321 
F E R 
the feoffee, becaufe the po(fe(fon is not a finally delivered 
to him, blit only a licence or power given him by the 
feoffor to take poff'eflion of it ; and therefore, if either 
t lie feoffor or feoffee die before livery, and entry made by 
the feoffee, the livery within the view becomes ineffec¬ 
tual and void. Co. Litt. 48. b. A deed of feoffment is made 
by the words, have granted, bargained, enfeoffed,- &c. 
' FE'ORME,/! [Saxon. ] A certain portion of.viCtunls or 
other neceflaries which the tenants of lands formerly gave 
to the owner or lord . 
FE'OU-CHAN, a town of China, of the third rank, in 
the province of Chan-fi : twenty miles eaff-fouth-eaft of 
Pin-yang. 
FERABA'T, or Ferabad, a town of Perfia in the 
province of Mezanderan, fituated near thetauth coaft of 
the Cafpian Sea; containing about 16, coo inhabitants, 
principally descendants of the Georgians and Armenians, 
who are aCtive, lively, and induffrious: the environs pro¬ 
duce fugar, cotton, and filk : ninety leagues north of If- 
pahan, and forty-two weft of Afrarabat. 
FERA'CITY, f. [feracitas, Lat.] Fruitfulnefs ; fer¬ 
tility. 
F.E'RiE,/. [Lat. wild.] In natural hiffory, an order of 
animals belonging to the clafs Mammalia ; the characters 
of which are as follow .- fore-teeth conic, utaally fix in each 
jaw ; tufks longer ; grinders with conic projections ; feet 
with claws ; claws tabulate ; food, carcafes, and preying 
on other animals. This order contains ten genera, viz. 
1. Phoca, the feal. 2. Canis, the dog, wolf, fox, hy¬ 
ena, Sec. 3. Felis, the lion, tiger, leopard, panther, 
cat, lynx, &c. 4. Viverra, the ichneumon, tame of 
the weal’els, civet-cat, &c. 5. Mustela, the otter, 
weafels, ferret, polecat, float, marten, Sec. 6. Ursus, 
the bear, badger, wolverene, Sec. 7. Didelphis, the 
opoffum, kangaroo, jerboa, & c. 8 . Talpa, the mole. 
9. Sorex, the fhrew. 10. Erinaceus, the hedge-hog : 
for particulars of which, and figures of the animals, lee 
under their reSpeCtive heads,-in this work. 
FE'R/E NATU'RiE, beafts and birds that are wild, 
in oppofition to the tame ; Inch as foxes, wild-geefe, and 
the like,'wherein no man may claim a property, unlefs 
under particular circumftances, as where they are con-- 
fined, or made tame, Sec. See Game. 
FE'RAL, adj. [[feralis, Lat.] Funeral; deadly. 
FE'RAI. SIGNS, in aftrology; Leo, and the laff 
part of Sagittary : alta the Moon is faid to be feral, when, 
being feparated from one planet, fhe applies to no other, 
while fire continues in the fame iign. 
FERA'LI A, a feftival in honour of the dead, obferved 
at Rome the 17th or 21ft of February. It continued for 
eleven days, during which time prefects were carried to 
the graves of the deceafed, marriages were forbidden, 
and the temples of the gods were flint. It was univer¬ 
sally believed that the names of their departed friends 
came and hovered over their graves, and feafted upon 
the provifions that the hand of piety and a,Section had 
procured for them. Their puniftunents in the infernal 
regions were fuppofed alta to be tafpended ; and during 
that time they enjoyed reft and liberty. 
FERAN'ZA. See Ferenza. 
FERAS'TAK, a town of Egypt: fourteen milestauth- 
tauth-eall of Foua. 
FER'BAR, or Faraber, a town of Bukharia, on the 
river Gihon. 
FER'BER (John James), an eminent Svvediffi mine- 
ralogiff, born at Carlfcrona, in 1743. He received a good 
education under the care of his father, who was afleltar 
of the roval college of medicine; and his comprehenfive 
mind taon embraced every thing that belongs to the pro¬ 
vince of natural philotaphy. At a very early period of 
his life, Von Swaab, a member of the council of mines, 
and an able mineralogift, gave him leave to be prefent 
during his chemical proceffes tar allaying metals; ' and, 
in 1760, he repaired to Upfal, where he improved liim- 
felf- further under the inftruCtions of Wallerius. Cron- 
Vol. VII. No. 429. 
F E R 
Siadt, Linrfieus, and other men of eminence. He refided 
alfo at the obferv<Ttory with Mallet the aftronomer, and 
under his directions ftudied the mathematics and aftro- 
nomy.- He profited ta much by the leCtures of Linnaeus, 
and the botanical excurfions which he undertook, that, 
in 1763, he difputed De Prolcpf Plantarum. He entered 
about the fame time into an intimate friendfhip with the 
celebrated Bergman, whofe Sciagraphia Regni Minerals he 
afterwards publifhed. In the above year_he left Upfal, 
got an appointment in the college of mines, made a tour 
through thofe provinces of Sweden where the principal 
mines.are fituated, and afterwards Wrote at Carlfcrona his 
Diarirnn. Florae Carolicoronenfis, in confequence of which he 
received an honorary mark of distinction from the royal 
academy of fciences at Stockholm. In 1765, he fet out 
on his trayels. He firft proceeded to Germany, and re- 
fided tame time at Berlin, where he ftudied chemistry 
under Pott and Marcgraaf; he made a confiderable ftay 
alta at I.eipfic, after which he vifited the German mines 
in the Hartz foreft, in the Palatinate, Bavaria, Naffau, 
Auftria, &c. then the mines in Bohemia, and particu¬ 
larly th-ota in Hungary, where he formed an acquaintance 
with the celebrated Born. He next proceeded to France 
and Holland, and thence to England,- where he explored 
the mines'of Cornwall and Derbyshire. While he re¬ 
mained in England, tame thoughts were entertained of 
engaging him to undertake a voyage to the South Sea 
with Mr. now fir Jofeplt, Banks, and Dr. Solander. Of 
almoft all the mines he vifited, and the countries he tra¬ 
velled through, he wrote valuable .'deferiptions, which 
were publifhed either by himfelf or his friends, or by 
tame of thofe learned bodies of which he was a member. 
They have all met with the approbation -.of'mineralo¬ 
gists; but his, letters on Italy,..published by his friend 
Born, are particularly-intereSting. After Ills return to 
Sweden, he was invite'd, in 1774, by the duke of Cour- 
land, to be profeftar of experimental philotaphy and. na¬ 
tural b.iffory in the high fchool of Mittau, which that 
prince had effabliflied. Here he remained.till 1783, when 
he removed to Petersburg to be. profettar of the'natural 
fciences, in confequence of an inyitation from the emprefs 
Catharine, who even offered him the direction of all the 
mines in Siberia; but he declined this office on accouivt- 
of the ftate of his health, whiclr was not Eli ited to the 
cold of that fevere climate. In 1786, he entered into the 
Service of Pruffia; and, in 1788, made a tour through 
Anfpach and Deux-Ponts to Swifferland, and thence to 
France. The obfervations he collected on this occasion, 
were publifhed partly by himfelf in two fmall works, and 
partly by Manuel, a Swifs, who had accompanied hinx 
during this mineralogical excurfion, in Hopfner’s Maga¬ 
zine for the Natural Hiffory of Helvetia. In confequence 
of a requeft made by the magistrates of Berne, he under¬ 
took a fecond journey of the fame fame kind, with the con- 
fent of his Pruffian majeffy; but in the month of September, 
that year, he was attacked during an excurfion among the 
mountains in Millithabby a ftroke ofhpoplexy, with which 
he had often been threatened, and being conveyed to Berne, 
lie died there, in the tarty.feventh year of his age. His 
principal works are: 1. Bricfe aus IVelfchland, rider natur- 
liche mer/e IViirdigkeiten diefes Landes, Sec^ Letters from Italy 
refpeCting the mod remarkable natural Productions of 
that Country, addrefted to the editor, J. E. von Born, 
Prague, 1773, 8vo. 2. Breitage zu der Mineralgefchichte von 
Bo/iinen -; Collections towards a Hittory of the Minerals of 
Bohemia; Berlin, 1774, Svo., with two plates : an excel¬ 
lent contribution towards the mineralogical hiftory of 
the earth in general, and of the Kingdom of Bohemia in 
particular, 3. Bcfckrcibung d(S Queckflbcrgwerkszu Idria, &c. 
A Defcription of the Quicklilver Mines at Idria ; Berlin, 
1774, Svo. with three plates. 4. Bergmdnifche Nachrichien 
von den Mineralogifchcn Gcgendcn, &c. An Account of the 
Mines in the molt remarkable Mineralogical DiftriCts in 
the Countries of Deux-Ponts K the Palatinate, and Naffau ; 
Berlin, 1776, Svo, with two plates, 5. Verjiich cinerOryk- 
4 N tographii 
