FLA 
M3 
FI A 
F L E 
respect, or submission, due from all ships 
or fleets inferior, to those any way justly their 
superiors. To lower or strike the flagrin an 
engagement is a sign of yielding. 
J he way of leading a ship in triumph is to 
tie the Hags to the shrouds or the gallery, in 
tl'.e hind part of the ship, and let them hang 
down towards the water, and to tow the ves- 
sels by the stern. 
To heave out the Flag, is put out, or put 
abroad, the flag. 
To hung out the white Flag, is to ask 
quarter; or it shews when a vessel is arrived 
on a coast, that it has no hostile intention, 
but comes to trade, or the like. The red 
flag is a sign of defiance and battle. 
Flag-officers, those who command 
the several squadrons of a fleet, such as 
the admirals, vice-admirals, and rear-ad- 
mirals. 
The flag-officers in our pay are the ad- 
miral, vice-admiral, and rear-admiral, 
of the white, red, anti blue. See the article 
Admiral. 
Flag-ship, a ship commanded by a ge- 
neral or flag-officer, who has a right to earn, 
a flag, in contradistinction to the secondary 
vessels under its command. 
Flag-staves, are staves set on the heads 
of the top-gallant-masts, serving to let fly, or 
unfurl, the flag. 
Flags, in falconry, are the feathers in a 
hawk’s wing, near the principal ones. 
Flag is used for sedge, a kind of rush; 
and for the upper part of turf, pared off to 
burn. 
Flag-flower, in botany, a plant called 
by botanists iris. See Iris. 
Corn- Flag. See Gladiolus. 
FLAGELLANTES, zvhippers, in church- 
history, certain enthusiasts in the 13th century,, 
who maintained, that there could be no remis- 
sion of sins without flagellation, or whipping. 
Accordingly, they walked in procession, pre- 
ceded by priests carrying the cross,' and pub- 
licly lashed themselves, till the blood dropped 
from their naked backs. 
FLAGELLARIA, a genus of the hexan- 
dria monygynia class and order of plants : flow- 
er petals none ; the perianlhium is divided Into 
six segments; and the fruit is a roundish 
berry, containing a single seed. There are 
two species, shrubs of the East Indies. 
FLAGEOLET, or Jhijeolet, a little flute, 
used chiefly by shepherds, and country peo 
pie. It is made of box, or any other hard 
wood, and sometimes of ivory ; and has six 
holes besides that at the bottom, the mouth- 
piece, and that behind the neck. 
FLAIL, an instrument for thrashing corn. 
See Husbandry. 
A flail consists of the following parts: 1. 
The hand-staff, or piece held in the thrasher’s 
hand. 2. The swiple, or that part which 
strikes out the corn. 3. The caplins, or 
strong double leathers, made fast to the tops 
of the hand-staff and swiple. 4. The middle- 
hand, being the leather-thong, or fish-skin, 
that ties the caplins together. 
FLAIR, in the sea-language. When a 
ship is housed in near the water, so that the 
work above hangs over too much, it is said 
to- flair over. This' makes the ship more 
roomy aloft, for the men to use their arms. 
FLAME, in physiology : when oxygen gas 
is decomposed slowly, the heat is impercep- 
tible, because the caloric is dissipated as soon 
as generated. When the decomposition goes 
on faster, the bodies concerned become sen 
sibly warm. A quicker decomposition of the 
gas heats the bodies so as to render them 
red hot, which state is called ignition : and 
when the process is attended with the pro- 
duction of certain fluids, as hydrogen, &c. and 
tne decomposition of oxygen air affords a suf- 
ficient developement of caloric, then the 
fluids themselves are ignited, and decompos- 
ed, which constitutes flame, and is thence 
termed inflammation. When a candle is first 
lighted, which must be done by the applica- 
tion of actual flame, a degree of heat is given 
to the wick sufficient to destroy the affinity 
ol its constituent parts : some of the taliow is 
instantly melted, volatilized, and decomposed, 
its hydrogen takes fire, and the candle melts. 
As this is destroyed by combustion another 
portion melts, rises and supplies its place, 
and undergoes a i^ke decomposition. In this 
way combustion is maintained- in a candle. 
I he most brilliant flame is exhibited in oxy- 
gen gas, and in this flames of different co- 
lours may be produced: thus a mixture of 
nitrate ot strontia and charcoal powder, pre- 
viously ignited, burns with a rose-coloured 
flame: one part ofboracic acid, and three of 
charcoal mixed, will burn green : one part of 
nitrate of barytes and four of charcoal pow- 
der burn with a yellow flame : equal parts of 
nitrate ot lime and charcoal powder burn 
orange-red. 
FLAMINGO, in ornithology. See Phge- 
nicopterus. 
FLAN EL, or flannel, a kind of slight, 
loose, woollen stuff, composed of a woof and 
warp, and woven on a loom with two treadles, 
after the manner of bays. Dr. Black assigns 
as a reason why flannel and other substances 
Qt the kind keep our bodies warm, that they 
compose a rare and spongy mass, the fibres of 
which touch each other so slightly, that the 
heat moves slowly through the interstices, 
which being filled only with air, and that in a 
stagnant state, gives little assistance in con- 
ducting the heat. Count Rumford, however, 
has inquired farther into the matter, and finds 
that there is a relation betwixt the power 
which the substances usually worn as clothing 
have of absorbing moisture, and that of keep- 
ing our bodies warm. Having provided a 
quantity of each of those substances men- 
tioned below, he exposed them, spread out 
upon China plates, for the space of 24 hours 
to the warm and dry air of a room, which 
had been heated by a German stove for se- 
veral months, and during the last six hours 
had raised the thermometer to 85° of Fahren- 
heit: after which he weighed equal quantities 
of the different substances with a very accu- 
rate balance. They were then spread out 
upon a China plate, and removed into a very 
large uninhabited room upon the second 
floor, where they were exposed 48 hours 
upon a table placed in the middle of the room, 
the air of which was at 4 j° of Fahrenheit. At 
the end of this space they were weighed, and 
then removed into a damp cellar, and placed 
on a table in the middle of the vault, where 
the air was at the temperature of 45°, and 
which by the hygrometer seemed to be fully 
saturated with, moisture. In this situation 
they were suffered to remain three days and 
three nights; the vault being all the time 
hung round with wet linen cloths, to render 
the air as completely damp as possible, At 
the end of three days they were weighed, and 
the weights at the different times were found 
as in the fallowing table. 
Sheeps’ wool 
Beaver’s fur - - 
The fur of a Russian? 
hare - - ^ 
Eider down 
C Raw single 
n-.v J thread 
) Ravellings of ? 
( white taflety ^ 
L Fine lint - 
Linen 4 Ravellings of? 
C fine linen £ 
Cotton wool - - 
Ravellings of silver lace^ 
that though linen, from the apparent ease with 
which it receives dampness from the atmo- 
sphere, seems to have a much greater attrac- 
tion for water than any other ; yet it would 
appear, from what is related above, that those 
Weight 
Weight 
after 
after re- 
- coming 
maining 
J out of 
72 hour* 
t the cold 
in the 
room. 
vault. 
1084 
1163 
1072 
1 125 
1065 
1115 
1067 
1112 
1057 
1107 
S 1054 
1103 
, 1046 
1102 
1044 
1082 
1043 
1083 
1000 
1000 
author observes. 
bodies which receive water in its inelastic 
form with the greatest ease, or are most easily 
wet, are not those which in all cases attract 
the moisture of the atmosphere with the 
greatest avidity. “ Perhaps (says he), the ap- 
parent dampness of linen to the touch arises 
more from the ease with which that substance 
parts with the water it contains, than from 
the quantity of water it actually holds: in 
the same manner as a body appears hot to 
the touch, in consequence of its parting freely 
with its heat ; while another body, which . is 
really at the same temperature, but which 
withholds its heat with greater obstinacy, af- 
fects the sense of feeling much less vio- 
lently.” 
FLANKS of an army, are the troops en- 
camped on the right and left, as the flanks of 
a battalion are the riles on the right and left. 
Flanks of a bastion, in fortification, that 
part which joins the face to the curtin. 
bee Fortification. 
FLANKED, in heraldry, is used by the 
French to express our parti per saltier. 
Coats, however, makes it to be the same with 
fianeh. 
FLAT, in the sea-language. To flat in 
the fore-sail, to hale it in by the sheet, as 
near the ship’s side as possible; which is done 
when a ship will not fall off from the wind. 
Flat, in music, a character which being 
placed before a note signifies that the note is 
to be sung or played half a tone lower than 
its natural pitch. 
Flat double, or double flat, a character 
compounded of two flats, and signifying that 
the note before which it is placed is to be 
sung or played two semitones lower than its 
natural pitch. 
FLATULENCY. See Medicine. 
FLAX. See Linum. 
FLEA. See Pulex. 
