An
predicate of the minor, we have what is called the first figure. 2.When the middle term is the predicate of both the premises, thesyllogism is said to be in the second figure. If the middle termis the subject of the two premises, the syllogism is in the thirdfigure; and lastly, by making it the predicate of the major, andsubject of the minor, we obtain syllogisms in the fourth figure.Each of these figures has a determinate number of moods, in-cluding all the possible ways in which propositions differing inquantity or quality can be combined, according to anv dispositionof the middle term, in order to arrive at a just conclusion. See.Looic.
Figure, in manufactures, is applied to the various designs re-presented or wrought on velvets, damasks, taffeties, sattins, andother stutfs and cloths. The most usual figures for such designsare flower.-, imitated from the life; or grotesques, and compart-ments of pure fancy. Representations of men, beasts, birds, andlandscapes, have only been introduced since the taste for the Chi-i nese stuff,, particularly those called surees, began to prevail. Thewoof forms the figures ; the warp only serves for the ground.
Figure, in rhetoric ;fnd poetry, is a manner of speaking dif-ferent from the ordinary and plain way, and more emphatical; ex-pressing a passion, or containing a beauty’. See Ai.i.egory,Apostrophe, Comparison, Hyperbole, Metaphor, Ora-tory, Personification, Poetry , Stc.
Figure in which the Instrument is conceived to bethe Agent. When we survey a number of connected objects,that which makes the greatest figure employs chiefly our atten-tion ; ami the emotion it raises, if lively, prompts us even to ex-ceed nature in the conceptions we form of it. Examples;
For Neleus’ son Alcides’ rage had slain.
A broken neck thejorce of Pirus threw.
In these instances, the rage of Hercules and the force of Pirus,being the capita^circumstandes, are so far exalted as to be con-ceived die agents that produce the effects. In the first of the fol-lowing instances hunger being the chief circumstance in the de-scription, is itself imagined to be the patient.
Whose hunger has not tasted food these three days.
-As when the^/brcc
Of subterranean w ind transports a hill. Par. Lost.
•-As when the potent, rnd
Of Amram’s son, in Egypt ’s evil day
Wav'd round the coast, upcall’d a pitchy cloud
Of locusts. Par. Lost.
rather ambitious to set off his parts and wit, than to express hissincere concern and passion. This figure can never have anygrace, hut w here the relations are of the most intimate kind.
Figures, in theology, mysteries represented under certain typesor actions in the Old 't estament. Thus manna is held a figure ortype of the Lord’s supper; and the death of Abel, a figure of thesufferings of Christ. .See Type.
Figures, in the pagan mythology, and antiquities, signify theemblems, enigmas, fables, symbols, and hieroglyphics, of the an-cients.
FIGURED, marked with figures. The term is chiefly’ ap-plied to stuffs, whereon the figures of flowers, and the like, areeither wrought or stamped.
Figured, in music, is applied either to simple notes or to har-mony; to simple notes, as in these words figured bass, to exnressa bass whose notes carrying chords aresubdivided into many othernotes of less value; to harmony, when, bv supposition and in adiatonic procedure, other notes than those which form the chordare employed. See Music.
F1GWORT. See Schrophularia.
FILACC1ANO, a town of Italy in the patrimony of St. Pe-ter, nine miles S. of Citta Castellana.
FILACER, [ Jilazarius , low Lat. Jilvm,~] an officer in the Com-mon Pleas, so called because he files those writs whereon lie makesprocess.
EiLAGO, in botany, a genus of the poiygamia superflua or-der, and syngcne>ia class of plants ; natural order, (Jomposita;.Receptacle naked; no pappus; caly x imbricated ; female floretsplaced among the scales of the calyx. It has seven species.
FILAMENT, in anatomy and natural history, is used ill thesame sense with fibre. See Fibre.
Filaments, Vegetable, are substances of great use in thearts and manufactures; furnishing thread,cloth, cordage, &c. Forthese purposes the filamentous parts of the Cannabis and Linuni,or Hemp and Flax, are employed. See these articles, and Cot-ton . lint different vegetables have been employed in differentcountries for the same uses. Putrefaction destroys the pulpy orfleshy matter, and leaves the tough filaments entire. By curiouslyputrefying the leaf of a plant in water, we may obtain tlie fine flexilefibres, which constituted the basis of the ribs and minute veins, andwhich now form as it were a skeleton of the leaf. Alkaline lixi-via, in some degree, produce similar effects to putrefaction. Sieurde Flacourt, in his history of Madagascar , relates, that differenti kii*ls of cloth are prepared in that island from the filaments of theI bark of certain trees boiled in strong lie; that some of these clothsI are very fine, and approach to the softness of silk, but in durabi-[ lity come short of cotton : that others are coarser and stronger,
; and last thrice as long as cotton; and that of these the sails andi cordage of his ve.-sel were made. The Sieur adds, that the stalksI of nettles are used for similar purposes in France . And Sir Hans| Sloane relates in a letter to Mr. Ray, that lie has been informedI by several, that muslin and calicoes, and most of the Indian linens,
| are made of nettles. In some Swedish provinces, a strong kindt of cloth is prepared from hop stalks; ami in the “ Transactions ofj the Swedish Academy for 1750,” there is an account of an expe-! riment made on them. Of the stajks, gathered in autumn, about! as many were taken, as equalled in bulk a quantity of flax thatI would have produced a pound after preparation. 'The stalks wereput into water, and kept there covered during the winter. InMarch they were taken out, dried in a stove, and dressed as flax.'The prepared filaments weighed nearly a pound, and proved fine,solt, and white: they were spun and woven into six ells of finestrong cloth. The author, Mr. Sbisler, observes, that hop stalkstake 'much longer time to rot than flax ; and that, if not fully root-ed, the woody part will not separate, and the cloth will neitherprove white nor fine. 'The filaments of bean stalks have beenfound to furnish an excellent substitute for hemp. Hemp, flax,and all other vegetable filaments, and thread or cloth preparedfrom them, differ remarkably from wool, hair, silk, and other ani-mal productions, not only in Ihe principles into which they areresoluble by fire, but likewise in some of their more interestingproperties, particularly in their disposition to imbibe colouringmatters; sundry liquors, which give a beautiful and durable dyeto animal substances giving no stain at all to vegetables. SeeDyeing.
Figure, in which the Proi>f.rtjes of one Object areextended to ANOTHER. 'This figure is not dignified with aproper name, because it has been overlooked by writers. Giddybrink, jovial wine, daring wound, are examples of this figure.Here are adjectives that cannot be made to signify any quality ofthe substantives to which they are joined: a brink, for example,cannot be termed giddy in a sense, either proper or figurative,that can signify any of its qualities or attributes. When we ex-amine attentively the expression, we discover, that a brink istermed giddy from producing that effect in those who stand on it:in the same manner, a wound is said to he daring, not with re-spect to itself, but with respect to the boldness of the person whoinflicts it; and wine is said to he jovial, as inspiring mirth andjollity. Figures are highly serviceable to clear difficult truths, (omake a style pleasant and pathetical, and to awaken and fix at-tention. But as, in order to obtain these ends, they are to he usedwith prudence and caution, the following directions ought to heobserved, t. I.et the discourse always be founded on nature andsense, supported w ith strong reason and proof, and then add theornaments and heightenings of figures; for a man of clear under-standing w ill despise the flourish of figures without sense, andpomp of words that wants truth and substance of things. 2. Besparing in the use of figures. A passion described in a multitudeof words, and carried on to a disproportionate length, fails of theend proposed, and tires instead ot pleasing. 3. Figures must not ibe over adorned, nor affectedly laboured, and ranged into new jand scrupulous periods ; for by affectation and shew of art, the |.orator betrays and exposes himself, and it is apparent, that he is i4 !
Filaments,