Floyd
JOHN BUCHANAN, an American statesman; born in Blacksburg, Va., June 1, 1807; was admitted to the bar in 1828; served in the Virand ginia Legislature several terms; was governor of the State in 1850-1853. In 1857 President Buchanan appointed him Secretary of War. While in the cabinet he was detected in the act of stripping the Northern arsenals of arms and ammunition, and indicted by the grand jury of the District of Columbia as being privy to the abstracting of $870,000 in bonds from the Department of the Interior. He fled, however, to Virginia, where, at the close of 1860, he was commissioned a general in the Confederate army. In that capacity he was driven from West Virginia by General Rosecrans. The night before the surrender of Fort Donelson he stole away in the darkness, throwing the responsibility of surrendering on a subordinate officer, and, being censured by the Confederate government, never afterward He died near Ab served in the army. ingdon, Va., Aug. 26, 1863.
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Fluid Alloy
Important: Safety Warning This page describes trade processes that use dangerously toxic materials such as cyanide solutions, mercury amalgams, or strong acids. These processes require training, equipment, and precautions far beyond what the text describes. This information has been left in for historical purposes but should not be acted upon. If sodium 4, potassium 2 1/2, be mixed together, an alloy having the appearance and consistency of mercury will result, which remains liquid at the ordinary temperatures like that metal. See MERCURY; ALLOY; SODIUM.
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Fluorescein
C20H12O5. An important dye-stuff, occurring as dark-red crusts, almost insoluble in water, but readily soluble in alkalies and in alcohol. Its alkaline solutions are dark reddish-brown in color, and when diluted show a remarkable yellowish-green fluorescence, to which the material owes its It is prepared by heating toname. gether phthalic anhydride and resorcinol. As a dye, fluorescein has only a limited application, as the yellow color which it produces on wool and silk is not permanent. It is used largely, however, in admixture with other dyes to produ produce fluorescence in the dyed material. The important dye Eosin is made from fluorescein.
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Fluorescence
in optics, a quality which exists in the rays of light by which, in certain circumstances, they undergo a change of refrangibility. Hence, Hence, certain solutions which, when viewed by transmitted light, are colorless, become bluish under reflected light. Fluorescence was discovered by Stokes in 1852. FLUORINE. A very pale yellow gas, atomic weight 19, molecular weight 38, density (compared to air = 1) 1.31. It does not occur in the free state, but its compounds (fluorides) are found in abundance; the best known being fluorspar and chrysolite. It is considered to It be the most active of the elements. decomposes water with formation of hydrofluoric acid, oxygen and ozone; all metals are attacked by the gas, some taking fire in it, spontaneously, and many other elements combine with it with incandescence. It is prepared by the electrolysis of a solution of potassium fluoride in anhydrous hydrofluoric acid, hydrogen being evolved at the kathode and fluorine at the anode.
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Fluoroscope
a device invented by T. A. Edison for use in making observations of the influence of the X-rays.
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Flute, Charm of the
The flute is often mentioned in history as being used for the purpose of charming animals, and the serpent seems to have been peculiarly delighted with its music. It is said that adders will swell at the sound of the flute, raising themselves up, twisting about and keeping proper time. A Spanish writer says that in India he had often seen the Gentiles leading about enchanted serpents, making them dance to the sound of a flute, putting them round their necks, and touching them without harm; and to this day a musical instrument of this nature is used by the snake-charmers of that country. In opposition to this, Hippocrates mentions a man, Nicanor, who fainted whenever he heard the sound of a flute.
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Flux, Fourth Wheel & Full Plate
Flux A mixture or compound to promote the fusion of metals; used in assaying, refining and soldering, as alkalies, borax, etc. Fourth Wheel The wheel that imparts motion to the escape pinion, the second hand being attached to the wheel. Full Plate A term applied to movements having a full top plate and the balance above the plate.
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Fluxion
in medicine, an unnatural flow or determination of blood or other humor toward any organ; a catarrh. In mathematics, a method of calculation re resulting from the operation of fluents, or flowing numbers.
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Fly Catchers
the Musicapidæa, an extensive family of birds, order Insessores, represented in North America by about 30 species. As their name implies, the fly catchers prey on insects, which they seize in mid-air. They have the beak horizontally depressed, and armed with bristles at its base, with the point more or less decurved and emarginated. The value of the insectivorous family of birds to man is incalculable. One of the best types of fly catchers is that presented by the tyrant fly catcher, king bird or bee martin, Muscicapa Tyrannus, or Tyrannus Carolinensis. This bird is peculiar to America E. of the Rocky Mountains. It is 8 inches in length, and 14 in extent of wing. The general color of the upper parts is a dark bluish-gray, inclining to dull slate-black, on the head of which the central feathers along the crown form a gorgeous orange patch. The European species, Muscicapa grisola, the beam bird or bee bird, is distinguished from any other by having much more slender bills, with shorter bristles at the gape. FLYING SQUIRREL
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Fly or Fan
A fan having two blades, used for preserving the uniformity of motion, as in music-boxes and the striking mechanism of clocks. The resistance of the air on the fan blades prevents the train from accelerating.
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Fly Shooter
a moon-shaped fish a foot long, found in the fresh waters of India and the Asiatic Islands. It is noted for the skillful way in which it secures flies. When it observes a fly sitting on a bush above the water, it ejects a drop of water through its tubular snout with such good aim as to knock the fly into the water, which, it is needless to say, is the end of the fly. Fly shooters are often kept in glass aquaria for the sake of the amusement it affords to watch their tactics when flies alight within reach of a jet of water.
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