Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Volume 1.djvu/850

 FRO

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FRU

Olearim aflures us, that in the City of JWo/ccto he ob- Vapours, when met and condenfed by the Cold. See Cry ferv'd the Earth to be cleft by the Froft many Yards length, stallization.

and a Foot broad. Scheffer mentions hidden Cracks or Rifts the Ice of the Lakes of Sweden, nine or ten Foot deep,

Dew, is in all appearance the Matter of HoarFroft : Tho' any of the Carte/tans will have it form 'd of a Cloud, and

and many Leagues long ; and adds, that the Rupture is either congealed in the Cloud, and fo let fall • or ready to made with a Nolle not lels terrible than if many Guns were be congealed aflbon as it arrives at the Earth. See Dew.

difcharged together. By fuch means the Fifties are furnifh'd with Air; fo that they are rarely found dead.

In the great Froft of 1*83, Oaks, Afhes, Walnut Trees, £i?c. Mr. Sol/an tells us, were miferably fplit, and cleft, fo that one might fee thro' them ; and this frequently with terrible Noifes, like the Explofion of Fire Arms. The Clifts were not only in the Bodies, but continued to the larger

FROTH, a white, light Subftance, form'd on the Sur- face of Fluids, by vehement Agitation. See Boiling.

Froth confifts wholly of little Spherules, or Globules 5 and accordingly, maybe defined an Affemblage of Aquco-aereal Bubbles. See Bubble ; fee alfo Scum.

FROZEN, or Frigid Zone, fee Zone.

FRUGIVOROUS Birds, according to Mr. Williiighhy,

Boughs, Roots, &c. See an Inquiry into the Circumftances are thofe of the Parrot kind, which tho' they have a crooked

and Caulcs hereof in thePhilof.^ranfaa. N" itTj. See alfo Beek and Talons, and therefore belong in general to the

Freezing Rain. Birds of Prey, as being rapacious, and carnivorous; vet be-

The Natural Hiftory's of Frofts furnifh very extraordinary caufe they eat Fruit too, he diftinguifhes them from the

Effects thereof. The Trees are frequently fcorch'd and burnt reft by the Title of Frvgivorom. See Bird-

up as with the moft exceflive Heat ; of which there are di- FRUIT, in its general Senfe, includes whatever the

vers Inftances in fo warm a Climate as that of 'Provence. Earth produces, tor the Nourishment and Support of Men,

Mezeray, Hifl. de France, An. 1570. and other Animals; as Herbs, Grains, Pulfe, Hay, Corn,

The Tear 1708 was remarkable throughout the greateft Flax, and every thing, exprefs'd by the Latins under the

Part of Europe for a fevere Froft. Mr. Derbam fays, it Name f«yj. See Here, Grain, Pulse.

was the greateft in Degree, if not the moft univerfal in the The Devotion and Solemnity of Rogation Week, were

Memory of Man. It extended throughout England, France, inftituted to procure a Bleffing on the Fruits of the Earth.

Germany, SDemnark, Italy, &c. But was fcarce felt in Scot- See Rogation.

land or Ireland. All the Orange Trees, and Olives in Italy, 'Provence, &c. And all the Walnut Trees throughout France, with an Infinity of other Trees, perifh'd by Froft.

They had a kind of Gangrene grew on them ; which Monf. Gauteron takes to have been the Effect of a corrofive Salt, corrupting and deftroying their Texture. He adds, there is fo much Refemblance between the Gangrene be- falling Plants thro Froft, and that which the Parts of Animals

In the Civil Law, we diftinguifh three kinds of Fruits : Natural Fruits, which the Earth produces fpontaneoufly, and without any Culture; as thofe of Trees.

Fruits of Induftry, which, tho' Natural, require fome Culture to perfect them.

And Civil Fruits, which are only Fruits in the Eye of Law, as Rents, Salaries, Wages, iSc

In the Canon Law, Fruits include every thing whereof

are liable to, that they mult have fome analogous Caulc. fheRevenueof a Benefice confifts; as Glebe, Tythes, Rents,

Corrofive Humors burn the Parts of Animals; and the Offerings, Mills, £J?ir. See First Fruits.

aerial Nitre condenfed, has the fame Effect on the Parts of Fruit, in Nat. Hiftory, is the Production of a Tree, of

Plants. Penetralile Frigus adurit. Mcmoires de I'Acade- Plant; for the Propagation, or Multiplication of its Kind:

mic Rcyale des Sciences, An. 1709. In which Senfe Fruit includes all kinds ofSeeds, with their

In Germany the Frefh-water Fiih were every where kil- Furniture,^. See Seed.

led ; and a vaft Deftruffion befell the fmailer Birds. The Spittle was no fooner out of a Man's Mouth, than it was froze. The Lufatian Letters add, that many Cows were froze to death in their Stalls; and many Travellers on the Road were fome quite froze to death, others 16ft their Hands, Feet, Noles, or Ears.

G. Remus, the Author of an Academical Exercife on this Subject, publifh'd at Hall in Saxony, entitled Confideratio Vhylico-Mathematica Hyemis proximo pneterlapfi, gives Inftances from the News Papers, of two Gentlemen and a Smith in England ; and above <T& Men, and many Cattle near -Paris; and the like at Venice, and 80 French Soldiers near Namur ; all kill'd on the Road with Cold. On the Coafts of Italy many of the Mariners abroad the Englijh Men of War died of the Cold ; and feveral loft part of their Fingers and Toes.

Fruit, in Botany, ic properly that Part of a Plant where- in the Seed is coiitain'd; called by the Latins FruBus, and the Greeks nafwlu

The Fruit of a Plant is fometimes fingle, as in the Pop- py ; and fometimes in great Number, as in the Apple Tree* ££c. Sometimes dry ; and fometimes foft, and fleihy.

The Word aI r o implies an AfTemblage of Seeds, in a Plant, as in a Ranuncula, Pea, £S?c. And in the general, all kinda of Grains, whether naked, or inclofed in a Cover, Capfula or Pod, whether bony, fleihy, fkinny, membranous, or the like. See Seed, Grain.

The Fruit is the Product, or Refult of the Flower ; or that for whofe Production, Nutrition, £S?c. the Flower is in- tended. See Flower, and Generation of Plants.

The Structure and Parts of different Fruits are fome- what different; but in all the Species, the effential Parts of the

In England, the greateft Sufferers in the animal King- Fruit appear to be only Continuations, or Expanfions of

dom, Mr. Derham obferves, were Birds and Infects ; parti

cularly Larks and Robin-red-breafts: Much the greateft Part

oi which perifh'd. But the Vegetables were much the

greateft Sufferers. Few of the tender Sorts efcaped : Bays,

Hollies, Rofemary, Cyprefs, Alaterni, Phyllyrea's, Arbuti,

I.auruftines, and even Furze, with moft of the frutefcent

Herbs, as Lavenders, Abrotonums, Rue, Thyme, (Sc.

Mr. Soiart informs us, were generally deftroyed. The

fame Writer adds, that the Sap of the finer Wall Fruit was

fo congealed, and diforder'd, that it Stagnated in the Limbs , ~ . . 1 . ._ 1 j t^.j-.-j T.i._ -_ i^L:tiui.,: —

thofe obferv'd in the other Parts of the Tree.

Dr. Seal fuggefts fome very good ReafonS for a direct' Communication between the remoteft Parts of the Tree and the Fruit; fo that the fame Fibres or Stamina, which con- ftitute the Root, Trunk and Boughs ate extended into tho' very Fruit. See Plant.

Thus, cutting open an Apple tranfverfely, it will be found to confift of four Parts, viz. i° A Skin, or Cortex, which is only a Production of the Skin, or outer Bark of the Tree. A Parenchyma, or Pulp ; which is an Expanfion, and

and Branches, and produced Diforders like to Chillblains Intumefcence of the Ble or inner Bark of the Tree,

in human Bodies, which in many Parts of Trees would turn 3 Fibres or Ramifications of the woody Patt of the Tree,

to Mortifications : That the very Buds of the finer Trees, difperfed throughout the Parenchyma,

both the Leaf Buds, and Bloflbm Buds, were quite killed Of thefelaft, Authors generally reckon fifteen principal

and dried into a farinaceous Matter. Branches : Ten whereof penetrate the Parenchyma, and in-

In Switzerland, Scheuchzer relates, that not only the cline to the Bafii of the Flower ; the other five afcend

Walnut Trees and Vines, but even the Beech, Laryx, &c. more perpendicularly from the Pedicle, or Stalk, meet

were undone. And yet in fome Parts of thofe Cantons, he with the former at the Bafe of the Flower : To which

adds, there never was a milder Winter Seafon known. Branches are faften'd the Capfulce or Coats of the Kernels.

Mr. 'Dcrham relates it as a common Obfervation, that Thefe Branches being at firft extended through the Pa- Vegetables fufter'd more from the Sun, than the Froft ; in renchyma to the Flower, furnifh the neceffary Matter for the that the Sun-fliine melting the Snow, and opening the Vegetation thereof ; but, the Fruit increafing, it intercepts- Ground, left it more expofed to the Rigours of the enfuing the Aliment, and thus the Flower is ftarved, and falls offl Night. And at a Meeting of the Royal Society, it was 4 9 The Core which is the Produce of the Pith or Medulla obferved, that the Calamities which befel Trees, arofe not of the Plant ; indurated and ftrengthen'd by Twigs of the purely from their being frozen ; but principally from the Wood and Fibres, inofculated therewith. It ferves to fur- Winds Shaking and rocking them, when they were fo ; which nifh a Cell, or Lodge for the Kernels ; filtrates the Juico. rent and parted their Fibres. Philofoph. TranfaB.'S" 314. of the Parenchyma, and conveys it thus prepared to the

Hoar Frost, or White Frost, Pruina, is the Dew, froze or congealed early in cold Mornings; chiefly in Au- tumn.

Hoar Froft, Mr. Regis obferves, confifts of an AfTem- blage of little Parcels of Ice, or Cryftals ; which are of va-

Kernel-

In a Pear we diftinguifh five Parts, viz. the Skin, Paren- chyma, Ramification, Stone, and Acetarium.

The three firft Parts are common to the Apple. Ths Stone, obferv'd chiefly in Choak Pears, is a Congeries of

rious Figures, according to the different Difpofition of the ftony Corpufcles, difpers'd throughout the whole Parenchy-

tat,