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FIBRE-INDUSTRIES

659

FIELD

From the bark of some we have flax, hemp, jute and the material for paper. Cotton-fiber, the most valuable fiber known, consists of the hairs which surround the seeds of the plant. Coir fiber is from the husk of the cocoanut. From the leaves of palm-trees we have a fiber used in making ropes, mats, matting and Panama hats.

Fibre-Industries. The chief fibre-manufactures are those which involve the making of cloth; but the making of brushes, brooms, ropes, cords etc. must also be classed under fibre-industries. Many fibre-industries are not commercial but purely local; for example, the use of grasses and palm-leaves in the building of houses and the manifold uses of the bamboo. The United States import over $30,000,000 worth of raw fibre per year, and several times this quantity of manufactured fibre. For details of fibre industries in the United States see United States Department of Agriculture, Fibre Investigations, Report No. IX., Washington, 1897. See COTTON, FLAX and WOOL.

Fichte (fiWte), Johann Gottlieb, a great German philosopher, was born near Bautzen, Germany, on May 19, 1762. He studied at the University of Jena, first theology and then philosophy. In 1791 he met Kant, whose disciple he had become. The publication of his Critique of all Revelation brought fame at once, and the appreciation of Kant, who had before treated him coldly. He held the chair of philosophy at Jena and also at Erlangen, and was appointed by the king to draw up a constitution for a new university at Berlin, of which he was elected rector, with such associates as Humboldt, De Wette, Schleiermacher and Neander. In

1813,   during   the   war   of   independence, Fichte's  wife  volunteered  her   services   as nurse in the crowded hospitals of Berlin, and, after five months of devotion to the sick, she was taken "with the fever herself.    She recovered, but her husband caught the infection,   and   died   at   Berlin,   on  Jan.   27,

1814.  Fichte's Address to the German Nation and lectures On the Nature of the Scholar, are   among   his   most   famous   as   well   as popular works. In philosophy he formed no  school,   but   his   influence   on   German philosophy   and,   through   the   writings   of Carlyle, on English thought has  been important. The  vocation of the Scholar, The Vocation   of   Man,    Characteristics   of   the Present  Age  and   The   Way to  the  Blessed Life   are   among   his   philosophical   works which  have  been  translated  into  English. See Memoir, by Dr. William Smith, prefixed to a translation of his works;  also Life by Adamson,    in    Blackwood's    Philosophical Classics.

Fidelio or Conjugal Love. Beethoven's sole opera; known also as Leonora, for which four overtures were composed. First produced at Vienna, on Nov. 20, 1805, a revised edition, approved by Beethoven,

was brought out in 1814, when the overture in E was first played. Imperfectly understood during the composer's life time, it now is regarded as one of the noblest types of musical dramatic art.

Field, Cyrus West, an American merchant and scientist, a brother of David Dudley Field, was born at Stockbridge, Massachusetts, on Nov. 30, 1819. He went to New York at fifteen, beginning life as a dry goods clerk at $50 a year. He built up a prosperous paper-manufacturing business, in which he was engaged for twelve years, leaving it in 1854 to enter upon his great work, the laying of the Atlantic cable. Devoting himself entirely to the task of "mooring the New World alongside the Old," he formed stock-companies, crossed the ocean repeatedly, and made every effort to interest the public in the scheme. The first successful cable was laid in 1858, but failed after being in operation a few weeks. He continued the struggle for twelve years, and at last, in 1866, established telegraphic communication between the two continents, which has never since been interrupted. Congress voted him a gold medal and the thanks of the nation, and John Bright called him the Columbus of modern times. He afterward helped to develop the elevated-railroad system in New York. He died at New York on July 12, 1892.

Field, David Dudley, American jurist, was born at Haddam, Conn., on Feb. 13, 1805, and died at New York, on April 13, 1894. He was educated at Williams College, and in 1828 -was admitted to the New York bar. In the forties and fifties he took active interest in civil and criminal procedure, and in 1847 was appointed commissioner on practice and pleadings. In 1857 he was employed by New York state to prepare a political, penal and civil code, which was enacted into law. In 1873 ne presented to a social science congress outlines of an international code, which was translated into several languages, and resulted in the formation of associations for the reform and codification of the laws of nations. See his collected Speeches, Arguments and Miscellaneous Papers.

Field, Eugene, American journalist, styled the Poet Laureate of the Children, was born at St. Louis, Mo., on Sept. 2, 1850. He studied at Williams College, Knox College (Galesburg, 111.,) and the State University of Missouri, after which he for a time traveled in Europe. His first newspaper work was with the St. Louis Journal in 1873. HG held positions later on papers in St. Joseph, Kansas City and Denver. In 1882 he became connected with the Chicago Morning News, afterward The Record, and here his best work was done. His poems on subjects relating to childhood gave him his widest fame. His Little Boy Blue, Wynken Blynken and Nod, Jes' fore Christmas and Seein*