[1] See Buxtorf, s.v. _Abh_, and cf. the title of the tract _Pirke
Aboth_ (ed. Taylor, p. 3).
[2] _Polyc. Mart_. 8.
[3] _Studia biblica_, iv. p. 273.
[4] In his book _De viris illustribus_.
[5] The term _patres apostolici_ is due to the patristic scholars of
the 17th century: see Lightfoot, _St Clement of Rome_, i. p. 3.
"Sub-apostolic" is perhaps a more accurate designation.
[6] The _editio princeps_ of Niceta's works was published by Dr A.E.
Burn in 1905.
[7] The Greek patrology contains, however, besides the text, a Latin
translation, and in both patrologies there is much editorial matter.
[8] Sess. iv.
[9] E.G. Mohler, _Symbolism_ (E. tr.) S 42.
[10] See J.J. Blunt, _Right Use of the Fathers_, p. 15 ff.
[11] See Stanton, _Place of Authority in Religion_, p. 165 f.
[12] _Corpus scriptorum ecclesiasticorum Latinorum_.
[13] _Griechischen christlichen Schriftstellern der ersten drei
Jahrhunderte_.
FATHOM (a word common, in various forms, to Scandinavian and Teutonic
languages; cf. Danish _favn_, Dutch _vaam_ and Ger. _Faden_, and meaning
"the arms extended"; the ultimate origin is a root _pet_, seen in the
Gr. [Greek: petannunai], to spread), a measure of length, being the
distance from the tip of one middle finger to the tip of the other, when
the arms are stretched out to their widest extent. This length has been
standardized to a measure of 6 ft., and as such is used mainly in
soundings as a unit for measuring the depth of the sea. "Fathom" is also
used in the measurement of timber, when it is equivalent to 6 ft. sq.;
similarly, in mining, a fathom is a portion of ground running the whole
thickness of the vein of ore, and is 6 ft. in breadth and thickness. The
verb "to fathom," i.e. to sound or measure with a fathom-line, is used
figuratively, meaning to go into a subject deeply, to penetrate, or to
explore thoroughly.
FATIMITES, or FATIMIDES, the name of a dynasty called after Fatima,
daughter of the prophet Mahomet, from whom and her husband the caliph
Ali, son of Abu Talib, they claimed descent. The dynasty is also called
'Obaidi (Ubaidi) after 'Obaidallah, the first sovereign, and 'Alawi, a
title which it shares with other dynasties claiming the same ancestry.
For a list of sovereigns see EGYPT, section _History_ (Mahommedan
period); three, however, must be prefixed who reigned in north-western
Africa before the annexation of Egypt: al-Mahdi 'Obaidallah 297 (909);
al-Qa'im Mahommed 322 (934); al-Mansur Isma'il 334 (945).
The dynasty owed its rise to the attachment to the family of the prophet
which was widespread in the Moslem world, and the belief that the
sovereignty was the right of one of its members. Owing, however, to the
absence of the principle of primogeniture there was difference of
opinion as to the person whose claim should be enforced, and a number of
sects arose maintaining the rights of different branches of the family.
The Fatimites were supported by those who regarded the sovereignty as
vested in Isma'il, son of Ja'far al-Sadiq, great-great-grandson of Ali,
through his second son Hosain (Husain). Of this Isma'il the first
Fatimite caliph was supposed to be the great-grandson. The line of
ancestors between him and Isma'il is, however, variously given, even his
father's name being quite uncertain, and in some of the pedigrees even
Isma'il does not figure. Apparently when the family first became of
political importance their Alid descent was not disputed at Bagdad, and
the poet al-Sharif al-Radi (d. A.H. 406: A.D. 1015), in whose family the
office of Naqib (registrar of the Alids) was hereditary, appears to have
acknowledged it (_Diwan_, ed. Beirut, p. 972). When their success became
a menace to the caliphs of Bagdad, genealogists were employed to
demonstrate the falsity of the claim, and a considerable literature,
both official and unofficial, rose in consequence. The founder of the
dynasty was made out to be a scion of a family of heretics from whom the
terrible Carmathian sect had originated: later on (perhaps owing to the
role played by Jacob, son of Killis, in bringing the Fatimites to
Egypt), the founder was made out to have been a Jew, either as having
been adopted by the heretic supposed to be his father, or as having been
made to personate the real 'Obaidallah, who had been killed in
captivity. While the stories that make him of either Jewish or
Carmathian origin may be neglected, as the product of malice, the
uncertainty of the genealogies offered by their partisans renders any
positive solution of the problem impossible. What seems to be clear is
that secretly within the Abbasid empire propaganda was carried on in
favour of one or other Alid aspirant, and the danger which any such
aspirant incurred by coming forward openly led to his whereabouts being
concealed except from a very few adherents. What is known then is that
towards the end of the 3rd Islamic century the leader of the sect of
Isma'i-lites (Assassins, q.v.) who afterwards mounted a throne, lived at
Salamia, near Emesa (Homs), having agents spread over Arabia, Persia and
Syria, and frequently receiving visits from pious adherents, who had
been on pilgrimage to the grave of Hosain (Husain). Such visitors
received directions and orders such as are usual in secret societies.
One of these agents, Abu Abdallah al-Hosain called al-Shi'i, said to
have filled the office of censor (_muhtasib_) at Basra, received orders
to carry on a mission in Arabia, and at Mecca is said to have made the
acquaintance of some members of the Berber tribe Kutama, south of the
bay of Bougie. These persons persuaded him to travel home with them in
the character of teacher of the Koran, but according to some authorities
the ground had already been prepared there for a political mission. He
arrived in the Kutama country in June 893, and appears very soon to have
been made chief, thereby exciting the suspicion of the Aghlabite ruler
of Kairawan, Ibrahim b. Ahmad, which, however, was soon allayed. His
success provoked a civil war among the Berbers, but he was protected by
a chief named Hasan b. Harun, and displayed sufficient military ability
to win respect. Nine years after his arrival he made use of the unrest
following on the death of the Aghlabite Ibrahim to attack the town of
Mila, which he took by treachery, and turned into his capital; the son
and successor of Ibrahim, Abu'l-'Abbas 'Abdallah, sent his son al-Ahwal
to deal with the new power, and he defeated al-Shi'i in some battles,
but in 903 al-Ahwal was recalled by his brother Ziyadatallah, who had
usurped the throne, and put to death.
At some time after his first successes al-Shi'i sent a messenger
(apparently his brother) to the head of his sect at Salamia, bidding him
come to the Kutama country, and place himself at the head of affairs,
since al-Shi'i's followers had been taught to pay homage to a Mahdi who
would at some time be shown them. It is said that 'Obaidallah, who now
held this post, was known to the court at Bagdad, and that on the news
of his departure orders were sent to the governor of Egypt to arrest
him; but by skilful simulation 'Obaidallah succeeded in escaping this
danger, and with his escort reached Tripoli safely. Instructions had by
this time reached the Aghlabite Ziyadatallah to be on the watch for the
Mahdi, who was finally arrested at Sijilmasa (Tafilalt) in the year A.H.
292 (A.D. 905); his companion, al-Shi'i's brother, had been arrested at
an earlier point, and the Mahdi's journey to the south-west must have
been to elude pursuit.
The invitation to the Mahdi turned out to have been premature; for
Ziyadatallah had sent a powerful army to oppose al-Shi'i, which, making
Constantine its headquarters, had driven al-Shi'i into the mountains:
after six months al-Shi'i secured an opportunity for attacking it, and
won a complete victory. Early in 906 another army was sent to deal with
al-Shi'i, and an earnest appeal came from the caliph Muqtafi (Moktafi),
addressed to all the Moslems of Africa, to aid Ziyadatallah against the
usurper. The operations of the Aghlabite prince were unproductive of any
decided result, and by September 906 al-Shi'i had got possession of the
important fortress Tubna and some others. Further forces were
immediately sent to the front by Ziyadatallah, but these were defeated
by al-Shi'i and his officers, to whom other towns capitulated, till
Ziyadatallah found it prudent to retire from Al-Urbus or Laribus, which
had been his headquarters, and entrench himself in Raqqada, one of the
two capitals of his kingdom, Kairawan being the other. Ziyadatallah is
charged by the chroniclers with dissoluteness and levity, and even
cowardice: after his retreat the fortresses and towns in what now
constitute the department of Constantine and in Tunisia fell fast into
al-Shi'i's hands, and he was soon able to threaten Raqqada itself.
By March 909 Raqqada had become untenable, and Ziyadatallah resolved to
flee from his kingdom; taking with him his chief possessions, he made
for Egypt, and thence to 'Irak: his final fate is uncertain. The cities
Raqqada and Kairawan were immediately occupied by Al-Shi'i, who
proceeded to send governors to the other places of importance in what
had been the Aghlabite kingdom, and to strike new coins, which, however,
bore no sovereign's name. Orders were given that the Shi'ite
peculiarities should be introduced into public worship.
In May 909 al-Shi'i led a tremendous army westwards to the kingdom of
Tahert, where he put an end to the Rustamite dynasty, and appointed a
governor of his own: he thence proceeded to Sijilmasa where 'Obaidallah
lay imprisoned, with the intention of releasing him and placing him on
the throne. After a brief attempt at resistance, the governor fled, and
al-Shi'i entered the city, released 'Obaidallah and presented him to the
army as the long-promised Imam. The day is given as the 26th of August
909. 'Obaidallah had been in prison more than three years. Whether his
identity with the Mahdi for whom al-Shi'i had been fighting was known to
the governor of Sijilmasa is uncertain. If it was, the governor and his
master the Aghlabite sovereign might have been expected to make use of
their knowledge and outwit al-Shi'i by putting his Mahdi to death.
Opponents of the Fatimites assert that this was actually done, and that
the Mahdi presented to the army was not the real 'Obaidallah, but (as
usual) a Jewish captive, who had been suborned to play the role.
The chief command was now assumed by 'Obaidallah, who took the title
"al-Mahdi, Commander of the Faithful," thereby claiming the headship of
the whole Moslem world: Raqqada was at the first made the seat of the
court, and the Shi'ite doctrines were enforced on the inhabitants, not
without encountering some opposition. Revolts which arose in different
parts of the Aghlabite kingdom were, however, speedily quelled.
The course followed by 'Obaidallah in governing independently of
al-Shi'i soon led to dissatisfaction on the part of the latter, who,
urged on it is said by his brother, decided to dethrone their Mahdi, and
on the occasion of an expedition to Tenes, which al-Shi'i- commanded,
organized a conspiracy with that end. The conspiracy was betrayed to
'Obaidallah, who took steps to defeat it, and on the last day of July
911 contrived to assassinate both al-Shi'i and his brother. Thus the
procedure which had characterized the accession of the 'Abbasid dynasty
was repeated. It has been conjectured that these assassinations lost the
Fatimites the support of the organization that continued to exist in the
East, whence the Carmathians figure as an independent and even hostile
community, though they appear to have been amenable to the influence of
the African caliph.
'Obaidallah had now to face the dissatisfaction of the tribes whose
allegiance al-Shi'i had won, especially the Kutama, Zenata and Lawata:
the uprising of the first assumed formidable proportions, and they even
elected a Mahdi of their own, one Kadu b. Mu'arik al-Mawati, who
promulgated a new revelation for their guidance. They were finally
defeated by 'Obaidallah's son Abu'l-Qasim Mahommed, who took
Constantine, and succeeded in capturing the new Mahdi, whom he brought
to Raqqada. Other opponents were got rid of by 'Obaidallah by ruthless
executions. By the middle of the year 913 by his own and his son's
efforts he had brought his kingdom into order. After the style of most
founders of dynasties he then selected a site for a new capital, to be
called after his title Mahdia (q.v.), on a peninsula called Hamma (Cape
Africa) S.S.E. of Kairawan. Eight years were spent in fortifying this
place, which in 921 was made the capital of the empire.
After defeating internal enemies 'Obaidallah turned his attention to the
remaining 'Abbasid possessions in Africa, and his general Habasah b.
Yusuf in the year 913 advanced along the northern coast, taking various
places, including the important town of Barca, his progress, it is said,
being marked by great cruelty. He then advanced towards Egypt, and
towards the end of July 914, being reinforced by Abu'l-Qasim, afterwards
al-Qa'im, entered Alexandria. The danger led to measures of unusual
energy being taken by the Bagdad caliph Moqtadir, an army being sent to
Egypt under Mu'nis, and a special post being organized between that
country and Bagdad to convey messages uninterruptedly. The Fatimite
forces were defeated, partly owing to the insubordination of the general
Habasah, in the winter of 914, and returned to Barca and Kairawan with
great loss.
A second expedition was undertaken against Egypt in the year 919, and on
the 10th of July Alexandria was entered by Abu'l-Qasim, who then
advanced southward, seizing the Fayum and Ushmunain (Eshmunain). He was
presently reinforced by a fleet, which, however, was defeated at Rosetta
in March of the year 920 by a fleet despatched from Tarsus by the
'Abbasid caliph Moqtadir, most of the vessels being burned. Through the
energetic measures of the caliph, who sent repeated reinforcements to
Fostat, Abu'l-Qasim was compelled in the spring of 921 to evacuate the
places which he had seized, and return to the west with the remains of
his army, which had suffered much from plague as well as defeat on the
field. On his return he found that the court had migrated from Raqqada
to the new capital Mahdia (q.v.). Meanwhile other expeditions had been
despatched by 'Obaidallah towards the west, and Nekor (Nakur) and Fez
had been forced to acknowledge his sovereignty.
The remaining years of 'Obaidallah's reign were largely spent in dealing
with uprisings in various parts of his dominions, the success of which
at times reduced the territory in which he was recognized to a small
area.
'Obaidallah died on the 4th of March 933, and was succeeded by
Abu'l-Qasim, who took the title al-Qa'im biamr allah. He immediately
after his accession occupied himself with the reconquest of Fez and
Nekor, which had revolted during the last years of the former caliph. He
also despatched a fleet under Ya'qub b. Ishaq, which ravaged the coast
of France, took Genoa, and plundered the coast of Calabria before
returning to Africa. A third attempt made by him to take Egypt resulted
in a disastrous defeat at Dhat al-Human, after which the remains of the
expedition retreated in disorder to Barca.
The later years of the reign of Qa'im were troubled by the uprising of
Abu Yazid Makhlad al-Zenati, a leader who during the former reign had
acquired a following among the tribes inhabiting the Jebel Aures,
including adherents of the 'Ibadi sect. After having fled for a time to
Mecca, this person returned in 937 to Tauzar (Touzer), the original seat
of his operations, and was imprisoned by Qa'im's order. His sons, aided
by the powerful tribe Zenata, succeeded in forcing the prison, and
releasing their father, who continued to organize a conspiracy on a vast
scale, and by the end of 943 was strong enough to take the field against
the Fatimite sovereign, whom he drove out of Kairawan. Abu Yazid
proclaimed himself a champion of Sunni doctrine against the Shi'is, and
ordered the legal system of Malik to be restored in place of that
introduced by the Fatimites. Apparently the doctrines of the latter has
as yet won little popularity, and Abu Yazid won an enormous following,
except among the Kutama, who remained faithful to Qa'im. On the last day
of October 944, an engagement was fought between Kairawan and Mahdia at
a place called al-Akhawan, which resulted in the rout of Qa'im's forces,
and the caliph's being shortly after shut up in his capital, the suburbs
of which he defended by a trench. Abu Yazid's forces were ill-suited to
maintain a protracted siege, and since, owing to the former caliph's
forethought, the capital was in a condition to hold out for a long time,
many of them deserted and the besiegers gained no permanent advantage.
After the siege had lasted some ten months Abu Yazid was compelled to
raise it (September 945); the struggle, however, did not end with that
event, and for a time the caliph and Abu Yazid continued to fight with
varying fortune, while anarchy prevailed over most of the caliph's
dominions. On the 13th of January 946, Abu Yazid shut up Qa'im's forces
in Susa which he began to besiege, and attempted to take by storm.
On the 18th of May 945, while Abu Yazid was besieging Susa, the caliph
al-Qa'im died at Mahdia, and was succeeded by his son Isma'il, who took
the title Mansur. He almost immediately relieved Susa by sending a
fleet, which joining with the garrison inflicted a severe defeat on Abu
Yazid, who had to evacuate Kairawan also; but though the cities were
mainly in the hands of Fatimite prefects, Abu Yazid was able to maintain
the field for more than two years longer, while his followers were
steadily decreasing in numbers, and he was repeatedly driven into
fastnesses of the Sahara. In August 947 his last stronghold was taken,
and he died of wounds received in defending it. His sons carried on some
desultory warfare against Mansur after their father's death. A town
called Man[s.]ura or Sabra was built adjoining Kairawan to celebrate the
decisive victory over Abu Yazid, which, however, did not long preserve
its name. The exhausted condition of north-west Africa due to the
protracted civil war required some years of peace for recuperation, and
further exploits are not recorded for Mansur, who died on the 19th of
March 952.
His son, Abu Tamim Ma'add, was twenty-two years of age at the time, and
succeeded his father with the title Mo'izz lidin allah. His authority
was acknowledged over the greater part of the region now constituting
Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia, as well as Sicily, and he appears to have
had serious thoughts of endeavouring to annex Spain. At an early period
in his reign he made Jauhar, who had been secretary under the former
caliph, commander of the forces, and the services rendered by this
person to the dynasty made him count as its second founder after
al-Shi'i. In the years 958 and 959 he was sent westwards to reduce Fez
and other places where the authority of the Fatimite caliph had been
repudiated, and after a successful expedition advanced as far as the
Atlantic. As early as 966 the plan of attempting a fresh invasion of
Egypt was conceived, and preparations made for its execution; but it was
delayed, it is said at the request of the caliph's mother, who wished to
make a pilgrimage to Mecca first; and her honourable treatment by Kafur
when she passed through Egypt induced the caliph to postpone the
invasion till that sovereign's death.
In August 972 Mo'izz resolved to follow Jauhar's pressing invitation to
enter his new capital Cairo. With his arrival there the centre of the
Fatimite power was transferred from Mahdia and Kairawan to Egypt, and
their original dominion became a province called al-Maghrib, which
immediately fell into the hands of a hereditary dynasty, the Zeirids,
acknowledging Fatimite suzerainty. The first sovereign was Bulukkin,
also called Abu'l-Futuh Yusuf, appointed by Mo'izz as his viceroy on the
occasion of his departure for Egypt: separate prefects were appointed
for Sicily and Tripoli; and at the first the minister of finance was to
be an official independent of the governor of the Maghrib. On the death
of Bulukkin in 984 he was succeeded by a son who took the royal title
al-Mansur, under whose rule an attempt was made by the Kutama,
instigated by the caliph, to shake off the yoke of the Zeirids, who
originated from the Sanhaja tribe. This attempt was defeated by the
energy of Mansur in 988; and the sovereignty of the Fatimites in the
Maghrib became more and more confined to recognition in public prayer
and on coins, and the payment of tribute and the giving of presents to
the viziers at Cairo. The fourth ruler of the Zeirid dynasty, called
Mo'izz, endeavoured to substitute 'Abbasid suzerainty for Fatimite: his
land was invaded by Arab colonies sent by the Fatimite caliph, with whom
in 1051 Mo'izz fought a decisive engagement, after which the dominion of
the Zeirids was restricted to the territory adjoining Mahdia; a number
of smaller kingdoms rising up around them. The Zeirids were finally
overthrown by Roger II. of Sicily in 1148.
After the death of al-Adid, the last Fatimite caliph in Egypt, some
attempts were made to place on the throne a member of the family, and at
one time there seemed a chance of the Assassins, who formed a branch of
the Fatimite sect, assisting in this project. In 1174 a conspiracy for
the restoration of the dynasty was organized by 'Umarah of Yemen, a
court poet, with the aid of eight officials of the government: it was
discovered and those who were implicated were executed. Two persons
claiming Fatimite descent took the royal titles al-Mo'tasim billah and
al-Hamid lillah in the years 1175 and 1176 respectively; and as late as
1192 we hear of pretenders in Egypt. Some members of the family are
traceable till near the end of the 7th century of Islam.
The doctrines of the Fatimites as a sect, apart from their claim to the
sovereignty in Islam, are little known, and we are not justified in
identifying them with those of the Assassins, the Carmathians or the
Druses, though all these sects are connected with them in origin. A
famous account is given by Maqrizi of a system of education by which the
neophyte had doubts gently instilled into his mind till he was prepared
to have the allegorical meaning of the Koran set before him, and to
substitute some form of natural for revealed religion. In most accounts
of the early days of the community it is stated that the permission of
wine-drinking and licentiousness, and the community of wives and
property formed part of its tenets. There is little in the recorded
practice of the Fatimite state to confirm or justify these assertions;
and they appear to have differed from orthodox Moslems rather in small
details of ritual and law than in deep matters of doctrine.
AUTHORITIES.--F. Wustenfeld, _Geschichte der Fatimiden Chalifen_
(Gottingen, 1881); E. Mercier, _Histoire de l'Afrique Septentrionale_
(Paris, 1888); M.J. de Goeje, _Memoire sur les Carmathes de Bahrain et
les Fatimides_ (2nd ed., Leiden, 1886); P. Casanova, "Memoire sur les
derniers Fatimides," _Mem. Miss. archeologique au Caire_, vol. vi.;
for the lives of 'Obaidallah and Abu Yazi-d, Cherbonneau in the
_Journal Asiatique_, ser. iv. vol. 20, and ser. v. vol. 5. See also
EGYPT: _History_, sect. Mahommedan. (D. S. M.*)
FAUBOURG, the French name for a portion of a town which lies outside the
walls, hence properly a suburb. The name survives in certain parts of
Paris, such as the Faubourg St Antoine, and the Faubourg St Germain,
&c., which have long since ceased to be suburbs and have become portions
of the town itself. The origin of the word is doubtful. The earlier
spelling _faux-bourg_, and the occurrence in medieval Latin of
_falsus-burgus_ (see Ducange, _Glossarium_, s.v. "Falsus-Burgus"), was
taken as showing its obvious origin and meaning, the sham or
quasi-borough. The generally accepted derivation is from _fors_, outside
(Lat. _foris_, outside the gates), and _bourg_. It is suggested that the
word is the French adaptation of the Ger. _Pfahlburger_, the burghers of
the pale, i.e. outside the walls but within the pale.
FAUCES (a Latin plural word for "throat"; the singular _faux_ is rarely
found), in anatomy, the hinder part of the mouth, which leads into the
pharynx; also an architectural term given by Vitruvius to narrow
passages on either side of the tablinum, through which access could be
obtained from the atrium to the peristylar court in the rear.
FAUCHER, LEONARD JOSEPH [LEON] (1803-1854), French politician and
economist, was born at Limoges on the 8th of September 1803. When he was
nine years old the family removed to Toulouse, where the boy was sent to
school. His parents were separated in 1816, and Leon Faucher, who
resisted his father's attempts to put him to a trade, helped to support
himself and his mother during the rest of his school career by designing
embroidery and needlework. As a private tutor in Paris he continued his
studies in the direction of archaeology and history, but with the
revolution of 1830 he was drawn into active political journalism on the
Liberal side. He was on the staff of the _Temps_ from 1830 to 1833, when
he became editor of the _Constitutionnel_ for a short time. A Sunday
journal of his own, _Le Bien public_, proved a disastrous financial
failure; and his political independence having caused his retirement
from the _Constitutionnel_, he joined in 1834 the _Courrier francais_,
of which he was editor from 1839 until 1842, when the paper changed
hands. Faucher belonged in policy to the dynastic Left, and consistently
preached moderation to the more ardent Liberals. On resigning his
connexion with the _Courrier francais_ he gave his attention chiefly to
economic questions. He advocated a customs union between the Latin
countries to counter-balance the German Zollverein, and in view of the
impracticability of such a measure narrowed his proposal in 1842 to a
customs union between France and Belgium. In 1843 he visited England to
study the English social system, publishing the results of his
investigations in a famous series of _Etudes sur l'Angleterre_ (2 vols.,
1845), published originally in the _Revue des deux mondes_. He helped to
organize the Bordeaux association for free-trade propaganda, and it was
as an advocate of free trade that he was elected in 1847 to the chamber
of deputies for Reims. After the revolution of 1848 he entered the
Constituent Assembly for the department of Marne, where he opposed many
Republican measures--the limitation of the hours of labour, the creation
of the national relief works in Paris, the abolition of the death
penalty and others. Under the presidency of Louis Napoleon he became
minister of public works, and then minister of the interior, but his
action in seeking to influence the coming elections by a circular letter
addressed to the prefects was censured by the Constituent Assembly, and
he was compelled to resign office on the 14th of May 1849. In 1851 he
was again minister of the interior until Napoleon declared his intention
of resorting to universal suffrage. After the _coup d'etat_ of December
he refused a seat in the consultative commission instituted by Napoleon.
He had been elected a member of the Academy of Moral and Political
Science in 1849, and his retirement from politics permitted a return to
his writings on economics. He had been to Italy in search of health in
1854, and was returning to Paris on business when he was seized by
typhoid at Marseilles, where he died on the 14th of December 1854.
His miscellaneous writings were collected (2 vols., 1856) as _Melanges
d'economie politique et de finance_, and his speeches in the
legislature are printed in vol. ii. of _Leon Faucher, biographie et
correspondance_ (2 vols., 2nd ed., Paris, 1875).
FAUCHET, CLAUDE (1530-1601), French historian and antiquary, was born at
Paris on the 3rd of July 1530. Of his early life few particulars are
known. He applied himself to the study of the early French chroniclers,
and proposed to publish extracts which would throw light on the first
periods of the monarchy. During the civil wars he lost a large part of
his books and manuscripts in a riot, and was compelled to leave Paris.
He then settled at Marseilles. Attaching himself afterwards to Cardinal
de Tournon, he accompanied him in 1554 to Italy, whence he was several
times sent on embassies to the king, with reports on the siege of Siena.
His services at length procured him the post of president of the chambre
des monnaies, and thus enabled him to resume his literary studies.
Having become embarrassed with debt, he found it necessary, at the age
of seventy, to sell his office; but the king, amused with an epigram,
gave him a pension, with the title of historiographer of France. Fauchet
has the reputation of an impartial and scrupulously accurate writer; and
in his works are to be found important facts not easily accessible
elsewhere. He was, however, entirely uncritical, and his style is
singularly inelegant. His principal works (1579, 1599) treat of Gaulish
and French antiquities, of the dignities and magistrates of France, of
the origin of the French language and poetry, of the liberties of the
Gallican church, &c. A collected edition was published in 1610. Fauchet
took part in a translation of the _Annals_ of Tacitus (1582). He died at
Paris about the close of 1601.
FAUCHET, CLAUDE (1744-1793), French revolutionary bishop, was born at
Dornes (Nievre) on the 22nd of September 1744. He was a curate of the
church of St Roch, Paris, when he was engaged as tutor to the children
of the marquis of Choiseul, brother of Louis XV.'s minister, an
appointment which proved to be the first step to fortune. He was
successively grand vicar to the archbishop of Bourges, preacher to the
king, and abbot of Montfort-Lacarre. The "philosophic" tone of his
sermons caused his dismissal from court in 1788 before he became a
popular speaker in the Parisian sections. He was one of the leaders of
the attack on the Bastille, and on the 5th of August 1789 he delivered
an eloquent discourse by way of funeral sermon for the citizens slain on
the 14th of July, taking as his text the words of St Paul, "Ye have been
called to liberty." He blessed the tricolour flag for the National
Guard, and in September was elected to the Commune, from which he
retired in October 1790. During the next winter he organized within the
Palais Royal the "Social Club of the Society of the Friends of Truth,"
presiding over crowded meetings under the self-assumed title of
_procureur general de la verite_. Nevertheless, events were marching
faster than his opinions, and the last occasion on which he carried his
public with him was in a sermon preached at Notre Dame on the 14th of
February 1791. In May he became constitutional bishop of Calvados, and
was presently returned by the department to the Legislative Assembly,
and afterwards to the Convention. At the king's trial he voted for the
appeal to the people and for the penalty of imprisonment. He protested
against the execution of Louis XVI. in the _Journal des amis_ (January
26, 1793), and next month was denounced to the Convention for
prohibiting married priests from the exercise of the priesthood in his
diocese. He remained secretary to the Convention until the accusation of
the Girondists in May 1793. In July he was imprisoned on the charge of
supporting the federalist movement at Caen, and of complicity with
Charlotte Corday, whom he had taken to see a sitting of the Convention
on her arrival in Paris. Of the second of these charges he was certainly
innocent. With the Girondist deputies he was brought before the
revolutionary tribunal on the 30th of October, and was guillotined on
the following day.
See _Memoires ... ou Lettres de Claude Fauchet_ (5th ed., 1793);
_Notes sur Claude Fauchet_ (Caen, 1842).
FAUCIT, HELENA SAVILLE (1817-1898), English actress, the daughter of
John Saville Faucit, an actor, was born in London. Her first London
appearance was made on the 5th of January 1836 at Covent Garden as Julia
in _The Hunchback_. Her success in this was so definitely confirmed by
her subsequent acting of Juliet, Lady Teazle, Beatrice, Imogen and
Hermione, that within eighteen months she was engaged by Macready as
leading lady at Covent Garden. There, besides appearing in several
Shakespearian characters, she created the heroine's part in Lytton's
_Duchess de la Valliere_ (1836), _Lady of Lyons_ (1838), _Richelieu_
(1839), _The Sea Captain_ (1839), _Money_ (1840), and Browning's
_Strafford_ (1837). After a visit to Paris and a short season at the
Haymarket, she joined the Drury Lane company under Macready early in
1842. There she played Lady Macbeth, Constance in _King John_, Desdemona
and Imogen, and took part in the first production of Westland Marston's
_Patrician's Daughter_ (1842) and Browning's _Blot on the Scutcheon_
(1843). Among her successful tours was included a visit to Paris in
1844-1845, where she acted with Macready in several Shakespearian plays.
In 1851 she was married to Mr (afterwards Sir) Theodore Martin, but
still acted occasionally for charity. One of her last appearances was as
Beatrice, on the opening of the Shakespeare Memorial at
Stratford-on-Avon on the 23rd of April 1879. In 1881 there appeared in
_Blackwood's Magazine_ the first of her _Letters on some of
Shakespeare's Heroines_, which were published in book form as _On Some
of Shakespeare's Female Characters_ (1885). Lady Martin died at her home
near Llangollen in Wales on the 31st of October 1898. There is a tablet
to her in the Shakespeare Memorial with a portrait figure, and the
marble pulpit in the Shakespeare church--with her portrait as Saint
Helena--was given in her memory by her husband.
See Sir Theodore Martin's _Helena Faucit_ (1900).
FAUJAS DE SAINT-FOND, BARTHELEMY (1741-1819), French geologist and
traveller, was born at Montelimart on the 17th of May 1741. He was
educated at the Jesuits' College at Lyons; afterwards he went to
Grenoble, applied himself to the study of law, and was admitted advocate
to the parliament. He rose to be president of the seneschal's court
(1765), a post which he honourably filled, but the duties of which
became irksome, as he had early developed a love of nature and his
favourite relaxation was found in visits to the Alps. There he began to
study the forms, structure, composition and superposition of rocks. In
1775 he discovered in the Velay a rich deposit of pozzuolana, which in
due course was worked by the government. In 1776 he put himself in
communication with Buffon, who was not slow to perceive the value of his
labours. Invited by Buffon to Paris, he quitted the law, and was
appointed by Louis XVI. assistant naturalist to the museum, to which
office was added some years later (1785, 1788) that of royal
commissioner for mines. One of the most important of his works was the
_Recherches sur les volcans eteints du Vivarais et du Velay_, which
appeared in 1778. In this work, rich in facts and observations, he
developed his theory of the origin of volcanoes. In his capacity of
commissioner for mines Faujas travelled in almost all the countries of
Europe, everywhere devoting attention to the nature and constituents of
the rocks. It was he who first recognized the volcanic nature of the
basaltic columns of the cave of Fingal (Staffa), although the island was
visited in 1772 by Sir Joseph Banks, who remarked that the stone "is a
coarse kind of _Basaltes_, very much resembling the Giants' Causeway in
Ireland" (Pennant's _Tour in Scotland and Voyage to the Hebrides_).
Faujas's _Voyage en Angleterre, en Ecosse et aux Iles Hebrides_ (1797)
is full of interest--containing anecdotes of Sir Joseph Banks and Dr
John Whitehurst, and an amusing account of "The Dinner of an Academic
Club" (the Royal Society), and has been translated into English (2
vols., 1799). Having been nominated in 1793 professor at the Jardin des
Plantes, he held this post till he was nearly eighty years of age,
retiring in 1818 to his estate of Saint-Fond in Dauphine. Faujas took a
warm interest in the balloon experiments of the brothers Montgolfier,
and published a very complete _Description des experiences de la machine
aerostatique de MM. Montgolfier_, &c. (1783, 1784). He contributed many
scientific memoirs to the _Annales_ and the _Memoires_ of the museum of
natural history. Among his separate works, in addition to those already
named are--_Histoire naturelle de la province de Dauphine_ (1781, 1782);
_Mineralogie des volcans_ (1784); and _Essai de geologie_ (1803-1809).
Faujas died on the 18th of July 1819.
FAULT (Mid. Eng. _faute_, through the French, from the popular Latin use
of _fallere_, to fail; the original _l_ of the Latin being replaced in
English in the 15th century), a failing, mistake or defect.
[Illustration: FIG. 1.--Section of clean-cut fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 2.--Section of strata, bent at a line of fault.]
In geology, the term is given to a plane of dislocation in a portion of
the earth's crust; synonyms used in mining are "trouble," "throw" and
"heave"; the German equivalent is _Verwerfung_, and the French _faille_.
Faults on a small scale are sometimes sharply-defined planes,[1] as if
the rocks had been sliced through and fitted together again after being
shifted (fig. 1). In such cases, however, the harder portions of the
dislocated rocks will usually be found "slickensided." More frequently
some disturbance has occurred on one or both sides of the fault.
Sometimes in a series of strata the beds on the side which has been
pushed up are bent down against the fault, while those on the opposite
side are bent up (fig. 2). Most commonly the rocks on both sides are
considerably broken, jumbled and crumpled, so that the line of fracture
is marked by a belt or wall-like mass of fragmentary rock, _fault-rock_,
which may be several yards in breadth. Faults are to be distinguished
from joints and fissures by the fact that there must have been a
movement of the rock on one side of the fault-plane relatively to that
on the other side. The trace of a fault-plane at the surface of the
earth is a line (or belt of fault-rock), which in geological mapping is
often spoken of as a "fault-line" or "line of fault." Fig. 3 represents
the plan of a simple fault; quite frequently, however, the main fault
subdivides at the extremities into a number of minor faults (fig. 4), or
the main fault may be accompanied by lateral subordinate faults (fig.
5), some varieties of which have been termed _flaws_ or _Blatts_.
[Illustration: FIG. 3.--Plan of simple fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 4.--Plan of a fault splitting into minor faults.]
"Fault-planes" are sometimes perpendicular to the horizon, but more
usually they are inclined at a greater or lesser angle. The angle made
by the fault-plane with the vertical is the _hade_ of the fault (if the
angle of inclination were measured from the horizon, as in determining
the "dip" of strata, this would be expressed as the "dip of the fault").
In figs. 1 and 2 the faults are hading towards the right of the reader.
The amount of dislocation as measured along a fault-plane is the
_displacement_ of the fault (for an illustration of these terms see fig.
18, where they are applied to a thrust fault); the vertical displacement
is the _throw_ (Fr. _rejet_); the horizontal displacement, which even
with vertical movement must arise in all cases where the faults are not
perpendicular to the horizon and the strata are not horizontal, is known
as the _heave_. In fig. 6 the displacement is equal to the throw in the
fault A; in the fault B the displacement is more than twice as great as
in A, while the throw is the same in both; the fault A has no heave, in
B it is considerable. The rock on that side of a fault which has dropped
relatively to the rock on the other is said to be upon the downthrow
side of the fault; conversely, the relatively uplifted portion is the
upthrow side. The two fault faces are known as the "hanging-wall" and
the "foot-wall."
[Illustration: FIG. 5.--Plan of main fault, with branches.]
[Illustration: FIG. 6.--Section of a vertical and inclined fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 7.--Reversed fault, Liddesdale.]
The relationship that exists between the hade and the direction of throw
has led to the classification of faults into "normal faults," which hade
under the downthrow side, or in other words, those in which the
hanging-wall has dropped; and "reversed faults," which hade beneath the
upthrow side, that is to say, the foot-wall exhibits a relative sinking.
Normal faults are exemplified in figs. 1, 2, and 6; in the latter the
masses A and B are on the downthrow sides, C is upthrown. Fig. 7
represents a small reversed fault. Normal faults are so called because
they are more generally prevalent than the other type; they are
sometimes designated "drop" or "gravity" faults, but these are
misleading expressions and should be discountenanced. Normal faults are
regarded as the result of stretching of the crust, hence they have been
called "tension" faults as distinguished from reversed faults, which are
assumed to be due to pressure. It is needful, however, to exercise great
caution in accepting this view except in a restricted and localized
sense, for there are many instances in which the two forms are
intimately associated (see fig. 8), and a whole complex system of faults
may be the result of horizontal (tangential) pressure alone or even of
direct vertical uplift. It is often tacitly assumed that most normal
and reversed faults are due to simple vertical movements of the
fractured crust-blocks; but this is by no means the case. What is
actually observed in examining a fault is the _apparent_ direction of
motion; but the present position of the dislocated masses is the result
of _real_ motion or series of motions, which have taken place along the
fault-plane at various angles from horizontal to vertical; frequently it
can be shown that these movements have been extremely complicated. The
striations and "slickensides" on the faces of a fault indicate only the
direction of the last movement.
[Illustration: FIG. 8.--Diagram of gently undulating strata cut by a
fault, with alternate throw in opposite directions.]
[Illustration: FIG. 9.--Section of strata cut by step faults.]
[Illustration: FIG. 10.--Trough faults.]
[Illustration: FIG. 11.--Plan of a strike fault.]
A broad monoclinal fold is sometimes observed to pass into a fault of
gradually increasing throw; such a fault is occasionally regarded as
pivoted at one end. Again, a faulted mass may be on the downthrow side
towards one end, and on the upthrow side towards the other, the movement
having taken place about an axis approximately normal to the
fault-plane, the "pivot" in this case being near the centre. From an
example of this kind it is evident that the same fault may at the same
time be both "normal" and "reversed" (see fig. 8). When the principal
movement along a highly inclined fault-plane has been approximately
horizontal, the fault has been variously styled a _lateral-shift_,
_transcurrent fault_, _transverse thrust_ or a _heave fault_. The
horizontal component in faulting movements is more common than is often
supposed.
[Illustration: FIG. 12.--Section across the plan, fig. 11.]
A single normal fault of large throw is sometimes replaced by a series
of close parallel faults, each throwing a small amount in the same
direction; if these subordinate faults occur within a narrow width of
ground they are known as _distribution faults_; if they are more widely
separated they are called _step faults_ (fig. 9). Occasionally two
normal faults hade towards one another and intersect, and the rock mass
between them has been let down; this is described as a _trough fault_
(fig. 10). A fault running parallel to the strike of bedded rocks is a
_strike fault_; one which runs along the direction of the dip is a _dip
fault_; a so-called _diagonal fault_ takes a direction intermediate
between these two directions. Although the effects of these types of
fault upon the outcrops of strata differ, there are no intrinsic
differences between the faults themselves.
[Illustration: FIG. 13.--Plan of strata cut by a dip fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 14.--Plan of strata traversed by a diminishing
strike fault.]
The effect of normal faults upon the outcrop may be thus briefly
summarized:--a strike fault that hades with the direction of the dip may
cause beds to be cut out at the surface on the upthrow side; if it hades
against the dip direction it may repeat some of the beds on the upthrow
side (figs. 11 and 12). With dip faults the crop is carried forward
(down the dip) on the upthrow side. The perpendicular distance between
the crop of the bed (dike or vein) on opposite sides of the fault is the
"offset." The offset decreases with increasing angle of dip and
increases with increase in the throw of the fault (fig. 13). Faults
which run obliquely across the direction of dip, if they hade with the
dip of the strata, will produce offset with "gap" between the outcrops;
if they hade in the opposite direction to the dip, offset with "overlap"
is caused: in the latter case the crop moves forward (down dip) on the
denuded upthrow side, in the former it moves backward. The effect of a
strike fault of diminishing throw is seen in fig. 14. Faults crossing
folded strata cause the outcrops to approach on the upthrow side of a
syncline and tend to separate the outcrops of an anticline (figs. 15,
16, 17).
In the majority of cases the upthrown side of a fault has been so
reduced by denudation as to leave no sharp upstanding ridge; but
examples are known where the upthrown side still exists as a prominent
cliff-like face of rock, a "fault-scarp"; familiar instances occur in
the Basin ranges of Utah, Nevada, &c., and many smaller examples have
been observed in the areas affected by recent earthquakes in Japan, San
Francisco and other places. But although there may be no sharp cliff,
the effect of faulting upon topographic forms is abundantly evident
wherever a harder series of strata has been brought in juxtaposition to
softer rocks. By certain French writers, the upstanding side of a
faulted piece of ground is said to have a _regard_, thus the faults of
the Jura Mountains have a "_regard francais_," and in the same region it
has been observed that in curved faults the convexity is directed the
same way as the _regard_. Occasionally one or more parallel faults have
let down an intervening strip of rock, thereby forming "fault valleys"
or _Graben_ (_Grabensenken_); the Great Rift Valley is a striking
example. On the other hand, a large area of rock is sometimes lifted up,
or surrounded by a system of faults, which have let down the encircling
ground; such a fault-block is known also as a _horst_; a considerable
area of Greenland stands up in this manner.
[Illustration: FIG. 15.--Plan of an anticline (A) and syncline (S),
dislocated by a fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 16.--Section along the upcast side of the fault in
fig. 15.]
Faults have often an important influence upon water-supply by bringing
impervious beds up against pervious ones or vice versa, thus forming
underground dams or reservoirs, or allowing water to flow away that
would otherwise be conserved. Springs often rise along the outcrop of a
fault. In coal and metal mining it is evident from what has already been
said that faults must act sometimes beneficially, sometimes the reverse.
It is a common occurrence for fault-fissures and fault-rock to appear as
valuable mineral lodes through the infilling or impregnation of the
spaces and broken ground with mineral ores.
[Illustration: FIG. 17.--Section along the downcast side of same fault.]
[Illustration: FIG. 18.--Diagram to illustrate the terminology of faults
and thrusts.]
[Illustration: FIG. 19.--Section of a very large thrust in the Durness
Eriboll district, Scotland.]
In certain regions which have been subjected to very great crustal
disturbance a type of fault is found which possesses a very low
hade--sometimes only a few degrees from the horizontal--and, like a
reversed fault, hades beneath the upthrown mass; these are termed
_thrusts, overthrusts_, or _overthrust faults_ (Fr. _recouvrements,
failles de chevauchement, charriages_; Ger. _Uberschiebungen,
Ubersprunge, Wechsel, Fallenverwerfungen_). Thrusts should not be
confused with reversed faults, which have a strong hade. Thrusts play a
very important part in the N.W. highlands of Scotland, the Scandinavian
highlands, the western Alps, the Appalachians, the Belgian coal region,
&c. By the action of thrusts enormous masses of rock have been pushed
almost horizontally over underlying rocks, in some cases for several
miles. One of the largest of the Scandinavian thrust masses is 1120 m.
long, 80 m. broad, and 5000 ft. thick. In Scotland three grades of
thrusts are recognized, maximum, major, and minor thrusts; the last have
very generally been truncated by those of greater magnitude. Some of
these great thrusts have received distinguishing names, e.g. the Moine
thrust (fig. 19) and the Ben More thrust; similarly in the coal basin of
Mons and Valenciennes we find the _faille de Boussu_ and the _Grande
faille du midi_. Overturned folds are frequently seen passing into
thrusts. Bayley Willis has classified thrusts as (1) Shear thrusts, (2)
Break thrusts, (3) Stretch thrusts, and (4) Erosion thrusts.
Dr J.E. Marr ("Notes on the Geology of the English Lake District,"
_Proc. Geol. Assoc._, 1900) has described a type of fault which may be
regarded as the converse of a thrust fault. If we consider a series of
rock masses A, B, C--of which A is the oldest and undermost--undergoing
thrusting, say from south to north, should the mass C be prevented from
moving forward as rapidly as B, a low-hading fault may form between C
and B and the mass C may lag behind; similarly the mass B may lag behind
A. Such faults Dr Marr calls "lag faults." A mass of rock suffering
thrusting or lagging may yield unequally in its several parts, and those
portions tending to travel more rapidly than the adjoining masses in the
same sheet may be cut off by fractures. Thus the faster-moving blocks
will be separated from the slower ones by faults approximately normal to
the plane of movement: these are described as "tear faults."
Faults may occur in rocks of all ages; small local dislocations are
observable even in glacial deposits, alluvium and loess. A region of
faulting may continue to be so through more than one geological period.
Little is known of the mechanism of faulting or of the causes that
produce it; the majority of the text-book explanations will not bear
scrutiny, and there is room for extended observation and research. The
sudden yielding of the strata along a plane of faulting is a familiar
cause of earthquakes.
See E. de Margerie and A. Heim, _Les Dislocations de l'ecorce
terrestre_ (Zurich, 1888); A. Rothpletz, _Geotektonische Probleme_
(Stuttgart, 1894); B. Willis, "The Mechanics of Appalachian
Structure," _13th Ann. Rep. U.S. Geol. Survey_ (1891-1892, pub. 1893).
A prolonged discussion of the subject is given in _Economic Geology_,
Lancaster, Pa., U.S.A., vols. i. and ii. (1906, 1907).
(A. Ge.; J. A. H.)