FUN 
liable to a heavy penalty ; instances there- 
fore frequently occur, in which persons 
who have entered into large speculations in 
the funds, for time, refuse to fulfil their en- 
gagements, ip which case those who have 
trusted them have nolegal remedy whatever, 
the settlement of debts thus incurred resting, 
like all debts incurred by other kinds of gam- 
ing, entirely on the honour of the party. 
The dividends on the public funds were 
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 allowed 
previous to all other debts and charges ; but 
if the executor or administrator be extrava- 
gant, 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 w hich 
all vegetables are divided by Linnaeus in his 
“ Philosopliia Botanica.” In the sexual 
system, they constitute the fourth order of 
the class cryptogamia. It is the name also of 
the fifty-eighth order of the “ Fragments.” 
These plants are rarely branched, some- 
times creep, but are most commonly erect. 
Such as are furnished with branches have 
them of a light spungy 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 numerous class of sea-weed is. The 
greatest part of mushrooms have no root ; 
some, in their stead; have a number of 
fibres, which, by their inosculations, fre- 
quently form a net with unequal meshes, 
some of which produce plants similar to 
their parent vegetable. The stamina in 
these plants are still undetermined. The 
seeds are either- spread over the surface of 
the plant, or placed in cavities which are 
open, and resemble the open capsules of 
some of the fuci. In mushrooms which are 
branched, the seedTare frequently visible by 
the naked eye, and always to be distinctly 
observed with the assistance of a good 
microscope. See Agaric, &c. 
VOL. III. 
FUR 
These plants, particularly the powder of 
the lycoperdon, puff-ball, mixed into a paste 
with white of egg, are very astringent, and 
of familiar use for stopping violent haemorr- 
hages. As a vegetable food they are, at 
best suspicious. Several fungi are rank 
poison. Agaric is an excrescence found 
upon the trunks and large branches of seve- 
ral 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 dying black ; the latter 
is covered with a yellow bark, and white 
within : it tastes sweet at first, but becomes 
bitter after being held a short time in the 
mouth. This is the sort used in medicine. 
FUR, or Furr, in commerce. See Furr. 
FURIA, in natural history, a genus of 
the Vermes Intestina class and order, hav- 
ing a body linear, equal, filiform, and ciliate, 
each side with a single row of reflected 
prickles, pressed close to the body : one 
species only is mentioned by Gmeliu, 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 entered, which is frequently 
succeeded by excruciating pains, inflamma- 
tion, and even death. This fatal termina- 
tion takes no length of time, a few hours, 
or a day, being sufficient for the whole pro- 
cess, unless the animal be almost instantly 
extracted by means of the knife or a milk 
poultice. 
FURLING, in the sea-language, signifies 
the wrapping up and binding any sail close 
to the yard ; which is done by hauling upon 
the clew lines, bunt lines, &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 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 
tlie later ages that the furrs of beasts be s 
R 
