Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/501

* FAMINE. 151 FAN. munitics in the early days transformed a tem- porary local failure of crops into a serious fam- ine. It is not infrequent to read that the in- habitants of one district were gorged with plenty while those of the neighboring region were Buffering from starvation. As time has pro- gressed, famines have lost in intensity. This is due principally to the more efficient means of transportation, which permit the distribution of food with greater rapidity than in earlier days. America can now come by direct exportation of food, if need be, to the relief of suffering fndia. The diversification of industry has been another factor of importance in almost abolishing famines from the more highly developed countries, in such a system of diversified industry, many in- terests are represented, and while calamity may overtake one or two of them, it is not probable that all will be stricken at the same time. It is, therefore, only the poorer agricultural countries such as Ireland and India, and Eastern countries generally, where the population often depends upon a single staple crop, that have been visited by famines in the latter part of the nineteenth century. FAMINZIN, fa-men'tsen. Andrei Sergeye- VITCH (1833—). A Russian botanist. He was born at Sokolniki, studied at the University of Saint Petersburg, and was appointed professor of botany there. His writings, many of which appeared in the publications of the Saint Peters- burg Academy, include A Study of Cotyledons in the Plant Kingdom (1876), and Studies of Crystals and Crystallite (1884). FAN. A tribe of fierce cannibals in French Equatorial Africa, differing in color and other bodily characteristics from the true negroes, well known through the explorations of Du Chaillu. They number about 300,000, and have only re- cently intruded themselves into the Gabun- Ogowfi region, pushing forward to the coast. They are coffee-colored, well built, tall and slim, and have rather thin lips, well-developed beard, and short skulls, the frontal bone protruding. Their language is said to belong to the great Bantu family. They are serious and intelligent, and to be depended upon. Their cannibalism has been greatly restricted in later years. See Keane, in Stanford's Africa (London, 1895). FAN (AS. farm, from Lat. vannus, fan, win- nowing machine; connected' with Skt. va, Gk.dfjmi aSnai, to blow, Goth, icinds, OHG. wint, Ger. Wind, AS., Eng. wind). An instrument or me- chanical contrivance for moving the air for the sake of coolness, or for winnowing chaff from grain. In the East, the use of fans is of remote antiquity. The Hebrews. Egyptians, Chinese, and the miscellaneous population of India, all used fans as far back as history reaches. At the pres- ent day, it is customary, in the better classes of houses in India, to suspend a large species of fan, known as a punkah, from the ceiling, and keep it in agitation with strings, pulled by ser- vants, in order to give a degree of coolness to the air. Among the oldest notices of winnowing fans are those in the Scriptures. There, the fan is always spoken of as an instrument for driving away chaff', or for cleansing in a metaphorical sense; and such notices remind us of the simple processes of husbandry employed by a people little advanced in the arts. As can be seen from the collection of Egyptian antiquities in the Brit- ish .Museum, the fan as an article of female taste and luxury is of quite 08 old dale a- the agricul- tural instrument. Plautus, the Latin come- dian, makes one of his characters speak of the fan as used by ladies. From this Roman usage the fashion of carrying fans could scarcely fail bo be handed down to Italy, Spain, and France, whence it was in later times im- ported by the women of Great Britain. It is proper to say, however, thai the fan was in these and also in later times not a mere article of finery. There were walking as well as dress fans. The wall, mi' or outdoor fan, which a ladj carried with her to church, or to public promenades, was of large dimensions, sufficient to screen the face from the sun. and answered the purpose of the modern parasol. In old prints, ladies are Been carrying these fans in different attitudes accord- ing to fancy. The dress fan, which formed part of a lady's equipment at Court ceremonials and fashionable entertainments, was of considerably less size than the walking fan, and altogether more elegant. In the finer kinds of these old fans, the open part of paper is painted with pretty rural scenes and groups of figures in the style of Watteau (q.v.). All were probably oi French manufacture. The more costly fan im- ported from China was altogether of ivory, highly carved and pierced; but it lacked the light nc-s and flexibility which were essential in the ordi- nary management of this article of the toilet. Strictly speaking, the fan was used less for the purposes of cooling than for giving the hands something to do, and also for symbolically ex- pressing certain passing feelings. Fans are of two kinds, those that are rigid and those that will fold. Of the former, simpler kind the modern palm-leaf fan imported from the East or West Indies is a typical example, al- though fans of many other materials are made in the same general form. The folding fan is said to have been a Japanese invention of the seventh century, and this country still supplies the Western world with a large part of its cheaper fans. The folding fan consists of two portions, the folded fabric and the rigid strips fastened to it and pivoted together at the other end so that they fold easily. Tn Japan fan-making is partly a household industry, and even the cheapest and simplest fan passes through many fingers during the course of its construction. The bamboo ribs are cut, by one set of workers, the designs for the fabric made by a second, and the printing by a third. The printed sheets and bamboo strips are now given to workmen, who first fold the sheets by putting them between two sheets of heavily oiled paper which are properly creased, and then putting them under pressure. The sheets are then spread with paste, the strips applied and then pivoted. A designer plans and directs every step of the process, deciding upon shape, design, and color- ing. Modern fans are made of an endless variety of materials, including all the finer textiles, feathers, paper, ivory, and woods. Great oppor- tunity for the display of taste and artistic ability is afforded in the design and fabrication of fans. FAN, or FANNER. In agriculture, a ma- chine employed to winnow grain. In passing through the machine, the grain is rapidly agitat- ed in a sieve, and. falling through a strong cur- rent of wind created by a rotary fan. the chaff is blown out. the cleansed grain falling out at an