Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/280

 270 F I S F I T FISTULA, a term in surgery used to designate an abnormal communication leading either (1) from the surface of the body to a normal cavity or canal, or (2) from one normal cavity or canal to another. These communications are the result of disease or injury. They receive different names according to their situation : lachrymal fistula, in connexion with the lachrymal apparatus ; salivary fistula, in connexion with the salivary duct on the cheek ; anal fistula, in connexion with the anus ; iirethral fistula, in connexion with the urethra, are all examples of the variety of the first kind of fistula ; while recto-vesical fistula, a communication between the rectum and bladder, and vesico- vayinal fistula, a communication between the bladder and vagina, are examples of the second. The abnormal canal may be straight or tortuous, of considerable diameter or of narrow calibre. Fistulre are formed in various ways : (1) by an obstruction of the normal channel, the result of disease or injury, which prevents, for example, the tears, saliva, or urine, as the case may be, from escaping; their retention gives rise to inflammation and ulceration, and the result is that they make a way of exit behind the obstruction ; (2) by the formation of an abscess near, for example, the anus, which bursts into the gut and through the skin ; the cavity does not close, and a fistula in auo is the result ; (3) by destruction, by injury or ulceration, of the septum between one cavity and another, as in recto-vesical fistula, or between a cavity and a canal, as in vesico-vaginal fistula. The fistulous channel will remain patent as long as the contents of the cavity or canal with which it is connected pass along it in whole or in part. There is always a natural tendency to contraction. The treatment is founded on these principles : remove the obstruction, encourage the flow along the natural channel ; for example, open up the nasal duct, allow the tears to reach the nasal cavity, and the lachrymal fistula will close ; so also in the salivary and urethral varieties. Some times it may be necessary to lay the channel freely open, and allow it to close from its deeper parts to the surface, as iu anal fistula ; in other cases it may be necessary to pare the edges of the abnormal opening and stitch them together, hoping for union of the edges. FITCH, JOHN (1743-1798), one of the first inventors in connexion with steam navigation, was born at Windsor, Connecticut, January 21, 1743. He was the son of a farmer, and received the usual common school education. At the age of seventeen he went to sea, but he discontinued his sailor life after a few voyages, and became successively a clock maker, a brassfounder, and a silversmith. During the rebellion he followed the trade of sutler to tbe American troops, and amassed in that way a considerable sum of money, with which he bought land in Virginia, He was appointed deputy-surveyor for Kentucky in 1780, and when returning to Philadelphia in the following year he was captured by the Indians, but shortly afterwards regained his liberty. About this time he began an ex ploration of the north-western regions, with the view of preparing a map of the district ; and while sailing on the great western rivers, the idea occurred to him that they might be navigated by steam. He endeavoured by the sale of his map to find money for the carrying out of his pro jects, but was unsuccessful. lie next applied for assistance to the legislatures of different States, but though each reported in favourable terms of his invention, none of them would agree to grant him any pecuniary assistance. He was successful, however, in 178G, in forming a company for the prosecution of his enterprise, and shortly afterwards a steam-packet of his invention was launched on the Delaware. His claim to be the inventor of steam-naviga tion was disputed by James Ilumsey of &quot;Virginia, but Fitch obtained exclusive rights in steam-navigation in New Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Delaware, while a similar pri vilege was granted to Rumsey in Virginia, Maryland, and New York. A steam-boat built by Fitch conveyed pas sengers for hire on the Delaware in the summer of 1790, but the undertaking was a losing one, and led to the dissolution of the company. In 1793 he endeavoured to introduce his invention into France, but met with no success. On his return to America he found his property overrun by squatters, and reaping from his invention nothing but disappointment and poverty, he committed suicide in 1798. He left behind him a record of his adventures and misfortunes, &quot;inscribed to his children and future posterity ;&quot; and from this a biography was com piled by Thompson Westcott (Philadelphia, 1857). FITCH, RALPH, a London merchant and one of the earliest English travellers in India, lived in the latter halt of the 16th century. As he was engaged in a traffic in Eastern products it occurred to him that he might pursue a more profitable trade were he to visit the countries from which they came. Accordingly, along with other four merchants, he re-embarked in January 1583 in a ship called the &quot; Tygre, 1 and set sail for Tripoli in Syria. From Tripoli they journeyed to Aleppo and through Mesopotamia to Baghdad, from whence they sailed down the Tigris to Bussorah. From Bussorah they sailed in small boats down the Persian Gulf to the island of Ormus. Here from the jealousy of the other European merchants at their success, they were apprehended by the governor of the castle as spies and sent to the Portuguese viceroy at Goa. They afterwards received their liberty on paying a fine, but fear ing a second imprisonment they escaped secretly from Gon, and journeyed through the interior of India. Fitch ulti mately left his companions, and after reaching Bengal he sailed in 1589 for Cochin, touching on his way at Ceylon. After sojourneying at Cochin eight months he re-embarked for Goa, and thence retraced his footsteps to Tripoli, finally reaching London on the 29th April 1591. The Voyaye of Mr Ralph Fitch, Merchant of London, to Ormus and so to Goa, in the East India ; to Cambaia, Ganges, Beitgala ; to Bacola and Chonderi; to Pegu, to Jamahay in the kingdom of Siam, and back to Pegu, and from thence to Malacca, Zcilan, Cochin, and all the Coast of the East Indies, is included in Pinkerton s Collection of Travels. FITCHBURG, a city of the United States, one of the capitals of Worcester county, Massachusetts, is situated on a branch of the Nashua river, 40 miles W.N.W. of Boston. It includes the villages of Crockerville, Rockville, South Fitchburg, Traskville, and West Fitchburg. It is the ter minus of four railways to Boston, AVorcestcr, Brattleboro, and Keene and Bellows Falls. The principal buildings are the masonic hall, the city hall, the jail, the court-house, and the high school. It has woollen, cotton, and paper mills, machine shops, chair manufactories, iron foundries, and brass foundries. Fitchburg was originally included under Lunonburg. It was incorporated as a separate town in 1764, and became a city in 1872. The population in 1860 was 7805, and in 1870 it amounted to 11,260, 2517 being foreigners. FITZGERALD, LORD EDWARD (1763-1798), one of the leaders of the Society of United Irishmen, was a younger son of the first duke of Leinster, and was born at Carton Castle, near Dublin, October 15, 1763. At ten years of age he lost his father, and, his mother marrying again, the family soon after settled in France. Lord Edward was carefully educated by his stepfather, Mr Ogilvie, chiefly with a view to the profession of a soldier. Returning to England in 1779 he entered the English army, and in 1781 he sailed with his regiment for America, where he soon obtained the appointment of aide-de-camp on the staff of Lord Rawdon. He served in the war with no little