FAB
F A C
F.
F.
in the Italian mufic, is often ufed inftead of forte. See Forte.
FF, in the Italian mufic, ftands tot forte forte, and intimates to play very ftrong and loud. Brofs. Di6t. Muf, in voc.
FAB A, bean, in botany. See Bean.
Faba purgatrtXj in the Materia Med ica, the fruit of a fpecies of Ricimis. See Ricinus.
FABACIUM, a word ufed by the antients to exprefs a fort of food then in ufe, which was a kind of cake made of bean meal.
FABAGO, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which, are thefe. The flower is of the roface- ous kind, confifting of feveral leaves, difpofed in a circular form. The pifr.il! arifes from the cup, and finally becomes a feed veflel of the fhape of a cylinder, with ridges marking ir into a fort of pentangular form. It is quinquecapfukr, it fplits open in five places when ripe, and ufually contains flattifh feeds, To thefe marks, it is to be added, that the leaves ftand in pairs on the ftalks.
We know only one fpecies of this genus; called by different authors, Fabago, Copparis fabaginea, and Copparis portu- laces folio, and in Englifh Bean-capers. Tourri. Inft. p. 258.
FABALIS lapis, in natural hiftory, a ftone mentioned by many antient authors of repute, as found in the river Nile ; of the fhape of a common bean, and of a black colour. They fay it had the virtue of curing daemoniacs, and that dogs dare not bark, if it was laid before them. Thefe and many other like virtues, are attributed to this ftone, to the great difgrace of the fober authors who relate them. The ftone feems to have been of thofe extraneous foflils, which Dr. Hill has called Ich- thyperia, from their having been formerly parts of the boney palates of fifties which feed on the fhell-fifh kinds; and other authors filiquaftra, from their refembling the pod of the lu- pine or bean.
FABARIA, in botany, a name given by fome authors to the telephinurn, or orpine ; and by which it is in fome places call'd in the fhops. Rupp. fl. Jan. p. 103.
Fa.bari.ze calenda, among the Romans, the calends of June, fo called becaufe the beans being then firft ripe, fome of them were offered to the goddefs Carna, the wife of Janus. Hofm. Lex. in voc.
FABATARIUM, among the antients, fignifies, according to fome, a large veflel, in which beans were kept. Others will have it to have been a kind of difti or plate into which bean- pulfe was put and offered to the houfehold gods. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.
FABER, in ichthyography, the name of a fifh, commonly known in England by the name of the doree, and called by fome authors gallus marinas and pefee di fanto pietro. It is a fliort and very broad and flat fifh, being every where of the fame thicknefs, and fomething approaching to the plaife in fi- gure, but fwiming upright. Its head is large and very much flatted, its mouth extremely wide, and its eyes large. Its fides are of an olive colour, beautifully variegated with a bluifh white; and in the middle of each fide, there is one large black fpot of the fize of a filver two-pence. It has two fins on the back, the anterior is the higher, and has ten rigid fpines, ac- companied with fofter and very large rays, which bend into the form of a reaper's fickle. The tail ends in a circular fi- gure. At the root of the hinder fin, there is on each fide a row of fmall hooked fpines, bending obliquely, and furniftied with other fmaller and finer fpines on their fides ; and the belly fin which is fituated behind the anus, has a like feries of fpines on each fide. From the gills to the belly fins there are alfo two mufcular rows, and in the middle of thefe, there are two larger and fharper thorns. The hinder part of the head alfo terminates in two fpines, and lower down at the membranes of the gills, there are alfo on each fide two more fpines, the one fliort and ere£f, and the other larger and procumbent. Its ufual fize is from fix to ten inches in length, and it is commonly nearly half as broad as long. See Tab. of Fifties, N° 50. Ray's Ichthyograph. p. 294.
The flefh of the faber is well tafted, and by many preferred to that of the turbot. It is caught in the Mediterranean and other feas, and is not uncommon on the Cornwall coaft, and other of the Englifh fhores.
The two fpots on the fides of this fifti have given foundation to feveral ftories, the principal of which are, that St. Chrif- topher when he carried our Saviour acrofs the water, caught hold of one of thefe fifh in his hand, as he went thro', and left the marks of his fingers on all the race of it. And that St. Peter liczing upon this fifh at the command of our Saviour to get the money for the tribute penny, left on it an eternal memorial of that memorable incident, hence people have called it the Chriftopher-fifh and the St. Peter's fifh. Faber Indicia, the Indian doree, a fifh caught in many parts of Sup pl. Vol. I.
the Eaft Indies, and called by the Dutch there, the meer haen, the fame with the Abacatuaia of Margrave, caught in the Brafllian feas. Ray's Ichthyoe. Append. 2. See Abaca- FACE (Cycl.) — Face, in the military language, a word of command; thus, face to the right, is to turn upon the left heel, a quarter round to the right. Face to the left, is to turn upon the right heel a quarter round to the left. Face of a gun, in the artillery, the furface of the metal at the
extremity of the muzzle of a piece. Face of a plant, a word ufed by Tournefort and many other botanifts to convey an idea of that general appearance of plants, which fhews a famenefs in thofe of the fame genus, and a diverfity from other genus's, though not eafily charadered in words, yet very obvious to an eye accuftomed to thefe re- fearches. Thus all the fpecies of wormwood have the fame general face, by which they may be taken to be fpecies of the fame genus, and fo of many more ; nay in fome cafes, whole genera and even claries, have the fame kind of fami- ly face, as it may be called, by which they may be known : as the umbelliferous plants, except the perfoliate, and a few other inftances.
It has been attempted by many to make this general face an indicatory note of the virtues of the plant which wears it, and there would certainly be this great advantage in it, if it could be brought to any degree of certainty, that the moft: obvious of all diftindlions, would be applied to the moft va- luable office : but tho' an abfolute certainty cannot be ar- rived at in an attempt of this kind, yet allowing for the pof- fibility of a few exceptions, general conjectures may be made on the following rules, which will rarely fail. The umbelli- ferous plants before mentioned, make a very large clafs, and it is their general and obvious character to have their feveral flower branches arife from one center, and expand into an umbrella, every one having a tuft of flowers at the end ; thefe flowers confift of five leaves, and the feeds are naked and double, and the leaves of the plants are generally deeply di- vided, as in parfly, carrots and the like. This is a general face of a plant not eafy to be miftaken, and all the plants which have this face are endowed with the vir- tues of carminative medicines. They expel wind and are good in the colic and other the like difeafes. The feeds of moft of thefe are ufed, and of fome the roots. The feeds of anife, caraway, cummin, and the like, are all feeds of umbelliferous plants, and the root of angelica is another inftance of their ef- ficacy. But as an exception to this general rule, the hemlock and hemlock dropwort may be produced, which are poifons. The verticil/ate plants are another clafs, which are eafily known by their general face; their flowers Handing in ringlets round the ftalks, and being labiatcd or of fome fuch form. The leaves alfo in moft of thefe plants ftand in pairs and they have generally an aromatick fmell. As the virtues of the umbellifene lie in the roots and feeds, fo do thefe in the husks of the flowers. It has been a common opinion, that the flowers of thefe plants contained their virtues, but this is erroneous. The flowers of fage are almoft infipid, but the husks tafte very ftrongly. Thefe plants in general are pof- fefled of the fame virtues, and are all of a middle degree be- tween the carminatives before mentioned and the fpices. They are properly aromaticks, and are all good in nervous difeafes, as epilepfies, palfies and the like; one of them which is called mother of thyme, is alone a remedy for the night- mare, a troublefome difeafe, that often baffles other medi- cines ; and the flowers of rofemary, lavender, fage and the like, may ftand as inftances of the virtues of this clafs; and mint, pennyroyal, hyflbp, &c. in their leaves are of great virtue, and a pleafimt flavour.
The filiquofe plants have alfo a fame general face. 7'heir flow- ers are compofed of four leaves, and their keds contained in long pods, or in fhort and thick filicuke. In thefe plants the feeds are found to contain the principal virtue in fome, and in others the leaves : fome have alfo virtue in their roots, but the flowers of all are negle&ed. Muftard, crefles and the like, have their virtue in the feeds, and fcurvy-grafs in its leaves, horferadifh in the roots, yet all have the fame genera] virtue, they are hot like the two laft tribes, but they exert their power in a very different manner: it confifting in a diuretick volatile fait, and they are all good in the icurvy, dropfy, jaundice, &c. and have been ufed in thefe cafes at all times. Phiiof. Tranf. N°. 255. p. 200. External Face, Fades externa, was ufed by Tournefort and other botanifts, to expreis the general external appearance of a plant; and by the Ichthyologifts to exprefs a general form or figure in certain fillies, by means of which, they agree with fome and dilagree with others ; and according to which like- 11 A nefs,
