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squadron, all which, being distinguished by their flags and pen-dants, are to put themselves, and, as near as may be, to keep them-selves in their customary places, viz. The admiral, with hissquadron, to sail in the van, that so he may lead the way to all therest in tiie day-time, by the sight of his flag in the main top-mast-head ; and in the night-time, by his lights or lanterns. The vice-admiral and his squadron, is to sail in the centre, or middle of the1leet. The rear-admiral, and the ships of his squadron, to bringup the rear. But sometimes other divisions are made, and thosecomposed of the lighter ships and the best sailors, are placed aswings to the van, centra, and rear. See Squadron, Admiral,Flag, See. Merchant-fleets generally take their denominationfrom the place they are hound to, as the Turkv tleet, East-Indiafleet, &c. These, in time of peace, go in fleets for their mutualaid and assistance: in tune of war, besides this security, thev like-wise procure convoys of men of war, either to escort them to theplaces whither they are bound, or only a part of the wav, to acertain place or latitude, beyond which they are judged out of das-ger of privateers, &c. See Convoy.

Klf.f.t is also a noted prison in London , where persons are com-muted for contempt of the king and his laws, particularly of hiscourts of justice: or for debt, where any person will not, or is un-able to pay his creditors. There are large rules and a warden be-longing to the tleet prison, w hich had its name from the boat orlleet of the river or ditch, on the side where it stands.

FLEMINGIANS, or FLANDIUANS, in ecclesiastical his-tory, a sect of rigid Anabaptists , who acquired this name in theJtith century, because most of them were natives of Flanders, by-wav of distinction from the Waterlandians. In consequence ofsome dissensions among the Flemingiaus relating to the treatmentof excommunicated persons, thev w ere divided iuto two sects, dis-tinguished by the appellations of Vlaiuirians, and 1-rieslanders, w hodiffered from each other in their manners and discipline.

FLEMINGS, the natives of Flanders.

FLEMING'TON, a post town of New Jersey , in llunlerdowncounty, 53 miles N. E. by N. of Philadelphia .

FLEMISH BRICKS, a neat, strong, yellow kind of bricks,brought from Flanders, and commonly used in paving yards, stables,Ac. being preferable for such purposes to the common bricks. SeeBrick.

FLEN, a town of Sweden , in the province of Sudermania ; 22miles N. N. VV. of Nyhoping.

FLENDSRURG, or FLENSBORG, a sea-port of Denmark ,on the E. coast of Sleswick, of which it is the capital. It has agood harbour, a strong citadel, and considerable trade. It lies 10miles N. of Sleswick. Lon. f 1 . 47. E. Lat. 54. 53. N.

FLESH, [mro,] in anatomy, a fibrous part of an animal body,soft and bloody, being that whereof most of the other parts arecomposed, and whereby they are connected together: or moreproperly, it is such parts of the body where the blood-vessels are sosmall, as only to retain blood enough to preserve their colour veil.Uv chemical analysis it is found that muscular flesh is composedot a great number of fibres or threads, commonly of a reddish orwhitish colour; but its appearance is too well know n to require anydescription. Hitherto it lias not been subjected to a perfectly ac-curate chemical analysis. From a variety of experiments amifacts, ascertained by Ihouvenel and Foureroy, it appears that themuscles are composed chiefly of fibrin, to which they owe theirfibrous structure and their form (see Fibrin ) ; and that theycontain also

2. Albumen

3. Gelatine

4. Extractive

5. Phosphate of soda

(i. Phosphate of ammonia

7. Phosphate of lime and carbonate of ditto.

For the discovery of the last ingredients we are indebted to Mr.Hatchett, who found that 500 parts of beef muscle left, after com-bustion, a residuum of25.fi parts, consisting chiefly of these salts.When muscles are long boiled in water, Mr. Hatchett found thattin- greater part of the phosphate of lime, as well as of the alkalinephosphates, was dissolved; tor the muscle, after this treatment,when dissolved in nitric acid, yielded scarcely auv phosphate oflime ; whereas if it was dissolved directly in nitric acid, a precipi-tate of phosphate of lime was thrown down by ammonia. Hence

it would appear, either that the phosphate of lime is united to ge-latine, or that it is rendered soluble by means of it. Tbe car-bonate of litne still remains after the action of water, and is con-verted into oxalate when the muscle is treated with nitric acid.When meat is boiled, it is obvious that the gelatine, the extractive,and a portion of the salts, will be sepurateo, while the coagulatedalbumen and fibrin will remain in a solidstaie. Hence the flavourand the nourishing nature of soups is derived from the extractiveand gelatine. When meat is roasted, on the other hand, all thesesubstances continue in it, and the taste and odour of the extractiveare greatly heightened by the action of the fire. Hence the su-perior flavour of roasted meat. In a work entitled “ MiscellaneaCuriosa,” by Mr. Jones, we find an easy method of preparingflesh-meat, without spices, and with very little salt; yet so as tokeep good, and always ready for eating, for two or three years, andin the warmest climates. He gives us this accounfcof (he MoorishElcholle, made of beef, mutton, or camel's flesh, but chiefly ofbeef; which is uniformly cut in long slices, welt salted, and sober-ed to lie twenty-four hours in the pickle. It is then removed fromthose tubs or jars, into others tilled with fresh water; and, when ithas lain a night, it is taken out, put on ropes, in the sun and air todry. When thoroughly dried and hard, it is cut into pieces of twoor three inches long, and thrown into a pan, or cauldron, which iskept ready with boiling oil and suet sufficient to cover it; thus itis boiled, till it be very clear and red on cutting it; when it isagain taken out and set to drain. After having undergone this pro-cess, it stands to cool, while jars are prepared for storing it; at thesame time pouring upon it the liquor in which it was fried ; and,as soon as it is thoroughly cold, the vessels are closely stopped.Preserved iu this manner, it will remain hard, and keep two years;indeed, the harde-t is considered as the best and most palatable,rims it is brought to table by the Moors, who sometimes fry itw i*h eggs ami garlic, sometimes stew it and squeeze on it the juiceof lemon. It is affirmed to he a very good dish, either hot or cold.Another method of preserving flesh-meat, especially veal andlamb, is practised in Germany , and consists simply iu immersingthem in skimmed milk, so as to cover the whole joint. In warmweather, the milk should be changed twice the first day, and oncein 24 hours; but, in a cool temperature, it is sufficient to renew itevery two or three days. Thus, the meat may be kept in a sweetstate for several weeks; but it ought to be washed in spring waterbefore it is dressed.—Game and beef, however, cannot be pre-served in the same manner, and therefore should be wrapped in aclean linen cloth, and buried in a box filled w ith dry sand, whereit will remain sweet for three weeks, if deposited man airy, dry, andcool chamber.

Flesh is sometimes used by botanists for the soft pulpy sub-stance of am fruit, inclosed between the outer rind or skin andthe seeds or stone; or for that part of a root, fruit, See. fit tohe eaten.

FLETCHER, Andrew, a political writer, was the son of sirRobert Fletcher, of Saltoun, in Scotland , and horn in lt)53. Hewas bred up under the care of J)r. Burnet, afterwards bishop ofSalisbury, alter which he went abroad. On his return to his owncountry, he became commissioner tor East Lothian in the Scotchparliament, in which he so strongly opposed the court measures,that he found it expedient In withdraw to Holland. In ltj?5 helanded in the west of England with the duke of Monmouth, butwas dismissed for shooting a gentleman w ho had remonstrated withhim for stealing his horse. One of Fletcher’s biographers says,that “ he was a man of breeding and nice honour, in whose con-stitution anger was extremely predominant,” and this is all the rc-lleclion he makes upon the murder. However this murder is de-nied in a M. S. memoir of the family. After this lie was engagedin the Hungarian service against the Turks. At the Revolutionhe returned to lus own country, and was a member of the conven-tion for settling the government of Scotland . He died in Loudonin 171b. His publications, which are wholly political, and filledwith the boldest extiavagances, were collected into one volume,8vo. 1732.

Fletcher. Abraham, an ingenious mathematician, was horn idLittle Broughton, m Cumberland, in 1714, and bred to his father’sbusiness, which was that of a tobacco-pipe-maker. lie learned toreail and write by his own application, alter which lie taught him*self arithmetic, mathematics, and Botany . At the age of thirty he0 ' turned