FIL 
ferns, whatever be their nature, are in the 
greater number of genera fastened, and as 
it were glued to the back of the leaves ; in 
some they are supported upon a stem or 
stalk, which rises above the leaves, and is 
either, as we said above, a prolongation of 
their middle rib, or issues out of the centre 
of the plant, unconnected with the leaves 
altogether. From these different modes of 
flowering arise the twosections, or divisions, 
of this natural order ; viz. 1. those in which 
the parts of fructification grow upon the 
leaves; 2. those in which the flowers are 
borne upon foot-stalks that overtop the 
leaves. 
FILLAGREE work, a kind of enrich- 
ment on gold or silver, wrought delicately, 
in manner of little threads or grains, or 
both intermixed. In Sumatra, manufactures 
of this kind are carried on to very great 
perfection. But what renders this a matter 
of great curiosity is, that the tools made use 
of are very coarse and clumsy. The gold 
is melted in a crucible of their own form- 
ing, and, instead of bellows, they blow with 
their mouths through a piece of bamboo. 
They draw and flatten the wire in a manner 
similar to that adopted by Europeans. It 
is then twisted, and thus a flower, or the 
shape of a flower, is formed. Patterns of 
the flowers or foliage are prepared on pa- 
per, of the size of the gold plate on which 
the fillagree is to be laid. According to 
this they begin to dispose on the plate the 
larger compartments of the foliage, for 
which they use plain flat wire, of a larger 
size, and fill them up with the leaves. A 
gelatinous substance is used to fix the work, 
and after the leaves have been placed in 
order, and stuck on, bit by bit, a solder is 
prepared of gold filings and borax, moisten- 
ed with water, which they strew over the 
plate, and then putting it in the fire a 
short time, the whole becomes united. 
When the fillagree is finished, it is cleansed 
with a solution of salt and alum in water. 
The Chinese make most of their filagree of 
silver, which looks very elegant ; but is de- 
ficient in the extraordinary delicacy of 
Malay work. 
FILLET, in heraldry, a kind of orle or 
bordure, containing only a third or fourth 
part of the breadth of the common bordure. 
It is supposed to be withdrawn inwards, 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 man- 
FIL 
ner of a scarf ; though it sometimes is also 
seen in the situation of a bend, fesse, cross, 
&c. 
FILM, a thin skin or pellicle. In plants 
it is used for that thin, woody skin, which 
separates the seeds in the pods, and keeps 
them apart. 
FILTER, in chemistry, a strainer com- 
monly made of bibulous or filtering paper 
in the form of a funnel, through which any 
fluid is passed, in order to separate the 
gross particles from it, and render it limpid. 
There are several filters made of flannel and 
linen cloth. The filter produces the same 
effect, with regard to liquids, that the sieve 
does in dry matters. Filters are of two 
sorts : the first are simple pieces of paper 
or cloth, through which the liquor is passed 
without farther trouble; the second are 
twisted up like a skein or wick, and first 
wetted, and then squeezed as dry as possi- 
ble ; one end is put into the liquor to be 
filtrated, the other end is to hang out be- 
low the surface of the liquor ;-by this means 
the purest part of the liquor distils drop by 
drop Out of the vessel, leaving the dregs be- 
hind: a filter of this kind acts upon the 
principle of the. syphon. Water is freed 
from various impurities by means of basins 
made of porous stone ; this is often very ne- 
cessary at sea, when the water becomes 
foul, and on land, where there are no fresh 
springs. The filter is of use to all those in 
and near the metropolis, who are supplied 
with water from the Thames, the New Ri- 
ver, and the ponds from Hampstead. Many 
patents have been obtained for filtering ma- 
chines, which may be seen in various parts 
of London. 
We shall observe, that Mr. Peacock 
obtained, about twelve years since, one 
for a new species of filtration, by means 
of gravel of different sizes, suitable to the 
several strata. The varipus sizes of the 
particles of gravel, as placed in layers, 
should be nearly in the quadruple ratio of 
their surfaces ; that is, upon the first layer, 
a second is to be. placed, the diameters of 
whose particles are not to be less than one- 
half of the first, and so on in this propor- 
tion. This arrangement of filtering parti- 
cles will gradually fine the water, by the 
grosser particles being quite intercepted in 
their partly ascending with the water. An 
advantage in these filters is, that they may 
be readily cleansed by drawing out the body 
of the fluid, by which it will descend in the 
filter, and carry with- it all the foul and ex- 
traneous substances. i 
