Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/354

 346 FOULD FOUNDLING HOSPITAL one of the keys of Brittany until that province was united with the crown of France. FOIJLD, Achille, a French statesman and financier, of Jewish parentage, born at Paris, Nov. 17, 1800, died at Tarbes, Oct. 5, 186V. His father was a banker of great wealth, and he enjoyed an unusually careful and elaborate education, which was completed by extensive travel in Europe and the East. He entered prominently into political life in 1842, when he was chosen to represent Tarbes in the chamber of deputies. In that body he at once took a high rank as an economist and financier, and confined himself almost entirely to this department of political action. Un- der the presidency of Louis Napoleon he was made minister of finance, and although disa- greements with the president caused him twice to retire from the office, he was each time re- appointed. On the establishment of the em- pire, Napoleon made him a senator, and short- ly afterward appointed him minister of state and of the imperial household. To him were intrusted the management and preparation of the universal exhibition of 1855, and the di- rection of the works on the new portion of the Louvre (1853-'7). On Nov. 12, 1861, he was again made minister of finance, and held office until January, 1867, when he resigned in consequence of the imperial decree of the 19th of that month, making important changes in the administration of the government. He was the author of several pamphlets on finan- cial questions. FOI'LIS, Robert, a Scottish printer, born in Glasgow, April 20, 1707, died in Edinburgh in 1776. He was a barber's apprentice, but fall- ing under the notice of Dr. Hutcheson, pro- fessor of moral philosophy at Glasgow univer- sity, was encouraged to perfect his education and become a printer and bookseller. In com- pany with his brother ANDEEW (born Nov. 23, 1712, died Sept. 18, 1775) he made journeys to England and the continent during the sum- mers in connection with his new business, and employed his winters in teaching. In 1739 he opened a shop in Glasgow, and in the following year commenced publishing. In 1743 he was appointed printer to the university, and after- ward took Andrew into partnership. Their editions were remarkable for correctness and elegance, those of the Greek and Latin classics ranking with the best of the famous Aldine series. The Foulis edition of Demetrius Pha- lereus De Elocutione (1743) is thought to be the first Greek work published in Glasgow. Among the most valuable productions of this press were: Horace (12mo, 1744), the sheets of which were hung up in the university with the offer of a reward for the discovery of any error in them ; Homer (4 vols. fol., 1756-'8) ; Thuycydides, in Greek and Latin (8 vols. 12mo, 1759) ; Herodotus, in Greek and Latin (9 vols. 12mo, 1761) ; Xenophon, in Greek and Latin (12 vols. 12mo, 1762-'7) ; Gray's poems, Pope's works, &c. The two brothers acquired in time an ample fortune, which they lost by an unsuccessful attempt to establish at Glasgow an academy of painting and sculpture. FOUNDERY. See CASTING. FOUNDLING HOSPITAL, a public institution for the reception and support of deserted chil- dren. Some of the nations of antiquity were notorious for their disregard of the promptings of humanity in the treatment of foundlings. Their wisest legislators and philosophers con- sidered infanticide justifiable under certain cir- cumstances, and Lycurgus, Solon, Plato, and Numa condemned to death all weak or deform- ed children. But infanticide was punished by the ancient Egyptians, the guilty parent being compelled to pass three days and nights with the corpse of the child fastened to his neck. The laws of the Persians and the Jews also pro- tected helpless children. In Thebes both child murder and exposure of children were forbid- den. At Athens children were commonly ex- posed in the gymnasium called Oynosarges, and in Rome at the columna lactaria, a pillar which stood in one of the public market places. The state assigned foundlings as property to those who would adopt them ; and those not thus adopted were educated at the public expense. It appears that Athens and Rome had public foundling hospitals at an early period, and the appellation of ppefoTpofelov is believed to have had reference to that in the Cynosarges of the former city, while Rome is supposed to have possessed an establishment of the same kind at the columna lactaria. But most foundlings were left at the mercy of those who found them. The exposure of children became so common, that the classic historians speak with admiration of the nations who abstained from it. Strabo praises the Egyptians for their humane laws, and ^Elian the Thebans for their restrictive regulations on the subject ; while Tacitus men- tions as a circumstance deviating from the practice of the Romans, that the old Germans and the Jews considered infanticide a crime. Endeavors to restrain the cruel practice of ex- posing children are said to have been made in the early days of Rome ; Romulus prohibited the murder of sons and of first-born daughters. But as the population increased and the public morals declined, those who had more children than they wanted exposed some of them. Or- naments and trinkets were deposited in many instances with the children, partly with a view of enticing the people to take care of them, and partly to facilitate a future identification. Imperial Rome early afforded assistance to abandoned children. Augustus offered 2,000 sesterces to citizens who would take charge of orphans. Livia and Faustina adopted a number of deserted girls. Trajan gave ali- mentary pensions, and had the foundlings cared for under the name of children of the state. The first - Christian emperors did not venture to punish the exposure of children, but Con- stantine inflicted the penalties of parricide upon fathers guilty of taking the life of their children,