out of the work the 
deep cuts or file strokes of the rough files; 
the files succeed one another in this order, 
first the rubber, then the bastard-toothed lile, 
next the fine-toothed file, and lastly the 
smooth file. I bus the files of different cuts 
succeed one another, till the work is as 
smooth as it can be filed ; after which it may 
be made still smoother, by emery, tripoli, 
&c. In using all sorts of liles, the rule is to 
lean heavy on the file in thrusting it foryvaid, 
because the teeth of the files are made to cut 
forward; but in drawing the file back again 
for a second stroke, it is to be lightly lilted 
just above the work, as it does not cut in. 
coming back. 
There are several machines invented for 
cutting files, by which a blind man may cut 
a file with more exactness than can be done in 
the usual method with the keenest sight-. 
These machines may be worked by water as 
readily as by hand, and are adapted to cut 
coarse or fine, large or small, files, or any 
number at a time. Mr. Nicholson, a tew 
vears since, obtained a patent for machinei y 
for the manufacture of files; which consists, 
1. Of a carriage iu which the file is fixed and 
moved along, for the purpose of receiving 
the successive strokes of a cutter or chisel. 
2. The anvil by which the file is supported 
beneath the part which receives the stioke. 
3. The regulating gear by which tire 
distance between stroke and stroke is 
determined and governed: and 4. 1 he ap- 
paratus for giving the stroke or cut. I he 
four several parts aforesaid are supported by 
a frame ot solid workmanship, either oi wood 
or metal, or both, according to the nature of 
the work to be performed. 
The action of this machinery is thus de- 
scribed : 1. The file, being prepared as usual 
for. cutting, must be fixed in the clip of the 
carriage, and the sliding block brought up 
and fixed, to steady the other extremity, 
a. The nut of the screw being then opened, 
the carriage is slided to its place, so that the 
chisel may be situated over that part of the 
file which is to receive the first stroke. 3. 
The nut is then closed, and the small roller 
of the pressing lever is made to bear upon 
the face of the file. 4. The first mover 
being then put into action, raises and lets 
fall the apparatus for giving the stroke by 
which the file receives a cut. 5. Immedi- 
ately afterwards, or during the same action, 
as the case may be, the regulating geai 
■moves the carriage, and consequently the 
file, through a certain space. 6, This cut is 
then again given, and in this maunei the 
file becomes cat throughout. 1 he file is 
then taken out and cut 011 the other side , the 
bur is taken off, or not, as the artist judges 
fit, and the cross strokes are given over the 
surfaces as before. r l bis machinery, by 
means of certain slight alterations, is adapted 
to the manufacture of all descriptions of hies, 
whether floats, rasps, or those ot any figure 
and denomination. 
File in the art of war, a row of soldiers 
stand in o’’ one behind another, which is the 
depth of the battalion, or squadron. 1 be 
files of a battalion of foot are generally three 
deep, as are sometimes those ot a squadron 
of horse. r lhe hies must be stiaigbt, and 
parallel one to another. 
Fii.e, in law, is a record of the corn t , and 
the filing of a process ot couit, makes a re- 
cord of it. Li 11. 212. 
1TLIX, an order of the cryptogamia class 
of plants, comprehending the tern, horse- 
tail, adder’ s-tongue, tnaiden-haii, spleen- 
wort, polypody, &c. 
F1LUM, in music (Lat.), the name for- 
merly given to the line drawn from the head 
of a note upwards or downwards, and which 
is now called the tail. 
FILLET, in heraldry, a kind ot bordure, 
containing only a third or fourth part of the 
breadth of the common bordure. It is sup- 
posed to be withdrawn inwards, 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 ot a 
bend, fesse, cross, &c. 
FILTER, or Filtre, in chemistry, a 
strainer commonly made of bibulous or fil- 
tring paper in the form of a funnel, through 
which any fluid is passed, in order to sepa- 
rate the gross particles from it, and render 
it limpid. 
FILTERING paper, is paper without 
size. To use it as such, the paper is shaped 
into the form of a cone, and placed in a tun- 
nel, in order to support it; otheiwise it 
would break. 
Filtering stones, basons, &c. are either 
natural or artificial, for the purpose of puri- 
fying wafer. Natural liltres are found in 
rodks, mountains, beds of sand, gravel, &c. 
Artificial filtering-basons consist of equal 
parts of pipe-clay, and coarse sand. They 
should be three-quarters of an inch thick. 
FILTRATION, is a finer species of sift- 
ing. It is sifting through the pores ot paper, 
or flannel, or tine linen, or sand, 01 pound* d 
glass, or porous stones, and the like, but it 
Is used onlv for separating fluids from so. ids 
or particles, that may happen to be suspend- 
ed in them, and not chemically combined 
with the fluids. Thus saltwater cannot be 
deprived of its salt by filtration, but^ muddy 
water may be cleansed by it. No solid, 
even in the form of powder, will pass through 
filtering substances. If water or any othei 
fluid containing sand, insects, &c. is placed 
in a bag or hollow vessel, made of any ot 
those substances, the sand, &c. will remain 
upon the filtre, and the liquor will pass clear 
through it, and may be received in a vessel 
placed under it. 
Mr. Peacock obtained, about twelve years 
since, a patent for a new species of filtration, 
by means of gravel of different sizes suitable 
to the several strata. r l he various sizes ot 
the particles of gravel, as placed in layers, 
should be nearly in the quadruple ratio ot 
their surfaces; that is, upon the first layer, a 
second is to be placed, the diameters ot whose 
particles are not to be less than one-half ot 
the first, and so on in this proportion. T his 
arrangement of filtring particles will gradu- 
ally fine the water by the grosser particles 
being quite intercepted in their partly as- 
cending with the - water. An advantage in 
these liltres is, that they may be readily 
cleansed bv drawing out the body ot the 
fluid, by which it w'iil descend in the fibre, 
and carry with it,, all the foul and extraneous 
substances. 
FIMBELE, denotes appendages disposed 
by’ way of fringe round the border oi any 
thing. 
FIN, in natural , history, a well-known 
part of fishes, consisting of a membrane sup- 
ported by rays, or little bony or cartilaginous 
ossicles/ The number, situation, and figure 
of fins, are different in different fishes. As 
to number, they are found from one to ten, 
or more; with respect to situation, they 
stand either on the back only, the belly only, 
or on both ; and as to figure, they are either 
of a triangular, roundish, or oblong-square 
form. Add to this, that in some they are 
very small ; whereas, in others, they almost 
equal the whole body ,in length. 
FINAL, in music, an old appellation 
given to the last sound of a verse in a chant ; 
which, if complete, is on the key note ; it in- 
complete, on some other note ot the key. 
FINAL Letters, among Hebrew gram- 
marians, five letters so called, because they 
have a different figure at the end ot words 
from what they have in any other situation. 
FINALE (Ital.), a wore! signifying the last 
composition performed in any act of an opeia, 
or part of a concert. 
FINANCE, the ceconomy of the public 
revenue and expenditure ot nations. In 
former times, when the whole revenue duiwn 
from the people by a few moderate and long- 
established taxes, was considered as the per- 
sonal property of the sovereign, the purposes 
to which it was applied depended entirely 
on his discretion or that of his minister, as few 
princes were inclined in time ot peace to Re- 
serve any part of their income as a provision 
for the additional ex pences ot war ; the ex- 
traordinary charges incurred in times ot hos- 
tility were defrayed by extraordinary contri- 
butions from the people, which ceased with 
the occasion of them. Few sovereigns pos- 
sessed sufficient credit either with their own 
subjects or foreigners to contract c.ebts, so 
that at the conclusion of a war there was no- 
occasion for a greater expenditure than be- 
fore its commencement, and the revenue 
drawn from the people reverted to. its former 
state. It is the system of defraying extra- 
ordinary expences by borrowing the money, 
for which an annual interest must be paid , 
and of suffering the debts thus incurred to 
accumulate, by which the sum to be annually 
paid is continually increasing, and the ex- 
pences of every war are rendered tar greater 
than those which preceded it; tnat has swell- 
ed the revenue and expenditure ot most o. 
the nations of Europe to an enormous mag- 
nitude, and caused their systems ot finance 
to become complicated and oppressive. In 
Great Britain, where the system of running 
in debt, or, as it is commonly termed, the 
funding system, has been carried to a greater 
height than in any other country, its natural 
attendants, enormous taxation and expendi- 
ture, have made equal progress ; and it is 
probably owing chiefly to the publicity which 
is given to all matters of finance, so that 
every person with little trouble may know 
how all the money raised for the public ser- 
vice is expended', that the people have been, 
