Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/550

* FEATHER. 498 FEBRIFUGE. For upholstery purposes feathers are eonsid- ! valuable because of their lightness and elas- ticity. The best combination is that of goose and aquatic feathers. The feathers are plucked in the springtime from the living bird, as these are cleaner and more wholesome than those plucked from dead birds. The feathers of the er-duck would be the best of all, except for their property of matting. They arc therefore more desirable for quilts than for mattresses. When chicken-feathers are used in combination with those of swans, ducks, and geese, the feathery portion is plucked from the quill in order to insure a uniform softness. The feathers are pre- pared by being subjected to a powerful drying process in a heated compartment. They are then shaken thoroughly. Otherwise they would be likely to breed disease and vermin. Even care- fully prepared, they are no longer regarded as the most hygienic mattresses, and the use of hair has become quite general in their stead. Germany, Russia, and France are the chief coun- tries engaged in feather-raising. FEATHERBACK (so called from the form of the dorsal fin). One of a family (Xotopte- ridie) of isospondylous fishes of West Africa and the Orient, which form a transition between the least specialized bony fishes and the ganoids. Outwardly they are characterized by their lozenge-like outline, the tail tapering to a point, and the caudal fin being continuous with the long anal. Both the body and head are covered with small scales, the base of tin- skull is double, the opercular bones are incomplete, and there is no adipose fin. "The air-bladder is divided in- ternally into several compartments, and termi- nates at each end in a pair of narrow prolonga- tions, of which the anterior ones are in com- munication with the organ of hearing. A further peculiarity is that the spawn falls into the cavity of the abdomen previous to its exclusion." Three species arc known, inhabiting brackish estuaries and lagoons in India and Borneo, and two spe- cies in West Africa ; none exceeds two feet in length, FEATHER-GRASS (Stipa). A genus of grasses. The species, mostly natives of warm temperate climates, have a peculiarly graceful appearance which is due to the great length of the awns. In some of them the awn is beauti- fully feathered. This is the ease in the well- known species, the common feather-grass I Stipa petmata), found on dry hills in the middle and south of Europe. It is a perennial, easy of culti- vation, and a favorite ornament in gardens. When gathered before the seeds are ripe, its feathery awns remain attached, so thai tufts of feather-grass retain their beauty throughout the winter, and form oi f the most pleasing and familiar decorations of rooms. A variety, Stipa pt ii mi I ii i i) Mr.rirniiii, is indigenous to the I 'nited States. The esparto (q.v I grass [Stipa tenon sima) of Spain is nearly allied to the common feal her-grass. FEATHER-STAR, or Antedon. Sec <ki NOIDEA. FEATH'ERSTONE. A coal-mining town in the West Riding of Yorkshire, England, two ni Pontefraet | Map : England, E :i i. Il W: lie of a riot in ls«i:i. which occa sioned a royal commission of inquiry owing to the killing of two miners, and the wounding of others, by the military. Population, in 1891, 7500; in 1901, 12,100. FEATHERSTONE, Peteb. A miser in George Eliot's Middlemarch. He spends his last years in exciting and baffling the hopes of fortune- seeking relatives. FEATHERSTONHATJGH, feTti'er-ston ha, George William (1780-1866). An English au- thor, geographer, and traveler in America. He spent the early part of his life in travel in the western part of the United States, and in the Canadian Northwest. In 1834-35 he was em- ployed by the War Department in making geolog- ical surveys in the region now included in Wis- consin, Iowa, and Minnesota. In 1842 he was appointed a commissioner to act for the Brit- ish Government with Lord Ashburton in draw- ing up the Webster-Ashburton treaty, and to determine the boundary between the United States and Canada under the treaty. For these services he was appointed to the consular service, serving as British consul for the departments of Calvados and Seine, France, where he died. His numerous publications include: a translation of The Republic of Cicero (1828); Geological Re- port of the Elevated Country Between the Mis- souri and Red It iters (1834); The Geology of Green Bay and Wisconsin (1836) ; Observations mi the Ashburton Treaty (1842); Excursion Through the Slave States ( 1844) ; Canoe Voyage to the Minnesota (1847). FEATHERWING. See Plume-AIoth. FEB'IGER, John Cabson (1821-98). An American naval officer, born in Pittsburg, Pa. He entered the navy September 14, 1838, and served successively on the Macedonian, the Co-ii- cord, the Chippola, the Potomac, the Dale, the Columbus, and the Qermantoum, and saw much hard work in South American and African waters. Commissioned a commander August 11, 1862, he successively commanded the Kanawha, of the West Gulf blockading squadron (1862 63 ), which was conspicuous in the engagement in Mobile Bay, April 2, 1S62; the Osage, Neosha, and Lafayette, of the Mississippi squadron; and the Mattabeset of the North Atlantic blockading squadron, which participated in the spirited en- gagement with the ram Albemarle in Albemarle Sound, N. C, in May, 1864. From 1860 to 1868 he commanded the Ashuelot, of the Asiatic squadron. He was made a commodore in 1874, and from 1876 to 1880 was commandant of the Washington Navy Yard. On February 4, 1882, he was promoted to the rank of rear-admiral, and was retired in the following July. FEBRIC'ULA ( l.at.. slight fever), or EPHEM- EBA, Simple, continued fever — a fever of short duration and mild character. It is distinguished by a flushed face, coated tongue, quick pulse, rise of temperature, constipation, and headache, all of which pass away in a day or two, after the use of a mild purge, warm bath, abstinenci from all food except milk or peptonoids, and rest in bed. It is generally followed by profuse sweating, and sometimes by an eruption. Dur- ing epidemics of typhoid fever it is common. It i ii.it well understood. See Feveb. FEB'RIFTJGE (from l.at. febrifugia, cen- taury, a plant supposed to cure fever, from febris, fever I fugare, to put to flight, from fugere, t<> Hivi. A medicine calculated to remove or cut jhori a fever (q.v.), The term was much nsed