FIT

the lips of the wound together by stitching. The most common treatment consists in laying the fistula and soft parts above it freely open by an incision, and keeping the orifices of the wound apart, so that it may heal from the bottom.

FIVE FORKS

Fit. See APOPLEXY; CONVULSION; EPILEPSY. Fitch, John, 1743-98; American inventor; b. E. Windsor, Conn.; worked successively at a number of trades in New Jersey and Pennsylvania; became a surveyor and land speculator; engraved a map of the NW. country on copper; and, 1785, devoted himself to the problem of propelling vessels by steam. He sought aid in vain from Congress and several states, but received from New Jersey the exclusive privilege for fourteen years of using boats propelled by fire or steam. Having formed a company, he completed the model of a steam engine in 1786, and soon propelled a skiff on the Delaware. In 1787 exclusive rights in the use of the steamboat was vested in him by Pennsylvania, Delaware, and New York. In August a new steamboat constructed by him was successfully tried on the Delaware. Fitch constructed other boats, one of which attained an average speed of 74 m. an hour. After various vicissitudes he committed suicide in Kentucky.

Fitch, commercial name of the fur of the European polecat (Putorius fœtidus). It is collected in N. Europe, and though in general inferior in quality to the fur of martens and, sables, it is handsome and serviceable, and when in fashion brings a good price.

Fitch. See VITCH.

Fitch'burg, a capital of Worcester Co., Mass. ; on a branch of the Nashua River; 25 m. N. of Worcester, the other capital; comprises several villages; principally engaged in making pianos, machinery, tools, electrical apparatus, cotton and woolen goods, engines, firearms, bicycles, and paper; had $13,108,543 capital investment in factories, by 1905 census), with products valued at $15,390,507. Pop. (1905) 33,017.

Fitzgerald, Edward, 1809-83; English author; b. near Woodbridge, Suffolk; spent his life mostly in his native county in study and literary pursuits; made translations from Eschylus, Sophocles, and Calderon; published a selection from the writings of his father-inHe law, Bernard Barton, the Quaker poet. is best known for his translation, 1859, of the Rubáiyát" of Omar Khayyam.

Fitzgerald, Edward (Lord), 1763-98; Irish soldier; fifth son of the first Duke of Leinster; b. near Dublin; entered the British army; served in the American Revolutionary War; afterwards was a member of the Irish Parlia

which he was severely wounded, and died in prison.

Fitzherbert, Maria, 1756–1837; wife of King George IV of England; daughter of Waller Weld and Thomas Fitzherbert. As she was a Smythe, and successively the widow of Edward subject, her marriage (1785) with the Prince of Wales (afterwards George IV) was not valid. Later the prince married the Princess Caroline of Brunswick, and after his quarrel with her returned to Mrs. Fitzherbert; but his excesses compelled her to leave him.

Fitzmaurice, Henry Charles Petty. See LANSDOWNE.

Fitzroy', Robert, 1805-65; British admiral; b. Anton Hall, Suffolk; entered the navy, 1819; was in command of one of the vessels in the exploring expedition to Patagonia, Chile, and Peru, 1828. In 1831 the Beagle, under his command, was fitted out for another surveying expedition, accompanied by Charles Darwin, and returned, 1836. In 1841 Fitzroy entered Parliament; was Governor and Commander in Chief of New Zealand, 1843-46; was placed at the head of the Meteorological Department of the Board of Trade, 1854; promoted rear admiral, 1857; vice admiral, 1863. He committed suicide in a fit of mental aberration due to overwork.

Fiume (fé-ô'mā), free imperial city of Hungary, formerly called Vitopolis; on the Gulf of Quarnero, at the mouth of the Fiumara; 40 m. SE. of Trieste; an important seaport, with an excellent harbor, large shipbuilding interests, and considerable manufacturing. Vitopolis is mentioned as a flourishing town of Liburnia under the Roman emperors; was incorporated with the Hapsburg dominions (Austria), 1471; united with Hungary as a corpus separatum, 1776, and with Croatia, 1850; made an independent district, 1870. Pop. (1900) 38,955.

Five Civ'ilized Tribes, the Cherokee, Chickasaw, Choctaw, Creek, and Seminole Indian tribes, now settled in Indian Territory. The separate tribes are also designated nations, as the Cherokee Nation, etc. By acts of Congress (1901, 1902) the tribal governments of these tribes were to cease March 4, 1906, but a later act extended the time one year. See their respective titles. .

Five Forks, locality in Dinwiddie Co., Va., 11 m. SW. of Petersburg, noted as the scene of a battle between a Union force under Sheridan and a Confederate one under Pickett, fought April 1, 1865, just after Sheridan had returned from raiding the Shenandoah Valley and rejoined Grant. The battle was the result of a movement by Grant to turn the Confederate right or destroy their line of retreat to the S., and was won by Sheridan, after

FIVES

desperate fighting. Union loss, 884; Confederate (killed, wounded, and prisoners), 8,500. The next day the final successful assault on the Confederate works at Petersburg was made.

Fives, form of handball, or court tennis, in which the ball is struck with the hand and made to rebound from a wall against which it is again struck after its first rebound from the ground.

Fix'ture, in law, a personal chattel in some way annexed to a house or other piece of realty, but such, or so annexed, that he who put it there may take it away, while the common meaning of the word is, a thing so fixed to the realty that it cannot be taken away. In here speaking of fixtures we shall mean things so fastened to the land (or to a house which is itself fastened to the land) that they cannot be removed against the landowner's will. At common law the rule was almost invariable that anything once attached to the land became the property of the owner of the land; but this is not now the law in England or the U. S. The intention with which a thing was annexed to the premises, and its capability of removal without injury to them, are important elements in determining whether it is a fixture. The ancient rule was first relaxed in favor of trade fixtures, in the case of which a wide power of removal is now allowed; and it was next admitted that an outgoing tenant might take away many articles which he fastened to the house for ornament or convenience, such as mirrors, blinds, and grates. The general rule is that a tenant must remove during his tenancy, or at all events before finally surrendering possession, everything he has a right to take away; and whatever he does not remove he is considered as having intended as a permanent fixture.

Flac'cus, cognomen or surname of several Roman families, of which the most important belonged to the gentes (tribes), Fulvia, Valeria, and Pomponia. The poet Horace also bore this name. Among the illustrious men of the name were (1) LUCIUS VALERIUS FLACCUS, consul with C. Marius in 100 B.C., censor in 97, and again consul in 86, when he was murdered by Fimbria. (2) QUINTUS FULVIUS FLACCUS, Consul 237, 224, and 212, B.C., often prætor, and distinguished in the second Punic and many other wars, in which he was fortunate; but his character is stained by his cruel treatment of the Campanians. His family produced many public men, among whom his son, Q. FULVIUS FLACCUS (d. 173 B.C.), and his grandson, M. FULVIUS FLACCUS, were the most renowned. The former was a distinguished general in Spain; the latter, a partisan of the Gracchi, was put to death 121

B.C.

Fla'cius, Matthias (surnamed ILLYRICUS), 1520-75; German Protestant theologian; b. Albona, Venetian Illyria; professor successively of Hebrew at Wittenberg and of theology at Jena, and a preacher in various cities; leader of the rigid Lutherans after Luther's death. Besides writing numerous polemical pieces,

cess. The propriety of this homely term is better seen in the genus Ulva or laver, of which U. latissima, common on the American coast, with a broad, ovate or oblong, undulated, bright green frond, may be seen lying on the soft ooze at low tide, and floating near the bottom at high tide. U. enteromorphia, with tubular, membranaceous, green, netted fronds, is still more flaccid, and is easily collected from rocks and beaches, when thrown up by the winds. A dark purple kind may be noticed on the piles and posts of wharves, hanging loosely down, like broad shreds, growing also on rocks between high and low-water mark.

(2) The iris family, which bear conspicuous flowers, some of great splendor. The sword flags are stiff, erect, very long-leaved plants, with spikes of showy purple, scarlet, rosy, or white blossoms, and large flat tubers, requiring heat, moisture, and sunshine while growing, but entire rest and dryness when dormant. tives of the Cape of Good Hope, few garden flowers exceed them in gorgeousness or beauty, and few require so little care. One of the best known of these is the gladiolus.

Na

Flag, piece of cloth to be displayed to indicate, by shape, color, or symbols a nationality, dynasty, rank, party, or association. Among the Egyptians each battalion had a distinguishing emblem representing some sacred object. The Greeks bore as symbols sometimes the emblem of a divinity, sometimes an initial letter. The Roman standards changed with their conquests, and succeeding emperors displayed new forms and new emblems. Nearly all the standards and ensigns of modern nations are rectangular, but the naval flag of

FLAG

Sweden has three points, that of Denmark two, | and the flag of China is triangular. Some of the principal European nations have each two or more flags, a royal or imperial standard, a national ensign, a naval ensign, and a flag for merchantmen. The royal standard of Great Britain displays the heraldic insignia of England, Scotland, and Ireland, quartered. national flag, called the "union jack," is blue, charged with the three crosses of St. George, St. Andrew, and St. Patrick. This combination forms the canton in the British naval and commercial flags.

The

In the twelfth century the standard of France was white, sprinkled with golden fleursde-lis. Henry IV adopted the white flag charged with three golden fleurs-de-lis on a blue shield. It was succeeded, 1792, by the tricolor. The imperial standard of Germany is white charged with a black cross, with the black eagle of the empire at its intersection. In the

dexter canton is the cross of Prussia on a black, white, and red field. The Russian imperial standard is yellow charged with the double-headed eagle. The imperial standard of Austria is yellow also, charged with the double-headed eagle, but it has an indented border of gold, silver, blue, and black. The royal standard of Italy is green, white, and red, in equal vertical bars; on the white are the arms of Savoy surmounted by the crown. The royal standard of Spain combines the arms of Castile, Leon, Granada, and the fleurs-de-lis of the Bourbons. The flag of Sweden is blue with a yellow cross, that of Norway red with a blue cross. The royal standard of Greece is blue charged with a white cross, the canton of the ensign.

The English colonies in America displayed at first the flag of the mother country, of which various modifications were in use at different times. After the battle of Lexington

the Connecticut troops displayed on their standards the arms and motto of the colony. The Massachusetts cruisers bore a white flag with a green pine tree. The naval ensign first displayed by Com. Hopkins was yellow, bearing for device a rattlesnake in the attitude of striking, with the motto, "Don't tread on me.' On January 2, 1776, Washington raised at Cambridge the " great union" flag, which con

sisted of the thirteen alternate red and white stripes of the present flag of the U. S., with the crosses of St. George and St. Andrew emblazoned on the blue canton in place of the stars. Congress resolved on June 14, 1777, "that the flag of the thirteen U. S. be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new constellation." In 1794 the field was changed to fifteen stripes alternate red and white, and the union to fifteen white stars in a blue field. In 1818 the stripes were reduced again to thirteen, and the number of stars made equal to the number of the states. The blue union when used separately is called the Union Jack. When the Civil War broke out the several seceded states used at first distinctive state flags. In March, 1861, the Confederate Congress adopted the "stars and bars." In September a battle flag was adopted, and in

FLAG OF TRUCE`

1863 the "stars and bars was supplanted by a flag with a white field having the battle flag for a union. In 1865 the outer half of the field beyond the union was covered with a vertical red bar. This was the last flag of the Confederacy. See BANNER.

Flag'ellants, name given during the Middle Ages to various societies of penitents, who went about scourging themselves in public. They first arose in 1056, under St. Peter Damian. In the thirteenth century they became very common in Italy. Abt. 1349, at the time of the "Black Death," the flagellants spread over all Europe, proclaiming the coming of Christ, and the necessity of purification by penance Both civil and and the shedding of blood. ecclesiastical authorities opposed these fanatics, and Pope Clement VI issued a bull against them. After the Council of Constance they disappeared. The name of flagellants was also applied to some pious guilds approved by the Church.

Flageolet (flăj'ō-lět), musical instrument; a wooden or ivory tube with a mouthpiece at one end, the other end being open. It has one large aperture near the mouthpiece and six or more finger holes. Its invention is ascribed to one Flavigny, 1580, but the flutes of the ancients, like those of some modern barbarous peoples, were simply flageolets.

narrow

Flag Officer, in the navy, one of such rank as to entitle him to fly a flag instead of the pennant flown to show that the vessel is commanded by an officer of lower rank, such as a captain. The flag officers of the U. S. navy are: admiral, vice admiral, rear The second and admiral, and commodore. fourth of these grades are not at present found on the active list. The admiral's flag flies at the mainmast, the vice admiral's at the foremast, and the rear admiral's at the mizzen.

slabs suitable for sidewalks, curbing, doorFlag'stone, stone separable into broad flat steps, etc.; derived from sandstones and limestones of the sedimentary series and slates and schists of the metamorphic, all of which are sometimes divided by natural partings into layers of convenient thickness. A variety of sandstone called bluestone, occurring at various horizons in shales of Devonian age and obtained from many localities in New York, New Jersey, and Pennsylvania, is largely used for this purpose. Flagstones do not belong to any particular geologic age, and they occur at so many localities that the extent to which they are quarried in any region depends largely on the local demand. Prominent among the present sources of supply are the bluestone just mentioned, the Medina sandstone (Silurian) of New York, the Waverly sandstone (Devonian) of Ohio, and the Triassic "brownstone" of Connecticut and New Jersey.

Flag of Truce, white flag displayed to an enemy to show a desire to communicate or to suspend hostilities. Under the rules of civilized war a messenger bearing a flag of truce, if admitted within the enemy's lines, has a sacred character. But the party visited must judge