Flammarion
CAMILLE (flä-märe-ôn'), a French astronomer, writer on descriptive astronomy, and "astronomical novelist"; born in Montigny-le-Roi, Haute-Marne, France, Feb. 25, 1842. He was designed by his parents for the Church, but went over to science, and by a long course of writings of a more or less popular character made his name widely known. "The Plurality of the wi Inhabited Worlds" (1862); "Celestial Wonders" (1865); 1865); "The Atmosphere" ); "Urania" (1889); "The Planet (1872 Mars and Its Habitability" (1892); "Popular Astronomy" (1894); and "Lumen" (1897), "Thunder and Lightning" (1906), "Mysterious Psychic Forces" (1907), etc., are among his best known works.
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Flank
one of the two parts of the body which enable it to bend; the part of the side of an animal between the ribs and the hip. As a military term, body of troops; either side of a the extremities of a body of soldiers in line, or the sides of a column, being termed the right and left flanks respectively. In any defense work, it is applied to that part from which a fire may be directed against the side or flank attacking party. Thus, the flanks of an ramof a bastion are those parts of the part and parapet which connect its faces with the extremities of the curtains of the enceinte on either side of it. A fire from the flanks is effective in preventing an attacking party from effecting a lodgment at the foot of the curtain that lies between them, which might be done with comparative cative ease and security if these portions of the work did not exist. A fire from the flanks of any bastion enfilades the ditch at the foot of the curtain. In architecture, the side of any building. In machinery, the straight part of the tooth of a wheel which receives the impulse. Flanks, in farriery, a wrench, strain, or other injury received by a horse in the back.
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Flannagan
JOHN, an American sculptor; born at Newark, N. J. He studied under Augustus Saint-Gaudens and in Paris. Among the most important works executed by him were the monumental clock in the Library of Congress; a bronze relief at the Newark Public Library; and a number of portrait busts and heads. He was awarded many medals for the excellence of his work, and was an associate of the National Academy and a member of the National Sculpture Society. FLAT. In music, a character of the form b, which depresses the note before which it is placed, a chromatic semitone. Thus Do signifies a semi-tone below D natural. On keyed instruments the short keys are the representatives of these flats and sharps. An accidental flat is one which, though not occurring at the commencement of the staff, is inserted in any other part of it, and only affects the bar in which it is placed. A flat fifth is an interval of a fifth depressed by a flat.
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Flat-head Nails
Nails of malleable cast iron with extra-large heads, and from 1 1/2 to 6 inches long, suitable for chaplets. They are also useful in a foundry for many other purposes. See CHAPLET.
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Flathead
or SALISH, INDIANS, in the State of Washington, a tribe inhabiting the region between lat. 48° and 50° N., and lon. 117° and 121° W. They are so named on account of a practice formerly prevalent among them, of flattening the heads of their infants by artificial means. The custom, it is said, has been abandoned by this tribe, though it still exists among several neighboring tribes, to whom the name of Flathead is not generally given. They are short of stature, and badly formed, with wide mouth, thick nose and lips, and large nostrils.
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Flaubert
GUSTAV (flō-bar'), a French novelist; born in Rouen, France, Dec. 12, 1821. His greatest novel was his first, "Madame Bovary" (1857). He next wrote a historical novel, "Salammbo," the scene laid in the most flourishing period of Carthage; "The History of a Young Man" (1869)"; "The Temptation of St. Anthony" (1874), and "Three Stories" (1877). The posthumous novel "Bouvard and Pécuchet" (1881) is a satire on humanity in general. His comedy "The Candidate" (1874) failed on the stage. He died in Rouen, May 8, 1880.
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Flavia Gens
Celebrated as the house to which the emperor Vespasian belonged. During the later period of the Roman empire the name Flavius descended from one emperor to another, Constantius, the father of Constantine the Great, being the first in the series.
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Flax Brake
a machine for removing the woody and cellular portion of flax from the fibrous. Also a machine for shortening flax staple to adapt it to be worked by a given class of machines.
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Flaxman
JOHN, an English sculp tor and draughtsman; born in York, England, July 6, 1755. His father was a figure-molder. The son, from his earliest years, exhibited and cultivated his talent for designing, and was also attracted by the picturesque conceptions of Greek mythology. He began to study at the Royal Academy in 1770, earning for some time a living by making designs for Wedgwood, the potter, and other persons. He went to Italy in 1787, and during the seven years he spent there, his wife accompanying him, he acquired the highest reputation by three series of designs, the illustrations to Homer, Æschylus, and Dante. He was chosen A. R. A. in 1797, and Professor of Sculpture in 1810. The monument to Lord Mansfield in Westminster Abbey, the group of "Cephalus and Aurora," "Psyche," the group of the "Archangel Michael and Satan," are among his best works. The monuments to Nelson Howe, and Reynolds in St. Paul's are by his hand. One of his latest and finest productions is the "Shield of Achilles." He died in London, Dec. 7, 7, 1826. The sculptures and sketches of Flaxman are exhibited in a gallery, called the "Flaxman Hall," at University College, London.
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Flaxman, John
John (1755-1826), an English sculptor. He was born at York and died at London. Flaxman assisted his father in the manufacture of plaster casts and images for sale in a shop in Covent Garden . He learned to read Greek and Latin out of a desire to read up on the figures he was making. At fifteen years of age he won attention from the Royal Academy by exhibiting a wax model of Neptune. He then went to Italy to study. He was elected a member of the Royal Academy in 1800. Flaxman designed ornaments for Wedgewood's noted wares, and also the statues of Nelson, Howe, and Reynolds in St. Paul's. He designed a series of figures to illustrate the Odyssey, Dante, and Aeschylus. He is remembered best as the designer of Achilles' shield, which gives his conception of the shield as it is described by Homer. The Flaxman Museum of University College, London, contains a number of original models and drawings. Flaxman's lectures on sculpture, delivered in the Royal Academy, appeared in book form after his death, and have passed through successive editions.
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