Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward"
by Various · English · Gutenberg #35925 · 1,103,252 chars · public domain (US)
The Project Gutenberg eBook of Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward"
This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and
most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions
whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms
of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online
at www.gutenberg.org. If you are not located in the United States,
you will have to check the laws of the country where you are located
before using this eBook.
Title: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 11th Edition, "Foraminifera" to "Fox, Edward"
Author: Various
Release date: April 20, 2011 [eBook #35925]
Language: English
Other information and formats: www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/35925
Credits: Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA, 11TH EDITION, "FORAMINIFERA" TO "FOX, EDWARD" ***
Produced by Marius Masi, Don Kretz and the Online
Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net
Transcriber's notes:
(1) Numbers following letters (without space) like C2 were originally
printed in subscript. Letter subscripts are preceded by an
underscore, like C_n.
(2) Characters following a carat (^) were printed in superscript.
(3) Side-notes were relocated to function as titles of their respective
paragraphs.
(4) Macrons and breves above letters and dots below letters were not
inserted.
(5) [int] stands for the integral symbol; [alpha], [beta], etc. for
greek letters and [oo] for infinity.
(6) The following typographical errors have been corrected:
ARTICLE FORESTS AND FORESTRY: "These trees will all be of
increasing importance." 'will' amended from 'wil'.
ARTICLE FORM : "All perception is necessarily conditioned by pure
'forms of sensibility,' i.e. space and time: whatever is perceived
is perceived as having spacial and temporal relations (see SPACE
AND TIME; KANT)." 'spacial' amended from 'special'.
ARTICLE FORMOSA: "The vegetation of the island is characterized by
tropical luxuriance,--the mountainous regions being clad with dense
forest, in which various species of palms, the camphor-tree (Laurus
Camphora), and the aloe are conspicuous." 'mountainous' amended
from 'moutainous'.
ARTICLE FORMOSA: "... in 1624 they built a fort, Zelandia, on the
east coast, where subsequently rose the town of Taiwan, and the
settlement was maintained for thirty-seven years." 'thirty' amended
from 'thrity'.
ARTICLE FORSTER, JOHANN GEORG ADAM: "At Cassel Forster formed an
intimate friendship with the great anatomist Sommerring, and about
the same time made the acquaintance of Jacobi, who gave him a
leaning towards mysticism from which he subsequently emancipated
himself." 'subsequently' amended from 'subequently'.
ARTICLE FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT: "At the sieges of Tyre and
Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar in 587 B.C. we first find mention of
the ram and of movable towers placed on mounds to overlook the
walls." 'Nebuchadnezzar' amended from 'Nebuchadrezzar'.
ARTICLE FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT: "The Germanic Confederation
reinforced Mainz with improved works, and reorganized entirely
Rastatt and Ulm." 'entirely' amended from 'enentirely'.
ARTICLE FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT: "For the fate of the fortress
must depend ultimately on the result of the operations of the
active armies." 'ultimately' amended from 'utlimately'.
ARTICLE FOSCOLO, UGO: "... found their final resting-place beside
the monuments of Machiavelli and Alfieri, of Michelangelo and
Galileo, in Italy's Westminster Abbey, the church of Santa Croce."
'Machiavelli' amended from 'Macchiavelli'.
ARTICLE FOSSANO: "It appears as a commune in 1237, but in 1251 had
to yield to Asti. It finally surrendered in 1314 to Filippo
d'Acaia, whose successor handed it over to the house of Savoy."
'Filippo' amended from 'Fillippo'.
ARTICLE FOURIER'S SERIES: "Besides Dini's treatise already referred
to, there is a lucid treatment of the subject from an elementary
point of view in C. Neumann's treatise, Uber die nach Kreis-,
Kugel- und Cylinder-Functionen fortschreitenden Entwickelungen."
'subject' amended from 'subejct'.
ENCYCLOPAEDIA BRITANNICA
A DICTIONARY OF ARTS, SCIENCES, LITERATURE
AND GENERAL INFORMATION
ELEVENTH EDITION
VOLUME X, SLICE VI
Foraminifera to Fox, Edward
ARTICLES IN THIS SLICE:
FORAMINIFERA FORT LEE
FORBACH FORT MADISON
FORBES, ALEXANDER PENROSE FORTROSE
FORBES, ARCHIBALD FORT SCOTT
FORBES, DAVID FORT SMITH
FORBES, DUNCAN FORTUNA
FORBES, EDWARD FORTUNATIANUS, ATILIUS
FORBES, JAMES DAVID FORTUNATUS
FORBES, SIR JOHN FORTUNATUS, VENANTIUS CLEMENTIANUS
FORBES (town) FORTUNE, ROBERT
FORBES-ROBERTSON, JOHNSTON FORTUNY, MARIANO JOSE MARIA BERNARDO
FORBIN, CLAUDE DE FORT WAYNE
FORCELLINI, EGIDIO FORT WILLIAM (Ontario, Canada)
FORCHHAMMER, JOHANN GEORG FORT WILLIAM (Scotland)
FORCHHAMMER, PETER WILHELM FORT WORTH
FORCHHEIM FORTY
FORD, EDWARD ONSLOW FORUM
FORD, JOHN FORUM APPII
FORD, RICHARD FORUM CLODII
FORD, THOMAS FORUM TRAIANI
FORDE, FRANCIS FOSBROKE, THOMAS DUDLEY
FORDHAM FOSCARI, FRANCESCO
FORDUN, JOHN OF FOSCOLO, UGO
FORECLOSURE FOSS, EDWARD
FOREIGN OFFICE FOSSANO
FORELAND, NORTH and SOUTH FOSSANUOVA
FORESHORE FOSSE WAY
FORESTALLING FOSSICK
FOREST LAWS FOSSOMBRONE
FORESTS AND FORESTRY FOSSOMBRONI, VITTORIO
FOREY, ELIE FREDERIC FOSTER, SIR CLEMENT LE NEVE
FORFAR FOSTER, GEORGE EULAS
FORFARSHIRE FOSTER, JOHN
FORFEITURE FOSTER, SIR MICHAEL
FORGERY FOSTER, MYLES BIRKET
FORGET-ME-NOT FOSTER, STEPHEN COLLINS
FORGING FOSTORIA
FORK FOTHERGILL, JOHN
FORKEL, JOHANN NIKOLAUS FOTHERINGHAY
FORLI FOUCAULT, JEAN BERNARD LEON
FORLIMPOPOLI FOUCHE, JOSEPH
FORLORN HOPE FOUCHER, SIMON
FORM FOUCQUET, JEAN
FORMALIN FOUGERES
FORMAN, ANDREW FOUILLEE, ALFRED JULES EMILE
FORMAN, SIMON FOULD, ACHILLE
FORMERET FOULIS, ANDREW and ROBERT
FORMEY, JOHANN HEINRICH SAMUEL FOULLON, JOSEPH FRANCOIS
FORMIA FOUNDATION
FORMIC ACID FOUNDATIONS
FORMOSA (territory of Argentine) FOUNDING
FORMOSA (Taiwan) FOUNDLING HOSPITALS
FORMOSUS FOUNTAIN
FORMULA FOUNTAINS ABBEY
FORNER, JUAN BAUTISTA PABLO FOUQUE, FERDINAND ANDRE
FORRES FOUQUE, FRIEDRICH KARL DE LA MOTTE
FORREST, EDWIN FOUQUET, NICOLAS
FORREST, SIR JOHN FOUQUIER-TINVILLE, ANTOINE QUENTIN
FORREST, NATHAN BEDFORD FOURCHAMBAULT
FORSKAL, PETER FOURCROY, ANTOINE FRANCOIS
FORSSELL, HANS LUDVIG FOURIER, FRANCOIS CHARLES MARIE
FORST FOURIER, JEAN BAPTISTE JOSEPH
FORSTER, FRANCOIS FOURIER'S SERIES
FORSTER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH FOURMIES
FORSTER, JOHANN GEORG ADAM FOURMONT, ETIENNE
FORSTER, JOHN FOURNET, JOSEPH JEAN BAPTISTE XAVIER
FORSTER, JOHN COOPER FOURNIER, PIERRE SIMON
FORSTER, WILLIAM EDWARD FOURNIER L'HERITIER, CLAUDE
FORSYTH, PETER TAYLOR FOURTOU, MARIE FRANCOIS OSCAR BARDY DE
FORTALEZA FOUSSA
FORT AUGUSTUS FOWEY
FORT DODGE FOWL
FORT EDWARD FOWLER, CHARLES
FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN (lawyer) FOWLER, EDWARD
FORTESCUE, SIR JOHN (statesman) FOWLER, JOHN
FORTEVIOT FOWLER, SIR JOHN
FORT GEORGE FOWLER, WILLIAM
FORTH FOX, CHARLES JAMES
FORTIFICATION AND SIEGECRAFT FOX, EDWARD
FORTLAGE, KARL
FORAMINIFERA, in zoology, a subdivision of Protozoa, the name selected
for this enormous class being that given by A. D'Orbigny in 1826 to the
shells characteristic of the majority of the species. He regarded them
as minute Cephalopods, whose chambers communicated by pores (foramina).
Later on their true nature was discovered by F. Dujardin, working on
living forms, and he referred them to his Rhizopoda, characterized by
pseudopodia given off from the sarcode (protoplasm) as organs of
prehension and locomotion. W.B. Carpenter in 1862 differentiated the
group nearly in its present limits as "Reticularia"; and since then it
has been rendered more natural by the removal of a number of simple
forms (mostly freshwater) with branching but not reticulate pseudopods,
to Filosa, a distinct subclass, now united with Lobosa into the
restricted class of Rhizopoda.
[Illustration: FIG. 1A.--_Lieberkuhnia_, with reticulate pseudopodia.]
_Anatomy._--Protista Sarcodina, with simple protoplasmic bodies of
_granular surface_, emitting processes which branch and _anastomose
freely_, either from the whole surface or from one or more elongated
processes ("stylopods"); nucleus one or more (not yet demonstrated in
some little known simple forms), usually in genetic relation to granules
or strands of matter of similar composition, the "chromidia" scattered
through the protoplasm; body naked, or provided with a permanent
investment (shell or test), membranous, gelatinous, arenaceous (of
compacted or cemented granules), calcareous, or very rarely (in deep sea
forms) siliceous, sometimes freely perforated, but _never latticed_;
opening by one or more permanent apertures ("pylomes") or crevices
between compacted sand-granules, often very complex; reproduction by
fission (only in simplest naked forms), or by brood formation; in the
latter case one mode of brood formation (A) eventuates in amoebiform
embryos, the other (B) in flagellate zoospores which are exogamous
gametes, pairing but not with those of their own brood; the coupled cell
("zygote") when mature in the shelled species gives rise to a very small
primitive test-chamber or "microsphere." The adult microspheric animal
gives rise to the amoebiform brood which have a larger primitive test
("megalosphere"); and megalospheric forms appear to reproduce by the A
type a series of similar forms before a B brood of gametes is finally
borne, to pair and reproduce the microspheric type, which is
consequently rare.
[Illustration: FIG. 1B.--_Protomyxa aurantiaca_, Haeck. (After Haeckel.)
1, Adult, containing two diatom frustules, and three Tintinnid
ciliates, with a large Dinoflagellate just caught by the expanded
reticulate pseudopodia.
2, Adult encysted and segmented.
3, Flagellate zoospore just freed from cyst.
4, Zoospore which has passed into the amoeboid state.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--_Allogromiidea._
1, _Diplophrys archeri_, Barker.
a, Nucleus.
b, Contractile vacuoles.
c, The yellow oil-like body. Moor pools, Ireland.
2, _Allogromia oviformis_, Duj.
a, The numerous nuclei; near these the elongated bodies represent
ingested diatoms. Freshwater. Figs. 2, 3, 11, 12 belong to Rhizopoda
Filosa, and are included here to show the characteristic _filose_
pseudopodia in contrast with the reticulate spread of the others.
3, _Shepheardella taeniiformis_, Siddall (_Quart. Jour. Micr. Sci._,
1880).
Marine. The protoplasm is retracted at both ends into the tubular
case.
a. Nucleus.
5, _Shepheardella taeniiformis_; with pseudopodia fully expanded.
6-10, Varying appearance of the nucleus as it is carried along in the
streaming protoplasm within the tube.
11, _Amphitrema wrightianum_, Archer, showing membranous shell
encrusted with foreign particles. Moor pools, Ireland.
12, _Diaphorophodon mobile_, Archer.
a. Nucleus. Moor pools, Ireland.]
The shells require special study. In the lowest forms they are
membranous, sometimes encrusted with sand-grains, always very simple,
the only complication being the doubling of the pylome in _Diplophrys_
(fig. 2, 1), _Shepheardella_ (fig. 2, 3-5), _Amphitrema_ (fig. 2, 11),
_Diaphorophodon_ (fig. 2, 12). The marine shells are, as we have seen,
of cemented particles, or calcareous, glassy, and regularly perforated,
or again calcareous, but porcellanous and rarely perforate. These
characters have been used as a guide to classification; but some sandy
forms have so large a proportion of calcareous cement that they might
well be called encrusted calcareous genera, and are also not very
constant in respect of the character of perforation. The porcellanous
genera, however, form a compact group, the replacement of the shell by
silica in forms dwelling in the red clay of the ocean abysses, where
calcium carbonate is soluble, not really making any difficulty.
Moreover, the shells of this group show a deflected process or neck of
the embryonic chamber ("camptopyle") at least in the megalospheric
forms, whereas when such a neck exists in other groups it is straight.
The opening of the shell is called the pylome. This may be a mere hole
where the lateral walls of the body end, or there may be a diaphragmatic
ingrowth so as to narrow the entrance. It may be a simple rounded
opening, oblong or tri-multi-radiate, or branching (fig. 4, 1); or
replaced by a number of coarse pores ("ethmopyle") (fig. 3, 5a). Again,
it may lie at the end of a narrowed tube ("stylopyle"), which in
_Lagena_ (fig. 3, 9) may project outwards ("ectoselenial"), or inwards
("entoselenial"). In most groups the stylopyle is straight; but in the
majority of the porcellanous shells it is bent down on the side of the
shell, and constitutes the "flexopyle" of A. Kemna, which being a hybrid
term should be replaced by "camptopyle." The animal usually forms a
simple shell only after it has attained a certain size, and this
"embryonic chamber" cannot grow further. In _Spirillina_ and
_Ammodiscus_ there is no pylomic end-wall, and the shell continues to
grow as a spiral tube; in _Cornuspira_ (fig. 3, 1) there is a slight
constriction indicating the junction of a small embryonic chamber with a
camptopyle, but the rest of the shell is a simple flat spiral of several
turns. In the majority at least one chamber follows the first, with its
own pylome at the distal end. This second chamber may rest on the first,
so that the part on which it rests serves as a party-wall bounding the
front of the newer chamber as well as the back of the older; and this
state prevails for all added chambers in such cases. In the highest
vitreous shells, however, each chamber has its complete "proper wall";
while a "supplementary skeleton," a deposit of shelly matter, binds the
chambers together into a compact whole. In all cases the protoplasm from
the pylome may deposit additional matter on the outside of the shell, so
as to produce very characteristic sculpturing of the surface.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Various forms of Calcareous Foraminifera.
1, _Cornuspira_. 11, _Cristellaria_.
2, _Spiroloculina_. 12, _Globigerina_.
3, _Triloculina_. 13, _Polymorphina_.
4, _Biloculina_. 14, _Textularia_.
5, _Peneroplis_. 15, _Discorbina_.
6, _Orbiculina_ (cyclical). 16, _Polystomella_.
7, _Orbiculina_ (young). 17, _Planorbulina_.
8, _Orbiculina_ (spiral). 18, _Rotalia_.
9, _Lagena_. 19, _Nonionina_.
10, _Nodosaria_.]
Compound or "polythalamic" shells derive their general form largely from
the relations of successive chambers in size, shape and direction. This
is well shown in the porcellanous _Miliolidae_. If we call the straight
line uniting the two ends of a chamber the "polar axis," we find that
successive chambers have their pylomes at alternate poles; but they lie
on different meridians. In _Spiroloculina_ (fig. 3, 2) the divergence
between the meridians is 180 deg., and the chambers are strongly
incurved, so that the whole shell forms a flat spiral, of nearly
circular outline. In the majority, however, the chambers are crescentic
in section, their transverse prolongations being termed "alary"
outgrowths, so that successive chambers overlap; when under this
condition the angle of successive meridians is still 180 deg. we have
the form _Biloculina_ (fig. 3, 4), or with the alary extensions
completely enveloping, _Uniloculina_; when the angle is 120 deg. we have
_Triloculina_, or 144 deg., _Quinqueloculina_. Again in _Peneroplis_
(figs. 3, 5, and 4) the shell begins as a flattened shell which tends to
straighten out with further growth and additional chambers. In some
forms (_Spirolina_, fig. 22, 3) the chambers have a nearly circular
transverse section, and the adult shell is thus crozier-shaped. In
others (which may have the same sculpture, and are scarcely
distinguishable as species) the chambers are short and wide, drawn out
at right angles to the axis, but in the plane of the spiral, and the
growing shell becomes fan-shaped or "flabelliform" (figs. 3, 5, 4, 2).
This widening may go on till the outer chambers form the greater part of
a circle, as in _Orbiculina_ (fig. 3, 6-8) where, moreover, each large
chamber is subdivided by incomplete vertical bulkheads into a tier of
chamberlets; each chamberlet has a distinct pylomic pore opening to the
outside or to those of the next outer zone. In _Orbitolites_ (figs. 5,
6) we have a centre on a somewhat Milioline type; and after a few
chambers in spiral succession, complete circles of chambers are formed.
In the larger forms the new zones are of greater height, and horizontal
bulkheads divide the
chamberlets into vertical tiers, each with its own pylomic pore.
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Modifications of _Peneroplis_. 1, _Dendritina_;
2, _Eu-Peneroplis_.]
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Shell of simple type of _Orbitolites_, showing
primordial chamber a, and circumambient chamber b, surrounded by
successive rings of chamberlets connected by circular galleries which
open at the margin by pores.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Animal of simple type of _Orbitolites_, showing
primordial segment a, and circumambient segment b, surrounded by annuli
of sub-segments connected by radial and circular stolon-processes.]
The Cheilostomellidae (fig. 3, 13) reproduce among perforate vitreous
genera what we have already seen in the _Miliolida_: _Orbitoides_ (fig.
10, 2) and _Cycloclypeus_, among the Nummulite group, with a very finely
perforate wall, recall the porcellanous _Orbiculina_ and _Orbitolites_.
In flat spiral forms (figs. 22, 1, 7; 3, 2, 16, 19, &c.) all the
chambers may be freely exposed; or the successive chambers be wider
transversely than their predecessors and overlap by "alary extensions,"
becoming "nautiloid"; in extreme cases only the last turn or whorl is
seen (fig. 11). When the spiral axis is conical the shell may be
"rotaloid," the larger lower chambers partially concealing the upper
smaller ones (fig. 3, 12, 15, 17, 18); or they may leave, as in
_Patellina_, a wide central conical cavity--which, in this genus, is
finally occupied by later formed "supplementary" chambers. When the
successive chambers are disposed around a longitudinal central axis they
may be said to "alternate" like the leaves of a plant. If the
arrangement is distichous we get such forms as _Polymorphina_,
_Textularia_ and _Frondicularia_ (fig. 3, 13, 14), if tristichous,
_Tritaxia_. Such an arrangement may coexist with a spiral twist of the
axis for at least part of its course, as in the crozier-shaped
_Spiroplecta_.
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Section of _Rotalia beccarii_, showing the canal
system, a, b, c, in the substance of the intermediate skeleton; d,
tubulated chamber-wall.]
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Internal cast of _Polystomella craticulata_.
a, Retral processes, proceeding from the posterior margin of one of
the segments.
b, b^1, Smooth anterior margin of the same segment.
c, c^1, Stolons connecting successive segments and uniting themselves
with the diverging branches of the meridional canals.
d, d^1, d^2, Three turns of one of the spiral canals.
e, e^1, e^2, Three of the meridional canals.
f, f^1, f^2, Their diverging branches.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--_Operculina_ laid open, to show its internal
structure.
a, Marginal cord seen in cross section at a'.
b, b, External walls of the chambers.
c, c, Cavities of the chambers.
c', c', Their alar prolongations.
d, d, Septa divided at d', d', and at d", so as to lay open the
interseptal canals, the general distribution of which is seen in the
septa e, e; the lines radiating from e, e point to the secondary
pores.
g, g, Non-tubular columns.]
Two phenomena interfere with the ready availability of the characters of
form for classificatory ends--dimorphism and multiformity.
_Dimorphism._--The majority of foraminiferal shells show two types, the
rarer with a much smaller central chamber than that of the more
frequent. The chambers are called microsphere and megalosphere, the
forms in which they occur microsphaeric and megalosphaeric forms,
respectively. We shall study below their relation to the reproductive
cycle.
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--1, Piece of Nummulitic Limestone from the
Pyrenees, showing Nummulites laid open by fracture through the median
plane; 2, vertical section of _Nummulite_; 3, _Orbitoides_.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Vertical section of portion of _Nummulites_,
showing the investment of the earlier whorls by the alar prolongations
of the later.
a, Marginal cord.
b, Chamber of outer whorl.
c, c, Whorl invested by a.
d, One of the chambers of the fourth whorl from the margin.
e, e', Marginal portions of the enclosed whorls.
f, Investing portion of the outer whorl.
g, g, Spaces left between the investing portions of successive whorls.
h, h, Sections of the partitions dividing these.]
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Internal surface of wall of two chambers, a, a,
of _Nummulites_, showing the orifices of its minute tubuli.
b, b, The septa containing canals.
c, c, Extensions of these canals in the intermediate skeleton.
d, d, Larger pores.]
_Multiformity._--Many of the Polythalamia show different types of
chamber-succession at different ages. We have noted this phenomenon in
such crozier forms as _Peneroplis_, as well as in discoid forms; it is
very frequent. Thus the microspheric _Biloculina_ form the first few
chambers in quinqueloculine succession. The microspheric forms attain to
a greater size when adult than the megalospheric; and in _Orbitolites_
the microsphere has a straight outlet, orthostyle, instead of the
deflected camptostyle one, so general in porcellanous types; and the
spiral succession is continued for more turns before reaching the
fan-shaped and finally cyclic stage. _Globigerina_, whose chambers are
nearly spherical, is sometimes seen to be enclosed in a spherical test,
perforate, but without a pylome, and known as _Orbulina_; the chambered
Globigerina-shell is attached at first inside the wall of the
_Orbulina_, but ultimately disappears. The ultimate fate of the
_Orbulina_ shell is unknown; but it obviously marks a turning-point in
the life-cycle.
_Protoplasmic Body and Reproduction._--The protoplasm is not
differentiated into ecto- and endosarc, although it is often denser
in the central part within the shell, and clearer in the pseudopodial
ramifications and the layer (or stalk in the monothalamic forms) from
which it is given off. In pelagic forms like _Globigerina_ the
external layer is almost if not quite identical in structure with the
extracapsular protoplasm of Radiolaria (q.v.), being differentiated
into granular strands traversing a clear jelly, rich in large vacuoles
(alveoli), and uniting outside the jelly to form the basal layer of
the pseudopods; these again are radiolarian in character. Hence E.R.
Lankester justly enough compares the shell here to the central capsule
of the Radiolarian, though the comparison must not be pushed too far.
The cytoplasm contains granules of various kinds, and the internal
protoplasm is sometimes pigmented. The Chrysomonad Flagellate,
_Zooxanthella_, so abundant in its resting state--the so-called
"yellow cells"--in the extracapsular protoplasm of Radiolaria (q.v.)
also occurs in the outer protoplasm of many Foraminifera, not only
pelagic but also bottom-dwellers, such as _Orbitolites_.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Internal cast of two chambers, a, a, of
_Nummulites_, the radial canals between them passing into b, marginal
plexus.]
The nucleus is single in the Nuda and Allogromidia and in the
megalospheric forms of higher Foraminifera; but microspheric forms
when adult contain many simple similar nuclei. The nucleus in every
case gives off granules and irregular masses ("chromidia") of similar
reactions, which play an important part in reproduction. During the
maturation of the microsphere the nuclei disappear; and the cytoplasm
breaks up into a large number of zoospores, each of which is soon
provided with a single nucleus, whether entirely derived from the
parent-nucleus or from the coalescence of chromidia, or from both
these sources is still uncertain. These zoospores are amoeboid; they
soon secrete a shell and reveal themselves as megalospheres, the
original state of the megalospheric forms. In the adult megalosphere
the solitary nucleus disappears and is replaced by hosts of minute
vesicular nuclei, formed by the concentration of chromidia. Each
nucleus aggregates around it a proper zone of dense protoplasm; by two
successive mitotic divisions each mass becomes quadri-nucleate, and
splits up into four biflagellate, uninucleate zoospores. These are
pairing-cells or gametes, though they will not pair with members of
the same brood. In the zygote resulting from pairing two nuclei soon
fuse into one; but this again divides into two; an embryonic shell is
secreted, and this is the microspheric type, which is multinuclear
from the first. F. Schaudinn compares the nuclei of the adult
Foraminifera with the (vegetative) meganucleus of Infusora (q.v.) and
the chromidial mass with the micronucleus, whose chief function is
reproductive.
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Vertical section of tubulated chamber-walls,
a, a, of _Nummulites_. b, b, Marginal cord; c, cavity of chamber; d,
d, non-tubulated columns.]
Since megalospheric forms are by far the most abundant, it seems
probable that under most conditions they also give rise to
megalospheric young like themselves; and that the production of
zoospores, pairing to pass into the microspheric form, is only
occasional, and possibly seasonal. This life-history we owe to the
researches of Schaudinn and J.J. Lister.
In several species (notably _Patellina_) plastogamy, the union of the
cytoplasmic bodies without nuclear fusion, has been noted, as a
prelude to the resolution of the conjoined protoplasm into uninucleate
amoebulae.
_Calcituba_, a porcellanous type, which after forming the embryonic
chamber with its deflected pylome grows into branching stems, may fall
apart into sections, or the protoplasm may escape and break up into
small amoebulae. Of the reproduction of the simplest forms we know
little. In _Mikrogromia_ the cell undergoes fission within the test,
and on its completion the daughter-cells may emerge as biflagellate
zoospores.
The sandy shells are a very interesting series. In _Astrorhiza_ the
sand grains are loosely agglutinated, without mineral cement; they
leave numerous pores for the exit of the protoplasm, and there are no
true pylomes. In other forms the union of the grains by a calcareous
or ferruginous cement necessitates the existence of distinct pylomes.
Many of the species reproduce the varieties of form found in
calcareous tests; some are finely perforated, others not. Many of the
larger ones have their walls thickened internally and traversed by
complex passages; this structure is called _labyrinthic_ (fig. 19, g,
h). The shell of _Endothyra_, a form only known to us by its abundance
in Carboniferous and Triassic strata, is largely composed of calcite
and is sometimes perforated.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--_Cycloclypeus_.]
It is noteworthy that though of similar habitat each species selects
its own size or sort of sand, some utilizing the siliceous spicules of
sponges. Despite the roughness of the materials, they are often so
laid as to yield a perfectly smooth inner wall; and sometimes the
outer wall may be as simple. As we can find no record of a deflected
stylopyle to the primitive chamber of the polythalamous Arenacea, it
is safe to conclude that they have no close alliance with the
Porcellanea.
_Classification._
I. NUDA.--Protoplasmic body without any pellicle or shell save in the
resting encysted condition, sometimes forming colonial aggregates by
coalescence of pseudopods (_Myxodictyum_), or even plasmodia
(_Protomyxa_). Brood cells at first uniflagellate or amoeboid from
birth. Fresh-water and marine genera _Protogenes_ (Haeckel), _Biomyxa_
(Leidy), _Myxodictyum_ (Haeckel), _Protomyxa_ (Haeckel) (fig. 1B).
This group of very simple forms includes many of Haeckel's Monera,
defined as "cytodes," masses of protoplasm without a nucleus. A
nucleus (or nuclei) has, however, been demonstrated by improved
methods of staining in so many that it is probable that this
distinction will fall to the ground.
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--_Heterostegina_.]
II. ALLOGROMIDIACEAE (figs. 1A, 2).--Protoplasmic body protected in
adult state by an imperforate test with one or two openings (pylomes)
for the exit of the stylopod; test simple, gelatinous, membranous,
sometimes incrusted with foreign bodies, never calcareous nor
arenaceous; reproduction by fission alone known. Fresh-water or marine
genera _Allogromia_ (Rhumbl.), _Myxotheca_ (Schaud.), _Lieberkuhnia_
(Cl. & L.) (fig. 1A), _Shepheardella_ (Siddall) (fig. 2, 3-10),
_Diplophrys_ (Barker), _Amphitrema_ (Arch.) (fig. 2, 11),
Diaphorophodon (Arch.) (fig. 2, 12), are possibly Filosa. This group
differs from the preceding in its simple test, but, like it, includes
many fresh-water species, which possess contractile vacuoles.
III. ASTRORHIZIDIACEAE.--Simple forms, rarely polythalamous (some
_Rhabdamminidae_), but often branching or radiate; test arenaceous,
loosely compacted and traversed by chinks for pseudopodia
(_Astrorhizidae_), or dense, and opening by one or more terminal
pylomes at ends of branches. Marine, 4 Fam. The test of some
_Astrorhizidae_ is so loose that it falls to pieces when taken out of
water. _Haliphysema_ is remarkable for its history in relation to the
"gastraea theory." _Pilulina_ has a neat globular shell of
sponge-spicules and fine sand. Genera, _Astrorhiza_ (Sandahl) (fig.
22), _Pilulina_ (Carptr.) (fig. 19), _Saccammina_ (Sars) (fig. 19),
_Rhabdammina_ (Sars), _Botellina_ (Carptr.), _Haliphysema_ (Bowerbank)
(fig. 22).
IV. LITUOLIDACEAE.--Shell arenaceous, usually fine-grained, definite
and often polythalamic, recalling in structure calcareous forms.
_Lituola_ (Lamk.) (fig. 19), _Endothyra_ (Phil.), _Ammodiscus_
(Reuss), _Loftusia_ (Brady), _Haplophragmium_ (Reuss) (fig. 22),
_Thurammina_ (Brady) (fig. 22).
V. MILIOLIDACEAE.--Shells porcellanous imperforate, almost invariably
with a camptostyle leading from the embryonic chamber; _Cornuspira_
(Schultze) (fig. 3); _Miliola_ (Lamk.), including as subgenera
_Spiroloculina_ (d'Orb.) (figs. 3 and 22); _Triloculina_ (d'Orb.)
(fig. 3); _Biloculina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 3); _Uniloculina_ (d'Orb.);
_Quinqueloculina_ (d'Orb.); _Peneroplis_ (Montfort) (figs. 22, 3; 3),
with form _Dendritina_ (fig. 4, 1); _Orbiculina_ (Lamk.) (fig. 3,
6-8); _Orbitolites_ (Lamk.) (figs. 5, 6); _Vertebralina_ (d'Orb.)
(fig. 22); _Squamulina_ (Sch.) (fig. 22); _Calcituba_ (Schaudinn).
[Illustration: Modified from F. Schaudinn, in Lang's Zoologie.
FIG. 17.--Life Cycle of _Polystomella crispa_.
A, Young megalospheric individual.
B, Adult decalcified.
C, Later stage, resolving itself into two flagellate gametes.
D, Conjugation.
E, Microspheric individual produced from zygote.
F, The same resolved itself into pseudopodiospores which are growing
into new megalospheric individuals.
1, Principal nucleus, and _2_, subsidiary nuclei of megalospheric
form.
3, Nuclei.
4, Nuclei in multiple division.
5, Chromidia derived from 4.]
VI. TEXTULARIADACEAE.--Shells perforate, vitreous or (in the larger
forms) arenaceous, in two or three alternating ranks (distichous or
tristichous). _Textularia_ (Defrance) (fig. 21).
VII. CHEILOSTOMELLACEAE.--Shells vitreous, thin, the chambers doubling
forwards and backwards as in _Miliolidae_. _Cheilostomella_ (Reuss).
VIII. LAGENIDACEAE.--Shells vitreous, often sculptured, mono-or
polythalamic, finely perforate; chambers flask-shaped, with a
protruding or an inturned stylopyle; _Lagena_ (Walker & Boys) (fig. 4,
9); _Nodosaria_ (Lamk.) (figs. 23, 4; 4, 10); _Polymorphina_ (d'Orb.)
(fig. 4, 13); _Cristellaria_ (Lamk.) (fig. 4, 11); _Frondicularia_
(Def.) (fig. 23, 3).
IX. GLOBIGERINIDACEAE.--Shells vitreous, coarsely perforated; chambers
few spheroidal rapidly increasing in size; arranged in a trochoid or
nautiloid spiral. _Globigerina_ (Lamk.) (23, 6; 4, 12); _Hastigerina_
(Wyville Thompson) (fig. 23, 5); _Orbulina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 23, 8).
X. ROTALIDACEAE.--Shells vitreous, finely perforate; walls thick,
often double, but without an intermediate party-layer traversed by
canals; form usually spiral or trochoid. _Discorbina_ (Parker & Jones)
(fig. 4, 15); _Planorbulina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 4, 17); _Rotalia_ (Lamk.)
(figs. 23, 1, 2; 7, 21); _Calcarina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 23, 10);
_Polytrema_ (Risso) (fig. 23, 9).
[Illustration: Fig. 18.--_Biloculina depressa_ d'Orb., transverse
sections showing dimorphism. (From Lister.)
a, Megalospheric shell X 50, showing uniform growth, biloculine
throughout. b, Microspheric shell X 90, showing multiform growth,
quinqueloculine at first, and then multiform.]
XI. NUMMULINIDACEAE.--As in Rotalidaceae, but with a thicker finely
perforated shell, often well developed, and a supplementary skeleton
traversed by branching canals as an additional party-wall between the
proper chamber-walls. _Nonionina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 4, 19); _Fusulina_
(Fischer) (fig. 20); _Polystomella_ (Lamk.) (figs. 4, 16; 8);
_Operculina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 9); _Heterostegina_ (d'Orb.) (fig. 16);
_Cycloclypeus_ (Carptr.) (fig. 15); _Nummulites_ (Lamk.) (figs. 10,
11, 12, 13, 14).
"_Eozoon canadense_," described as a species of this order by J.W.
Dawson and Carpenter, has been pronounced by a series of enquirers,
most of whom started with a belief in its organic structure, to be
merely a complex mineral concretion in ophicalcite, a rock composed of
an admixture of silicates (mostly serpentine and pyroxene) and
calcite.
_Distribution in Vertical Space._--Owing to their lack of organs for
active locomotion the Foraminifera are all crawling or attached, with
the exception of a few genera (very rich in species, however) which
float near the surface of the ocean, constituting part of the pelagic
plankton (q.v.). Thus the majority are littoral or deep-sea, sometimes
attached to other bodies or even burrowing in the tests of other
Foraminifera; most of the fresh-water forms are sapropelic, inhabiting
the layer of organic debris at the surface of the bottom mud ditches of
pools, ponds and lakes. The deep-sea species below a certain depth
cannot possess a calcareous shell, for this would be dissolved; and it
is in these that we find limesalts sometimes replaced by silica.
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Arenaceous Foraminifera.
a, Exterior of _Saccammina_.
b, The same laid open.
c, Portion of test more highly magnified.
d, _Pilulina_.
e, Portion of test more highly magnified.
f, Nautiloid _Lituola_, exterior.
g, Chambered interior.
h, Portion of labyrinthic chamber wall, showing component sand-grains.]
[Illustration: FIG. 20.--Section of _Fusulina_ Limestone.]
[Illustration: FIG. 21.--Microscopic Organisms in Chalk from Gravesend.
a, b, c, d, _Textularia globulosa_; e, e, e, e, _Rotalia aspera_; f,
_Textularia aculeata_; g, _Planularia hexas_; h, _Navicula_.]
The pelagic floating genera are also specially modified. Their shell is
either thin or extended many times by long slender tapering spines, and
the protoplasm outside has the same character as that of the Radiolaria
(q.v.), being differentiated into jelly containing enormous vacuoles and
traversed by reticulate strands of granular protoplasm. These coalesce
into a peripheral zone from which protrude the pseudopods, here rather
radiate than reticulate. Most genera and most species are cosmopolitan;
but local differences are often marked. Foraminifera abound in the shore
sands and the crevices of coral reefs. The membranous shelled forms
decay without leaving traces. The sandy or calcareous shells of dead
Foraminifera constitute a large proportion of littoral sand, both below
and above tide marks; and, as shown in the boring on Funafuti, enter
largely into the constituents of coral rock. They may accumulate in the
mud of the bottom to constitute Foraminiferal ooze. The source of these
shells in the latter case is double: (1) shells of bottom-dwellers
accumulate on the spot; (2) shells of dead plankton forms sink down in a
continuous shower, to form a layer at the bottom of the ocean, during
which process the spines are dissolved by the sea-water. Thus is formed
an ooze known as "Globigerina-ooze," being formed largely of that genus
and its ally _Hastigerina_; below 3000 fathoms even the tests themselves
are dissolved. Casts of their bodies in glauconite (a green ferrous
silicate, whose composition has not yet been accurately determined) are,
however, frequently left. Glauconitic casts of perforate shells, notably
_Globigerina_, have been found in Lower Cambrian (e.g. Hollybush
Sandstone), and the shells themselves in Siberian limestones of that
age. It is only when we pass into the Silurian Wenlock limestone that
sandy shells make their appearance. Above this horizon Foraminifera are
more abundant as constituents, partial or principal of calcareous rocks,
the genus _Endothyra_ being indeed almost confined to Carboniferous
beds. The genus _Fusulina_ (fig. 20) and _Saccammina_ (fig. 19) give
their names (from their respective abundance) to two limestones of the
Carboniferous series. Porcellanous shells become abundant only from the
Lias upwards. The glauconitic grains of the Greensand formations are
chiefly foraminiferal casts. Chalk is well known to consist largely of
foraminiferal shells, mostly vitreous, like the north Atlantic
globigerina ooze. In the Maestricht chalk more littoral conditions
prevailed, and we find such large-sized species as _Orbitoides_
(vitreous) and _Orbitolites_ (porcellanous; figs. 5, 6), &c. In the
Eocene Tertiaries the Calcaire Grossier of the Paris basin is mainly
composed of Miliolid forms. Nummulites occur in English beds and in the
Paris basin; but the great beds of these, forming reef-like masses of
limestone, occur farther south, extending from the Pyrenees through the
southern and eastern Alps to Egypt, Sinai, and on to north India. The
peculiar structure occurring in the Lower Laurentian limestone, as well
as other limestones of Archean age described as a Nummulitaceous genus,
"_Eozoon_," by Carpenter and Dawson, and abundantly illustrated in the
9th edition of his encyclopaedia, is now universally regarded as of
inorganic origin. "Looking at the almost universal diffusion of
existing Foraminifera and the continuous accumulation of their shells
over vast areas of the ocean-bottom, they are certainly doing more than
any other group of organisms to separate carbonate of lime from its
solution in sea-water, so as to restore to the solid crust of the earth
what is being continuously withdrawn from it by solution of the
calcareous materials of the land above sea-level." (E.R. Lankester,
"Protozoa," _Ency. Brit._ 9th ed.)
[Illustration: FIG. 22.--Imperforata.
1, _Spiroloculina planulata_, Lamarck, showing five "coils";
porcellanous.
2, Young ditto, with shell dissolved and protoplasm stained so as to
show the seven nuclei n.
3, _Spirolina_ (_Peneroplis_); a sculptured imperfectly coiled shell;
porcellanous.
4, _Vertebralina_, a simple shell consisting of chambers succeeding
one another in a straight line; porcellanous.
5, 6, _Thurammina papillata_, Brady, a sandy form. 5 is broken open so
as to show an inner chamber; recent. X 25.
7, _Haplophragmium canariensis_, a sandy form; recent.
8, Nucleated reproductive bodies (bud-spores) of _Haliphysema_.
9, _Squamulina laevis_, M. Schultze; X 40; a simple porcellanous
Miliolide.
10, Protoplasmic core removed after treatment with weak chromic acid
from the shell of _Haliphysema tumanovitzii_, Bow. n, Vesicular
nuclei, stained with haematoxylin. (After Lankester.)
11, _Haliphysema tumanovitzii_; X 25 diam.; living specimen, showing
the wine-glass-shaped shell built up of sand-grains and
sponge-spicules, and the abundant protoplasm p, issuing from the mouth
of the shell and spreading partly over its projecting constituents.
12, Shell of _Astrorhiza limicola_, Sand.; X 3/2; showing the
branching of the test on some of the rays usually broken away in
preserved specimens (original).
13, Section of the shell of _Marsipella_, showing thick walls built of
sand-grains.]
[Illustration: FIG. 23.--Perforata.
1, Spiral arrangement of simple chambers of a Reticularian shell, as
in small _Rotalia_.
2, Ditto, with double septal walls, and supplemental shell-substance
(shaded), as in large _Rotalia_.
3, Diagram to show the mode in which successively-formed chambers may
completely embrace their predecessors, as in _Frondicularia_.
4, Diagram of a simple straight series of non-embracing chambers, as
in _Nodosaria_.
5, _Hastigerina murrayi_, Wyv. Thomson, a, Bubbly (vacuolated)
protoplasm, enclosing b, the perforated _Globigerina_-like shell
(conf. central capsule of Radiolaria). From the peripheral protoplasm
project, not only fine pseudopodia, but hollow spines of calcareous
matter, which are set on the shell, and have an axis of active
protoplasm. Pelagic; drawn in the living state.
6, _Globigerina bulloides_, d'Orb., showing the punctiform
perforations of the shell and the main aperture.
7, Fragment of the shell of _Globigerina_, seen from within, and
highly magnified, a, Fine perforations in the inner shell substances;
b, outer (secondary) shell substance. Two coarser perforations are
seen in section, and one lying among the smaller.
8, _Orbulina universa_, d'Orb. Pelagic example, with adherent
radiating calcareous spines (hollow), and internally a small
_Globigerina_ shell. It is probably a developmental phase of
_Globigerina_, a, _Orbulina_ shell; b, _Globigerina_ shell.
9, _Polytrema miniaceum_, Lin.; X 12. Mediterranean. Example of a
branched adherent calcareous perforate Recticularian.
10, _Calcarina spengleri_, Gmel.; X 10. Tertiary, Sicily. Shell
dissected so as to show the spiral arrangement of the chambers, and
the copious secondary shell substance. a^2, a^3, a^4, Chambers of three
successive coils in section, showing the thin primary wall (finely
tubulate) of each; b, b, b, b, perforate surfaces of the primary wall
of four tiers of chambers, from which the secondary shell substance
has been cleared away; c', c', secondary or intermediate shell
substance in section, showing coarse canals; d, section of secondary
shell substance at right angles to c'; e, tubercles of secondary shell
substance on the surface; f, f, club-like processes of secondary shell
substance.]
_Historical._--The Foraminifera were discovered as we have seen by A.
d'Orbigny. C.E. Ehrenberg added a large number of species, but it was to
F. Dujardin in 1835 that we owe the recognition of their true zoological
position and the characters of the living animal. W.B. Carpenter and
W.C. Williamson in England contributed largely to the study of the
shell, the latter being the first to call attention to its multiform
character in the development of a single species, and to utilize the
method of thin sections, which has proved so fertile in results. W.K.
Parker and H.B. Brady, separately, and in collaboration, described an
enormous number of forms in a series of papers, as well as in the
monograph by the latter of the Foraminifera of the "Challenger"
expedition. Munier-Chalmas and Schlumberger brought out the fact of
dimorphism in the group, which was later elucidated and incorporated in
the full cytological study of the life-cycle of Foraminifera by J.J.
Lister and F. Schaudinn, independently, but with concurrent results.
LITERATURE.--The chief recent books are: F. Chapman, _The
Foraminifera_ (1902), and J.J. Lister, "The Foraminifera," in E.R.
Lankester's _Treatise on Zoology_ (1903), in which full bibliographies
will be found. For a final resume of the long controversy on Eozoon,
see George P. Merrill in _Report of the U.S. National Museum_ (1906),
p. 635. Other classifications of the Foraminifera will be found by
G.H. Theodor Eimer and C. Fickert in _Zeitschr. fur wissenschaftliche
Zoologie_, lxv. (1899), p. 599, and L. Rhumbler in _Archiv fur
Protistenkunde_, iii. (1903-1904); the account of the reproduction is
based on the researches of J.J. Lister, summarized in the above-cited
work, and of F. Schaudinn, in _Arbeiten des kaiserlichen
Gesundheitsamts_, xix. (1903). We must also cite W.B. Carpenter, W.K.
Parker and T. Rymer Jones, _Introduction to the Study of the
Foraminifera_ (Ray Society) (1862); W.B. Carpenter, "Foraminifera," in
_Ency. Brit._, 9th ed.; W.C. Williamson, _On the Recent Foraminifera
of Great Britain_ (Ray Society), (1858); H.B. Brady, "The
Foraminifera," in _Challenger Reports_, ix. (1884); A. Kemna, in _Ann.
de la soc. royale zoologique et malacologique de Belgique_, xxxvii.
(1902), p. 60; xxxix. (1904), p. 7.
_Appendix._--The XENOPHYOPHORIDAE are a small group of bottom-dwelling
Sarcodina which show a certain resemblance to arenaceous Foraminifera,
though observations in the living state show that the character of the
pseudopodia is lacking. The multinucleate protoplasm is contained in
branching tubes, aggregated into masses of definite form, bounded by a
common wall of foreign bodies (sponge spicules, &c.) cemented into a
membrane. The cytoplasm contains granules of BaSO4 and pellets of
faecal matter. All that is known of reproduction is the resolution of
the pellets into uninucleate cells. (F.E. Schultze, _Wissenschaftliche
Ergebnisse der deutschen Tiefsee-Expedition_, vol. xi., 1905, pt. i.)
(M. Ha.)
FORBACH, a town of Germany in the imperial province of Alsace-Lorraine,
on an affluent of the Rossel, and on the railway from Metz to
Saarbrucken, 5-1/2 m. S.W. of the latter. Pop. (1905) 8193. It has a
Protestant and a Roman Catholic (Gothic) church, a synagogue and a
Progymnasium. Its industries include the manufacture of tiles,
pasteboard wares and gardening implements, while there are coal mines in
the vicinity. After the battle on the neighbouring heights of Spicheren
(6th of August 1870), in which the French under General Frossard were
defeated by the Germans under General von Glumer, the town was occupied
by the German troops, and at the conclusion of the war annexed to
Germany. On the Schlossberg near the town are the ruins of the castle of
the counts of Forbach, a branch of the counts of Saarbrucken.
See Besler, _Geschichte des Schlosses, der Herrschaft und der Stadt
Forbach_ (1895).
FORBES, ALEXANDER PENROSE (1817-1875), Scottish divine, was born at
Edinburgh on the 6th of June 1817. He was the second son of John Henry
Forbes, Lord Medwyn, a judge of the court of session, and grandson of
Sir William Forbes of Pitsligo. He studied first at the Edinburgh
Academy, then for two years under the Rev. Thomas Dale, the poet, in
Kent, passed one session at Glasgow University in 1833, and, having
chosen the career of the Indian civil service, completed his studies
with distinction at Haileybury College. In 1836 he went to Madras and
secured early promotion, but in consequence of ill-health he was obliged
to return to England. He then entered Brasenose College, Oxford, where
in 1841 he obtained the Boden Sanskrit scholarship, and graduated in
1844. He was at Oxford during the early years of the movement known as
Puseyism, and was powerfully influenced by association with Newman,
Pusey and Keble. This led him to resign his Indian appointment. In 1844
he was ordained deacon and priest in the English Church, and held
curacies at Aston, Rowant and St Thomas's, Oxford; but being naturally
attracted to the Episcopal Church of his native land, then recovering
from long depression, he removed in 1846 to Stonehaven, the chief town
of Kincardineshire. The same year, however, he was appointed to the
vicarage of St Saviour's, Leeds, a church founded to preach and
illustrate Tractarian principles. In 1848 Forbes was called to succeed
Bishop Moir in the see of Brechin. He removed the episcopal residence to
Dundee, where he resided till his death, combining the pastoral charge
of the congregation with the duties of the see. When he came to Dundee
the churchmen were accustomed owing to their small numbers to worship in
a room over a bank. Through his energy several churches were built, and
among them the pro-cathedral of St Paul's. He was prosecuted in the
church courts for heresy, the accusation being founded on his primary
charge, delivered and published in 1857, in which he set forth his views
on the Eucharist. He made a powerful defence of the charge, and was
acquitted with "a censure and an admonition." Keble wrote in his
defence, and was present at his trial at Edinburgh. Forbes was a good
scholar, a scientific theologian and a devoted worker, and was much
beloved. He died at Dundee on the 8th of October 1875.
Principal works: _A Short Explanation of the Nicene Creed_ (1852); _An
Explanation of the Thirty-nine Articles_ (2 vols., 1867 and 1868);
_Commentary on the Seven Penitential Psalms_ (1847); _Commentary on
the Canticles_ (1853). See Mackey's _Bishop Forbes, a Memoir_.
FORBES, ARCHIBALD (1838-1900), British war correspondent, the son of a
Presbyterian minister in Morayshire, was born on the 17th of April 1838,
and was educated at Aberdeen University. Entering the Royal Dragoons as
a private, he gained, while in the service, considerable practical
experience of military life and affairs. Being invalided from his
regiment, he settled in London, and became a journalist. When the
Franco-German War broke out in 1870, Forbes was sent to the front as war
correspondent to the _Morning Advertiser_, and in this capacity he
gained valuable information as to the plans of the Parisians for
withstanding a siege. Transferring his services to the _Daily News_, his
brilliant feats in the transmission of intelligence drew world-wide
attention to his despatches. He was with the German army from the
beginning of the campaign, and he afterwards witnessed the rise and fall
of the Commune. Forbes afterwards proceeded to Spain, where he
chronicled the outbreak of the second Carlist War; but his work here was
interrupted by a visit to India, where he spent eight months upon a
mission of investigation into the Bengal famine of 1874. Then he
returned to Spain, and followed at various times the Carlist, the
Republican and the Alfonsist forces. As representative of the _Daily
News_, he accompanied the prince of Wales in his tour through India in
1875-1876. Forbes went through the Servian campaign of 1876, and was
present at all the important engagements. In the Russo-Turkish campaign
of 1877 he achieved striking journalistic successes at great personal
risk. Attached to the Russian army, he witnessed most of the principal
operations, and remained continuously in the field until attacked by
fever. His letters, together with those of his colleagues, MacGahan and
Millet, were republished by the _Daily News_. On recovering from his
fever, Forbes proceeded to Cyprus, in order to witness the British
occupation. The same year (1878) he went to India, and in the winter
accompanied the Khyber Pass force to Jalalabad. He was present at the
taking of Ali Musjid, and marched with several expeditions against the
hill tribes. Burma was Forbes's next field of adventure, and at
Mandalay, the capital, he had several interesting interviews with King
Thibaw. He left Burma hurriedly for South Africa, where, in consequence
of the disaster of Isandlwana, a British force was collecting for the
invasion of Zululand. He was present at the victory of Ulundi, and his
famous ride of 120 m. in fifteen hours, by which he was enabled to
convey the first news of the battle to England, remains one of the
finest achievements in journalistic enterprise. Forbes subsequently
delivered many lectures on his war experiences to large audiences. His
closing years were spent in literary work. He had some years before
published a military novel entitled _Drawn from Life_, and a volume on
his experiences of the war between France and Germany. These were now
followed by numerous publications, including _Glimpses through the
Cannon Smoke_ (1880); _Souvenirs of some Continents_ (1885); _William I.
of Germany: a Biography_ (1888); _Havelock_, in the "English Men of
Action" Series (1890); _Barracks, Bivouacs, and Battles_ (1891); _The
Afghan Wars_, 1839-80 (1892); _Czar and Sultan_ (1895); _Memories and
Studies of War and Peace_ (1895), in many respects autobiographic; and
_Colin Campbell, Lord Clyde_ (1896). He died on the 30th of March 1900.
FORBES, DAVID (1828-1876), British mineralogist, metallurgist and
chemist, brother of Edward Forbes (q.v.), was born on the 6th of
September 1828, at Douglas, Isle of Man, and received his early
education there and at Brentwood in Essex. When a boy of fourteen he had
already acquired a remarkable knowledge of chemistry. This subject he
studied at the university of Edinburgh, and he was still young when he
was appointed superintendent of the mining and metallurgical works at
Espedal in Norway. Subsequently he became a partner in the firm of Evans
& Askin, nickel-smelters, of Birmingham, and in that capacity during the
years 1857-1860 he visited Chile, Bolivia and Peru. Besides reports for
the Iron and Steel Institute, of which, during the last years of his
life, he was foreign secretary, he wrote upwards of 50 papers on
scientific subjects, among which are the following: "The Action of
Sulphurets on Metallic Silicates at High Temperatures," _Rep. Brit.
Assoc._, 1855, pt. ii. p. 62; "The Relations of the Silurian and
Metamorphic Rocks of the south of Norway," ib. p. 82; "The Causes
producing Foliation in Rocks," _Journ. Geol. Soc._ xi., 1855; "The
Chemical Composition of the Silurian and Cambrian Limestones," _Phil.
Mag._ xiii. pp. 365-373, 1857; "The Geology of Bolivia and Southern
Peru," _Journ. Geol. Soc._ xvii. pp. 7-62, 1861; "The Mineralogy of
Chile," _Phil. Mag._, 1865; "Researches in British Mineralogy," _Phil.
Mag._, 1867-1868. His observations on the geology of South America were
given in a masterly essay, and these and subsequent researches threw
much light on igneous and metamorphic phenomena and on the resulting
changes in rock-formations. He also contributed important articles on
chemical geology to the _Chemical News_ and _Geological Magazine_ (1867
and 1868). In England he was a pioneer in microscopic petrology. He was
elected F.R.S. in 1858. He died in London on the 5th of December 1876.
See Obituary by P.M. Duncan in _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._, vol.
xxxiii., 1877, p. 41; and by J. Morris in _Geol. Mag._, 1877, p. 45.
FORBES, DUNCAN, OF CULLODEN (1685-1747), Scottish statesman, was born at
Bunchrew or at Culloden near Inverness on the 10th of November 1685.
After he had completed his studies at the universities of Edinburgh and
Leiden, he was admitted advocate at the Scottish bar in 1709. His own
talents and the influence of the Argyll family secured his rapid
advancement, which was still further helped by his loyalty to the
Hanoverian cause at the period of the rebellion in 1715. In 1722 Forbes
was returned member for Inverness, and in 1725 he succeeded Dundas of
Arniston as lord advocate. He inherited the patrimonial estates on the
death of his brother in 1734, and in 1737 he attained to the highest
legal honours in Scotland, being made lord president of the court of
session. As lord advocate, he had laboured to improve the legislation
and revenue of the country, to extend trade and encourage manufactures,
and no less to render the government popular and respected in Scotland.
In the proceedings which followed the memorable Porteous mob, for
example, when the government brought in a bill for disgracing the lord
provost of Edinburgh, for fining the corporation, and for abolishing
the town-guard and city-gate, Forbes both spoke and voted against the
measure as an unwarranted outrage on the national feeling. As lord
president also he carried out some useful legal reforms; and his term of
office was characterized by quick and impartial administration of the
law.
The rebellion of 1745 found him at his post, and it tried all his
patriotism. Some years before (1738) he had repeatedly and earnestly
urged upon the government the expediency of embodying Highland
regiments, putting them under the command of colonels whose loyalty
could be relied upon, but officering them with the native chieftains and
cadets of old families in the north. "If government," said he,
"pre-engages the Highlanders in the manner I propose, they will not only
serve well against the enemy abroad, but will be hostages for the good
behaviour of their relations at home; and I am persuaded that it will be
absolutely impossible to raise a rebellion in the Highlands." In 1739,
with Sir Robert Walpole's approval, the original (1730) six companies
(locally enlisted) of the Black Watch were formed into the famous
"Forty-second" regiment of the line. The credit given to the earl of
Chatham in some histories for this movement is an error; it rests really
with Forbes and his friend Lord Islay, afterwards 3rd duke of Argyll
(see the _Autobiography_ of the 8th duke of Argyll, vol. i. p. 8 sq.,
1906).
On the first rumour of the Jacobite rising Forbes hastened to Inverness,
and through his personal influence with the chiefs of Macdonald and
Macleod, those two powerful western clans were prevented from taking the
field for Charles Edward; the town itself also he kept loyal and well
protected at the commencement of the struggle, and many of the
neighbouring proprietors were won over by his persuasions. His
correspondence with Lord Lovat, published in the Culloden papers,
affords a fine illustration of his character, in which the firmness of
loyal principle and duty is found blended with neighbourly kindness and
consideration. But at this critical juncture of affairs, the apathy of
the government interfered considerably with the success of his
negotiations. Advances of arms and money arrived too late, and though
Forbes employed all his own means and what money he could borrow on his
personal security, his resources were quite inadequate to the emergency.
It is doubtful whether these advances were ever fully repaid. Part was
doled out to him, after repeated solicitations that his credit might be
maintained in the country; but it is evident he had fallen into disgrace
in consequence of his humane exertions to mitigate the impolitic
severities inflicted upon his countrymen after their disastrous defeat
at Culloden. The ingratitude of the government, and the many distressing
circumstances connected with the insurrection, sunk deep into the mind
of Forbes. He never fairly rallied from the depression thus caused, and
after a period of declining health he died on the 10th of December 1747.
Forbes was a patriot without ostentation or pretence, a true Scotsman
with no narrow prejudice, an accomplished and even erudite scholar
without pedantry, a man of genuine piety without asceticism or
intolerance. His country long felt his influence through her reviving
arts and institutions; and the example of such a character in that
coarse and venal age, and among a people distracted by faction,
political strife, and national antipathies, while it was invaluable to
his contemporaries in a man of high position, is entitled to the lasting
gratitude and veneration of his countrymen. In his intervals of leisure
he cultivated with some success the study of philosophy, theology and
biblical criticism. He is said to have been a diligent reader of the
Hebrew Bible. His published writings, some of them of importance,
include--_A Letter to a Bishop, concerning some Important Discoveries in
Philosophy and Theology_ (1732); _Some Thoughts concerning Religion,
natural and revealed, and the Manner of Understanding Revelation_
(1735); and _Reflections on Incredulity_ (2nd ed., 1750).
His correspondence was collected and published in 1815, and a memoir
of him (from the family papers) was written by Mr Hill Burton, and
published along with a _Life of Lord Lovat_, in 1847. His statue by
Roubillac stands in the Parliament House, Edinburgh.
FORBES, EDWARD (1815-1854), British naturalist, was born at Douglas, in
the Isle of Man, on the 12th of February 1815. While still a child, when
not engaged in reading, or in the writing of verses and drawing of
caricatures, he occupied himself with the collecting of insects, shells,
minerals, fossils, plants and other natural history objects. From his
fifth to his eleventh year, delicacy of health precluded his attendance
at any school, but in 1828 he became a day scholar at Athole House
Academy in Douglas. In June 1831 he left the Isle of Man for London,
where he studied drawing. In October, however, having given up all idea
of making painting his profession, he returned home; and in the
following month he matriculated as a student of medicine in the
university of Edinburgh. His vacation in 1832 he spent in diligent work
on the natural history of the Isle of Man. In 1833 he made a tour in
Norway, the botanical results of which were published in Loudon's
_Magazine of Natural History_ for 1835-1836. In the summer of 1834 he
devoted much time to dredging in the Irish Sea; and in the succeeding
year he travelled in France, Switzerland and Germany.
Born a naturalist, and having no relish for the practical duties of a
surgeon, Forbes in the spring of 1836 abandoned the idea of taking a
medical degree, resolving to devote himself to science and literature.
The winter of 1836-1837 found him at Paris, where he attended the
lectures at the Jardin des Plantes on natural history, comparative
anatomy, geology and mineralogy. Leaving Paris in April 1837, he went to
Algiers, and there obtained materials for a paper on land and freshwater
Mollusca, published in the _Annals of Natural History_, vol. ii. p. 250.
In the autumn of the same year he registered at Edinburgh as a student
of literature; and in 1838 appeared his first volume, _Malacologia
Monensis_, a synopsis of the species of Manx Mollusca. During the summer
of 1838 he visited Styria and Carniola, and made extensive botanical
collections. In the following autumn he read before the British
Association at Newcastle a paper on the distribution of terrestrial
Pulmonifera in Europe, and was commissioned to prepare a similar report
with reference to the British Isles. In 1841 was published his _History
of British Star-fishes_, embodying extensive observations and containing
120 illustrations, inclusive of humorous tail-pieces, all designed by
the author. On the 17th of April of the same year Forbes, accompanied by
his friend William Thompson, joined at Malta H.M. surveying ship
"Beacon," to which he had been appointed naturalist by her commander
Captain Graves. From that date until October 1842 he was employed in
investigating the botany, zoology and geology of the Mediterranean
region. The results of these researches were made known in his "Report
on the Mollusca and Radiata of the Aegean Sea, presented to the British
Association in 1843," and in _Travels in Lycia_, published in
conjunction with Lieut. (afterwards Admiral) T.A.B. Spratt in 1847. In
the former treatise he discussed the influence of climate and of the
nature and depth of the sea bottom upon marine life, and divided the
Aegean into eight biological zones; his conclusions with respect to
bathymetrical distribution, however, have naturally been modified to a
considerable extent by the more recent explorations of the deep seas.
Towards the end of the year 1842 Forbes, whom family misfortunes had now
thrown upon his own resources, sought and obtained the curatorship of
the museum of the Geological Society of London. To the duties of that
post he added in 1843 those of the professorship of botany at King's
College. In November 1844 he resigned the curatorship of the Geological
Society, and became palaeontologist to the Geological Survey of Great
Britain. Two years later he published in the _Memoirs of the Geological
Survey_, i. 336, his important essay "On the Connexion between the
distribution of the existing Fauna and Flora of the British Isles, and
the Geological Changes which have affected their Area, especially during
the epoch of the Northern Drift." It is therein pointed out that, in
accordance with the theory of their origin from various specific
centres, the plants of Great Britain may be divided into five
well-marked groups: the W. and S.W. Irish, represented in the N. of
Spain, the S.E. Irish and S.W. English, related to the flora of the
Channel Isles and the neighbouring part of France; the S.E. English,
characterized by species occurring on the opposite French coast; a group
peculiar to mountain summits, Scandinavian in type; and, lastly, a
general or Germanic flora. From a variety of arguments the conclusion is
drawn that the greater part of the terrestrial animals and flowering
plants of the British Islands migrated thitherward, over continuous
land, at three distinct periods, before, during and after the glacial
epoch. On this subject Forbes's brilliant generalizations are now
regarded as only partially true (see C. Reid's _Origin of the British
Flora_, 1899). In the autumn of 1848 Forbes married the daughter of
General Sir C. Ashworth; and in the same year was published his
_Monograph of the British Naked-eyed Medusae_ (Ray Society). The year
1851 witnessed the removal of the collections of the Geological Survey
from Craig's Court to the museum in Jermyn Street, and the appointment
of Forbes as professor of natural history to the Royal School of Mines
just established in conjunction therewith. In 1852 was published the
fourth and concluding volume of Forbes and S. Hanley's _History of
British Mollusca_; also his _Monograph of the Echinodermata of the
British Tertiaries_ (Palaeontographical Soc.).
In 1853 Forbes held the presidency of the Geological Society of London,
and in the following year he obtained the fulfilment of a long-cherished
wish in his appointment to the professorship of natural history in the
university of Edinburgh, vacant by the death of R. Jameson, his former
teacher. Since his return from the East in 1842, the determination and
arrangement of fossils, frequent lectures, and incessant literary work,
including the preparation of his palaeontological memoirs, had precluded
Forbes from giving that attention to the natural history pursuits of his
earlier life which he had earnestly desired. It seemed that at length he
was to find leisure to reduce to order his stores of biological
information. He lectured at Edinburgh, in the summer session of 1854,
and in September of that year he occupied the post of president of the
geological section at the Liverpool meeting of the British Association.
But he was taken ill just after he had commenced his winter's course of
lectures in Edinburgh, and after not many days' illness he died at
Wardie, near Edinburgh, on the 18th of November 1854.
See _Literary Gazette_ (November 25, 1854); _Edinburgh New
Philosophical Journal_ (New Ser.), (1855); _Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc._
(May 1855); G. Wilson and A. Geikie, _Memoir of Edward Forbes_ (1861),
in which, pp. 575-583, is given a list of Forbes's writings. See also
_Literary Papers_, edited by Lovell Reeve (1855). The following works
were issued posthumously: "On the Tertiary Fluviomarine Formation of
the Isle of Wight" (_Geol. Survey_), edited by R.A.C. Godwin-Austen
(1856); "The Natural History of the European Seas," edited and
continued by R.A.C. Godwin-Austen (1859).
FORBES, JAMES DAVID (1809-1868), Scottish physicist, was the fourth son
of Sir William Forbes, 7th baronet of Pitsligo, and was born at
Edinburgh on the 20th of April 1809. He entered the university of
Edinburgh in 1825, and soon afterwards began to contribute papers to the
_Edinburgh Philosophical Journal_ anonymously under the signature
"[Delta]." At the age of nineteen he became a fellow of the Royal
Society of Edinburgh, and in 1832 he was elected to the Royal Society of
London. A year later he was appointed professor of natural philosophy in
Edinburgh University, in succession to Sir John Leslie and in
competition with Sir David Brewster, and during his tenure of that
office, which he did not give up till 1860, he not only proved himself
an active and efficient teacher, but also did much to improve the
internal conditions of the university. In 1859 he was appointed
successor to Brewster in the principalship of the United College of St
Andrews, a position which he held until his death at Clifton on the 31st
of December 1868.
As a scientific investigator he is best known for his researches on heat
and on glaciers. Between 1836 and 1844 he published in the _Trans. Roy.
Soc. Ed._ four series of "Researches on Heat," in the course of which he
described the polarization of heat by tourmaline, by transmission
through a bundle of thin mica plates inclined to the transmitted ray,
and by reflection from the multiplied surfaces of a pile of mica plates
placed at the polarizing angle, and also its circular polarization by
two internal reflections in rhombs of rock-salt. His work won him the
Rumford medal of the Royal Society in 1838, and in 1843 he received its
Royal medal for a paper on the "Transparency of the Atmosphere and the
Laws of Extinction of the Sun's Rays passing through it." In 1846 he
began experiments on the temperature of the earth at different depths
and in different soils near Edinburgh, which yielded determinations of
the thermal conductivity of trap-tufa, sandstone and pure loose sand.
Towards the end of his life he was occupied with experimental inquiries
into the laws of the conduction of heat in bars, and his last piece of
work was to show that the thermal conductivity of iron diminishes with
increase of temperature. His attention was directed to the question of
the flow of glaciers in 1840 when he met Louis Agassiz at the Glasgow
meeting of the British Association, and in subsequent years he made
several visits to Switzerland and also to Norway for the purpose of
obtaining accurate data. His observations led him to the view that a
glacier is an imperfect fluid or a viscous body which is urged down
slopes of a certain inclination by the mutual pressure of its parts, and
involved him in some controversy with Tyndall and others both as to
priority and to scientific principle. Forbes was also interested in
geology, and published memoirs on the thermal springs of the Pyrenees,
on the extinct volcanoes of the Vivarais (Ardeche), on the geology of
the Cuchullin and Eildon hills, &c. In addition to about 150 scientific
papers, he wrote _Travels through the Alps of Savoy and Other Parts of
the Pennine Chain, with Observations on the Phenomena of Glaciers_
(1843); _Norway and its Glaciers_ (1853); _Occasional Papers on the
Theory of Glaciers_ (1859); _A Tour of Mont Blanc and Monte Rosa_
(1855). He was also the author (1852) of the "Dissertation on the
Progress of Mathematical and Physical Science," published in the 8th
edition of the _Encyclopaedia Britannica_.
See _Forbes's Life and Letters_, by Principal Shairp, Professor P.G.
Tait and A. Adams-Reilly (1873); _Professor Forbes and his
Biographers_, by J. Tyndall (1873).
FORBES, SIR JOHN (1787-1861), British physician, was born at Cuttlebrae,
Banffshire, in 1787. He attended the grammar school at Aberdeen, and
afterwards entered Marischal College. After serving for nine years as a
surgeon in the navy, he graduated M.D. at Edinburgh in 1817, and then
began to practise in Penzance, whence he removed to Chichester in 1822.
He took up his residence in London in 1840, and in the following year
was appointed physician to the royal household. He was knighted in 1853,
and died on the 13th of November 1861 at Whitchurch in Berkshire. Sir
John Forbes was better known as an author and editor than as a practical
physician. His works include the following:--_Original Cases ...
illustrating the Use of the Stethoscope and Percussion in the Diagnosis
of Diseases of the Chest_ (1824); _Illustrations of Modern Mesmerism_
(1845); _A Physician's Holiday_ (1st ed., 1849); _Memorandums made in
Ireland in the Autumn of 1852_ (2 vols., 1853); _Sightseeing in Germany
and the Tyrol in the Autumn of 1855_ (1856). He was joint editor with A.
Tweedie and J. Conolly of _The Cyclopaedia of Practical Medicine_ (4
vols., 1833-1835); and in 1836 he founded the _British and Foreign
Medical Review_, which, after a period of prosperity, involved its
editor in pecuniary loss, and was discontinued in 1847, partly in
consequence of the advocacy in its later numbers of doctrines obnoxious
to the profession.
FORBES, a municipal town of Ashburnham county, New South Wales,
Australia, 289 m. W. by N. from Sydney, on the Lachlan river, and with a
station on the Great Western railway. Pop. (1901) 4313. Its importance
as a commercial centre is due to its advantageous position between the
northern and southern markets. It has steam-sawing and flour-mills,
breweries and wool-scouring establishments; while the surrounding
country produces good quantities of cereals, lucerne, wine and fruit.
FORBES-ROBERTSON, JOHNSTON (1853- ), English actor, was the son of John
Forbes-Robertson of Aberdeen, an art critic. He was educated at
Charterhouse, and studied at the Royal Academy schools with a view to
becoming a painter. But though he kept up his interest in that art, in
1874 he turned to the theatre, making his first appearance in London as
Chastelard, in _Mary, Queen of Scots_. He studied under Samuel Phelps,
from whom he learnt the traditions of the tragic stage. He played with
the Bancrofts and with John Hare, supported Miss Mary Anderson in both
England and America, and also acted at different times with Sir Henry
Irving. His refined and artistic style, and beautiful voice and
elocution made him a marked man on the English stage, and in Pinero's
_The Profligate_ at the Garrick theatre (1889), under Hare's management,
he established his position as one of the most individual of London
actors. In 1895 he started under his own management at the Lyceum with
Mrs Patrick Campbell, producing _Romeo and Juliet_, _Hamlet_, _Macbeth_
and also some modern plays; his impersonation as Hamlet was especially
fine, and his capacity as a romantic actor was shown to great advantage
also in John Davidson's _For the Crown_ and in Maeterlinck's _Pelleas
and Melisande_. In 1900 he married the actress Gertrude Elliott, with
whom, as his leading lady, he appeared at various theatres, producing in
subsequent years _The Light that Failed_, Madeleine Lucette Riley's
_Mice and Men_, and G. Bernard Shaw's _Caesar and Cleopatra_, Jerome K.
Jerome's _Passing of the Third Floor Back_, &c. His brothers, Ian
Robertson (b. 1858) and Norman Forbes (b. 1859), had also been
well-known actors from about 1878 onwards.
FORBIN, CLAUDE DE (1656-1733), French naval commander, was born in
Provence, of a family of high standing, in 1656. High-spirited and
ungovernable in his boyhood, he ran away from his home, and through the
influence of an uncle entered the navy, serving his first campaign in
1675. For a short time he quitted the navy and entered the army, but
soon returned to his first choice. He made under D'Estrees the American
campaign, and under Duquesne that of Algiers in 1683, on all occasions
distinguishing himself by his impetuous courage. The most remarkable
episode of his life was his mission to Siam. During the administration
of the Greek adventurer Phaulcon in that country, the project was formed
of introducing the Christian religion and European civilization, and the
king sent an embassy to Louis XIV. In response a French embassy was sent
out, Forbin accompanying the chevalier de Chaumont with the rank of
major. When Chaumont returned to France, Forbin was induced to remain in
the service of the Siamese king, and accepted, though with much
reluctance, the posts of grand admiral, general of all the king's armies
and governor of Bangkok. His position, however, was soon made untenable
by the jealousy and intrigues of the minister Phaulcon; and at the end
of two years he left Siam, reaching France in 1688. He was afterwards
fully engaged in active service, first with Jean Bart in the war with
England, when they were both captured and taken to Plymouth. They
succeeded in making their escape and were soon serving their country
again. Forbin was wounded at the battle of La Hogue, and greatly
distinguished himself at the battle of Lagos. He served under D'Estrees
at the taking of Barcelona, was sent ambassador to Algiers, and in 1702
took a brilliant part in the Mediterranean in the War of the Spanish
Succession. In 1706 he took command of a squadron at Dunkirk, and
captured many valuable prizes from the Dutch and the English. In 1708 he
was entrusted with the command of the squadron which was to convey the
Pretender to Scotland; but so effectually were the coasts guarded by
Byng that the expedition failed, and returned to Dunkirk. Forbin was now
beginning to be weighed down with the infirmities of age and the toils
of service, and in 1710 he retired to a country house near Marseilles.
There he spent part of his time in writing his memoirs, published in
1730, which are full of interest and are written in a graphic and
attractive style. Forbin died on the 4th of March 1733.
FORCELLINI, EGIDIO (1688-1768), Italian philologist, was born at Fener
in the district of Treviso and belonged to a very poor family. He went
to the seminary at Padua in 1704, studied under Facciolati, and in due
course attained to the priesthood. From 1724 to 1731 he held the office
of rector of the seminary at Ceneda, and from 1731 to 1765 that of
father confessor in the seminary of Padua. The remaining years of his
life were mainly spent in his native village. He died at Padua in 1768
before the completion of the great work on which he had long co-operated
with Facciolati. This was the vast _Latin Lexicon_ (see FACCIOLATI),
which has formed the basis of all similar works that have since been
published. He was engaged with his Herculean task for nearly 35 years,
and the transcription of the manuscript by Luigi Violato occupied eight
years more.
FORCHHAMMER, JOHANN GEORG (1794-1865), Danish mineralogist and
geologist, was born at Husum, Schleswig, on the 24th of July 1794, and
died at Copenhagen on the 14th of December 1865. After studying at Kiel
and Copenhagen from 1815 to 1818, he joined Oersted and Lauritz Esmarch
in their mineralogical exploration of Bornholm, and took a considerable
share in the labours of the expedition. In 1820 he obtained his doctor's
degree by a chemical treatise _De mangano_, and immediately after set
out on a journey through England, Scotland and the Faeroe Islands. In
1823 he was appointed lecturer at Copenhagen University on chemistry and
mineralogy; in 1829 he obtained a similar post in the newly established
polytechnic school; and in 1831 he was appointed professor of mineralogy
in the university, and in 1848 became curator of the geological museum.
From 1835 to 1837 he made many contributions to the geological survey of
Denmark. On the death of H.C. Oersted in 1851, he succeeded him as
director of the polytechnic school and secretary of the Academy of
Sciences. In 1850 he began with J. Steenstrup and Worsaae various
anthropological publications which gained a high reputation. As a public
instructor Forchhammer held a high place and contributed potently to the
progress of his favourite studies in his native country. He interested
himself in such practical questions as the introduction of gas into
Copenhagen, the establishment of the fire-brigade at Rosenberg and the
boring of artesian wells.
Among his more important works are--_Loerebog i de enkelte Radicalers
Chemi_ (1842); _Danmarks geognostiske Forhold_ (1835); _Om de
Bornholmske Kulformationer_ (1836); _Dit myere Kridt i Danmark_
(1847); _Bidrag til Skildringen af Danmarks geographiske Forhold_
(1858). A list of his contributions to scientific periodicals, Danish,
English and German, will be found in the _Catalogue of Scientific
Papers_ published by the Royal Society of London. One of the most
interesting and most recent is "On the Constitution of Sea Water at
Different Depths and in Different Latitudes," in the _Proceedings of
the Roy. Soc._ xii. (1862-1863).
FORCHHAMMER, PETER WILHELM (1801-1894), German classical archaeologist,
was born at Husum in Schleswig on the 23rd of October 1801. He was
educated at the Lubeck gymnasium and the university of Kiel, with which
he was connected for nearly 65 years. In 1830-1834 and 1838-1840 he
travelled in Italy, Greece, Asia Minor and Egypt. In 1843 he was
appointed professor of philology at Kiel and director of the
archaeological museum founded by himself in co-operation with Otto Jahn.
He died on the 8th of January 1894. Forchhammer was a democrat in the
best sense of the word, and from 1871 to 1873 represented the
progressive party of Schleswig-Holstein in the German Reichstag. His
published works deal chiefly with topography and ancient mythology. His
travels had convinced him that a full and comprehensive knowledge of
classical antiquity could only be acquired by a thorough acquaintance
with Greek and Roman monuments and works of art, and a detailed
examination of the topographical and climatic conditions of the chief
localities of the ancient world. These principles are illustrated in his
_Hellenika. Griechenland. Im Neuen das Alte_ (1837), which contains his
theory of the origin and explanation of the Greek myths, which he never
abandoned, in spite of the attacks to which it was subjected. According
to him, the myths arose from definite local (especially atmospheric and
aquatic) phenomena, and represented the annually recurring processes of
nature as the acts of gods and heroes; thus, in _Achill_ (1853), the
Trojan War is the winter conflict of the elements in that district.
Other similar short treatises are: _Die Grundung Roms_ (1868);
_Daduchos_ (1875), on the language of the myths and mythical buildings;
_Die Wanderungen der Inachostochter Io_ (1880); _Prolegomena zur
Mythologie als Wissenschaft und Lexikon der Mythensprache_ (1891).
Amongst his topographical works mention may be made of: _Topographie von
Athen_ (1841); _Beschreibung der Ebene von Troja_ (1850), a commentary
on a map of the locality executed by T.A. Spratt (see _Journal of the
Royal Geographical Society_, xii., 1842); _Topographia Thebarum
Heptapylarum_ (1854); _Erklarung der Ilias_ (1884), on the basis of the
topographical and physical peculiarities of the plain of Troy. His
_Demokratenbuchlein_ (1849), in the main a discussion of the
Aristotelian theory of the state, and _Die Athener und Sokrates_ (1837),
in which, contrary to the almost universal opinion, he upheld the
procedure of the Athenians as perfectly legal and their verdict as a
perfectly just one, also deserve notice.
For a full list of his works see the obituary notice by E. Alberti in
C. Bursian's _Biographisches Jahrbuch fur Altertumskunde_, xx. (1897);
also J. Sass in _Allgemeine deutsche Biographie_, and A. Hoeck and
L.C. Pertsch, _P.W. Forchhammer_ (1898).
FORCHHEIM, a town of Germany, in the kingdom of Bavaria, near the
confluence of the Wiesent and the Regnitz, 16 m. S.S.E. of Bamberg. Pop.
(1905) 8417. It has four Roman Catholic churches, including the Gothic
Collegiate church and a Protestant church. Among the other public
buildings are the progymnasium and an orphanage. The industries of the
town include spinning and weaving, bleaching and dyeing, bone and glue
works, brewing and paper-making. The spacious chateau occupies the site
of the Carolingian palace which was destroyed in 1246.
Forchheim is of very early origin, having been the residence of the
Carolingian sovereigns, including Charlemagne, in the 9th century.
Consequently many diets were held here, and here also Conrad I. and
Louis the Child were chosen German kings. The town was given by the
emperor Henry II. in 1007 to the bishopric of Bamberg, and, except for a
short period during the 11th century, it remained in the possession of
the bishops until 1802, when it was ceded to Bavaria. In August 1796 a
battle took place near Forchheim between the French and the Austrians.
The fortifications of the town were dismantled in 1838.
See Hubsch, _Chronik der Stadt Forchheim_ (Nuremberg, 1867).
FORD, EDWARD ONSLOW (1852-1901), English sculptor, was born in London.
He received some education as a painter in Antwerp and as a sculptor in
Munich under Professor Wagmuller, but was mainly self-taught. His first
contribution to the Royal Academy, in 1875, was a bust of his wife, and
in portraiture he may be said to have achieved his greatest success. His
busts are always extremely refined and show his sitters at their best.
Those (in bronze) of his fellow-artists Arthur Hacker (1894), Briton
Riviere and Sir W.Q. Orchardson (1895), Sir L. Alma Tadema (1896), Sir
Hubert von Herkomer and Sir John Millais (1897), and of A.J. Balfour are
all striking likenesses, and are equalled by that in marble of Sir
Frederick Bramwell (for the Royal Institution) and by many more. He
gained the open competition for the statue of Sir Rowland Hill, erected
in 1882 outside the Royal Exchange, and followed it in 1883 with "Henry
Irving as Hamlet," now in the Guildhall art gallery. This seated statue,
good as it is, was soon surpassed by those of Dr Dale (1898, in the city
museum, Birmingham) and Professor Huxley (1900), but the colossal
memorial statue of Queen Victoria (1901), for Manchester, was less
successful. The standing statue of W.E. Gladstone (1894, for the City
Liberal Club, London) is to be regarded as one of Ford's better portrait
works. The colossal "General Charles Gordon," camel-mounted, for
Chatham, "Lord Strathnairn," an equestrian group for Knightsbridge, and
the "Maharajah of Mysore" (1900) comprise his larger works of the kind.
A beautiful nude recumbent statue of Shelley (1892) upon a
cleverly-designed base, which is not quite impeccable from the point of
view of artistic taste, is at University College, Oxford, and a
simplified version was presented by him to be set up on the shore of
Viareggio, where the poet's body was washed up. Ford's ideal work has
great charm and daintiness; his statue "Folly" (1886) was bought by the
trustees of the Chantrey Fund, and was followed by other statues or
statuettes of a similar order: "Peace" (1890), which secured his
election as an associate of the Royal Academy, "Echo" (1895), on which
he was elected full member, "The Egyptian Singer" (1889), "Applause"
(1893), "Glory to the Dead" (1901) and "Snowdrift" (1902). Ford's
influence on the younger generation of sculptors was considerable and of
good effect. His charming disposition rendered him extremely popular,
and when he died a monument was erected to his memory (C. Lucchesi,
sculptor, J.W. Simpson, architect) in St John's Wood, near to where he
dwelt.
See SCULPTURE; also M.H. Spielmann, _British Sculpture and Sculptors
of To-day_ (London, 1901).
FORD, JOHN (1586-c. 1640), English dramatist, was baptized on the 17th
of April 1586 at Ilsington in north Devon. He came of a good family; his
father was in the commission of the peace and his mother was a sister of
Sir John Popham, successively attorney-general and lord chief justice.
The name of John Ford appears in the university register of Oxford as
matriculating at Exeter College in 1601. Like a cousin and namesake (to
whom, with other members of the society of Gray's Inn, he dedicated his
play of _The Lover's Melancholy_), the future dramatist entered the
profession of the law, being admitted of the Middle Temple in 1602; but
he seems never to have been called to the bar. Four years afterwards he
made his first appearance as an author with an elegy called _Fame's
Memorial, or the Earl of Devonshire deceased_, and dedicated to the
widow of the earl (Charles Blount, Lord Mountjoy, "coronized," to use
Ford's expression, by King James in 1603 for his services in Ireland)--a
lady who would have been no unfitting heroine for one of his own
tragedies of lawless passion, the famous Penelope, formerly Lady Rich.
This panegyric, which is accompanied by a series of epitaphs and is
composed in a strain of fearless extravagance, was, as the author
declares, written "unfee'd"; it shows that Ford sympathized, as
Shakespeare himself is supposed to have done, with the "awkward fate" of
the countess's brother, the earl of Essex. Who the "flint-hearted Lycia"
may be, to whom the poet seems to allude as his own disdainful mistress,
is unknown; indeed, the record of Ford's private life is little better
than a blank. To judge, however, from the dedications, prologues and
epilogues of his various plays, he seems to have enjoyed the patronage
of the earl, afterwards duke, of Newcastle, "himself a muse" after a
fashion, and Lord Craven, the supposed husband of the ex-queen of
Bohemia. Ford's tract of _Honor Triumphant, or the Peeres Challenge_
(printed 1606 and reprinted by the Shakespeare Society with the _Line of
Life_, in 1843), and the simultaneously published verses _The Monarches
Meeting, or the King of Denmarkes Welcome into England_, exhibit him as
occasionally meeting the festive demands of court and nobility; and a
kind of moral essay by him, entitled _A Line of Life_ (printed 1620),
which contains references to Raleigh, ends with a climax of fulsome
praise to the address of King James I. Yet at least one of Ford's plays
(_The Broken Heart_, iii. 4) contains an implied protest against the
absolute system of government generally accepted by the dramatists of
the early Stuart reigns. Of his relations with his brother-authors
little is known; it was natural that he should exchange complimentary
verses with James Shirley, and that he should join in the chorus of
laments over the death of Ben Jonson. It is more interesting to notice
an epigram in honour of Ford by Richard Crashaw, morbidly passionate in
one direction as Ford was in another. The lines run:
"Thou cheat'st us, Ford; mak'st one seem two by art:
What is Love's Sacrifice but the Broken Heart?"
It has been concluded that in the latter part of his life he gratified
the tendency to seclusion for which he was ridiculed in _The Time Poets_
(_Choice Drollery_, 1656) by withdrawing from business and from literary
life in London, to his native place; but nothing is known as to the date
of his death. His career as a dramatist very probably began by
collaboration with other authors. With Thomas Dekker he wrote _The Fairy
Knight_ and _The Bristowe Merchant_ (licensed in 1624, but both
unpublished), with John Webster _A late Murther of the Sonne upon the
Mother_ (licensed in 1624). A play entitled _An ill Beginning has a good
End_, brought on the stage as early as 1613 and attributed to Ford, was
(if his) his earliest acted play; whether _Sir Thomas Overbury's Life
and untimely Death_ (1615) was a play is extremely doubtful; some lines
of indignant regret by Ford on the same subject are still preserved. He
is also said to have written, at dates unknown, _The London Merchant_
(which, however, was an earlier name for Beaumont and Fletcher's _Knight
of the Burning Pestle_) and _The Royal Combat_; a tragedy by him,
_Beauty in a Trance_, was entered in the Stationers' Register in 1653,
but never printed. These three (or four) plays were among those
destroyed by Warburton's cook. _The Queen, or the Excellency of the
Sea_, a play of inverted passion, containing some fine sensuous lines,
printed in 1653 by Alexander Singhe for private performance, has been
recently edited by W. Bang (_Materialien zur Kunde d. alteren engl.
Dramas_, 13, Louvain, 1906), and is by him on internal evidence
confidently claimed as Ford's. Of the plays by Ford preserved to us the
dates span little more than a decade--the earliest, _The Lover's
Melancholy_, having been acted in 1628 and printed in 1629, the latest,
_The Lady's Trial_, acted in 1638 and printed in 1639.
When writing _The Lover's Melancholy_, it would seem that Ford had not
yet become fully aware of the bent of his own dramatic genius, although
he was already master of his powers of poetic expression. He was
attracted towards domestic tragedy by an irresistible desire to sound
the depths of abnormal conflicts between passion and circumstances, to
romantic comedy by a strong though not widely varied imaginative
faculty, and by a delusion that he was possessed of abundant comic
humour. In his next two works, undoubtedly those most characteristically
expressive of his peculiar strength, _'Tis Pity she's a Whore_ (acted c.
1626) and _The Broken Heart_ (acted c. 1629), both printed in 1633 with
the anagram of his name _Fide Honor_, he had found horrible situations
which required dramatic explanation by intensely powerful motives. Ford
by no means stood alone among English dramatists in his love of abnormal
subjects; but few were so capable of treating them sympathetically, and
yet without that reckless grossness or extravagance of expression which
renders the morally repulsive aesthetically intolerable, or converts the
horrible into the grotesque. For in Ford's genius there was real
refinement, except when the "supra-sensually sensual" impulse or the
humbler self-delusion referred to came into play. In a third tragedy,
_Love's Sacrifice_ (acted c. 1630; printed in 1633), he again worked on
similar materials; but this time he unfortunately essayed to base the
interest of his plot upon an unendurably unnatural possibility--doing
homage to virtue after a fashion which is in itself an insult. In
_Perkin Warbeck_ (printed 1634; probably acted a year later) he chose an
historical subject of great dramatic promise and psychological interest,
and sought to emulate the glory of the great series of Shakespeare's
national histories. The effort is one of the most laudable, as it was by
no means one of the least successful, in the dramatic literature of this
period. _The Fancies Chaste and Noble_ (acted before 1636, printed
1638), though it includes scenes of real force and feeling, is
dramatically a failure, of which the main idea is almost provokingly
slight and feeble; and _The Lady's Trial_ (acted 1638, printed 1639) is
only redeemed from utter wearisomeness by an unusually even pleasingness
of form. There remain two other dramatic works, of very different kinds,
in which Ford co-operated with other writers, the mask of _The Sun's
Darling_ (acted 1624, printed 1657), hardly to be placed in the first
rank of early compositions, and _The Witch of Edmonton_ (printed 1658,
but probably acted about 1621), in which we see Ford as a joint writer
with Dekker and Rowley of one of the most powerful domestic dramas of
the English or any other stage.
A few notes may be added on some of the more remarkable of the plays
enumerated. A wholly baseless anecdote, condensed into a stinging
epigram by Endymion Porter, asserted that _The Lover's Melancholy_ was
stolen by Ford from Shakespeare's papers. Undoubtedly, the madness of
the hero of this play of Ford's occasionally recalls Hamlet, while the
heroine is one of the many, and at the same time one of the most
pleasing, parallels to Viola. But neither of them is a copy, as Friar
Bonaventura in Ford's second play may be said to be a copy of Friar
Lawrence, whose kindly pliability he disagreeably exaggerates, or as
D'Avolos in _Love's Sacrifice_ is clearly modelled on Iago. The plot
of _The Lover's Melancholy_, which is ineffective because it leaves no
room for suspense in the mind of the reader, seems original; in the
dialogue, on the other hand, a justly famous passage in Act i. (the
beautiful version of the story of the nightingale's death) is
translated from Strada; while the scheme of the tedious interlude
exhibiting the various forms of madness is avowedly taken, together
with sundry comments, from Burton's _Anatomy of Melancholy_. Already
in this play Ford exhibits the singular force of his pathos; the
despondent misery of the aged Meleander, and the sweetness of the last
scene, in which his daughter comes back to him, alike go to the heart.
A situation--hazardous in spite of its comic substratum--between
Thaumasta and the pretended Parthenophil is conducted, as Gifford
points out, with real delicacy; but the comic scenes are merely stagy,
notwithstanding, or by reason of, the effort expended on them by the
author.
_'Tis Pity she's a Whore_ has been justly recognized as a tragedy of
extraordinary power. Mr Swinburne, in his eloquent essay on Ford, has
rightly shown what is the meaning of this tragedy, and has at the same
time indicated wherein consists its poison. He dwells with great force
upon the different treatment applied by Ford to the characters of the
two miserable lovers--brother and sister. "The sin once committed,
there is no more wavering or flinching possible to him, who has fought
so hard against the demoniac possession; while she who resigned body
and soul to the tempter, almost at a word, remains liable to the
influences of religion and remorse." This different treatment shows
the feeling of the poet--the feeling for which he seeks to evoke our
inmost sympathy--to oscillate between the belief that an awful crime
brings with it its awful punishment (and it is sickening to observe
how the argument by which the Friar persuades Annabella to forsake her
evil courses mainly appeals to the physical terrors of retribution),
and the notion that there is something fatal, something irresistible,
and therefore in a sense self-justified, in so dominant a passion. The
key-note to the conduct of Giovanni lies in his words at the close of
the first scene--
"All this I'll do, to free me from the rod
Of vengeance; _else I'll swear my fate's my god_."
Thus there is no solution of the conflict between passion on the one
side, and law, duty and religion on the other; and passion triumphs,
in the dying words of "the student struck blind and mad by passion"--
"O, I bleed fast!
Death, thou'rt a guest long look'd for; I embrace
Thee and thy wounds: O, my last minute comes!
Where'er I go, let me enjoy this grace
Freely to view my Annabella's face."
It has been observed by J.A. Symonds that "English poets have given us
the right key to the Italian temperament.... The love of Giovanni and
Annabella is rightly depicted as more imaginative than sensual." It is
difficult to allow the appositeness of this special illustration; on
the other hand, Ford has even in this case shown his art of depicting
sensual passion without grossness of expression; for the exception in
Annabella's language to Soranzo seems to have a special intention, and
is true to the pressure of the situation and the revulsion produced by
it in a naturally weak and yielding mind. The entire atmosphere, so to
speak, of the play is stifling, and is not rendered less so by the
underplot with Hippolita.
_'Tis Pity she's a Whore_ was translated into French by Maurice
Maeterlinck under the title of _Annabella_, and represented at the
Theatre de l'Oeuvre in 1894. The translator prefixes to the version an
eloquent appreciation of Ford's genius, especially in his portraits of
women, whose fate it is to live "dans les tenebres, les craintes et
les larmes."
Like this tragedy, _The Broken Heart_ was probably founded upon some
Italian or other novel of the day; but since in the latter instance
there is nothing revolting in the main idea of the subject, the play
commends itself as the most enjoyable, while, in respect of many
excellences, an unsurpassed specimen of Ford's dramatic genius. The
complicated plot is constructed with greater skill than is usual with
this dramatist, and the pathos of particular situations, and of the
entire character of Penthea--a woman doomed to hopeless misery, but
capable of seeking to obtain for her brother a happiness which his
cruelty has condemned her to forego--has an intensity and a depth
which are all Ford's own. Even the lesser characters are more pleasing
than usual, and some beautiful lyrics are interspersed in the play.
Of the other plays written by Ford alone, only _The Chronicle Historie
of Perkin Warbeck. A Strange Truth_, appears to call for special
attention. A repeated perusal of this drama suggests the judgment that
it is overpraised when ranked at no great distance from Shakespeare's
national dramas. Historical truth need not be taken into consideration
in the matter; and if, notwithstanding James Gairdner's essay appended
to his _Life and Reign of Richard III._, there are still credulous
persons left to think and assert that Perkin was not an impostor, they
will derive little satisfaction from Ford's play, which with really
surprising skill avoids the slightest indication as to the poet's own
belief on the subject. That this tragedy should have been reprinted in
1714 and acted in 1745 only shows that the public, as is often the
case, had an eye to the catastrophe rather than to the development of
the action. The dramatic capabilities of the subject are, however,
great, and it afterwards attracted Schiller, who, however, seems to
have abandoned it in favour of the similar theme of the Russian
Demetrius. Had Shakespeare treated it, he would hardly have contented
himself with investing the hero with the nobility given by Ford to
this personage of his play,--for it is hardly possible to speak of a
personage as a _character_ when the clue to his conduct is
intentionally withheld. Nor could Shakespeare have failed to bring out
with greater variety and distinctness the dramatic features in Henry
VII., whom Ford depicts with sufficient distinctness to give some
degree of individuality to the figure, but still with a tenderness of
touch which would have been much to the credit of the dramatist's
skill had he been writing in the Tudor age. The play is, however,
founded on Bacon's Life, of which the text is used by Ford with
admirable discretion, and on Thomas Gainsford's _True and Wonderful
History of Perkin Warbeck_ (1618). The minor characters of the honest
old Huntley, whom the Scottish king obliges to bestow his daughter's
hand upon Warbeck, and of her lover the faithful "Dalyell," are most
effectively drawn; even "the men of judgment," the adventurers who
surround the chief adventurer, are spirited sketches, and the Irishman
among them has actually some humour; while the style of the play is,
as befits a "Chronicle History," so clear and straightforward as to
make it easy as well as interesting to read.
_The Witch of Edmonton_ was attributed by its publisher to William
Rowley, Dekker, Ford, "&c.," but the body of the play has been
generally held to be ascribable to Ford and Dekker only. The subject
of the play was no doubt suggested by the case of the reported witch,
Elizabeth Sawyer, who was executed in 1621. Swinburne agrees with
Gifford in thinking Ford the author of the whole of the first act; and
he is most assuredly right in considering that "there is no more
admirable exposition of a play on the English stage." Supposing Dekker
to be chiefly responsible for the scenes dealing with the unfortunate
old woman whom persecution as a witch actually drives to become one,
and Ford for the domestic tragedy of the bigamist murderer, it cannot
be denied that both divisions of the subject are effectively treated,
while the more important part of the task fell to the share of Ford.
Yet it may be doubted whether any such division can be safely assumed;
and it may suffice to repeat that no domestic tragedy has ever taught
with more effective simplicity and thrilling truthfulness the homely
double lesson of the folly of selfishness and the mad rashness of
crime.
With Dekker Ford also wrote the mask of _The Sun's Darling_; or, as
seems most probable, they founded this production upon _Phaeton_, an
earlier mask, of which Dekker had been sole author. Gifford holds that
Dekker's hand is perpetually traceable in the first three acts of _The
Sun's Darling_, and through the whole of its comic part, but that the
last two acts are mainly Ford's. If so, he is the author of the rather
forced occasional tribute on the accession of King Charles I., of
which the last act largely consists. This mask, which furnished
abundant opportunities for the decorators, musicians and dancers, in
showing forth how the seasons and their delights are successively
exhausted by a "wanton darling," Raybright the grandchild of the Sun,
is said to have been very popular. It is at the same time commonplace
enough in conception; but there is much that is charming in the
descriptions, Jonson and Lyly being respectively laid under
contribution in the course of the dialogue, and in one of the
incidental lyrics.
Ford owes his position among English dramatists to the intensity of his
passion, in particular scenes and passages where the character, the
author and the reader are alike lost in the situation and in the
sentiment evoked by it; and this gift is a supreme dramatic gift. But
his plays--with the exception of _The Witch of Edmonton_, in which he
doubtless had a prominent share--too often disturb the mind like a bad
dream which ends as an unsolved dissonance; and this defect is a supreme
dramatic defect. It is not the rigid or the stolid who have the most
reason to complain of the insufficiency of tragic poetry such as Ford's;
nor is it that morality only which, as Ithocles says in _The Broken
Heart_, "is formed of books and school-traditions," which has a right to
protest against the final effect of the most powerful creations of his
genius. There is a morality which both
"Keeps the soul in tune,
At whose sweet music all our actions dance,"
and is able to physic
"The sickness of a mind
Broken with griefs."
Of that morality--or of that deference to the binding power within man
and the ruling power above him--tragedy is the truest expounder, even
when it illustrates by contrasts; but the tragic poet who merely places
the problem before us, and bids us stand aghast with him at its cruelty,
is not to be reckoned among the great masters of a divine art.
BIBLIOGRAPHY.--The best edition of Ford is that by Gifford, with notes
and introduction, revised with additions to both text and notes by
Alexander Dyce (1869). An edition of the _Dramatic Works of Massinger
and Ford_ appeared in 1840, with an introduction by Hartley Coleridge.
_The Best Plays of Ford_ were edited for the "Mermaid Series" in 1888,
with an introduction by W.H. Havelock Ellis, and reissued in 1903.
A.C. Swinburne's "Essay on Ford" is reprinted among his _Essays and
Studies_ (1875). _Perkin Warbeck_ and _'Tis Pity_ were translated into
German by F. Bodenstedt in 1860; and the latter again by F. Blei in
1904. The probable sources of the various plays are discussed in Emil
Koeppel's _Quellenstudien zu den Dramen George Chapman's, Philip
Massinger's und John Ford's_ (1897). (A. W. W.)
FORD, RICHARD (1796-1858), English author of one of the earliest and
best of travellers' _Handbooks_, was the eldest son of Sir Richard Ford,
who in 1789 was member of parliament for East Grinstead, and for many
years afterwards chief police magistrate of London. His mother was the
daughter and heiress of Benjamin Booth, a distinguished connoisseur in
art. He was called to the bar, but never practised, and in 1830-1833 he
travelled in Spain, spending much of his time in the Alhambra and at
Seville. His first literary work (other than contributions to the
_Quarterly Review_) was a pamphlet, _An Historical Inquiry into the
Unchangeable Character of a War in Spain_ (Murray, 1837), in reply to
one called the _Policy of England towards Spain_, issued under the
patronage of Lord Palmerston. He spent the winter of 1839-1840 in Italy,
where he added largely to his collection of majolica; and soon after his
return he began, at John Murray's invitation, to write his _Handbook for
Travellers in Spain_, with which his name is chiefly associated. He died
on the 1st of September 1858, leaving a fine private collection of
pictures to his widow (d. 1910), his third wife, a daughter of Sir A.
Molesworth.
FORD, THOMAS (b. c. 1580), English musician, of whose life little more
is known than that he was attached to the court of Prince Henry, son of
James I. His works also are few, but they are sufficient to show the
high stage of efficiency and musical knowledge which the English school
had attained at the beginning of the 17th century. They consist of
canons and other concerted pieces of vocal music, mostly with lute
accompaniment. The chief collection of his works is entitled _Musike of
Sundrie Kinds set forth in Two Books_, &c. (1607), and the histories of
music by Burney and Hawkins give specimens of his art. Together with
Dowland, immortalized in one of Shakespeare's sonnets, Ford is the chief
representative of the school which preceded Henry Lawes.
FORDE, FRANCIS (d. 1770), British soldier, first appears in the army
list as a captain in the 39th Foot in 1746. This regiment was the first
of the king's service to serve in India (hence its motto _Primus in
Indis_), and Forde was on duty there when in 1755 he became major, at
the same time as Eyre Coote, soon to become his rival, was promoted
captain. At the express invitation of Clive, Forde resigned his king's
commission to take the post of second in command of the E.I. Company's
troops in Bengal. Soon after Plassey, Forde was sent against the French
of Masulipatam. Though feebly supported by the motley rabble of an army
which Anandraz, the local ally, brought into the field, Forde pushed
ahead through difficult country and came upon the enemy entrenched at
Condore. For four days the two armies faced one another; on the fifth
both commanders resolved on the offensive and an encounter ensued. In
spite of the want of spirit shown by Anandraz and his men, Forde in the
end succeeded in winning the battle, which was from first to last a
brilliant piece of work. Nor did he content himself with this; on the
same evening he stormed the French camp, and his pursuit was checked
only by the guns of Masulipatam itself. The place was quickly invested
on the land side, but difficulties crowded upon Forde and his handful of
men. For fifty days little advance was made; then Forde, seeing the last
avenues of escape closing behind him, ordered an assault at midnight on
the 25th of January 1759. The Company's troops lost one-third of their
number, but the storm was a brilliant and astounding success. Forde
received less than no reward. The Company refused to confirm his
lieut.-colonel's commission, and he found himself junior to Eyre Coote,
his old subaltern in the 39th Foot. Nevertheless he continued to assist
Clive, and on the 25th of November 1759 won a success comparable to
Condore at Chinsurah (or Biderra) against the Dutch. A year later he at
last received his commission, but was still opposed by a faction of the
directors which supported Coote. Clive himself warmly supported Forde in
these quarrels. In 1769, with Vansittart and Scrafton, Colonel Forde was
sent out with full powers to investigate every detail of Indian
administration. Their ship was never heard of after leaving the Cape of
Good Hope on the 27th of December.
Monographs on Condore, Masulipatam and Chinsurah will be found in
Malleson's _Decisive Battles of India_.
FORDHAM, formerly a village of Westchester county, New York, U.S.A., and
now a part of New York City. It lies on the mainland, along the eastern
bank of the Harlem river, E. of the northern end of Manhattan Island. It
is the seat of Fordham University (Roman Catholic), founded in 1841 as
St John's College, and since 1846 conducted by the Society of Jesus. In
1907 the institution was rechartered as Fordham University, and now
includes St John's College high school and grammar school, St John's
College, the Fordham University medical school (all in Fordham), and the
Fordham University law school (42 Broadway, New York City). In 1907-1908
the university had 96 instructors and (exclusive of 364 students in the
high school) 236 students, of whom 105 were in St John's College, 31 in
the medical school, and 100 in the law school. In Fordham still stands
the house in which Edgar Allan Poe lived from 1844 to 1849 and in which
he wrote "Annabel Lee," "Ulalume," &c.
The hamlet of Fordham was established in 1669 by Jan Arcer (a Dutchman,
who called himself "John Archer" after coming to America), who in that
year received permission from Francis Lovelace, colonial governor of New
York, to settle sixteen families on the mainland close by a
fording-place of the Spuyten Duyvil Creek, near where that stream enters
the Harlem river. Between 1655 and 1671 Archer bought from the Indians
the tract of land lying between Spuyten Duyvil Creek and the Harlem
river on the east and the Bronx river on the west, and extending from
the hamlet of Fordham to what is now High Bridge. In 1671 Governor
Lovelace erected this tract into the manor of Fordham. In 1846 it was
included with Morrisania in the township of West Farms; and in 1872 with
part of the township of Yonkers was erected into the township of
Kingsbridge, which in 1874 was annexed to the city of New York, and in
1898 became a part of the borough of the Bronx, New York City.
FORDUN, JOHN OF (d. c. 1384), Scottish chronicler. The statement
generally made that the chronicler was born at Fordoun (Kincardineshire)
has not been supported by any direct evidence. It is certain that he was
a secular priest, and that he composed his history in the latter part of
the 14th century; and it is probable that he was a chaplain in the
cathedral of Aberdeen. The work of Fordun is the earliest attempt to
write a continuous history of Scotland. We are informed that Fordun's
patriotic zeal was roused by the removal or destruction of many national
records by Edward III. and that he travelled in England and Ireland,
collecting material for his history. This work is divided into five
books. The first three are almost entirely fabulous, and form the
groundwork on which Boece and Buchanan afterwards based their historical
fictions, which were exposed by Thomas Innes in his _Critical Essay_ (i.
pp. 201-214). The 4th and 5th books, though still mixed with fable,
contain much valuable information, and become more authentic the more
nearly they approach the author's own time. The 5th book concludes with
the death of King David I. in 1153. Besides these five books, Fordun
wrote part of another book, and collected materials for bringing down
the history to a later period. These materials were used by a
continuator who wrote in the middle of the 15th century, and who is
identified with Walter Bower (q.v.), abbot of the monastery of Inchcolm.
The additions of Bower form eleven books, and bring down the narrative
to the death of King James I. in 1437. According to the custom of the
time, the continuator did not hesitate to interpolate Fordun's portion
of the work with additions of his own, and the whole history thus
compiled is known as the _Scotichronicon_.
The first printed edition of Fordun's work was that of Thomas Gale in
his _Scriptores quindecim_ (vol. iii.), which was published in 1691.
This was followed by Thomas Hearne's (5 vols.) edition in 1722. The
whole work, including Bower's continuation, was published by Walter
Goodall at Edinburgh in 1759. In 1871 and 1872 Fordun's chronicle, in
the original Latin and in an English translation, was edited by
William F. Skene in _The Historians of Scotland_. The preface to this
edition collects all the biographical details and gives full
bibliographical references to MSS. and editions.
FORECLOSURE, in the law of mortgage, the extinguishment by order of the
court of a mortgagor's equity of redemption. In the law of equity the
object of every mortgage transaction is eventually the repayment of a
debt, the mortgaged property being incidental by way of security.
Therefore, although the day named for repayment of the loan has passed
and the mortgagor's estate is consequently forfeited, equity steps in to
mitigate the harshness of the common law, and will decree a reconveyance
of the mortgaged property on payment of the principal, interest and
costs. This right of the mortgagor to relief is termed his "equity of
redemption." But the right must be exercised within a reasonable time,
otherwise he will be foreclosed his equity of redemption and the
mortgagee's possession converted into an absolute ownership. Such
foreclosure is enforced in equity by a foreclosure action. An action is
brought by the mortgagee against the mortgagor in the chancery division
of the High Court in England, claiming that an account may be taken of
the principal and interest due to the mortgagee, and that the mortgagor
may be directed to pay the same, with costs, by a day to be appointed by
the court and that in default thereof he may be foreclosed his equity of
redemption. English county courts have jurisdiction in foreclosure
actions where the mortgage or charge does not exceed L500, or where the
mortgage is for more than L500, but less than that sum has been actually
advanced. In a Welsh mortgage there is no right to foreclosure. (See
also MORTGAGE.)
FOREIGN OFFICE, that department of the executive of the United Kingdom
which is concerned with foreign affairs. The head of the Foreign Office
is termed principal secretary of state for foreign affairs and his
office dates from 1782. Between that date and the Revolution there had
been only two secretaries of state, whose duties were divided by a
geographical division of the globe into northern and southern
departments. The duties of the secretary of the northern department of
Europe comprised dealings with the northern powers of Europe, while the
secretary of the southern department of Europe communicated with France,
Spain, Portugal, Switzerland, Italy, Turkey, and also looked after Irish
and colonial business, and carried out the work of the Home Office. In
1782 the duties of these two secretaries were revised, the northern
department becoming the Foreign Office. The secretary for foreign
affairs is the official agent of the crown in all communications between
Great Britain and foreign powers; his intercourse is carried on either
through the representatives of foreign states in Great Britain or
through representatives of Great Britain abroad. He negotiates all
treaties or alliances with foreign states, protects British subjects
residing abroad, and demands satisfaction for any injuries they may
sustain at the hands of foreigners. He is assisted by two
under-secretaries of state (one of them a politician, the other a
permanent civil servant), three assistant under-secretaries (civil
servants), a librarian, a head of the treaty department and a staff of
clerks. The departments of the Foreign Office are the African, American,
commercial and sanitary, consular, eastern (Europe), far eastern,
western (Europe), parliamentary, financial, librarian and keeper of the
papers, treaties and registry. In the case of important despatches and
correspondence, these, with the drafts of answers, are sent first to the
permanent under-secretary, then to the prime minister, then to the
sovereign and, lastly, are circulated among the members of the cabinet.
The salary of the secretary for foreign affairs is L5000 per annum,
that of the permanent under-secretary L2000, the parliamentary
under-secretary and the first assistant under-secretary, L1500, and the
other assistant under-secretaries L1200.
See Anson, _Law and Custom of the Constitution_, part ii.
FORELAND, NORTH and SOUTH, two chalk headlands on the Kent coast of
England, overlooking the Strait of Dover, the North Foreland forming the
eastern projection of the Isle of Thanet, and the South standing 3 m.
N.E. of Dover. Both present bold cliffs to the sea, and command
beautiful views over the strait. On the North Foreland (51 deg. 22-1/2'
N., 1 deg. 27' E.) there is a lighthouse, and on the South Foreland (51
deg. 8-1/2' N., 1 deg. 23' E.) there are two. There is also a Foreland
on the north coast of Devonshire, 2-1/2 m. N.E. of Lynmouth, a fine
projection of the highlands of Exmoor Forest, overlooking the Bristol
Channel, and forming the most northerly point of the county.
FORESHORE, that part of the seashore which lies between high- and
low-water mark at ordinary tides. In the United Kingdom it is ordinarily
and prima facie vested in the crown, except where it may be vested in a
subject by ancient grant or charter from the crown, or by prescription.
Although numerous decisions, dating from 1795, have confirmed the prima
facie title of the crown, S.A. Moore in his _History of the Foreshore_
contends that the presumption is in favour of the subject rather than of
the crown. But a subject can establish a title by proving an express
grant from the crown or giving sufficient evidence of user from which a
grant may be presumed. The chief acts showing title to foreshore are,
taking wreck or royal fish, right of fishing, mining, digging and taking
sand, seaweed, &c., embanking and enclosing. There is a public right of
user in that part of the foreshore which belongs to the crown, for the
purpose of navigation or fishery, but there is no right of passage over
lands adjacent to the shore, except by a particular custom. So that, in
order to make the right available, there must be a highway or other
public land giving access to the foreshore. Thus it has been held that
the public have no legal right to trespass on land above high-water mark
for the purpose of bathing in the sea, though if they can get to it they
may bathe there (_Blundell_ v. _Catteral_, 1821, 5 B. & Ad. 268). There
is no right in the public to take sand, shells or seaweed from the
shore, nor, except in certain places by local custom, have fishermen the
right to use the foreshore or the soil above it for drawing up their
boats, or for drying their nets or similar purposes.
See S.A. Moore, _History of the Foreshore and the Law relating
thereto_ (1888); Coulson and Forbes, _Law of Waters_ (1902).
FORESTALLING, in English criminal law, the offence of buying
merchandise, victual, &c., coming to market, or making any bargain for
buying the same, before they shall be in the market ready to be sold, or
making any motion for enhancing the price, or dissuading any person from
coming to market or forbearing to bring any of the things to market, &c.
See ENGROSSING.
FOREST LAWS, the general term for the old English restriction laws,
dealing with forests. One of the most cherished prerogatives of the king
of England, at the time when his power was at the highest, was that of
converting any portion of the country into a forest in which he might
enjoy the pleasures of the chase. The earliest struggles between the
king and the people testify to the extent to which this prerogative
became a public grievance, and the charter by which its exercise was
bounded (Carta de Foresta) was in substance part of the greatest
constitutional code imposed by his barons upon King John. At common law
it appears to have been the right of the king to make a forest where he
pleased, provided that certain legal formalities were observed. The king
having a continual care for the preservation of the realm, and for the
peace and quiet of his subjects, he had therefore amongst many
privileges this prerogative, viz. to have his place of recreation
wheresoever he would appoint.[1] Land once afforested became subject to
a peculiar system of laws, which, as well as the formalities required to
constitute a valid afforestment, have been carefully ascertained by the
Anglo-Norman lawyers. "A forest," says Manwood, "is a certain territory
of woody grounds and fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and
fowls of forest, chase, and warren to rest, and abide there in the safe
protection of the king, for his delight and pleasure; which territory of
ground so privileged is mered and bounded with unremovable marks, meres
and boundaries, either known by matter of record or by prescription; and
also replenished with wild beasts of venery or chase, and with great
coverts of vert, for the succour of the said beasts there to abide: for
the preservation and continuance of which said place, together with the
vert and venison there are particular officers, laws, and privileges
belonging to the same, requisite for that purpose, and proper only to a
forest and to no other place."[2] And the same author distinguishes a
forest, as "the highest franchise of princely pleasure," from the
inferior franchises of chase, park and warren--named in the order of
their importance. The forest embraces all these, and it is distinguished
by having laws and courts of its own, according to which offenders are
justiceable. An offender in a chase is to be punished by the common law;
an offender in a forest by the forest law. A chase is much the same as a
park, only the latter is enclosed, and all of them are distinguished
according to the class of wild beasts to which the privilege extended.
Thus beasts of forest (the "five wild beasts of venery") were the hart,
the hind, the hare, the boar and the wolf. The beasts of chase were also
five, viz. the buck, the doe, the fox, the marten and the roe. The
beasts and fowls of warren were the hare, the coney, the pheasant and
the partridge.
The courts of the forest were three in number, viz. the court of
attachments, swainmote and justice-seat. The court of attachments
(called also the wood-mote) is held every forty days for the foresters
to bring in their attachments concerning any hurt done to vert or
venison (_in viridi et venatione_) in the forest, and for the verderers
to receive and mark the same, but no conviction takes place. The
swainmote, held three times in the year, is the court to which all the
freeholders within the forest owe suit and service, and of which the
verderers are the judges. In this court all offences against the forest
laws may be tried, but no judgment or punishment follows. This is
reserved for the justice-seat, held every third year, to which the rolls
of offences presented at the court of attachment, and tried at the
swainmote, are presented by verderers. The justice-seat is the court of
the chief justice in eyre, who, says Coke, "is commonly a man of greater
dignity than knowledge of the laws of the forests; and therefore where
justice-seats are to be held some other persons whom the king shall
appoint are associated with him, who together are to determine _omnia
placita forestae_." There were two chief justices for the forests
_intra_ and _ultra Trentam_ respectively. The necessary officers of a
forest are a steward, verderers, foresters, regarders, agisters and
woodwards. The verderer was a judicial officer chosen in full county by
the freeholders in the same manner as the coroner. His office was to
view and receive the attachments of the foresters, and to mark them on
his rolls. A forester was "an officer sworn to preserve the vert and
venison in the forest, and to attend upon the wild beasts within his
bailiwick." The regarders were of the nature of visitors: their duty was
to make a regard (_visitatio nemorum_) every third year, to inquire of
all offences, and of the concealment of such offences by any officer of
the forest. The business of the agister was to look after the pasturage
of the forest, and to receive the payments for the same by persons
entitled to pasture their cattle in the forests. Both the pasturage and
the payment were called "agistment." The woodward was the officer who
had the care of the woods and vert and presented offences at the court
of attachment.
The legal conception of a forest was thus that of a definite territory
within which the code of the forest law prevailed to the exclusion of
the common law. The ownership of the soil might be in any one, but the
rights of the proprietor were limited by the laws made for the
protection of the king's wild beasts. These laws, enforced by fines
often arbitrary and excessive, were a great grievance to the unfortunate
owners of land within or in the neighbourhood of the forest. The
offence of "purpresture" may be cited as an example. This was an
encroachment on the forest rights, by building a house within the
forest, and it made no difference whether the land belonged to the
builder or not. In either case it was an offence punishable by fines at
discretion. And if a man converted woodlands within the forest into
arable land, he was guilty of the offence known as "assarting," whether
the covert belonged to himself or not.
The hardships of the forest laws under the Norman kings, and their
extension to private estates by the process of afforestment, were among
the grievances which united the barons and people against the king in
the reign of John. The Great Charter of King John contains clauses
relating to the forest laws, but no separate charter of the forest. The
first charter of the forest is that of Henry III., issued in 1217. "As
an important piece of legislation," said Stubbs,[3] "it must be compared
with the forest assize of 1184, and with 44th, 47th and 48th clauses of
the charter of John. It is observable that most of the abuses which are
remedied by it are regarded as having sprung up since the accession of
Henry II.; but the most offensive afforestations have been made under
Richard and John. These latter are at once disafforested; but those of
Henry II. only so far as they had been carried out to the injury of the
landowners and outside of the royal demesne." Land which had thus been
once forest land and was afterwards disafforested was known as
_purlieu_--derived by Manwood from the French _pur_ and _lieu_, i.e. "a
place exempt from the forest." The forest laws still applied in a
modified manner to the purlieu. The benefit of the disafforestment
existed only for the owner of the lands; as to all other persons the
land was forest still, and the king's wild beasts were to "have free
recourse therein and safe return to the forest, without any hurt or
destruction other than by the owners of the lands in the purlieu where
they shall be found, and that only to hunt and chase them back again
towards the forest without any forestalling" (Manwood, _On the Forest
Laws_--article "Purlieu").
The revival of the forest laws was one of the means resorted to by
Charles I. for raising a revenue independently of parliament, and the
royal forests in Essex were so enlarged that they were hyperbolically
said to include the whole county. The 4th earl of Southampton was nearly
ruined by a decision that stripped him of his estate near the New
Forest. The boundaries of Rockingham Forest were increased from 6 m. to
60, and enormous fines imposed on the trespassers,--Lord Salisbury being
assessed in L20,000, Lord Westmoreland in L19,000, Sir Christopher
Hatton in L12,000 (Hallam's _Constitutional History of England_, c.
viii.). By the statute 16 Charles I. c. 16 (1640) the royal forests were
determined for ever according to their boundaries in the twentieth year
of James, all subsequent enlargements being annulled.
The forest laws, since the Revolution, have fallen into complete disuse.
FOOTNOTES:
[1] Coke, 4 _Inst._, 300.
[2] Manwood's _Treatise of the Forest Laws_ (4th edition, 1717).
[3] _Documents Illustrative of English History_, p. 338.
FORESTS AND FORESTRY. Although most people know what a forest (Lat.
_foris_, "out of doors") is, a definition of it which suits all cases is
by no means easy to give. Manwood, in his treatise of the _Lawes of the
Forest_ (1598), defines a forest as "a certain territory of woody
grounds, fruitful pastures, privileged for wild beasts and fowls of
forest, chase and warren, to rest and abide in, in the safe protection
of the king, for his princely delight and pleasure." This primitive
definition has, in modern times, when the economic aspect of forests
came more into the foreground, given place to others, so that forest
may, in a general way, now be described as "an area which is for the
most part set aside for the production of timber and other forest
produce, or which is expected to exercise certain climatic effects, or
to protect the locality against injurious influences."
As far as conclusions can now be drawn, it is probable that the greater
part of the dry land of the earth was, at some time, covered with
forest, which consisted of a variety of trees and shrubs grouped
according to climate, soil and configuration of the several localities.
When the old trees reached their limit of life, they disappeared, and
younger trees took their place. The conditions for an uninterrupted
regeneration of the forest were favourable, and the result was vigorous
production by the creative powers of soil and climate. Then came man,
and by degrees interfered, until in most countries of the earth the area
under forest has been considerably reduced. The first decided
interference was probably due to the establishment of domestic animals;
men burnt the forest to obtain pasture for their flocks. Subsequently
similar measures on an ever-increasing scale were employed to prepare
the land for agricultural purposes. More recently enormous areas of
forests were destroyed by reckless cutting and subsequent firing in the
extraction of timber for economic purposes.
It will readily be understood that the distribution and character of the
now remaining forests must differ enormously (see PLANTS:
_Distribution_). Large portions of the earth are still covered with
dense masses of tall trees, while others contain low scrub or grass
land, or are desert. As a general rule, natural forests consist of a
number of different species intermixed; but in some cases certain
species, called gregarious, have succeeded in obtaining the upper hand,
thus forming more or less pure forests of one species only. The number
of species differs very much. In many tropical forests hundreds of
species may be found on a comparatively small area, in other cases the
number is limited. Burma has several thousand species of trees and
shrubs, Sind has only ten species of trees. Central Europe has about
forty species, and the greater part of northern Russia, Sweden and
Norway contains forests consisting of about half a dozen species.
Elevation above the sea acts similarly to rising latitude, but the
effect is much more rapidly produced. Generally speaking, it may be said
that the Tropics and adjoining parts of the earth, wherever the climate
is not modified by considerable elevation, contain broad-leaved species,
palms, bamboos, &c. Here most of the best and hardest timbers are found,
such as teak, mahogany and ebony. The northern countries are rich in
conifers. Taking a section from Central Africa to North Europe, it will
be found that south and north of the equator there is a large belt of
dense hardwood forest; then comes the Sahara, then the coast of the
Mediterranean with forests of cork oak; then Italy with oak, olive,
chestnut, gradually giving place to ash, sycamore, beech, birch and
certain species of pine; in Switzerland and Germany silver fir and
spruce gain ground. Silver fir disappears in central Germany, and the
countries around the Baltic contain forests consisting chiefly of Scotch
pine, spruce and birch, to which, in Siberia, larch must be added, while
the lower parts of the ground are stocked with hornbeam, willow, alder
and poplar. In North America the distribution is as follows: Tropical
vegetation is found in south Florida, while in north Florida it changes
into a subtropical vegetation consisting of evergreen broad-leaved
species with pines on sandy soils. On going north in the Atlantic
region, the forest becomes temperate, containing deciduous broad-leaved
trees and pines, until Canada is reached, where larches, spruces and
firs occupy the ground. Around the great lakes on sandy soils the
broad-leaved forest gives way to pines. On proceeding west from the
Atlantic region the forest changes into a shrubby vegetation, and this
into the prairies. Farther west, towards the Pacific coast, extensive
forests are found consisting, according to latitude and elevation above
the sea, of pines, larches, fir, Thujas and Tsugas. In Japan a tropical
vegetation is found in the south, comprising palms, figs, ebony,
mangrove and others. This is followed on proceeding north by subtropical
forests containing evergreen oaks, _Podocarpus_, tree-ferns, and, at
higher elevations, _Cryptomeria_ and _Chamaecyparis_. Then follow
deciduous broad-leaved forests, and finally firs, spruces and larches.
In India the character of the forests is governed chiefly by rainfall
and elevation. Where the former is heavy evergreen forests of
Guttiferae, Dipterocarpeae, Leguminosae, Euphorbias, figs, palms, ferns,
bamboos and india-rubber trees are found. Under a less copious rainfall
deciduous forests appear, containing teak and sal (_Shorea robusta_) and
a great variety of other valuable trees. Under a still smaller rainfall
the vegetation becomes sparse, containing acacias, _Dalbergia sissoo_
and Tamarix. Where the rainfall is very light or _nil_, desert appears.
In the Himalayas, subtropical to arctic conditions are found, the
forests containing, according to elevation, pines, firs, deodars, oaks,
chestnuts, magnolias, laurels, rhododendrons and bamboos. Australia,
again, has its own particular flora of eucalypts, of which some two
hundred species have been distinguished, as well as wattles. Some of the
eucalypts attain an enormous height.
_Utility of Forests._--In the economy of man and of nature forests are
of direct and indirect value, the former chiefly through the produce
which they yield, and the latter through the influence which they
exercise upon climate, the regulation of moisture, the stability of the
soil, the healthiness and beauty of a country and allied subjects. The
_indirect_ utility will be dealt with first. A piece of land bare of
vegetation is, throughout the year, exposed to the full effect of sun
and air currents, and the climatic conditions which are produced by
these agencies. If, on the other hand, a piece of land is covered with a
growth of plants, and especially with a dense crop of forest vegetation,
it enjoys the benefit of certain agencies which modify the effect of sun
and wind on the soil and the adjoining layers of air. These modifying
agencies are as follows: (1) The crowns of the trees intercept the rays
of the sun and the falling rain; they obstruct the movement of air
currents, and reduce radiation at night. (2) The leaves, flowers and
fruits, augmented by certain plants which grow in the shade of the
trees, form a layer of mould, or humus, which protects the soil against
rapid changes of temperature, and greatly influences the movement of
water in it. (3) The roots of the trees penetrate into the soil in all
directions, and bind it together. The effects of these agencies have
been observed from ancient times, and widely differing views have been
taken of them. Of late years, however, more careful observations have
been made at so-called parallel stations, that is to say, one station in
the middle of a forest, and another outside at some distance from its
edge, but otherwise exposed to the same general conditions. In this way,
the following results have been obtained: (1) Forests reduce the
temperature of the air and soil to a moderate extent, and render the
climate more equable. (2) They increase the relative humidity of the
air, and reduce evaporation. (3) They tend to increase the precipitation
of moisture. As regards the actual rainfall, their effect in low lands
is _nil_ or very small; in hilly countries it is probably greater, but
definite results have not yet been obtained owing to the difficulty of
separating the effect of forests from that of other factors. (4) They
help to regulate the water supply, produce a more sustained feeding of
springs, tend to reduce violent floods, and render the flow of water in
rivers more continuous. (5) They assist in preventing denudation,
erosion, landslips, avalanches, the silting up of rivers and low lands
and the formation of sand dunes. (6) They reduce the velocity of
air-currents, protect adjoining fields against cold or dry winds, and
afford shelter to cattle, game and useful birds. (7) They may, under
certain conditions, improve the healthiness of a country, and help in
its defence. (8) They increase the beauty of a country, and produce a
healthy aesthetic influence upon the people.
The _direct_ utility of forests is chiefly due to their produce, the
capital which they represent, and the work which they provide. The
principal produce of forests consists of timber and firewood. Both are
necessaries for the daily life of the people. Apart from a limited
number of broad-leaved species, the conifers have become the most
important timber trees in the economy of man. They are found in greatest
quantities in the countries around the Baltic and in North America. In
modern times iron and other materials have, to a considerable extent,
replaced timber, while coal, lignite, and peat compete with firewood;
nevertheless wood is still indispensable, and likely to remain so. This
is borne out by the statistics of the most civilized nations. Whereas
the population of Great Britain and Ireland, during the period
1880-1900, increased by about 20%, the imports of timber, during the
same period, increased by 45%; in other words, every head of population
in 1900 used more timber than twenty years earlier. Germany produced in
1880 about as much timber as she required; in 1899 she imported
4,600,000 tons, valued at L14,000,000, and her imports are rapidly
increasing, although the yield capacity of her own forests is much
higher now than it was formerly. Wood is now used for many purposes
which formerly were not thought of. The manufacture of the wood pulp
annually imported into Britain consumes at least 2,000,000 tons of
timber. A fabric closely resembling silk is now made of spruce wood. The
variety of other, or minor, produce yielded by forests is very great,
and much of it is essential for the well-being of the people and for
various industries. The yield of fodder is of the utmost importance in
countries subject to periodic droughts; in many places field crops could
not be grown successfully without the leaf-mould and brushwood taken
from the forests. As regards industries, attention need only be drawn to
such articles as commercial fibre, tanning materials, dye-stuffs, lac,
turpentine, resin, rubber, gutta-percha, &c. Great Britain and Ireland
alone import every year such materials to the value of L12,000,000, half
of this being represented by rubber.
The _capital_ employed in forests consists chiefly of the value of the
soil and growing stock of timber. The latter is, ordinarily, of much
greater value than the former wherever a sustained annual yield of
timber is expected from a forest. In the case of a Scotch pine forest,
for instance, the value of the growing stock is, under the
above-mentioned condition, from three to five times that of the soil.
The rate of interest yielded by capital invested in forests differs, of
course, considerably according to circumstances, but on the whole it
may, under proper management, be placed equal to that yielded by
agricultural land; it is lower than the agricultural rate on the better
classes of land, but higher on the inferior classes. Hence the latter
are specially indicated for the forest industry, and the former for the
production of agricultural crops. Forests require _labour_ in a great
variety of ways, such as (1) general administration, formation, tending
and harvesting; (2) transport of produce; and (3) industries which
depend on forests for their prime material. The labour indicated under
the first head differs considerably according to circumstances, but its
amount is smaller than that required if the land is used for
agriculture. Hence forests provide additional labour only if they are
established on surplus lands. Owing to the bulky nature of forest
produce its transport forms a business of considerable magnitude, the
amount of labour being perhaps equal to half that employed under the
first head. The greatest amount of labour is, however, required in the
working up of the raw material yielded by forests. In this respect
attention may be drawn to the chair industry in and around High Wycombe
in Buckinghamshire, where more than 20,000 workmen are employed in
converting the beech, grown on the adjoining chalk hills, into chairs
and tools of many patterns. Complete statistics for Great Britain are
not available under this head, but it may be mentioned that in Germany
the people employed in the forests amount to 2.3% of the total
population; those employed on transport of forest produce 1.1%;
labourers employed on the various wood industries, 8.6%; or a total of
12%. An important feature of the work connected with forests and their
produce is that a great part of it can be made to fit in with the
requirements of agriculture; that is to say, it can be done at seasons
when field crops do not require attention. Thus the rural labourers or
small farmers can earn some money at times when they have nothing else
to do, and when they would probably sit idle if no forest work were
obtainable.
Whether, or how far, the utility of forests is brought out in a
particular country depends on its special conditions, such as (1) the
position of a country, its communications, and the control which it
exercises over other countries, such as colonies; (2) the quantity and
quality of substitutes for forest produce available in the country; (3)
the value of land and labour, and the returns which land yields if used
for other purposes; (4) the density of population; (5) the amount of
capital available for investment; (6) the climate and configuration,
especially the geographical position, whether inland or on the border
of the sea, &c. No general rule can be laid down, showing whether
forests are required in a country, or, if so, to what extent; that
question must be answered according to the special circumstances of each
case.
The subjoined table shows the forests of various European states:--
+------------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+
| | | Percentage | Percentage | Forest |
| | Area of | of Total | of Forest | Area per |
| Countries. | Forests, in | Area of | Area | Head of |
| | Acres. | Country | belonging | Population,|
| | | under | to the | in Acres. |
| | | Forest. | State. | |
+------------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+
| Sweden | 49,000,000 | 48 | 33 | 9.5 |
| Norway | 17,000,000 | 21 | 28 | 7.6 |
| Russia, including| | | | |
| Finland | 518,000,000 | 40 | 61 | 5.9 |
| Bosnia and | | | | |
| Herzegovina | 6,400,000 | 50 | 78 | 4.0 |
| Bulgaria | 7,600,000 | 30 | 30 | 2.3 |
| Turkey | 11,200,000 | 20 | . . | 1.7 |
| Servia | 3,900,000 | 32 | 37 | 1.5 |
| Rumania | 6,400,000 | 18 | 40 | 1.3 |
| Spain | 21,200,000 | 17 | 84 | 1.2 |
| Hungary | 22,500,000 | 28 | 15 | 1.2 |
| Austria | 24,000,000 | 32 | 7 | .9 |
| Greece | 2,000,000 | 13 | 80 | .85 |
| Luxemburg | 200,000 | 30 | . . | .82 |
| Switzerland | 2,100,000 | 20 | 5 | .7 |
| Germany | 35,000,000 | 26 | 34 | .6 |
| France | 24,000,000 | 18 | 12 | .6 |
| Italy | 10,400,000 | 15 | 4 | .3 |
| Denmark | 600,000 | 6 | 24 | .25 |
| Belgium | 1,300,000 | 18 | 5 | .2 |
| Portugal | 770,000 | 3.5 | 8 | .15 |
| Holland | 560,000 | 7 | ? | .1 |
| Great Britain | 3,000,000 | 4 | 3 | .07 |
+------------------+-------------+------------+------------+------------+
These data exhibit considerable differences, since the percentage of the
forest area varies from 3.5 to 50, and the area per head of population
from .07 to 9.5 acres. Russia, Sweden and Norway may as yet have more
forest than they require for their own population. On the other hand,
Great Britain and Ireland, Germany, Denmark, Portugal, Holland, and even
Belgium, France and Italy have not a sufficient forest area to meet
their own requirements; at the same time, they are all sea-bound
countries, and importation is easy, while most of them are under the
influence of moist sea winds, which reduces to a subordinate position
the importance of forests for climatic reasons.
Intimately connected with the area of forests in a country is the state
of ownership--whether they belong to the state, corporations or to
private persons. Where, apart from the financial aspect and the supply
of work, forests are not required for the sake of their indirect
effects, and where importation from other countries is easy and assured,
the government of the country need not, as a rule, trouble itself to
maintain or acquire forests. Where the reverse conditions exist, and
especially where the cost of transport over long distances becomes
prohibitive, a wise administration will take measures to assure the
maintenance of a suitable proportion of the country under forest. This
can be done either by maintaining or constituting a suitable area of
state forests, or by exercising a certain amount of control over
corporation and even private forests. Such measures are more called for
in continental countries than in those which are sea-bound, as is proved
by the above statistics.
_Supply of Timber--Imports and Exports._--The following table shows the
net imports and exports of European countries (average data, calculated
from the returns of recent years).
The only timber-exporting countries of Europe are Russia, Sweden,
Norway, Austria-Hungary and Rumania; all the others either have only
enough for their own consumption, or import timber. Great Britain and
Ireland import now upwards of 10,000,000 tons a year, Germany about
4,600,000 tons, and Belgium about 1,300,000 tons. Holland, France,
Portugal, Spain and Italy are all importing countries, as also are Asia
Minor, Egypt and Algeria. The west coast of Africa exports hardwoods,
and imports coniferous timber. The Cape and Natal import considerable
quantities of pine and fir wood. Australasia exports hardwoods and some
Kauri pine from New Zealand, but imports larger quantities of light pine
and fir timber. British India and Siam export teak and small quantities
of fancy woods. The West Indies and South America export hardwoods, and
import pine and fir wood. The United States of America will not much
longer be a genuine exporting country, since they import already almost
as much timber from Canada as they export. Canada exports considerable
quantities of timber. The Dominion has still a forest area of 1,250,000
sq. m., equal to 38% of the total area, and giving 165 acres of forest
for every inhabitant. Although only about one-third of the forest area
can be called regular timber land, Canada possesses an enormous forest
wealth, with which she might supply permanently nearly all other
countries deficient in material, if the governing bodies in the several
provinces would only determine to stop the present fearful waste caused
by axe and fire, and to introduce a regular system of management. As
matters stand, the supplies of the most valuable timber of Canada, the
white or Weymouth pine (_Pinus strobus_), are nearly exhausted, the
great stores of spruce in the eastern provinces are being rapidly
destroyed, and the forests of Douglas fir in the western provinces have
been attacked for export to the United States and to other countries.
_Net Imports and Exports of European Countries._
+------------------+-----------------------+-----------------------+
| | Quantities in Tons. | Value in L Sterling. |
| Countries. +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| | Imports. | Exports. | Imports. | Exports. |
+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| United Kingdom |10,004,000 | . . |26,540,000 | . . |
| Germany | 4,600,000 | . . |14,820,000 | . . |
| Belgium | 1,300,000 | . . | 5,040,000 | . . |
| France | 1,230,000 | . . | 3,950,000 | . . |
| Italy | 620,000 | . . | 2,100,000 | . . |
| Spain | 470,000 | . . | 1,500,000 | . . |
| Denmark | 470,000 | . . | 1,250,000 | . . |
| Switzerland | 204,000 | . . | 480,000 | . . |
| Holland | 180,000 | . . | 720,000 | . . |
| Servia | 110,000 | . . | 160,000 | . . |
| Portugal | 60,000 | . . | 200,000 | . . |
| Greece | 35,000 | . . | 130,000 | . . |
| Rumania | . . | 400,000 | . . | 840,000 |
| Norway | . . | 1,300,000 | . . | 2,200,000 |
| Austria-Hungary | | | | |
| with Bosnia and| | | | |
| Herzegovina | . . | 3,996,000 | . . |11,400,000 |
| Sweden | . . | 4,460,000 | . . | 7,930,000 |
| Russia with | | | | |
| Finland | . . | 6,890,000 | . . |10,440,000 |
| +-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Total |19,283,000 |17,046,000 |56,890,000 |32,810,000 |
+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
| Net Imports | 2,237,000 | | |24,080,000 |
+------------------+-----------+-----------+-----------+-----------+
These net imports are received from non-European countries. They
consist chiefly of valuable hardwoods, like teak, mahogany, eucalypts
and others.
Taking the remaining stocks of the whole earth together, it may be said
that a sufficient quantity of hardwoods is available, but the only
countries which are able to supply coniferous timber for export on a
considerable scale are Russia, Sweden, Norway, Austria and Canada. As
these countries have practically to supply the rest of the world, and as
the management of their forests is far from satisfactory, the question
of supplying light pine and fir timber, which forms the very staff of
life of the wood industries, must become a very serious matter before
many years have passed. Unmistakable signs of the coming crisis are
everywhere visible to all who wish to see, and it is difficult to
over-state the gravity of the problem, when it is remembered, for
instance, that 87% of all the timber imported into Great Britain
consists of light pine and fir, and that most of the other importing
countries are similarly situated. In some of these countries little or
no room exists for the extension of woodland, but this statement does
not apply to Great Britain and Ireland, which contain upwards of
12,000,000 acres of waste land, and 12,500,000 acres of mountain and
heath land used for light grazing. One-fourth of that area, if put under
forest, would produce all the timber now imported which can be grown in
Britain, that is to say, about 95% of the total.
The subjoined table shows the movements of timber within the greater
part of the British empire:--
_Net Imports and Exports into and from the British Empire._
+-----------------------+---------------------+---------------------+
| | Annual Average | Annual Average |
| Countries. | during the Years | during the Years |
| | 1884-1888. | 1900-1903. |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | Net | Net | Net | Net |
| | Imports. | Exports. | Imports. | Exports. |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
| | L | L | L | L |
|United Kingdom |15,000,000| . . |26,540,000| . . |
|Australasia | 1,284,000| . . | 568,000| . . |
|Africa | 72,000 | . . | 737,000| . . |
|West Indies, | | | | |
| Honduras and Guiana | . . | 207,000| . . | 71,000|
|India, Ceylon and | | | | |
| Mauritius | . . | 528,000| . . | 580,000|
|Dominion of Canada | . . | 4,025,000| . . | 4,789,000|
| +----------+----------+----------+----------+
| Total |16,356,000| 4,760,000|27,845,000| 5,440,000|
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
|Net Imports |11,596,000| . . |22,405,000| . . |
|Total increase in | | | | |
| 16 years | . . | . . |10,809,000| . . |
|Average annual increase| | | | |
| of net imports | . . | . . | 675,562| . . |
+-----------------------+----------+----------+----------+----------+
_Forest Management._--In early times there was practically no forest
management. As long as the forests occupied considerable areas, their
produce was looked upon as the free gift of nature, like air and water;
men took it, used it, and even destroyed it without let or hindrance.
With the gradual increase of population and the consequent reduction of
the forest area, proprietary ideas developed; people claimed the
ownership of certain forests, and proceeded to protect them against
outsiders. Subsequently the law of the country was called in to help in
protection, leading to the promulgation of special forest laws. By
degrees it was found that mere protection was not sufficient, and that
steps must be taken to enforce a more judicious treatment, as well as to
limit the removal of timber to what the forests were capable of
producing permanently. The teaching of natural science and of political
economy was brought to bear upon the subject, so that now forestry has
become a special science. This is recognized in many countries, amongst
which Germany stands first, closely followed by France, Austria, Denmark
and Belgium. Of non-European countries the palm belongs to British
India, and then follow Ceylon, the Malay States, the Cape of Good Hope
and Japan. The United States of America have also turned their attention
to the subject. Most of the British colonies are, in this respect, as
yet in a backward state, and the matter has still to be fought out in
Great Britain and Ireland, though many writers have urged the importance
of the question upon the public and the government. There can be no
doubt that all civilized countries must, sooner or later, adopt a
rational and systematic treatment of their forests.
For details as to the separate countries, see the articles under the
country headings; in this article only some of the more important
countries are dealt with, in so far as the history of their forestry is
important. A few notes on Germany and France will be given, because in
these countries forest management has been brought to highest
perfection; Italy is mentioned, because she has allowed her forests to
be destroyed; and a short description of forestry in the United Kingdom
and in India follows. A separate section is devoted to the United
States.
_Germany_ is in general well-wooded. The winters being long and severe,
an abundant supply of fuel is almost as essential as a sufficient supply
of food. This necessity has led, along with a passion for the chase, to
the preservation of forests, and to the establishment of an admirable
system of forest cultivation, almost as carefully conducted as field
tillage. The Black Forest stretches the whole length of the grand-duchy
of Baden and part of the kingdom of Wurttemberg, from the Neckar to
Basel and the Lake of Constance. The vegetation resembles that of the
Vosges; forests of spruce, silver fir, Scotch pine, and, mingled with
birches, beech and oak, are the chief woods met with. Until
comparatively recent times large quantities of timber derived from these
forests were floated down the Rhine to Holland and also shipped to
England. Now the greater part of it is used locally for construction, or
it is converted into paper pulp. In the grand-duchy of Hesse the
Odenwald range of mountains, stretching between the Main and the Neckar,
contains the chief supply of timber. In the province of Nassau there are
the large wooded tracts of the Taunus mountain range and the Westerwald.
In Rhenish Prussia valuable forests lie partly in the Eifel, on the
borders of Belgium, and on the mountains overhanging the Upper Moselle,
but they do not furnish such stately trees as the Black Forest and the
Odenwald. The Spessart, near Aschaffenburg in Bavaria, is one of the
most extensive forests of middle Germany, containing large masses of
fine oak and beech, with plantations of coniferous trees, such as
spruce, Scotch pine and silver fir. Bavaria possesses other fine forest
tracts, such as the Baierischewald on the Bohemian frontier, the
Kranzberg near Munich, and the Frankenwald in the north of the kingdom.
North Germany has extensive forests on the Harz and Thuringian
Mountains, while in East Prussia large tracts of flat ground are covered
with Scotch pine, spruce, oak and beech.
Every German state has its forest organization. In Prussia the
department is presided over by the Oberland Forstmeister at Berlin,
while each province, or part of a province, has an Oberforstmeister,
under whom a number of Oberforsters administrate the state and communal
forests. These, again, are assisted by a lower class of officials called
Forsters. The Oberforsters throughout Germany are educated at special
schools of forestry, of which in 1909 the following nine existed:
In Prussia: at Eberswalde and Munden.
In Bavaria: at Munich and Aschaffenburg.
In Saxony: at Tharand.
In Wurttemberg: at Tubingen.
In Baden: at Carlsruhe.
In Hesse: at Giessen.
In the grand-duchy of Saxony: at Eisenach.
The schools at Munich, Tubingen and Giessen form part of the
universities at these places; that at Carlsruhe is attached to the
technical high school; the others are academies for the study of
forestry only, but there is a tendency to transfer them all to the
universities. The subordinate staff are trained for their work in
so-called silvicultural schools, of which a large number exist. In this
way the German forests have been brought to a high degree of
productiveness, but the material derived from them falls far short of
the requirements, although the forests occupy 26% of the total area of
the country; hence the net imports of timber amount already to 4,600,000
tons a year, and they are steadily rising.
_France._--The principal timber tree of France is the oak. The cork oak
is grown extensively in the south and in Corsica. The beech, ash, elm,
maple, birch, walnut, chestnut and poplar are all important trees, while
the silver fir and spruce form magnificent forests in the Vosges and
Jura Mountains, and the Aleppo and maritime pines are cultivated in the
south and south-west. About one-seventh of the entire territory is still
covered with wood.
Forest legislation took its rise in France about the middle of the 16th
century, and the great minister Sully urged the enforcement of
restrictive forest laws. In 1669 a fixed treatment of state forests was
enacted. Duhamel in 1755 published his famous work on forest trees.
Reckless destruction of the forests, however, was in progress, and the
Revolution of 1789 gave a fresh stimulus to the work of devastation. The
usual results have followed in the frequency and destructiveness of
floods, which have washed away the soil from the hillsides and valleys
of many districts, especially in the south, and the frequent
inundations of the last fifty years are no doubt caused by the
deforesting of the sources of the Rhone and Saone. Laws were passed in
1860 and 1864, providing for the reforesting, "_reboisement_," of the
slopes of mountains, and these laws take effect on private as well as
state property. Thousands of acres are annually planted in the
departments of Hautes and Basses Alpes; and during the summer of 1875,
when much injury was done by floods in the south of France, the Durance,
formerly the most dangerous in this respect of French rivers, gave
little cause for anxiety, as it is round the head waters of this river
that the chief plantations have been formed. While tracts formerly
covered with wood have been replanted, plantations have been formed on
the shifting sands or dunes along the coast of Gascony. A forest of
_Pinus pinaster_, 150 m. in length, now stretches from Bayonne to the
mouth of the Gironde, raised by means of sowing steadily continued since
1789; the cultivation of the pine, along with draining, has transformed
low marshy grounds into productive soil extending over an area of about
two million acres. The forests thus created provide annually some
600,000 tons of pit timber for the Welsh coal mines.
The state forest department is administered by the director-general, who
has his headquarters at Paris, assisted by a board of administration,
charged with the working of the forests, questions of rights and law,
finance and plantation works.
The department is supplied with officers from the forest school at
Nancy. This institution was founded in 1824, when M. Lorentz, who had
studied forestry in Germany, was appointed its first director.
_Italy._--The kingdom of Italy comprises such different climates that
within its limits we find the birch and pines of northern Europe, and
the olive, fig, manna-ash, and palm of more southern latitudes. By the
republic of Venice and the duchy of Genoa forestal legislation was
attempted at various periods from the 15th century downwards. These
efforts were not successful, as the governments were lax in enforcing
the laws. In 1789 Pius VI. issued regulations prohibiting felling
without licence, and later orders were published by his successors in
the pontifical states. In Lombardy the woods, which in 1830 reached
nearly down to Milan, have almost disappeared. The province of Como
contains only a remnant of the primitive forests, and the same may also
be said of the southern slopes of Tirol. At Ravenna there is still a
large forest of stone pine, _Pinus pinea_, though it has been much
reduced. The plains of Tuscany are adorned with planted trees, the
olive, mulberry, fig and almond. Sardinia is rich in woods, which cover
one-fifth of the area, and contain a large amount of oak, _Quercus
suber, robur_ and _cerris_. In Sicily the forests have long been felled,
save the zone at the base of Mount Etna.
The destruction of woods has been gradual but persistent; at the end of
the 17th century the effects of denudation were first felt in the
destructive force given to mountain torrents by the deforesting of the
Apennines. The work of devastation continued until a comparatively
recent time.
In 1867 the monastic property of Vallombrosa, Tuscany, 30 m. from
Florence, was purchased by government for the purposes of a forest
academy, which was opened in 1869. As only 4% of the total forest area
belongs to the state, it is doubtful whether much good can now be done.
_Great Britain and Ireland._--The British Isles were formerly much more
extensively wooded than at present. The rapid increase of population led
to the disforesting of woodland; the climate required the maintenance of
household fires during a great part of the year, and the increasing
demand for arable land and the extension of manufacturing industries
combined to cause the diminution of woodland. The proportion of forest
is now very small, and yields but a fraction of the required annual
supply of timber which is imported with facility from America, northern
Europe and the numerous British colonies.
Owing to the nature of the climate of the British Islands, with its
abundance of atmospheric moisture and freedom from such extremes of heat
and cold as are prevalent in continental Europe, a great variety of
trees are successfully cultivated. In England and Ireland oak and beech
are on the whole the most plentiful trees in the low and fertile parts;
in the south of Scotland the beech and ash are perhaps most common,
while the Scotch fir and birch are characteristic of the arboreous
vegetation in the Highlands. Although few extensive forests now exist,
woods of small area, belts of planting, clumps of trees, coppice and
hedgerows, are generally distributed over the country, constituting a
mass of wood of considerable importance, giving a clothed appearance in
many parts, and affording illustrations of skilled arboriculture not to
be found in any other country.
The principal state forests in England are Windsor Park, 14,000 acres;
the New Forest, &c., in Hampshire, 76,000 acres; and the Dean Forest in
Gloucestershire, 22,500 acres. The total extent of crown forests is
about 125,000 acres. A large proportion of the crown forests, having
been formed with the object of supplying timber for the navy, consists
of oak. The largest forests in Scotland are in Perthshire,
Inverness-shire and Aberdeenshire. Of these the most notable are the
earl of Mansfield's near Scone (8000 acres), the duke of Atholl's larch
plantations near Dunkeld (10,000 acres), and in Strathspey a large
extent of Scotch pine, partly native, partly planted, belonging to the
earl of Seafield. In the forests of Mar and Invercauld, the native pine
attains a great size, and there are also large tracts of indigenous
birch in various districts. Ireland was at one time richly clothed with
wood; this is proved by the abundant remains of fallen trees in the bogs
which occupy a large surface of the island. In addition to the causes
above alluded to as tending to disforest England, the long unsettled
state of the country also conduced to the diminishing of the woodlands.
The forests of Great Britain and Ireland, in spite of the large imports
of timber, have not been appreciably extended up to the present time
because (1) the rate at which foreign timber has been laid down in
Britain is very low, thus keeping down the price of home-grown timber;
(2) foreign timber is preferred to home-grown material, because it is in
many cases of superior quality, while the latter comes into the market
in an irregular and intermittent manner; (3) nearly the whole of the
waste lands is private property. As regards prices, it can be shown that
the lowest point was reached about the year 1888, in consequence of the
remarkable development of means of communication, that prices then
remained fairly stationary for some years, and that about 1894 a slow
but steady rise set in, showing during the years 1894-1904 an increase
of about 20% all round. This was due to the gradual approach of the
coming crisis in the supply of coniferous timber to the world. It can be
shown that even with present prices the growing of timber can be made to
pay, provided it is carried on in a rational and economic manner.
Improved silvicultural methods must be applied, so as to produce a
better class of timber, and the forests must be managed according to
well-arranged working plans, which provide for a regular and sustained
out-turn of timber year by year, so as to develop a healthy and steady
market for locally-grown material. Unfortunately the private proprietors
of the waste lands are in many cases not in a financial position to
plant. Starting forests demands a certain outlay in cash, and the
proprietor must forgo the income, however small, hitherto derived from
the land until the plantations begin to yield a return. In these
circumstances the state may well be expected to help in one or all of
the following ways: (1) The equipment of forest schools, where economic
forestry, as elaborated by research, is taught; (2) the management of
the crown forests on economic principles, so as to serve as patterns to
private proprietors; (3) advances should be made to landed proprietors
who desire to plant land, but are short of funds, just as is done in the
case of improvements of agricultural holdings; and (4) the state might
acquire surplus lands in certain parts of the country, such as congested
districts, and convert them into forests. Action in these directions
would soon lead to substantial benefits. The income of landed
proprietors would rise, a considerable sum of money now sent abroad
would remain in the country, and forest industries would spring up, thus
helping to counteract the ever-increasing flow of people from the
country into the large towns, where only too many must join the army of
the unemployed. Even within a radius of 50 m. of London 700,000 acres of
land are unaccounted for in the official agricultural returns. In
Ireland more than 3,000,000 acres are waiting to be utilized, and it is
well worth the consideration of the Irish Land Commissioners whether the
lands remaining on their hands, when buying and breaking up large
estates, should not be converted into state forests. Such a measure
might become a useful auxiliary in the peaceful settlement of the Irish
land question. No doubt success depends upon the probable financial
results. There are at present no British statistics to prove such
success; hence, by way of illustration, it may be stated what the
results have been in the kingdom of Saxony, which, from an industrial
point of view, is comparable with England. That country has 432,085
acres of state forests, of which about one-eighth are stocked with
broad-leaved species, and seven-eighths with conifers. Some of the
forests are situated on low lands, but the bulk of the area is found in
the hilly parts of the country up to an elevation of 3000 ft. above the
sea. The average price realized of late years per cubic foot of wood
amounts to 5d., and yet to such perfection has the management been
brought by a well-trained staff, that the mean annual net revenue, after
meeting all expenses, comes to 21s. an acre all round. There can be no
doubt that, under the more favourable climate of Great Britain, even
better results can be obtained, especially if it is remembered that
foreign supplies of coniferous timber must fall off, or, at any rate,
the price per cubic foot rise considerably.
These things have been recognized to some extent, and a movement has
been set on foot to improve matters. The Commissioners of Woods and a
number of private proprietors had rational working plans prepared for
their forests, and instruction in forestry has been developed. There is
now a well-equipped school of forestry connected with the university of
Oxford, while Cambridge is following on similar lines; instruction in
forestry is given at the university of Edinburgh, the Durham College of
Science, at Bangor, Cirencester and other places. The Commissioners of
Woods have purchased an estate of 12,500 acres in Scotland, which will
be converted into a crown forest, so as to serve as an example. The
experience thus gained will prove valuable should action ever be taken
on the lines suggested by a Royal Commission on Coast Erosion,
Reclamation of Tidal Lands and Afforestation, which reported on the last
subject in 1909.
_India._--The history of forest administration in India is exceedingly
instructive to all who take an interest in the welfare of the British
Empire, because it places before the reader an account of the gradual
destruction of the greater part of the natural forests, a process
through which most other British colonies are now passing, and then it
shows how India emerged triumphantly from the self-inflicted calamity.
As far as information goes, India was, in the early times, for the most
part covered with forest. Subsequently settlers opened out the country
along fertile valleys and streams, while nomadic tribes, moving from
pasture to pasture, fired alike hills and plains. This process went on
for centuries. With the advent of British rule forest destruction became
more rapid than ever, owing to the increase of population, extension of
cultivation, the multiplication of herds of cattle, and the universal
firing of the forests to produce fresh crops of grass. Then railways
came, and with their extension the forests suffered anew, partly on
account of the increased demand for timber and firewood, and partly on
account of the fresh impetus given to cultivation along their routes.
Ultimately, when failure to meet the requirements of public works was
brought to notice, it was recognized that a grievous mistake had been
made in allowing the forests to be recklessly destroyed. Already in the
early part of the 19th century sporadic efforts were made to protect the
forests in various parts of the country, and these continued
intermittently; but the first organized steps were taken about the year
1855, when Lord Dalhousie was governor-general. At that time
conservators of forests existed in Bombay, Madras and Burma. Soon
afterwards other appointments followed, and in 1864 an organized state
department, presided over by the inspector-general of forests, was
established. Since then the Indian Forest Department has steadily grown,
so that it has now become of considerable importance for the welfare of
the people, as well as for the Indian exchequer.
The first duty of the department was to ascertain the position and
extent of the remaining forests, and more particularly of that portion
which still belonged to the state. Then a special forest law was passed,
which was superseded in 1878 by an improved act, providing for the legal
formation of permanent state forests; the determination, regulation,
and, if necessary, commutation of forest rights; the protection of the
forests against unlawful acts and the punishment of forest offences; the
protection of forest produce in transit; the constitution of a staff of
forest officers, provision to invest them with suitable legal powers,
and the determination of their duties and liabilities. The officers who
administered the department in its infancy were mostly botanists and
military officers. Some of these became excellent foresters. In order to
provide a technically trained staff arrangements were made in 1866 by
Sir Dietrich Brandis, the first inspector-general of forests, for the
training of young Englishmen at the French Forest School at Nancy and at
similar institutions in Germany. In 1876 the students were concentrated
at Nancy, and in 1885 an English forest school for India was organized
in connexion with the Royal Indian Engineering College at Cooper's Hill.
In 1905 the school was transferred to the university of Oxford. The
imperial forest staff of India consisted in 1909 of--officers not
specially trained before entering the department, 17; officers trained
in France and Germany, 23; officers trained at Cooper's Hill, 143--total
184.
In 1878 a forest school was started at Dehra Dun, United Provinces, for
the training of natives of India as executive officers on the provincial
staff. Since then a similar school, though on a smaller scale, has been
established at Tharrawaddy in Burma. About 500 officers of this class
have been appointed. In addition, there are about 11,000 subordinates,
foresters and forest guards, who form the protective staff. The school
at Dehra Dun has lately been converted into the Imperial Forest College.
The progress made since 1864 is really astonishing. According to the
latest available returns, the areas taken under the management of the
department are--reserved state forests, or permanent forest estates,
91,272 sq. m.; other state forests, 141,669 sq. m.; or a total of
232,941 sq. m., equal to 24% of the area over which they are scattered.
At present, therefore, the average charge of each member of the
controlling staff comprises 1266 sq. m.; that of each executive officer,
446 sq. m.; and that of each protective official, 21 sq. m. It is the
intention to increase the executive and protective staff considerably,
in the same degree as the management of the forests becomes more
detailed. Of the above-mentioned area the Forest Survey Branch,
established in 1872, has up to date surveyed and mapped about 65,000 sq.
m. From 1864 onwards efforts were made to introduce systematic
management into the forests, based upon working plans, but, as the
management had been provincialized, there was no central or continuous
control. This was remedied in 1884, when a central Working Plans Office,
under the inspector-general of forests, was established. This officer
has since then controlled the preparation and execution of the plans, a
procedure which has led to most beneficial results. Plans referring to
about 38,000 sq. m. are now (1909) in operation, and after a reasonable
lapse of time there should not be a single forest of importance which is
not worked on a well-regulated plan, and on the principle of a sustained
yield. While the danger of overworking the forests is thus being
gradually eliminated, their yield capacity is increased by suitable
silvicultural treatment and by fire protection. Formerly most of the
important forests were annually or periodically devastated by jungle
fires, sometimes lighted accidentally, in other cases purposely. Now
38,000 sq. m. of forest are actually protected against fire by the
efforts of the department, and it is the intention gradually to extend
protection to all permanent state forests. Grazing of cattle is of
great importance in India; at the same time it is liable to interfere
seriously with the reproduction of the forests. To meet both
requirements careful and minute arrangements have been made, according
to which at present 38,000 sq. m. are closed to grazing; 19,000 sq. m.
are closed only against the grazing of goats, sheep and camels; while
176,000 sq. m. are open to the grazing of all kinds of cattle. The areas
closed in ordinary years form a reserve of fodder in years of drought
and scarcity. During famine years they are either opened to grazing, or
grass is cut in them and transported to districts where the cattle are
in danger of starvation. The service rendered in this way by a wise
forest administration should not be underrated, since one of the most
serious calamities of a famine--the want of cattle to cultivate the
land--is thus, if not avoided, at any rate considerably reduced. During
1907 the government of India established a Research Institute, with six
members engaged in collecting data regarding silviculture, forest
botany, forest zoology, forest economics, working plans, and chemistry
in connexion with forest produce and production. The institute is likely
to lead to further substantial progress in the management of the
forests.
The financial results of forest administration in India for the years
1865 to 1905 show the progress made:
+-----------+--------------+-----------------+
| | Mean Annual | Percentage of |
| Period. | Net Revenue. | Annual Increase |
| | | during Period. |
+-----------+--------------+-----------------+
| | Rupees. | |
| | | |
| 1865-1870 | 1,372,733 | . . |
| 1870-1875 | 1,783,248 | 30 |
| 1875-1880 | 2,224,687 | 25 |
| 1880-1885 | 3,385,745 | 52 |
| 1885-1890 | 5,066,671 | 50 |
| 1890-1895 | 7,370,572 | 44 |
| 1895-1900 | 7,923,484 | 7 |
| 1900-1905 | 9,004,367 | 12 |
+-----------+--------------+-----------------+
The highest percentage of increase occurred in the period 1880-1885. The
revenue since 1886 has been considerably increased by the annexation of
Upper Burma.
Apart from the net revenue, large quantities of produce are given free
of charge, or at reduced rates, to the people of the country. Thus, in
1904-1905, the net revenue amounted to Rs. 11,062,094, while the produce
given free or at reduced rates was valued at Rs. 3,500,661, making a
total net benefit derived from the state forests during that year of Rs.
14,562,755, or in round figures one million pounds sterling. The
out-turn during the same year amounted to 252 million cub. ft. of timber
and fuel and 215 million bamboos. The receipts from the sale of other
forest produce came to 9 million rupees, out of a total gross revenue of
24 million rupees.
These results are highly creditable to the government of India, which
has led the way towards the introduction of rational forest management
into the British empire, thus setting an example which has been followed
more or less by various colonies. Even the movement in the United
Kingdom during late years is due to it. Apart from India, substantial
progress has been made in Cape Colony, Ceylon, the Straits Settlements
and the Federated Malay States. Other British colonies are more backward
in this respect. Energetic action is urgently wanted, especially in
Canada and Australasia, where an enormous state property is threatened
by destruction.
LITERATURE.--The following works of special interest may be mentioned:
W. Schlich, _A Manual of Forestry_ (London) (vols. i., ii. and iii. by
W. Schlich; vols. iv. and v. by W.R. Fisher; 3rd ed. of vol. i., 1906,
of vol. ii., 1904, of vol. iii., 1905; 2nd ed. of vol. iv., 1907; 2nd
ed. of vol. v., 1908); Baden-Powell, _Forest Law_ (London, 1893);
Brown, _The Forester_ (ed. by Nisbet, Edinburgh and London, 1905);
Broilliard, _Le Traitement des bois_ (Paris, 1894); Huffel, _Economie
forestiere_ (Paris, 1904-1907); Lorey, _Handbuch der
Forstwissenschaft_ (2nd ed. by Stoetzer, Tubingen, 1903); Rossmassler,
_Der Wald_. (W. Sch.)
UNITED STATES
_The Forest Regions._--The great treeless region east of the Rocky
Mountains separates the wooded area of the United States into two grand
divisions, which may be called the Eastern and the Western forests. The
Eastern forest is characterized by the predominance, on the whole, of
broad-leafed trees, the comparative uniformity of its general types over
wide areas, and its naturally unbroken distribution. In the Western
forest conifers are conspicuously predominant; the individual species
often reaches enormous and even unequalled dimensions, the forest is
frequently interrupted by treeless areas, and the transitions from one
type to another are often exceedingly abrupt. Both divisions are
botanically and commercially rich in species.
The Eastern forest may conveniently be subdivided into three members:
1. The Northern forest, marked by great density and large volume of
standing timber, and a comparative immunity, in its virgin condition,
from fire. The characteristic trees are maples, birches and beech
(_Fagus atropunicea_), among the hardwoods and white pine (_Pinus
strobus_), spruce (_Picea rubens_ and _Picea mariana_) and hemlock
(_Tsuga canadensis_) among conifers.
2. The Southern forest is on the whole less dense than the Northern, and
more frequently burned over. Among its characteristic trees are the
longleaf (_Pinus palustris_) and other pines, oaks, gums, bald cypress
(_Taxodium distichum_) and white cedar (_Chamaecyparis thyoides_).
3. The Central Hardwood forest, which differs comparatively little from
adjacent portions of the Northern and Southern forests except in the
absence of conifers. Among its trees are the chestnut (_Castanea
dentata_), hickories, ashes and other hardwoods already mentioned.
The Western division has two members:
1. The Pacific Coast forest, marked by the great size of its trees and
the vast accumulations of merchantable timber. Among its characteristic
species are the redwood (_Sequoia sempervirens_) and the big tree (_S.
Washingtoniana_), the Douglas fir (_Pseudotsuga taxifolia_), sugar pine
(_Pinus lambertiana_), western hemlock (_Tsuga heterophylla_), giant
arborvitae (_Thuja plicata_) and Sitka spruce (_Picea sitchensis_).
2. The Rocky Mountain forest, whose characteristic species are the
western yellow pine (_Pinus ponderosa_), Engelmann spruce (_Picea
engelmanni_) and lodgepole pine (_Pinus murrayana_). This forest is
frequently broken by treeless areas of greater or less extent,
especially towards the south, and it suffers greatly from fire. Subarid
in character, except to the north and at high elevations, the vast
mining interests of the region and its treeless surroundings give this
forest an economic value out of proportion to the quantities of timber
it contains.
This distribution of the various forests is indicated on the first of
the two accompanying maps. The second map shows the situation of the
national forests hereafter mentioned.
The forests of Alaska fall into two main divisions: the commercial
though undeveloped forests of the south-east coast, which occur along
the streams and on the lower slopes of the mountains and consist chiefly
of western hemlock (_Tsuga heterophylla_), Sitka spruce (_Picea
sitchensis_), yellow cedar (_Chamaecyparis nootkatensis_) and giant
arborvitae (_Thuja plicata_), usually of large size and uninjured by
fire; and the vast interior forests, swept by severe fires, and
consisting chiefly of white and black spruces (_Picea canadensis_ and
_nigra_), paper birch (_Betula papyrifera_) and aspen (_Populus
tremuloides_), all of small size but of great importance in connexion
with mining. Northern Alaska and the extreme western coast regions are
entirely barren.
[Illustration: Forest Regions of the United States
_The unshaded areas are treeless, except along the Streams_]
_The National Forest Policy._--The forest policy of the United States
may be said to have had its origin in 1799 in the enactment of a law
which authorized the purchase of timber suitable for the use of the
navy, or of land upon which such timber was growing. It is true that
laws were in force under the early governments of Massachusetts, New
Jersey and other colonies, providing for the care and protection of
forest interests in various ways, but these laws were distinctly
survivals of tendencies acquired in Europe, and for the most part of
little use. It was not until the apparent approach of a dangerous
shortage in certain timber supplies that the first real step in forest
policy was taken by the United States. Successive laws passed from 1817
to 1831 strove to give larger effect to the original enactment, but
without permanent influence towards the preservation of the live oak
(_Quercus virginiana_ Mill.), which was the object in view. A long
period of inaction followed these early measures. In 1831 the
solicitor of the treasury assumed a partial responsibility for the care
and protection of the public timber lands, and in 1855 this duty was
transferred to the commissioner of the general land office in the
Department of the Interior. The effect of these changes upon forest
protection was unimportant. When, however, at the close of the Civil War
railway building in the United States took on an unparalleled activity,
the destruction of forests by fire and the axe increased in a
corresponding ratio, and public sentiment began to take alarm. Action by
several of the states slightly preceded that of the Federal government,
but in 1876 Congress, acting under the inspiration of a memorial from
the American Association for the Advancement of Science, authorized the
appointment of an officer (Dr Franklin B. Hough) under the commissioner
of agriculture, to collect and distribute information upon forest
matters. His office became in 1880 the division of forestry in what is
now the United States Department of Agriculture.
As the railways advanced into the treeless interior, public interest in
tree-planting became keen. In 1873 Congress passed and later amended and
repealed the timber culture acts, which granted homesteads on the
treeless public lands to settlers who planted one-fourth of their
entries with trees. Though these measures were not successful in
themselves they directed attention towards forestry. The act which
repealed them in 1891 contained a clause which lies at the foundation of
the present forest policy of the United States. By it the president was
authorized to set aside "any part of the public lands wholly or in part
covered with timber or undergrowth, whether of commercial value or not,
as public reservations, and the President shall, by public proclamation,
declare the establishment of such reservations and the limits thereof."
Some eighteen million acres had been proclaimed as reservations at the
time when, in 1896, the National Academy of Sciences was asked by the
secretary of the interior to make an investigation and report upon "the
inauguration of a rational forest policy for the forest lands of the
United States." Upon the recommendation of a commission named by the
Academy, President Cleveland established more than twenty-one million
acres of new reserves on the 22nd of February 1897. His action was
widely misunderstood and attacked, but it awakened a public interest in
forest questions without which the rapid progress of forestry in the
United States since that time could never have been made.
Within a few months after the proclamation of the Cleveland reserves the
present national forest policy took definite shape. Under this policy
the national government holds and manages, in the common interest of all
users of the forests or its products, such portions of the public lands
as have been set aside by presidential proclamation in accordance with
the act of 1891. These lands are held against private acquisition under
the Homestead Act (except as to agricultural lands as hereafter
mentioned), the Timber and Stone Act, and other laws under which the
United States disposes of its unappropriated public domain, but not
against private acquisition under the Mineral Land Laws. They are
selected from lands believed to be more valuable for forest purposes
than for agriculture, and are managed with the purpose of securing from
them the best and largest possible returns, present and future, whether
in the form of water for irrigation or power, of timber, of forage for
stock, or of any other beneficial product. The aggregate area of the
reserves, or national forests, has been steadily increased until they
now include nearly all the timber lands left of the public domain.
The general lines of this policy were in part laid down by the
commission already mentioned, in its report submitted to the secretary
of the interior, May 1, 1897, and by the act of June 4, 1897, which was
largely shaped by the work of the commission. Until this act was passed
the national forests had been in theory closed against any form of use;
nor had the possibility of securing forest preservation by wise use
received much thought from those who had favoured their creation. Such a
state of affairs could not continue. Before long public opinion would
have forced the opening to use of the resources thus arbitrarily locked
up, and in the absence of any administrative system providing for
conservative use, the national forests would inevitably have been
abolished, and the whole policy of government forest holdings would have
ceased. The act of June
Showing first 200,000 characters. Full text: gutenberg.org/ebooks/35925