Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/14

 F A L F A L the capture of insects, which form its ordinary food. It is a summer visitant to most parts of Europe, including these islands, and is most wantonly and needlessly destroyed by gamekeepers. A second European species of the group is the beautiful F. eleonorce, which hardly comes further north than the countries bordering the Mediterranean, and, though in some places abundant, is an extremely local bird. The largest species of this section seems to be the Neotropical F. femoralis, for F. diroleucus though often ranked here is now supposed to belong to the group of typical Falcons. (A. N.) FALCONE, ANIELLO (1600-1665), a battle-painter, was the son of a- tradesman, and was born in Naples. He showed his artistic tendency at an early age, received some instruction from a relative, and then studied under Ribera (Lo Spagnoletto), of whom he ranks as the most eminent pupil. Besides battle-picture?, large and small, taken from biblical as well as secular history, he painted various reli gious subjects, which, however, count for little in his general reputation. He became, as a battle-painter, almost as celebrated as Borgognone (Courtois), and was named &quot; L Oracolo delle Battaglie.&quot; His works have animation, variety, truth to nature, and careful colour. Falcone was bold, generous, used to arms, and an excellent fencer. In the insurrection of Masaniello (1647) he resolved to be bloodily avenged for the death, at the hands of two Spaniards, of a nephew, and of a pupil in the school of art which he had established in Naples. He and many of his scholars, including Salvator Rosa and Carlo Coppola, formed an armed band named the Compagnia della Morte. They scoured the streets by day, exulting in slaughter ; at night they were painters again, and handled the brush with im petuous zeal, Peace being restored, they had to decamp. Falcone and Rosa made off to Rome; here Borgognone noticed the works of Falcone, and became his friend, and a French gentleman induced him to go to France, where Louis XIV. became one of his patrons. Ultimately Colbert obtained permission for the painter to return to Naples, and there he died in 1665. Two of his battle-pieces are to be seen in the Louvre and in the Naples museum ; he painted a portrait of Masaniello, and engraved a few plates. Among his principal scholars, besides Rosa and Coppola (whoso works are sometimes ascribed to Falcone himself), were Domenico Gargiuolo named Micco Spadaro, Paolo Porpora, and Andrea di Lione. FALCONER, HUGH (1808-1865), a distinguished palaeontologist and botanist, descended from an old Scotch family, was born at Forres, 29th February 1808. In 1826 he graduated as M.A. at Aberdeen, where he began to manifest a decided taste for the study of natural history and botany. He afterwards studied medicine in the uni versity of Edinburgh, taking the degree of M.D. in 1829. Proceeding to India in 1830 as assistant-surgeon on the Bengal establishment of the East India Company, he made on his arrival an examination of the fossil bones from Ava in the possession of the Asiatic Society of Bengal, and a description of the collection which he published immediately gave him a recognized position among the scientists of India. In 1831 he was appointed to the army station at Meerut, in the north-western provinces, and in 1832 he succeeded his friend Dr Royle as superintendent of the botanic garden of Saharunpoor. He was thus placed in a district particularly rich in palreontological remains, the existence of which were, however, then unknown ; and he immediately set to work to investigate both its natural history and geology. In 1834 he published a description of the geological character of tha neighbouring Sewalik hills, in the Tertiary strata of which he discovered bones of crocodiles, tortoises, and other fossil remains ; and subsequently, along with other conjoint labourers, he brought to light a sub-tropical fossil fauna of unexampled extent and richness. For these valuable dis coveries he and Captain Cautley received in 1837 the Wollaston medal in duplicate from the Geological Society of London. In 1834 Falconer was appointed to inquire into the fitness of India for the growth of the tea-plant, and it was on his recommendation that it was introduced into that country. He also made large natural history collec tions, not only of the productions of the country round Saharunpoor, but also of the valley of Kashmir and the countries to the north of it, exploring at the same time the glacier on the southern flank of the Muztagh range, and the great glaciers of Arindoh and of the Brakloh valley. He was compelled by illness to leave India in 1842, and during his stay in England, besides reading various papers on his discoveries before several learned societies, he occu pied himself with the classification and arrangement of the Indian fossils presented to the British Museum and East India House, chiefly by himself and Captain Cautley. In 1848 he was appointed superintendent of the Calcutta botanical garden, and professor of botany in the medical college ; and on entering on his duties he was at once em ployed by the Indian Government and the Agricultural and Horticultural Society as their adviser on all matters con nected with the vegetable products of India. Being com pelled by the state of his health to leave India in 1855, he spent the remainder of his life chiefly in examining fossil species in England and the Continent corresponding to those which he had discovered in India. In the course of his researches he became interested in the question of the antiquity of the human race, and actually commenced a work on &quot; Primeval Man,&quot; which, however, he was not spared to finish. He died 31st January 1865. He was a member of many learned societies, both British and foreign. Shortly after his death a committee was formed for the promotion of a &quot;Falconer Memorial.&quot; This took the shape of a marble bust, which was placed in the rooms of the Royal Society of London, and of a Falconer scholarship of the annual value of 100, open for competition to graduates in science or medicine of the university of Edin burgh. Dr Falconer s botanical notes, with 450 coloured drawings of Kashmir and Indian plants, have been deposited in the library at Kew, and his PalcKontoloyical Memoirs and Notes, comprising all his papers read before learned societies, have been edited, with a biographical sketch, by Charles Murchison, M.D., London, 18C8. FALCONER, WILLIAM, our greatest naval poet, Charles Dibdin taking rank as second, was born in Edinburgh, February 11, 1732. His father was a wig-maker, and carried on business in one of the small shops with wooden fronts at the Netherbow Port, an antique castellated struc ture which remained till 1764, dividing High Street from the Canongate. The old man, who is described as a sort of humorist, was unfortunate. Of his three children two were deaf and dumb ; he became bankrupt, then tried busi ness as a grocer, and finally died in extreme poverty. William, the son, having received a scanty education, was put to sea. He served on board a Leith merchant vessel, and in his eighteenth year was fortunate enough to obtain the appointment of second mate of the &quot; Britannia,&quot; a vessel employed in the Levant trade, and sailed from Alexandria for Venice. The &quot; Britannia &quot; was overtaken by a dreadful storm off Cape Colonna and was wrecked, only three of the crew being saved. Falconer was happily one of the three, and the incidents of the voyage and its disastrous termination formed the subject of his poem of The Shipwreck. &quot;In all Attica,&quot; says Byron, &quot;if we ex cept Athens itself and Marathon, there is no scene more in teresting than Cape Colonna. To the antiquary and artist, sixteen columns are an inexhaustible source of observation and design ; to the philosopher the supposed scene of Plato s conversations will not be unwelcome; and the