Part 47

Having thus far considered the bed of the earth on which the building is to be erected, we shall next consider the substruction, as it was called by the ancients; but our modern engineers call it the _foundation_. This is the ground-work of the whole edifice, which must sustain the walls, and may be termed artificial, as the other was natural; with regard to which, the following things are most necessary to be observed: 1. That the bottom be exactly level; therefore lay a platform of good boards. 2. That the lowest ledge or row be all of stone, the broader the better, laid closely without mortar; which is a general caution for all parts of a building that are contiguous to board or timber, because lime and wood are utter enemies to one another, and, if unfit confiners any where, they are more especially so in the foundation. 3. That the breadth of the _foundation_ be at least double the breadth of the wall which is to be raised upon it: but even in this case art should give way to discretion: and the foundation may be made either broader, or narrower, according as the ground and the ponderosity of the edifice require. 4. That the _foundation_ be made to diminish as it rises, but yet so that there may be as much left on the one side as on the other; so that the middle of that above may be perpendicularly over the middle of that below, which should in like manner be observed in diminishing the walls above ground; for by this means the building will become much stronger than it would be if the diminution were made by any other way. 5. That you should never build on the ruins of an old foundation, unless you are well assured of its depth, and that its strength is sufficient to bear the building.

The stones in the _foundation_ should be laid as they naturally lay in the quarry, for they have the most strength in their natural position. This should be observed in all parts of a building, because all stones have a cleaving grain; consequently, if the horizontal position of the stones in the quarry should be placed vertically in the building, the superincumbent weight would be apt to cleave them, and so render the building ruinous.

FOUNDER, a person, who casts cannon, &c.

FOUNDERING, a disorder in horses, which may be considered under two heads, viz.

FOUNDERING _in the feet_, which is an universal rheumatism, or defluxion of humors upon the sinews of a horse’s feet; so that in the course of time the hoofs become stiff and callous, and the horse has no sense or feeling of them. This disorder is generally brought on by hard riding. Sometimes it proceeds from sudden heats and colds; and frequently from the horse being watered when he is very hot. Too tight a shoe, or frequent travelling upon hard flinty ground, will likewise produce this disorder.

FOUNDERING _in the chest_, a disorder which may be occasioned by crudities collected in the stomach, or by other infirmities which obstruct the free action of the lungs. It is discovered by the horse not being able to bend his joints, and, when once laid, by not being able to rise again. A swelling in the legs is likewise symptomatic of it.

FOUNDERY, FOUNDRY, in military matters, the art of casting all kinds of ordnance, such as cannon, mortars, howitzers, &c. It likewise signifies the place or work-house wherein these operations are performed. At present all pieces of artillery are cast solid, and bored afterwards. Formerly guns were bored perpendicularly, but at present in a horizontal position: the boring instrument is fixed immoveably, and forced into the gun or mortar by a mechanical power. The piece of artillery is turned round by a large wheel, and at the same time the gun is bored, the outside is turned and polished, by another very curious machine for that purpose, invented by the very ingenious Messrs. Verbruggen, founders at Woolwich. Guns were first founded in England in 1587.

FOURAGE, _Fr._ Forage. In the artillery, it is used figuratively to signify hay, straw, or any thing else of vegetable growth, which is used to ram into the bore of a cannon for the purpose of cleansing it.

_Aller au_ FOURAGE, to go a foraging.

FOURAGER, _Fr._ To forage, or look about for provender and provisions.

FOURAGER likewise means among the French to ravage, desolate, pillage, and waste a country for the purpose of throwing the inhabitants into disorder. The word is derived from _foras agere_, or to seek for forage in the fields.

FOURAGEUR, _Fr._ foragers, or men employed to procure forage, &c. for an army. They are generally escorted. Hence the expression: so many men have been ordered to escort the foragers. The body of foragers has been charged by the enemy’s cavalry.

FOURBISSEURS, _Fr._ a sword cutler. The French familiarly say of two persons who are extremely intimate, _Ces gens sont tête-a-tête comme des fourbisseurs_, meaning, that, like sword cutlers, (who when they work sit closely opposite to each other) they are putting their heads together.

_Se battre a l’épée qui est chez le fourbisseur_, to fight with a sword which is still in the cutler’s hands; signifying figuratively to dispute about any thing that does not concern either party.

FOURGON, _Fr._ a sort of waggon. It likewise signifies a poker.

FOURNEAU, _Fr._ furnace, also the chamber of a mine.

FOURIER, _Fr._ A quarter master belonging to a cavalry or infantry regiment. In France there were _fouriers-majors_ of cavalry who composed a part of the cavalry staff. Serjeant fourier, and corporal fourier, answer to our quarter master serjeant.

FOURNIMENT, _Fr._ A horn which holds about one pound of gun-powder to prime cannon. It is likewise used by cavalry and infantry soldiers, who hang it across their shoulder. The artillerists keep it in a belt.

FOURCHETTES _à mousquet_, _Fr._ Rests for a musquet. They are sometimes used to relieve men who do duty on the rampart of a town.

_Chemin_ FOURCHU, a cross way.

_Paix_ FOURREE, _Fr._ a peace suddenly patched up.

_Pays_ FOURRE, _Fr._ a country thick set with hedges, &c. properly called a close country.

FOURREAU _de pistolet_, a holster.

_Faux_ FOURREAU _de pistolet_, pistol bag.

FOURREAU _d’epée_ the scabbard of a sword.

FOURMILLER, _Fr._ to swarm with. _La France fourmille en braves soldats_--France swarms with brave soldiers; _L’Angleterre fourmille en braves marins_--England swarms with brave seamen.

FOUR _de campagne_. A field oven.

FOUR, a place of confinement in Paris to which vagabonds and persons who could not give any satisfactory account of themselves were committed; and when once shut up had their names enregistered, and were enlisted for the service of the old French government. A _four_ in this acceptation of the term means a room arched over without having the least aperture to receive day light. There were several such places of confinement in Paris. They owed their invention to a Monsieur D’Argenson, and were supposed to add annually two thousand men at least to the king’s regular army; by which means the capital was relieved from a multitude of thieves, pick-pockets, &c.

FOURNITURES _des vivres_, _Fr._ See STORES, &c.

FOYER, _Fr._ Focus, or centre of the chamber. See MINE.

FRAISE, in _fortification_, a kind of stakes or palisades placed horizontally on the outward slope of a rampart made of earth, to prevent the work being taken by surprise. They are generally 7 or 8 feet long, and about 5 inches thick. When an army intrenches itself, the parapets of the retrenchments are often fraised in the parts exposed to an attack.

_To_ FRAISE _a battalion_, is to line, or cover it every way with pikes, that it may withstand the shock of a body of horse.

FRAISER, _Fr._ To plait, knead or drill....In a military sense to fraise or fence; as _fraiser un battalion_, is to fraise or fence all the musquetry-men belonging to a battalion with pikes, to oppose the irruption of cavalry should it charge them in a plain. At present it means to secure a battalion by opposing bayonets obliquely forward, or cross-ways in such a manner as to render it impossible for a horseman to act against it.

FRAISES, _Fr._ See FRAISE an adopted English term.

FRANCHES, _Fr._..._Les compagnies franches_, free companies, were bodies of men detached and separated from the rest of the army, having each a chief, or commandant. They consisted chiefly of dragoons, hussars, &c. and their peculiar duty was to make irruptions into an enemy’s country; and may not improperly be called land pirates, as their chief occupation was to harrass and plunder the enemy and his adherents, in whatever manner they could, without paying any regard to military forms. The persons who composed these corps were termed partisans. They always accompanied the main army in time of war, and were distributed among the different garrison towns in France during peace. They were common to every power in Europe; the Pandours and Hulans were of this description. They were the worst afflictions of war; and generally as fatal to their _friends_ as their _enemies_.

FRAY, a battle, combat, or duel.

FRICTION, in _mechanics_, the rubbing of the parts of engines and machines against each other, by which a considerable part of their effect is destroyed.

It is hardly possible to lay down general rules for computing the quantity of friction, because it depends upon a multiplicity of circumstances, as the structure, firmness, elasticity, &c. of bodies rubbing against each other. Some authors make the friction upon a horizontal plane, equal to ¹⁄₃d of the weight to be moved; while others have found it to be considerably less. But however this be, the doctrine of friction, as ascertained by the latest experiments, may be summed up in the following manner.

1. When one body rests on another upon a horizontal plane, it presses it with its whole weight, which being equally reacted upon, and consequently the whole effect of its gravity destroyed by the plane, it will be absolutely free to move in any horizontal direction by any the least power applied thereto, provided both the touching surfaces be smooth.

2. But since we find no such thing as perfect smoothness in the surfaces of bodies, arising from their porosity and peculiar texture, it is easy to understand, that when two such surfaces come together, the prominent parts of the one will, in some measure, fall into the concave parts of the other; and therefore, when an horizontal motion is attempted in one, the fixed prominent parts of the other will give more or less resistance to the moving surface, by holding and retaining its parts; and this is what we call friction.

3. Now since any body will require a force equal to its weight, to draw it over a given obstacle, it follows that the friction arising to the moving body, will always be in proportion to its weight only, and not to the quantity of the surface, by which it bears upon the resisting plane or surface. Thus if a piece of wood 4 inches wide, and 1 thick, be laid upon another fixed piece of the same wood, it will require the same weight to draw it along, whether it be laid on its broad or narrow side.

4. For, though there be 4 times the number of touching particles on the broad side (_cetæris paribus_) yet each particle is pressed with only ¹⁄₄th of the weight, that those are on the narrow side, and since 4 times the number multiplied by one fourth of the weight, it is plain the resistance is equal in both places, and so requires the same force to overcome it.

5. The reason why friction is proportional to the weight of the moving body, is, because the power applied to move the body must raise it over the prominent parts of the surface on which it is drawn; and this motion of the body, as it is not upright, will not require a power equal to its whole weight; but being in the nature of the motion on an inclined plane, it will only require a part of its own weight, which will vary with the various degrees of smoothness and asperity.

6. It is found by experiment, that a body, may be drawn along by nearly ¹⁄₃d of its weight; and if the surfaces be hard and well polished, by less than ¹⁄₃d part; whereas, if the parts be soft or rugged, it will require a much greater weight.

The ingenious Mr. Emerson, in his Principles of Mechanics, has given the following rules deduced from experiments; but they require some variation under different circumstances, which must be left to the judgment of the artist.

1. Wood and all metals, when greased, have nearly the same friction; and the smoother they are, the less friction they have; yet metals may be so far polished as to increase friction by the cohesion of their parts.

Wood slides easier upon the ground in wet weather than in dry, and easier than iron in dry weather; but iron slides easier than wood, in wet weather. Lead makes a great deal of resistance. Iron or steel running in brass, makes the least friction of any. In wood acting against wood, grease makes the motion twice as easy, or rather ²⁄₃ds easier. Wheel-naves, greased or tarred, go 4 times easier than when wet.

Metals oiled make the friction less than when polished, and twice as little as when unpolished.

In general, the softer or rougher the bodies, the less or greater their friction.

2. As to particular cases: a cubic piece of soft wood of 8 pounds weight, moving upon a smooth plane of soft wood, at the rate of 3 feet per second; its friction is about ¹⁄₃d of the weight of it; but if it be rough, the friction is little less than one half the weight.

Upon the same supposition, other soft wood upon soft wood very smooth, the friction is bout ¹⁄₄th of the weight.

Soft wood upon hard, or hard wood upon soft, ¹⁄₅th or 1-half of the weight. Hard wood upon hard wood, ¹⁄₇th or ¹⁄₈th of the weight.

Polished steel moving upon steel or pewter, ¹⁄₄th of the weight; moving on copper or lead, ¹⁄₅th of the weight; on brass, ¹⁄₅th of the weight. Metals of the same sort have more friction than different sorts.

The friction, _cæteris paribus_, increases with the weight almost in the same proportion. The friction is also greater with a greater velocity, but not in proportion to it, except in very few cases. A greater surface also causes somewhat more friction, with the same weight and velocity; yet friction may sometimes be increased by having too little surface to move on; as upon clay, &c. where the body sinks.

3. The friction arising from the bending of ropes about machines, differs according to their stiffness, the temper of the weather, degree of flexibility, &c., but, _cæteris paribus_, the force or difficulty of bending a rope is as the square of the diameter of the rope, and its tension, directly; and the diameter of the cylinder or pulley it goes about, reciprocally.

A rope of 1 inch diameter, whose tension or weight drawing it is 5 pounds, going over a pully 3 inches diameter, requires a force of 1 pound to bend it.

4. The resistance of a plane moving through a fluid is as the square of the velocity; and putting _v_ = velocity in feet in a second; it is equal to the weight of a column of the fluid, whose base is the plane, and height

_vv_ ----. _b_4

And in a globe it is but half so much.

5. As to the mechanic powers, the single lever makes no resistance by friction; but if, by the motion of the lever in lifting the fulcrum, or place of support, be changed further from the weight, the power will be decreased thereby.

6. In any wheel of any machine, running upon an axis, the friction on the axis is as the weight upon it, the diameter of the axis, and the angular velocity. This sort of friction is but small.

7. In the pully, if _p_, _q_, be 2 weights, and _q_ the greater; and

4_pq_ _w_ = -----, _pxq_

then _w_ is the weight upon the axis of the single pulley; and it is not increased by the acceleration of the weight _q_, but remains always the same.

The friction of the pullies is very considerable, when the sheaves rub against the blocks; and by the wearing of the holes and axles.

The friction of the axis of the pulley is as the weight _w_, its angular velocity, the diameter of the axis directly, and the diameter of the pully inversely. A power of 100 pounds, with the addition of 50 pounds, will only draw up 500 with a tackle of 5; and 15 pounds over a single pully will draw up only 14 pounds.

8. In the screw, there is a great deal of friction: those with sharp threads have more friction than those with square threads; and endless screws have more than either. Screws, with a square thread, raise a weight with more ease than those with a sharp thread.

In the common screw the friction is so great, that it will sustain the weight in any position given, when the power is taken off; and therefore the friction is at least equal to the power. From whence it will follow, that in the screw, the power must be to the weight or resistance, at least as twice the perpendicular height of a thread to the circumference described by one revolution of the power; if it be able to raise the weight, or only sustain it. This friction of the screw is of great use, as it serves to keep the weight in any given position.

9. In the wedge, the friction is at least equal to the power, as it retains any position it is driven into; therefore in the wedge, the power must be to the weight at least as twice the base to the height, to overcome any resistance.

10. To find the friction of any engine, begin at the power, and consider the velocity and the weight at the first rubbing part; and estimate its quantity of friction by some of the foregoing articles; then proceed to the next rubbing part, and do the same for it, and so on through the whole.

And note that something more is to be allowed for increase of friction by every new addition to the power.

FRILL. An ornamental appendage to the shirt which officers and soldiers generally wear with regimentals. A small aperture is usually made at the top to admit the hook and eye of the uniform coat. Detached frills for the privates are certainly preferable to those which are fixed to the shirts, as three per week, at the regular times allotted for a change of linen, would answer every purpose of cleanliness.

FRISE. _Fr._ See CHEVAUX _de Frize_.

FRISRUTTER. An instrument made of iron, and used for the purpose of blocking up an haven, or a river. The following description of it is among General Monk’s observations on political and military affairs.

The beams through which the upright bars pass must be twelve feet in length, and the upright bars that go through the beam must be of that length, so that when one of these iron frisrutters is let down into an haven or river, the perpendicular bars of this iron instrument shall be deep enough to reach at high water within five feet of the surface. See CHEVAUX-DE-FRIZE.

FROCK, the undress regimental coat is very often so called.

FRONDE, _Fr._ a sling. This weapon was used in France by the Huguenots at Sancerre, as late as the year 1572, in order to save their powder. There are two sorts, one which is used in throwing a stone from the arm, and the other that was fixed to a lever, and was so contrived, that a large quantity of stones might be thrown out of a machine, either from a camp into a besieged town, or from a town into the enemy’s camp. This machine has been used since the invention of cannon.

The fronde or sling was used by the Romans on three different occasions, viz. when they sent their light-armed men, called _velites_, forward to skirmish before a general engagement; when they wished to drive the enemy from under the walls of a town which they were preparing to storm, and finally to harrass and wound the men in the enemy’s works. This weapon, in fact, together with the bow and arrow, may be numbered among the primitive arms of mankind.

FRONT, a word of command signifying, that the men are to turn to their proper front; this movement is performed at once by revolving on the left heel, without first planting the right foot, as in the facings. If the battalion has been faced to the right, the men turn on this word a quarter circle to the left; if faced to the left, they turn a quarter circle to the right, if they have been faced to the right, or left about, they turn a half circle to the right. When the battalion is marching by files, or is put through its right or left facings, as, To the Right, Face, To the Left, Face, the word _front_ is some times used to restore it to its natural situation in line. In displaying, or, to use the French term, in _deploying_, from close or open column, or in executing either of those movements from line, the word _front_ precedes _halt_.

FRONT _of a regiment_, the foremost rank of a battalion, squadron, or any other body of men. To front every way, is when the men are faced to all sides.

_Quatre hommes de front_, four men in front.

FRONT _of a fortification_. See FACE.

_Front d’un bataillon_, _Fr._ The front of a battalion, consisting of the leading man of each file. This term is variously used in the French service, as _Un battalion qui fait front de tous côtés, et presente les armes par tout_. A battalion which is fronted towards every quarter and presents arms in every direction. _Un battalion est sur son front_ signifies, that a battalion is drawn up so that it presents its natural front in line.

FRONT _give-point_, a movement of the sword used by the cavalry. See SWORD EXERCISE.

_Rear_-FRONT is the disposition of a body of men in line, or column, so that the natural formation of the battalion is changed with regard to aspect, but not to shape. Those files, which in the first telling off were leaders, become followers. It sometimes happens, that to save time a column is ordered suddenly to face about and retire; in this case the different companies march rear front. In the conversion of a regiment, and during the various manœvres, the divisions, &c. frequently appear _rear front_. They are restored to their natural order by the countermarch. Thus a battalion standing in open column, the right in front, when faced about stands rear front; when countermarched it resumes its original or natural formation, and stands left in front with its proper leading files. When a battalion retiring in line, fires by wings or alternate companies, every retrograde movement is made _rear front_.

FRONTIER, the limits, confines, or boundaries of any country. See BARRIER _Towns_.

FUEL, the matter or aliment of fire; any thing capable of ignition.

There is a certain and regulated allowance of fuel made by government, to regiments and companies.

When there is a sufficient number of rooms in a barrack to allow of one to a subaltern of infantry, a full allowance of fuel and candles may be issued for the same.

The weekly deliveries of fuel and candles for every room are not to exceed the given quantities.

FUGEL-MAN, (an incorrect method of pronouncing _flugel-man_) a well drilled intelligent soldier advanced in front of the line, to give the time in the manual and platoon exercises. The word _flugel_ is derived from the German, and signifies a wing; the man having been originally posted on the right wing.

FUGITIVE, one who runs from his post, station or duty.

_To_ FUMIGATE, in a general acceptation of the term, to medicate or heal by vapours; to correct any infected building, or limited circumference of atmosphere, by smoke, impregnated with antiputrescent particles of heat. Hospitals are strictly ordered to be attended to on this head; especially when any contagious disorder has prevailed. But in no instance ought this important precaution to be so scrupulously observed as when troops are embarked for any space of time.

FUMIGATION, the act of fumigating or conveying smoke into any confined place.