Filter. Plate came clear at the surface. He then agitated the contents of this vessel, and left the coaly, saline, and aqueous particles to subside; afterwards passing it through proper strainers, when it became quite transparent and fit for use. The principle of the improved filtering machines consists in combining hydrostatic pressure with the mode of filtering per ascensum, which procures the peculiar advantage of causing the fluid and its sediment take opposite directions. The filtering surface remains the same, while the dimensions of the chamber in which the sediment is received may be varied. To adapt the machines to every purpose for which they are intended, chambers must be provided of various capacities, for the precipitated matter. The space required is very great with respect to the oil trade, and as all dimensions will be required occasionally, no particular limits can be fixed. For distilleries and breweries they may he smaller in proportion; and a very small chamber will be sufficient for domestic economy. If water is to be freed from noxious particles, it must be made to pass through an iron box in its way to the filtering chamber, and the box must contain charcoal finely powdered. The water is received into this box and delivered by two apertures, which are opened and closed by cocks. Another part of the invention consists in filtering machines in the form of stills, in which charcoal may be repeatedly burnt after any fluid substances have passed through it, for the purpose of freeing them from noxious particles, or discharging their colouring mat ter. To the filtering apparatus of Mr Collier, instruments are attached for discovering the comparative qualities of oils, which depend in some measure on their specific gravities; spermaceti oil, when compared with fish oils being as 875 to 920. To do this, a glass vessel of any shape most convenient is employed, with a glass bubble, and a thermometer. If the oil is pure, the bubble sinks, when the mercury rises to a particular standard. When spermaceti oil is pure, the bubble floats, though of the temperature required. To determine the tendency of oils used for burning to congeal in cold weather, a freezing mixture may be put into a phial of thin glass, into which let a thermometer be immersed, and a single drop of the oil permitted to fall on the outside of the vessel, where it will instantly congeal. As the cold produced by the mixture decreases, let the temperature be observed by the thermometer at which the oil becomes fluid, and runs down the side of the glass. The following is a short description of the apparatus CCXVII. contrived for this purpose. A (fig. 1. Plate CCXVII.) fg. 1. is the cistern, into which the water or other liquor to be filtered is put. B B, is a tube opening into the bottom of the cistern A, and being put along the bottom of the machine, conveying the fluid into CCC, the filtering chamber, which is covered with leather bound down round its circular rim, and through which leather the water is percolated. DD, The bason rising above the level of the chamber, and receiving the filtered liquor. E, The spout by which it runs off into a pitcher or other vessel. F, Another spout furnished with a cock to draw off the foul water from the chamber when necessary. GGG, The air tube, which begins above the level of the chamber, is covered with a button, 2 which saves the leather from being cut, and has a small Filter. lateral aperture for the air to be carried off. This pipe passes along the bottom and up the side, and rising above the level of the water in the cistern, is there closed, except a small lateral aperture through which the air escapes. H, A guard or rim with cross bars put over the leather, to keep it from being forced up by the water. It is fastened down by means of two notches on opposite sides of the ground, by which it locks into two staples rivetted into the bottom of the bason. I, The lid sliding down to cover the water from dust, and suspended at pleasure by means of KK, two springs on each tube for that purpose. LM NO, A cylindrical box containing charcoal, which is connected with the above by means of the tube P, and a continuation of the tube B. LM, The water tube B continued below the charcoal apparatus, so that the fluid may pass through the same into the cylinder, from whence it enters the chambers at P, so as to be filtered through the leather as before described. RR, Collars which may be unscrewed at pleasure, so as to detach the charcoal apparatus whenever the charcoal requires to be purified by heat. SS, Two cocks to direct the fluid through the charcoal cylinder or immediately into the filtering chamber. Fig. 2. A, A tub or cistern containing the oil to be Fig. 2. filtered, and supplying a tube of sufficient height for the hydrostatic pressure to operate. B B, A main tube of wood, tin, leather, or cloth, to which any number of bags, C C, of the size and shape of corn sacks, or any convenient size or shape, may be connected. These are bound to D D D, straight double iron bars, furnished with a binge at one end and a screw at the other, by opening which the bags may be emptied. F, A trough underneath, made to receive the filtered oil from the receivers E E E. Fig. 3. A, A funnel, cask, or cistern into which the Fig. 3fluid is put which passes down. B, A tube fitted into the same through which it enters. C, An iron still, or still of any other substance capable of sustaining heat, full of finely powdered and sifted charcoal, through the head of which the fluid passes into any receiver. D, A fire-place of any construction to drive over the fluid remaining interspersed among the charcoal, and also to purify the charcoal by an increase of temperature when required. E, A cock to let water into the flues to cool the apparatus for a subsequent operation. Fig. 4. The trial glass with its thermometer. FILTER is also a charm, supposed to have a virtue Fig. 4. of inspiring love. The word is derived from λlgor, which signifies the same thing, of Pix, amo, love.” The Greeks, when their love was without success, had several arts to procure the affections of their beloved. The Thessalian women were famous for their skill in this as well as other magical practices. The means whereby it was effected were of divers sorts; it was sometimes done by potions called plex, which are frequently mentioned in authors of both languages. Juvenal speaks thus: Hic magicus affert cantus, hic Thessala vendit Philtra, quibus valeant mentem vexare mariti. Their operations were violent and dangerous, and commonly deprived such as drank them of their reason. Plutarch Filter 0 Pinch. Plutarch and Cornelius Nepos report that Lucullus the Roman general first lost his reason, and afterwards his life, by one of them. Lucretius the poet ended his life by the same way; and Caius Caligula, as Suetonius reports, was driven into a fit of madness by a filter given him by his wife Casonia, which story is mentioned by the same poet. Ovid likewise assures us, that this was the usual effect of such potions. The ingredients they were made of were of various sorts; several of which applied by themselves were thought effectual. FILTRATION, the act of passing any liquor through a filter, called also colature, percolation, and transcolation. See FILTER. FIMBRIÆ, Fringes. The extremities or borders of the tube Fallopiane were formerly so called; the word signifying a fringed border, which that part resembles. FIMBRIATED, in Heraldry, an ordinary with a narrow border or hem of another tincture. FIN, in Natural History, a well known part of fishes, consisting of a membrane supported by rays, or little bony or cartilaginous ossicles. The office of the fins has commonly been supposed to be analogous to that of feathers in fowls; and to assist the fish in its progressive motion, or swimming; but the later naturalists find this a mistake. The tail is the great instrument of swimming: the fins only serve to keep the fish upright, and prevent vacillation or wavering. See ICHTHYOLOGY Index. FINAL, in general, whatever terminates or concludes a thing; as final judgment, final sentence, &c. FINAL Cause, is the end for which the thing is done. The final cause is the first thing in the intention of a person who does a thing; and the last in the execution. See CAUSE. FINAL Letters, among the Hebrew grammarians, five letters so called, because they have a different figure at the end of words from what they have in any other situation. FINAL, in Geography, a port town of Italy, subject to Genoa, and situated on the Mediterranean, about 37 miles south-west of that city. It was sold to the Genoese in 1713, by the emperor Charles VI.E. Long. 9. 12. N. Lat. 44. 30. FINANCES, in political economy, denote the revenues of a king or state: analogous to the treasury or exchequer of the English, and the fiscus of the Romans. The word is derived from the German finantz, "scraping, usury." Though Du Cange chooses rather to deduce it from the barbarous Latin financia, prestativ pecuniaria. Council of the FINANCES, under the former French government, corresponds to our lords commissioners of the treasury; the comptroller general of the finances, to our lord high treasurer, &c. The French had a peculiar kind of figures, or numerical characters, which they call chiffre de finance. FINCH-KIND, in Ornithology, a genus of birds. known by the name of FRINGILLA. See FRINGILLA, ORNITHOLOGY Index. FINCH, Heneage, earl of Nottingham, the son of Sir Heneage Finch, some time recorder of London, and of a younger branch of the Winchelsea family, was born in 1621. By his good parts and diligence, he Finch, Fine. became a noted proficient in the municipal laws; was made solicitor general by Charles II. on his restoration, and was very active in the prosecution of the regicides. In 1670 he was appointed attorney general; about three years after, lord keeper of the great seal, on the removal of the earl of Shaftesbury; and lord chancellor in 1675. He was created earl of Nottingham in 1681; and died in the year following, be- Blackst. ing quite worn out by the fatigues of business. He Comment. published several speeches on the trials of the judges of King Charles I. with some few other things; and left behind him Chancery Reports in MS. FINE, that which is pure and without mixture. The term is particularly used in speaking of gold or silver. FINE, in Law, hath divers applications. Sometimes it is used for a formal conveyance of lands or tenements, or of any thing inheritable, being in esse temporis finis, in order to cut off all controversies. Others define it to be a final agreement between persons, concerning any lands or rents, &c. of which any suit or writ is depending between them in any court. FINE, sometimes signifies a sum of money paid for entering lands or tenements let by lease; and sometimes a pecuniary mulct for an offence committed against the king and his laws, or against the lord of the manor. FINES for Alienation, in Feodal Law. One of the attendants or consequences of tenure by vassalship, KNIGHT-Service, was that of fines due to the lord for every alienation, whenever the tenant had occasion to make over his land to another. This depended on the nature of the feodal connection; it not being reasonable, nor allowed, that a feudatory should transfer his lord's 's gift to another, and substitute a new tenant to do the service in his own stead, without the consent of the lord: and, as the feodal obligation was considered as reciprocal, the lord also could not alienate his seignory without the consent of his tenant, which consent of his was called an attornment. The restraint upon the lord soon wore away; that upon the tenant continued longer. For when every thing came in process of time to be bought and sold, the lords would not grant a license to their tenants to aliene, without a fine being paid; apprehending that, if it was reasonable for the heir to pay a fine or relief on the renovation of his paternal estate, it was much more reasonable that a stranger should make the same acknowledgment on his admission to a newly purchased feud. In England, these fines seem only to have been exacted from the king's tenants in capite, who were never able to aliene without a license: but as to common persons, they were at liberty by magna charta, and the statute of quia emptores (if not earlier), to alienate the whole of their estate, to be holden of the same lord as they themselves held it of before. But the king's tenants in capite, not being included under the general words of these statutes, could not aliene without a license: for if they did, it was in ancient strictness an absolute forfeiture of the land; though some have imagined otherwise. But this severity was mitigated by the statute I Edw. III. c. 12. which ordained, that in such case the lands should not be forfeited, but a reasonable fine be paid to the king. Upon one statute it was settled, that one-third of the yearly value should be Fines paid for a license of alienation; but, if the tenant presumed to aliene without a license, a full year's vaFingal. lue should be paid. These fines were at last totally taken away by statute 12 Car. II. c. 24. See KNIGHTService. FINE-Drawing, or Rentering, a dexterous sewing-up or rejoining the parts of any cloth, stuff, or the like, torn or rent in the dressing, wearing, &c. It is prohibited to fine-draw pieces of foreign manufacture upon these of our own, as has formerly been practised. Jee RENTERING. Fine-Stiller, in the distillery. That branch of the art which is employed on the distilling the spirit from treacle or other preparations or recrements of sugar, is called fine-stilling, by way of distinction from malt-stilling; and the person who exercises this part of the trade is called a fine-stiller. The operation in procuring the spirit from sugar is the same with that used in making the malt spirit; a wash of the saccharine matter being made with water from treacle, &c. and fermented with yeast. It is usual to add in this case, however, a considerable portion of malt, and sometimes powdered jalap, to the fermenting backs. The malt accelerates the fermentation, and makes the spirit come out the cheaper, and the jalap prevents the rise of any musty head on the surface of the fermenting liquor, so as to leave a greater opportunity for the free access of the air, and thus to shorten the work, by turning the foamy into a hissing fermentation. FINERS of GOLD and SILVER, are those who purify and part those metals from other coarser ones by fire and acids. They are also called parters in our old law books, and sometimes departers. FINERY, in the iron works, is one of the two forges at which they hammer the sow or pig iron. Into the finery they first put the pigs of iron, placing three or four of them together behind the fire, with a little of one end thrust into it; where, softening by degrees, they stir and work them with long bars of iron, and expose at different times different parts to the blast of the bellows, in order to refine it as equally as possible, till the metal runs together with a round mass or lump, which they call a half bloom. They then take this out, and give it a few strokes with their sledges; afterwards they carry it to a great heavy hammer, raised by the motion of a water wheel; where, applying it dexterously to the blows, they presently beat it out into a thick short square. This they put into the finery again, and heating it red hot, they work it under the same hammer till it comes to be in the shape of a bar in the middle, but with two square knobs at the ends, which they call an ancony. It is then carried into the other forge called the chaffry. FINEERING. See VENEERING. FINESSE, a French term, of late current in English. Literally, it is of no farther import than our English fineness; but among us it is chiefly used to denote that peculiar delicacy or subtility perceived in works of the mind, and the nicest and most secret and sublime parts of any science or art. It is sometimes used to express that kind of subtility made use for the purposes of deception. FINGAL, king of Morven, in ancient Caledonia. He flourished in the third century: and according to 3 the Irish histories died in the year 283, although there Fingal is some reason from Ossian's poems for placing his death a few years later. Fingal was descended in all probability from those Celtic tribes who were the first inhabitants of Britain. Tradition, and the poems of Ossian, give him a long line of royal ancestors, such as Combal, Trenmor, Trathal, &c. who had all reigned over the same territory. Whether this territory was bounded by the Caledonian forest, or extended somewhat farther to the south, towards the Roman province, is uncertain; but there is no doubt of its hav ing extended over all the north and west Highlands, comprehending the Hebrides, whose petty chiefs were all subject to the king of Morven. His principal place of residence was Selma, which was probably in the neighbourhood of Glenco, supposed to be the Cona of Ossian; though some imagine it to have been in Strath-Conan in Moray. The truth seems to be, that as Fingal and his people lived by hunting, they often shifted their habitations. Hence, in all parts of the Highlands we find, in the names of places, buildings, &c. such monuments as justify their several claims for the honour of Fingal's residence. Fingal acquired great fame by his prowess in arms. He made many successful incursions into the Roman province, from whence he carried away those spoils which his son so often mentions under the names of the wine of the stranger, and the wax of the stranger. By sea we find him frequently making voyages to Scandinavia, the Orkneys, and Ireland; called by Ossian Lochlin, Innistore and Ullin. Several of these expeditions were celebrated by his son in epic poems, of which two only remain, Fingal and Temora. In the last of these poems, we find Fingal fighting together with his grandson Oscar. How long he lived afterwards is uncertain. He is said to have died a natural death; and therefore none of his son's poems relate to this event, though it is occasionally mentioned in many of them. "Did thy beauty last, O Ryno? Stood the strength of car-borne Oscar? Fingal himself passed away; and the balls of his fathers have forgot his steps. The blast of the north opens thy gates, O king, and I behold thee sitting on mist, dimly gleaming in all thine arms. Thy form now is not the terror of the valiant; but like a watery cloud, when we see the stars behind it, with their weeping eyes. Thy shield is like the aged moon; thy sword, vapour half kindled with fire. Dim and feeble is the chief who travelled in brightness before. But thy steps are on the winds of the desert, and the storms darken in thy hand. Thou takest the sun in thy wrath, and hidest him in thy clouds. The sons of little men are afraid, and a thousand showers descend."-Berrathon. "The character of Fingal (Dr Blair observes) is perhaps the most perfect that ever was drawn by a poet, for we may boldly defy all the writers of antiquity to show us any hero equal to Fingal. Throughout the whole of Ossian's works, he is presented to us in all that variety of lights which give the full display of a character. In him concur almost all the qualities that can ennoble human nature; that can either make us admire the hero, or love the man. He is not only unconquerable in war, but he makes his people happy by his wisdom in the days of peace. He is truly the father of his people. He is known by the epithet of Fingal |