Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 07.djvu/572

* FELTON. 5-20 FEMUR. a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, and a corresponding member of llie Archaeological Society of Athens. Consult Proceedings of 1he Massachusetts Historical ty (Boston, 1860). FELTON", John (c.1595-1628). The assassin of the Duke of Buckingham, the favorite of Charles I. He was descended from an old Suffolk family, and entered the army at an early age. Of a sullen and churlish disposition, he was gener- ally disliked, and his applications for promotion were disregarded. He felt that he had a special grievance against Buckingham, who had person- ally refused his petitions, and after reading the declaration of the House of Commons that the Duke was a public enemy, he stabbed him, at Portsmouth, August 23, 1628. The crime was popular with the army and navy and with the people of England generally, numerous poems and songs being written in Felton's praise. He was tried on November 27th, and hanged at Tyburn the next day. FELTRE, fel'tra (Lat. Feltria). A city in the Province of Belluno, Italy, 850 feet above the sea, near the Piave, 34 miles northwest of Venice (Map: Italy, F 1). The bishopric was united in 1819 to that of Belluno. Feltre has a beautiful cathedral, a seminary, a gymnasium, a hospital, an orphan asylum, and a municipal pawnshop, established in the fifteenth century. It is a market for silk, wine, and oil. and spins silk and bleaches wax. In 1809 Napoleon gave Marshal Clarke the title of Duke of Feltre. To Pamfilo Castaldi, as the discoverer of the art of printing, and as a native of the town, a monu- ment was erected in Feltre in 1868. Population, in 1901 (commune), 15,243. FELTRE (OF., from OHG. file, Ger. Filz, AS., Eng. felt). An ancient kind of cuirass made of wool, thickly padded, to resist the blow of a sword. FELTRE, fel'tra, Morto da. See Mohto da Feltke. FELUCCA (It., from Ar. faluka, fulk, ship. from falaka, to be round). A small, fast-sailing vessel formerly much used in the Mediterranean, and still common there as a coasting or fishing vessel. It has usually two masts, each carrying a lateen sail, and is also fitted with eight to six- teen oars. Feluccas are not ordinarily decked over, but a small shelter is sometimes built aft. FEMALE QUIXOTE, The. A satirical ro- mance by Charlotte Lennox (1752), written in ridicule of the artificial fiction of Gomberville and Scud.'ry. The heroine is Arabella, whose head is turned by reading romantic tales. Its dedication, written by Johnson, was addressed to the Earl of Middlesex. Later editions ap- peared in 1783 and 1810. FEME COVERTE, fern, or fam, kuv'ert (OF., protected woman). The common-law term for a married woman, having reference to her legal The corresponding status of an unmar- ried woman was indicated by her legal descrip- tion as a /. me sole. When the feme sole married -aid to lie under coverture, which sig- nified that her legal personality had for many purpose- beci me merged in that of her husband. III. i terms have lost their significance in those j tit i hi which married women have been invested with the full legal rights and respon- sibilities of unmarried women. The legal status of the feme coverte will be considered under the title Husband and Wife. See also Mabbiage; and Woman. FEMERN, fa'mern, or FEHMARN. An is- land in the Baltic Sea, belonging to the German Province of Schleswig-Holstein, separated from Holstein by a strait called the Femern Sound, and from Laaland on the north by Femern Belt (Map: Prussia, D 1). It has an area of 71 square miles. The surface of the island is fiat, and but sparsely wooded ; the soil is fruitful. Agriculture, stock-raising, fisheries, and the mak- ing of stockings for exportation form the princi- pal employments of the inhabitants. Femern has a population of about 10,000. The chief towns are Burg and Petersdorf. The island was trans- ferred from Denmark to Prussia in lS6(i. FEMMES SAVANTES, fam sa'vaNt', Les (Fr., The Learned Women). A comedy by Mo- Here (1072), adapted from Les Prccieuses Ridi- cules. It is a satire on feminine pedantry. FE'MUR (Lat.. thigh). The thigh-bone. In general terms, it consists of a shaft, very slightly curved, and two extremities. The upper ex- tremity bears two projections, called the greater and lesser trochanters, for the attachment of muscles, and a short nech, nearly at right angles to the shaft, terminated by a hemispherical head, which, being received into a cavity of the pelvis called the acetabulum, forms the hip-joint — a ball-and-socket joint. The lower extremity of the femur has on each side an enlargement called a condyle, or knuckle. The articular surface of the condyles is hemicylindrical, as also is the somewhat depressed space between them, called the trochela, and with the large bone ot the leg, called the tibia, forms the hip-joint — a hinge joint. The femur is attached to the pelvis by two ligaments — a capsular ligament, which incloses the head and neck, and the ligar mentum teres, a sharp ligament which joins the head with the bottom of the acetabu- lum. It is attached to the tibia by several ligaments, placed in different positions, to com- bine strength with freedom of motion, the most important of which are the lateral ligaments and the crucial ligaments. The crucial ligaments cross from one member of the joint to the other in oblique directions. Powerful extensor and llcxor muscles, besides performing their ordinary functions, aid in keeping the parts in opposition. The femur has a wide range of distribution in the animal kingdom, and is not the exclusive property of warm-blooded animals. In man it is the strongest, longest, and largest bone. In the whale it is only rudimentary. In fishes it is no! represented: but has a varying importance in mammals, birds, reptiles, and amphibians. It is a short bone in the ruminants and the' horse family.' In the tortoises the curve is consider- able, while it is almost straight in carnivora, I. a Is, etc. In many reptiles it is slightly rudi- mentary. For illustrations, see Skim ion. FEMUR, Comi'aka i m: Anmumv of. Al- though certain comparative anatomists havi tempted t<> Bnd in the metopter gium of the I'm i,i a fish a homologue of the femur, it is beyond question thai such a bone is not actually found Irlew the inure or less terrestrial amphibians. In the -hoil hgged members of that class (Uro-