is consumed, as in breweries, distilleries, and the like. In such works, it is evidently worth while to contrive the furnaces so that heat may be obtained from the volatile parts of the fuel, as well as from the fixed; for when this is done, less fuel serves the purpose than would otherwise be necessary. But this is little attended to, or ill understood in many of those manufactories. It is not uncommon to see vast clouds of black smoke and vapour coming out of their vents. This happens in consequence of their throwing too large a quantity of crude fuel, into the furnace at once. The heat is not sufficient to inflame it quickly, and the consequence is a great loss of heat. See LABORATORY, FUGUE, in music, signifies a composition, in which one part leads off some determined succession of notes called the subject, which after being answered in the fifth and eighth by the other parts, is interspersed through the movement, and distributed amid all the parts in a desultory manner at the pleasure of the composer. There are three distinct descriptions of fugues, the simple, which contains but one subject; the double, that which consists of two subjects; and the counter fugue, is that in which the subjects move in a direction contrary to each other. FUIRENA, in botany, so named in memory of George Fifiren, a genus of the Triandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Calamariæ. Cyperoidea, Jussieu. Essential character: ament imbricate, with awned scales; calyx none; corolla with three-petal shaped obcordate glumes, ending in a tendril. There is but one species, viz. F. paniculata, a lofty grass. Native of Surinam and Jamaica. FULCRUM, in mechanics, the prop or support, by which a lever is sustained. See MECHANICS. FULGORA, in natural history, lanternfly, a genus of insects of the order Hemiptera. Head hollow, inflated, extended forward; antennæ short, seated beneath the eyes, consisting of two joints, the outer one larger and globular; snout elongated, inflected, four-jointed; legs formed for walking. There are about 25 species, almost inhabitants of hot climates. Mr. Donovan has described the F. Europæa; the body of which is green; wings hyaline, reticulate; front conic. This is a small insect, and destitute of the shining quality, by which foreign species are distinguished. But the F. lanternaria, or Peruvian lantern fly is one of the most curious of insects, it is three inches long, and the breadth between the tips of the expanded wings is about five or six inches. This beautiful insect is a native of Surinam and other parts of South America, and during the night it diffuses so strong a phosphoric splendor from its head, which is nearly as large as the rest of the body, that it may be employed for the purpose of a candle or torch. FULICA, the gallinule and the coot, in natural history, a genus of birds of the order Grallæ. Generic character: bill strong, thick, and sloping to the point; upper mandible arched over the lower at the edge, and reaching far up the forehead; nostrils nearly oval; front bald; toes four, long and furnished with broad scalloped membranes. There are twenty-five species. F.atra-coot, is distinguished from the galli. nule by pinnated feet. It inhabits Europe, Asia, and America, and is about the size of a small fowl. It feeds on small fish and water-insects, is common in some parts of this country at all seasons, but in the breeding season is seen almost always in pairs, about the borders of ponds and lakes well fringed with rushes, of which it mats itself a large nest, said to be often observed floating on the water. These birds are devoured when young by the buzzards, which infest their haunts, and prevent them from that great multiplication which might be otherwise expected. Rallus crex, or the crake gallinule, is found in various parts of Europe, and is particularly abundant in Ireland, where it is supposed by Latham to winter. Wherever quails are, the crake is to be met with. It runs fast, but flies with great awkwardness, with its legs hanging down. Its food is grain and insects. On its arrival in England, where it is migratory, it is poor and emaciated, but fattens afterwards with great rapidity, and is esteemed excellent for the table. Its full weight is about eight ounces. F. porphyrio or the purple water hen, occurs in almost all the warmer latitudes of the globe. It is of the size of a fowl; in Sicily is kept merely for its beauty, and in Persia exhibits its greatest elegance of plumage. It is tamed with great ease, and will feed very quietly in the farm-yard on grain or roots, but is particularly fond of fishes, which it plunges in the water before it takes them to its mouth. Standing on one leg it employs the other as a hand in many cases, particularly in lifting its food to its mouth, in the same manner as a par- dually in bulk, and falls into a fine soft rot. F. chloropus, or the common water-hen, is found in various parts of England, haunting the borders of ponds and rivers, which abound in weeds, and breeding twice in a season. It flies aukwardly, but runs and swims well. Its flesh is thought excellent, and its general weight is about fifteen ounces. Rallus Carolinus, or the American water-hen, is as large as a quail. In the beginning of autumn these birds are found in Virginia in extreme abundance. From a state of perfect leanness they speedily become so fat as to be incapable of flying, and are knocked off the reeds of the marshes by the paddles of the Indians, who make pleasurable excursions in their canoes for this purpose, and in the course of one night a party will take ten or twelve hundred of them. They are extremely admired for food, and supply part of the daily repast of every planter during their short season. Rallus parzana, or the spotted gallinula, is found in Cumberland, and supposed to be migratory. It is fond of solitude, and unless in breeding time, almost always alone. Its haunts are similar to those of the common water-hen. Its nest is built in the form of a boat, and tied or fixed to reeds to prevent its being carried off by the water. Its young run as soon as they are hatched. For the great coot, see Ayes, Plate VII. fig. 4. FULIGO, in botany, a genus of the Cryptogamia Fungi class and order. Fungus with a cellular fibrous bark; the fibres penetrating in a reticulate manner through the seminal mass. FULLER, a workman employed in the woollen manufactories, to mill, or scour, cloths, serges, and other stuffs, in order to render them more thick, compact, and durable. FULLER'S earth, in natural history, a soft, greyish, brown, dense, and heavy marle : when dry, it is of a greyish, ash-coloured brown, in all degrees from very pale to almost black, and it has generally something of a greenish cast: it is very hard and firm, of a compact texture, of a rough and some what dusty surface, that adheres slightly to the tongue it is very soft to the touch, not staining the hands, nor breaking easily between the fingers: it has a little harshness between the teeth, and melts freely in the mouth thrown into water, it makes no ebullition, or hissing, but swells gra Fuller's earth is not now in so much request in the country as it was formerly, owing to the almost general use of soap. In England it is found in beds, covered by, and resting upon, that peculiar sand-stone formation, which accompanies and serves as the foundation to chalk: its colour is yellowish grey, with a faint tinge of green. It is found in Hampshire, Bedfordshire, and in Surrey. FULLING, the art or act of cleansing, scouring, and pressing cloths, stuffs, and stockings, to render them stronger, closer, and firmer; called also milling. The fulling of cloths and other stuffs is performed by a kind of water-mill, thence called a fulling or scouring-mill. These mills, except in what relates to the mill-stones and hopper, are much the same with corn-mills: and there are even some which serve indifferently for either use; corn being ground, and cloths fulled, by the motion of the same wheel. Whence in some places, particu larly in France, the fullers are called millers; as grinding corn and milling stuffs at the same time. The method of fulling cloths and woollen stuffs with soap is this: a coloured cloth is to be laid in the usual manner in the trough of a fulling mill, without first soaking it in water, as is commonly practised in many places. To full this trough of cloth, 15 pounds of soap are required, one half of which is to be melted in two pails of river or spring water, made as hot as the hand can well bear it. This solution is to be poured by little and little upon the cloth, in proportion as it is laid in the trough; and thus it is to be fulled for at least two hours; after which it is to be taken out and stretched. This done, the cloth is immediately returned into the same trough, without any new soap, and then fulled two hours more. Then taking it out, they wring it well, to express all the grease and filth. After the second fulling, the remainder of the soap is dissolved as in the former, and cast four different times on the cloth, remembering to take out the cloth every two hours to stretch it, and undo the plaits and wrinkles it has acquired in the trough. When they perceive it sufficiently fulled, and brought to the quality and thickness required, they scour it in water, keeping it in the trough till it is quite clean. As to white cloths, as these full more easily and in less time than coloured ones, a third part of the soap may be spared. FULMINATION, in chemistry, differs from detonation only in degree, they are both the effects, of rapid decomposition accompanied by a loud noise, either with or without flame. See GOLD, MERCURY, POWDER, SILVER. FUMARIA, in botany, English fumitory, a genus of the Diadelphia Hexandria class and order. Natural order of Corydales. Papaveraceæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx two-leaved; corolla ringent; filaments two, membranaceous, with three anthers on each. There are fifteen species. FUMIGATION, in medicine, a process by means of which the nitrous and other mineral acids, in a state of vapour, is dispersed through the apartments of those who lie sick of infectious fevers. This method of destroying contagion, in crowded places, was first brought into practice by Dr. Carmichael Smyth, who having given some striking proofs of its efficacy received a reward from parliament. When this fumigation is undertaken on board ships, the ports and scuttles are closed, a number of pipkins, containing hot sand, are procured, and into each is plunged a small tea cup, containing half an ounce of sulphuric acid. As soon as the acid is properly heated an equal quantity of pulverised nitre is added, and the mixture stirred with a glass rod. The vapour resulting from the decomposition of nitre ascends, and is by the nurses conducted to every part of the apartment, which not only abates the malignity of the fever, but effectually stops the progress of infection. In a late volume of the "Annales de Chemie," we have some striking facts of the efficacy of fumigation, according to the method of M. Guyton de Morveau, who makes use of sulphuric acid, sea-salt, and manganese. It has been tried, and com pletely succeeded in stopping the progress of the rot among sheep: it has destroyed the putrid odours arising from meat in the worst possible state, as well as having been eminently successful in the cure of the most alarming fevers, and preventing the effects of contagion. FUNARIA, in botany, a genus of the Cryptogamia Musci class and order. Capsule obovate; fringe double; outer, of 16 oblique wedge-form teeth, cohering at the tips; inner, a membrane divided into 16 flat teeth; veil square. There are three species. FUNCTION, in algebra, denotes any compound quantity; and when one of the component quantities is variable it is said to be a variable function. Functions are formed either by addition, subtraction, multiplication, division, involution, or evolution; as also by the resolution of equations. But besides these, which are called algebraical functions, there are others called transcendental, arising from the management of exponents, logarithms, &c. FUNDS, public, the taxes or other public revenues appropriated to the payment of the interest or principal of the national debt. When the expedient of borrowing large sums for the public service was first adopted, it was found necessary to set apart and assign to the lender the produce of some branch of the revenue supposed to be adequate to the payment of the interest or principal, or both, according to the terms of the contract; each loan had thus a separate fund provided for it, which was usually distinguished by the date of the transaction, the rate per cent. payable, or some circumstance relating to the mode of raising the money or the purpose to which it was to be applied. These separate funds sometimes produced more than the yearly payments with which they were charged, but more frequently fell short of them, and as making good the deficiencies of some, from the surpluses of others, or from the current supplies, created much trouble and useless intricacy in the management of the public finances, it was found more convenient to combine several of the funds, and to charge the payments for which they had been set apart on the aggregate produce of the several duties. It then became necessary to give a more general denomination to the fund; and thus have been established, at different periods, the Aggregate Fund, the South Sea Fund, the General Fund, the Sinking Fund, and the Consoli dated Fund. The Aggregate Fund was established in the year 1715, and had this name given to it, because it consisted of a great variety of taxes and surpluses of taxes, which were in that year consolidated, and given as the security for discharging the interest and principal of all the Exchequer bills then outstanding, and of some other public debts; and likewise for the payment of 120,000l. per annum to the civil list. The South Sea Fund was established in 1716, and was so called because appropriated to pay the interest and allowance for management on the capital of the South Sea Company. The General Fund was also established in 1716, by making perpetual various duties which had been granted for the term of thirty-two years, and consolidating them with some other duties into one fund. It was appropriated chiefly to the payment of the interest on various sums raised by lotteries during the reign of Queen Anne. The Sinking Fund consisted of the surpluses of the three funds just mentioned, whenever the produce of the taxes composing them should be greater than the charges upon them. The establishment of these funds formed part of a plan for a general reduction of the interest payable on the public debts, and this being effected, the charge on each of the three funds was of course lessened considerably, and the future overplus was directed to be carried into a fourth fund, to which was given the name of the Sinking Fund, because appropriated to the purpose of redeeming or sinking the public debts. The act of parliament by which this fund was established, expressly ordained that it should be applied to the discharge of the public debts, and “ to or for none other use, intent, or purpose whatsoever;" yet in the course of a few years many encroachments were made upon it, and ultimately it became a mere nominal distinction, the whole produce of it being usually taken towards the supplies of the curent year. The Consolidated Fund was established in consequence of a new arrangement of the public accounts in the year 1786, when the funds abovementioned were abolished, and the whole of the public revenue, (except the annual grants) included under this general head. Out of this fund are paid the interest and expenses of management of all the public debts, the interest on Exchequer bills, the civil list, pensions to the royal family and others, salaries and allowances to various public officers, and some miscellaneous annual expenses. The surplus of the produce of the fund, after satisfying all these charges, is annually granted by parliament as part of the ways and means for raising the supplies voted. Hence, it appears, that the public funds are properly the provision which has been made for payment of the interest or principal of the public debts; but as the possession of the acknowledgment given by government for the money borrowed, established a right to receive the payments from the fund on which the loan was originally charged, the sale of these securities was considered as the sale of a portion of that particular fund, and as the acknowledgments given were of different kinds, the general appellation of the provision on which they rested was found more convenient for purposes of business. Thus the sale and purchase of government securities was commonly called the sale and purchase of the public funds, till, in the course of time, the expression has so far varied from its original signification, that, instead of meaning the revenue out of which the interest of the public debts is payable, it denominates the capital of the debts, in which sense it is now commonly used. Thus, the possession of 10001. in the public fiands, is understood to mean 1000l. capital, bearing a certain rate of interest at 3, 4, or 5 per cent. per annum, according to the original terms of the loan. The debts bearing a certain rate of interest payable till the principal shall be redeemed, are denominated, in the language of finance, perpetual annuities, or redeemable annuities, but, in the common course of business, they are called funds or stocks: a small part of the public debts consist of annuities for a certain term of years, commonly called long or short annuities: there are also some life and tontine annuities still existing; but the whole of the terminable annuities bears a very small proportion to the permanent debts. The perpetual annuities are distinguished according to the rate of interest they pay, or the time or purpose of their creation; and when by a new loan government contracts an additional debt, bearing a certain fixed interest, the capital thus created is added to the amount of that part of the public debt which bears the same rate of interest, and the produce In these several funds, but particularly in the Consolidated 3 per Cents., which is by far the greatest in amount, much business is transacted daily both at the Bank and at the Stock Exchange, a building erected expressly for the buyers and sellers of the public funds to assemble in. Persons having occasion to invest money in the funds, usually employ a broker, who finds a seller of the stock wanted, and having agreed upon the price, delivers the particulars of the transfer to be made to a clerk in the proper office at the Bank, and fills up a receipt to be signed by the seller for the money paid. The transaction is completed in a short time, with very little trouble to the parties, and this facility of buying into or selling out of the funds induces many persons to lay out their money therein in preference to all other securities. The transfer from the seller to the buyer is made free of all expence to the parties, on all the government funds; but transfers of the funds of any company or society are Mon. Wed. and Fr........{January 5, and July 5. Tues. Th. and Sat..........? January 5, and July 5. April 5, and 10. liable to a duty. Transfers are made at the Bank between the hours of eleven and one o'clock; but may be made till three o'clock on payment of a small fee to the clerks. Besides the business which arises from the continual sale and purchase of property in the funds, a species of gambling has been engrafted on the fluctuations of their current price, commonly termed stock-jobbing. This consists principally in making contracts for stock, to be fulfilled some weeks or months after, without any payment or transfer being made at the time, and generally without an intention of any transfer of stock being made at all; the object of the transaction being merely to pay or receive the difference between the current price of stock at the time of making the bargain, and the price it may be at on the day fixed for settling the account. Bargains of this nature are expressly declared by an act of 7 and 8 Geo. II. to be null and void to all intents and purposes whatsoever, and persons concerned in them are in some cases |