Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/297

 F L A F L A 285 The radiation of heat from the flame of a Bunsen burner is considerably less than that from a luminous gas flame, and by most vapours is less powerfully absorbed. The absorption by the air of the heat radiated from a hydrogen flame, the source of which is the aqueous vapour produced by the combustion, has been shown by Tyndall to be due to the presence of moisture in the air, dry air being actually transparent to the radiations of the flame, whereas on humid days undried air may absorb as much as 20 3 per cent, of them, This phenomenon is explicable on the theory that, notwithstanding the high temperature of the flame, there is an accord between its oscillating molecules and those of aqueous vapour at the ordinary temperature, the heat of the flame increasing the amplitude but not the rate of its molecular vibration. When a carbonic oxide flame, the product of which is carbonic acid gas, is made to radiate through an atmosphere of the same gas, the absorption is very great, insomuch that, at a pressure of 4 inches, 65 per cent, of the radiation is cut off. The radiation of heat from a flame, it is thus apparent, depends on the length of the heat waves to which, accord ing to the nature of its products, it gives rise, and on ^tho character of the atmosphere through which the radiations have to pass. The products of the combustion of alcohol are aqueous vapour and carbonic acid gas, the heat rays of which have a slow period of vibration and correspond to the ultra-red rays of the spectrum. The temperature of an alcohol flame may be lowered by plunging into it a spiral of platinum wire, but its heat, being thereby con verted into heat of higher refrangibility, is consequently more readily transmitted through some substances, such as glass, than that of the original flame. (See Tyndall, Heat as a Mode of Motion, 5th ed., 1875, p. 385 sq.) The phenomena of singing flames have already been alluded to (ACOUSTICS, vol. i. p. 115). M. C. Decharme has produced persistent and varied sounds by directing a jet of air from a tube with a diameter of 3 to 5 mm. on a gas-flame supplied by an orifice of similar diameter. The effect of the jet of air seems to be attributable in great measure to its chemical besides its mechanical action. By altering the diameter and position of the tubes, and the nature and pressure of the gas and air, the sounds and the colour and shape of the flame may be greatly modified. (Compt. Rend., Ixxx. p. 1G02.) On the spectra of flames see SPECTRUM ANALYSIS. In consequence of the rarefaction of the air which it occasions, and also its tapering form, flame acts with great rapidity in dissipating a charge of electricity. It has been shown by Grove (Phil. Mag., 1854, [4], vii. 47) that a current of electricity is transmitted in flame, and is produced in it probably by chemical action. Dr Edmund Hoppe, in a paper on the electrical resist ance of flames (Nachrichten v. d. K. Ges. d. Wiss. 11. d. Georg-Augusts-Universitat, 1877, p. 313), concludes as the result of his experimental investigations that (1) For every flame the electric conductivity increases with an increase of the heat and of the amount of the burning gases ; (2J The relative conductivity of different flames is dependent on the nature of the substances burnt ; the vapours of salts and solu tions are particularly efficient in augmenting the conductivity of the flame of hydrogen; and (3) Ohm s law, contrary to the surmise ol Hankel (Abh. d. Konigl. Sachs. Ges. d. Wiss., v. p. 72, 1861) is applicable to the case of flames. The diamagnetism of flame, on its discovery by M. P. Bancalari, was in 1847 investigated both by Zantedeschi and Faraday. When placed in various positions between the poles of a powerful electro-magnet, the flame of a wax taper becomes inclined, or assumes a fishtail shape, or even spreads out right and left in an equatorial direction between the poles, producing a double flame with two long tongues. Faraday found that when a small flame only about one third of an inch high was used, the magnetic force flattened into an equatorial disc. The brightest flames appeared to him to be the mostdiamagnetic (Faraday, Exp. Researches, vol. iii. pp. 467, 487, 490). See, in addition to the authorities quoted above, Works o/Sirff. Davy, ed. by Dr John Davy, vol. vi. pp. 1-130, 1840; Frankland, A Course of Lectures on (Jonl-Gas, 1867, and Experimental llc- carchcs, 1877; and Dr Karl lleumann, Contributions to the Theory of Luminous Flames, translated by M. M. Pattison Muir from Liobig s Ann. dcr Chcmic, vol. clxxxi. pt. 2, pp. 129-153, and vol. clxxxii. pp. 1-29, in Phil. Mag., 1877, pp. 1, 98, 366. On the transparency of coloured ilames see Gouy, Compt. licnd., Ixxxvi. 878-880. See also GAS. (F. H. B.) FLAMEL, NICOLAS, a reputed French alchemist, and a caligrapher to the university of Paris, was born about 1330. Becoming a money lender, he amassed immense wealth, with which he built a large number of churches and endowed various charities. He died at Paris 22d March 1418, and was buried in the church of Saint-Jacques-la-Boucherie, to which he bequeathed the bulk of his property. His unusual prosperity acquired for him, either during his life or shortly after his death, the reputation of being an alche mist, and gradually his history became incrusted with legend. It was said that he accidentally discovered the sscret of alchemy in an old book by a Jewish astrologer which happened to come into his hands, and that after reaching a good old age in France, he and his wife myste riously disappeared, presumably to live in splendour in the East through the aid of the philosopher s stone. A book on alchemy exists in the imperial library of Paris with an inscription professing to have been written by Nicolas Flam el, but plainly a forgery. In 1561 also, a small treatise entitled Sommaire Philosophique de Nicolas Flamel was published among a collection of alchemist treatises entitled Transformation mctallique. These and similar inventions were, however, exploded by Vilain s Etsai sur VHistoire de /Saint-Jacques-ta-ouche?-ie } l75S, which contains an account of the life of Flamel, derived from the archives and other authentic documents of the parish. See also Description de la Ville de Paris ait quinzieme Siede, par Guillebert de Metz, published for the first time from De Metz s manuscript by Leroux de Lincy, Paris, 1855. FLAMEN, a Roman sacrificial priest. The flamens were under the direction of the pontifices, and were con secrated to the service of some particular deity. The highest in rank were the Flamen Dialis, Flamen Martialis, and Flamen Quirinalis, who were always selected from among the patricians. When the number of flamens was raised from three to fifteen, those already mentioned were entitled majores, in contradistinction to the other twelve, w r ho were called minores, and were chosen from the plebs. The flamens were held to be elected for life, but they might be compelled to resign office for neglect of duty, or on the occurrence of some ill-omened event during the performance of their rites. The official dress of the flamens was the apex or cap (surmounted with a piece of pointed olive-wood, round the base of which a lock of wool 1 was twisted), the Icena or mantle, and a laurel wreath. The highest of all these priests was the Flamen Dialis, or flamen of Jupiter, who in virtue of his office was entitled to a lictor, to a seat in the senate, to a curule chair, and to the toga prcetexta, woven by his wife of thick wool. The eight of fetters being forbidden him, his toga was not allowed to be tied in a knot but was fastened by means of clasps, and the only kind of ring permitted to be worn on his finger was a broken one. If a person in fetters took refuge in his house he was immediately loosed from his bonds ; and if a criminal on his way to the scene of his punishment met him and threw himself at his feet he was respited for that 1 Filum, whence, according to Varro and Festus, the name flamen, &quot; quasi filamen,&quot; was derived.