Each of these 12 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.
a group of islands in the Red Sea, about 35 miles off the W. coast of Yemen. They include the two larger islands of Farsan Seghir, 18 miles in length, and Farsanel-Kebir, 25 miles in length. The islands are important chiefly for the pearl and coral fisheries. Dates and other fruit are also grown there. Prior to the World War Germany maintained a coaling station on one of these islands.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a British coin. The word means a "fourth part," i. e., of a penny, or half a cent. A halfpenny farthing is the fourth part of a halfpenny. In Matthew x:29, "Are not two sparrows sold for a farthing?" reference is made to a small Roman coin worth one-tenth of a Roman penny. Farthings were coined of silver at one time. Farthings were also made by cutting a penny twice crosswise. Copper farthings have been coined since 1665. See Coin ; Mint
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
a city of the Northwest provinces of India; the near Ganges; 83 miles N. W. of Cawnpur. It is a clean and healthy place, with a considerable trade, and a population (1901) of 67,338. The district of Farukhabad belongs to the alluvial plain of the Doab, the soil being for the most part high-lying, sandy, and infertile; are area, 1,719 square miles; pop. about 1,000,000. The most important crops are potatoes, indigo, and sugar-cane. The capital is Fatehgarh. The ruins of kingdom, still exist within the district. the capital of powerful Hindu
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a city in southern Italy. It is near the site of the ancient Roman city of Egnatia. It contains a city hall, which was the former palace of the Knights of St. John. Pop. op. about 20,000.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the most ancient insignia of of bundles of elm or birch rods, in the the Roman magistrates, consisting center of which was an ax. The custom borrowed from the Etruscans. was After the banishment of Tarquinius Superbus, the fasces were carried before the consuls by men called lictors; but this honor was granted to the consulmajor only. The consul and pro-consul had 12 lictors, each of whom carried a fasces; the dictator had 24, and when in Rome the ax was carried before him. The prætors of the towns had only 2 fasces; those of the provinces and the army 6. Under the empire the consuls, , had who were merely civil magistrates, es 12 fasces, while the pro-prætors and pro-consuls were allowed 6, and this lasted till the fall of Rome.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
in fortification, a cylindrical bundle of faggots or brushwood used in revetments of earthworks. When the limbs are stouter and longer than usual, it is called a saucisse or saucisson. In civil engineering fascines are used in making sea and river walls to protect shores subject to washing; or to collect sand, silt, and mud to raise the bottom and gradually form an island, either as a breakwater against inroads, or for purposes of cultivation, as in Holland.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
a term derived from the Roman fasces or bundle of rods surrounding an ax which symbolized ancient Roman authority. So-called Fasci di Combattimento were formed in Italy after the World War, being bands of exsoldiers organized on a military basis and animated by principles of assertive nationalism. In practice, their efforts were directed in particular to the forcible suppression of communism and communistic activities in the state. Their methods were those of actual warfare, in defiance and contempt of weak constituted authorities. The Italian Fascisti under Mussolini were finally successful, and their leader became premier.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
an English exhibition trick. At country fairs and the like an expert loops a string to and fro on a table, and invites rustics to bet that they can drive a skewer or a pen knife into the table through loops in such a way as to entangle the string. In case of a wager, the player seizes the string by the two ends and solemnly pulls it out straight. The rustic sees the loops run out one by one and realizes finally that he has been done out of his money. The rustic is playing at a game in which there is no chance to win. To "play fast and loose" with a person, then, is to lead him on in fancied security and worst him in the end.
Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia
in anatomy, an animal substance of a more or less oily character deposited in vesicles in adipose tissue. It forms a considerable layer under the skin, is collected in large quantity around certain organs, as, for instance, the kidneys, fills up furrows on the surface of the heart, surrounds joints, and exists in large quantity in the marrow of bones. It gives to the surface of the human frame its smooth, rounded contour. In chemistry, fats are glycerides of acids belonging to the fatty or acetic series and of acids belonging to the acrylic series, being the ethers of the triatomic alcohol glycerine. They are insoluble in water, but soluble in ether. They vary in consistence from a thin oil (olive oil) to a hard, greasy substance (suet). When fats are boiled with any caustic alkali they are decomposed, and yield an alkaline salt of the fatty acid (see SOAP), and GLYCERINE (q. v.). In printing, copy which affords light work, as blank or short pages or lines. The fat is in the fire: All is confusion, or all has failed.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
It was said at one time that the devil made use of human fat for his sorceries. The witches anointed themselves with this fat in order to go to the Sabbath by way of the chimney.
Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism
remarkable a aërial phenomenon observed from the harbor of Messina and adjacent places, and supposed by the Sicilians to be the work of the fairy Morgana. Objects are reflected sometimes on the surface of the sea, and sometimes on a kind of aërial screen to 30 feet above it.
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia
the doctrine that all things are ordered for men by the arbitrary decrees of God or the fixed laws of nature. In theology, it has given birth
Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia