but this reaction, which converts all the carbon into the incombustible
form of CO2, is considered as an unwelcome, although never entirely
avoidable, concomitant of (b).
The reaction by which water gas is produced being endothermic (as we
shall see), this gas cannot be obtained except by introducing the
balance of energy in another manner. This might be done by heating the
apparatus from without, but as this method would be uneconomical, the
process is carried out by alternating the endothermic production of
water gas with the exothermic combustion of carbon by atmospheric air.
Pure water gas is not, therefore, made by a continuous process, but
alternates with the production of other gases, combustible or not. But
instead of constantly interrupting the process in this way, a continuous
operation may be secured by simultaneously carrying on both the
reactions (a) and (b) in such proportions that the heat generated by (a)
at least equals the heat absorbed by (b). For this purpose the apparatus
is fed at the same time with atmospheric air and with a certain quantity
of steam, preferably in a superheated state. Gaseous mixtures of this
kind have been made, more or less intentionally, for a long time past.
One of the best known of them, intended less for the purpose of serving
as ordinary fuel than for that of driving machinery, is the Dowson gas.
An advantage common to all kinds of gaseous fuel, which indeed forms the
principal reason why it is intentionally produced from solid fuel, in
spite of inevitable losses in the course of the operation, is the
following. The combustion of solid fuel (coal, &c.) cannot be carried on
with the theoretically necessary quantity of atmospheric air, but
requires a considerable excess of the latter, at least 50%, sometimes
100% and more. This is best seen from the analyses of smoke gases. If
all the oxygen of the air were converted into CO2 and H2O, the amount of
CO2 in the smoke gases should be in the case of pure carbon nearly 21
volumes %, as carbon dioxide occupies the same volume as oxygen; while
ordinary coal, where the hydrogen takes up a certain quantity of oxygen
as well, should show about 18.5% CO2. But the best smoke gases of steam
boilers show only 12 or 13%, much more frequently only 10% CO2, and
gases from reverberatory furnaces often show less than 5%. This means
that the volume of the smoke gases escaping into the air is from 1-1/2
to 2 times (in the case of high-temperature operations often 4 times)
greater than the theoretical minimum; and as these gases always carry
off a considerable quantity of heat, the loss of heat is all the greater
the less complete is the utilization of the oxygen and the higher the
temperature of the operation. This explains why, in the case of the
best-constructed steam-boiler fires provided with heat economizers,
where the smoke gases are deprived of most of their heat, the proportion
of the heat value of the fuel actually utilized may rise to 70 or even
75%, while in some metallurgical operations, in glass-making and similar
cases, it may be below 5%.
One way of overcoming this difficulty to a certain extent is to reduce
the solid fuel to a very fine powder, which can be intimately mixed with
the air so that the consumption of the latter is only very slightly in
excess of the theoretical quantity; but this process, which has been
only recently introduced on a somewhat extended scale, involves much
additional expense and trouble, and cannot as yet be considered a real
success. Generally, too, it is far less easily applied than gaseous
fuel. The latter can be readily and intimately mixed with the exact
quantity of air that is required and distributed in any suitable way,
and much of the waste heat can be utilized for a preliminary heating of
the air and the gas to be burned by means of "recuperators."
We shall now describe the principal classes of gaseous fuel, produced by
the partial combustion of coal.
A. _Producer Gas, Siemens Gas._--As we have seen above, this gas is made
by the incomplete combustion of fuel. The materials generally employed
for its production are anthracite, coke or other fuels which are not
liable to cake during the operation, and thus stop the draught or
otherwise disturb the process, but by special measures also bituminous
coal, lignite, peat and other fuel may be utilized for gas producers.
The fuel is arranged in a deep layer, generally from 4 ft. up to 10 ft.,
and the air is introduced from below, either by natural draught or by
means of a blast, and either by a grate or only by a slit in the wall of
the "gas producer." Even if the primary action taking place at the
entrance of the air consisted in the complete combustion of the carbon
to dioxide, CO2, the latter, in rising through the high column of
incandescent fuel, must be reduced to monoxide: CO2 + C = 2CO. But as
the temperature in the producer rises rather high, and as in ordinary
circumstances the action of oxygen on carbon above 1000 deg. C. consists
almost entirely in the direct formation of CO, we may regard this
compound as primarily formed in the hotter parts of the gas-producer. It
is true that ordinary producer gas always contains more or less CO2, but
this may be formed higher up by air entering through leakages in the
apparatus. If we ignore the hydrogen contained in the fuel, the
theoretical composition of producer gas would be 33.3% CO and 66.7% N,
both by volume and weight. Its weight per cubic metre is 1.251 grammes,
and its heat value 1013 calories per cubic metre, or less than one-fifth
of the heat-value of coal gas. Practically, however, producer gas
contains a small percentage of gases, increasing its heat-value, like
hydrogen, methane, &c., but on the other hand it is never free from
carbon dioxide to the extent of from 2 to 8%. Its heat-value may
therefore range between 800 and 1100 calories per cubic metre. Even when
taking as the basis of our calculation a theoretical gas of 33.3% CO, we
find that there is a great loss of heat-value in the manufacture of this
gas. Thermochemistry teaches us that the reaction C + O develops 29.5%
of the heat produced by the complete oxidation of C to CO2, thus leaving
only 70.5% for the stage CO + O = CO2. If, therefore, the gas given off
in the producer is allowed to cool down to ordinary temperature, nearly
30% of the heat-value of the coal is lost by radiation. If, however, the
gas producer is built in close proximity to the place where the
combustion takes place, so that the gas does not lose very much of its
heat, the loss is correspondingly less. Even then there is no reason why
this mode of burning the fuel, i.e. first with "primary air" in the
producer (C + O = CO), then with "secondary air" in the furnace (CO + O
= CO2), should be preferred to the direct complete burning of the fuel
on a grate, unless the above-mentioned advantage is secured, viz.
reduction of the smoke gases to a minimum by confining the supply of air
as nearly as possible to that required for the formation of CO2, which
is only possible by producing an intimate mixture of the producer gas
with the secondary air. The advantage in question is not very great
where the heat of the smoke gases can be very fully utilized, e.g. in
well-constructed steam boilers, salt-pans and the like, and as a matter
of fact gas producers have not found much use in such cases. But a very
great advantage is attained in high-temperature operations, where the
smoke gases escape very hot, and where it is on that account
all-important to confine their quantity to a minimum.
It is precisely in these cases that another requirement frequently comes
in, viz. the production at a given point of a higher temperature than is
easily attained by ordinary fires. Gas-firing lends itself very well to
this end, as it is easily combined with a preliminary heating up of the
air, and even of the gas itself, by means of "recuperators." The
original and best-known form of these, due to Siemens Brothers, consists
of two brick chambers filled with loosely stacked fire-bricks in such
manner that any gases passed through the chambers must seek their way
through the interstices left between the bricks, by which means a
thorough interchange of temperature takes place. The smoke gases,
instead of escaping directly into the atmosphere, are made to pass
through one of these chambers, giving up part of their heat to the
brickwork. After a certain time the draught is changed by means of
valves, the smoke gases are passed through another chamber, and the cold
air intended to feed the combustion is made to pass through the first
chamber, where it takes up heat from the white-hot bricks, and is thus
heated up to a bright red heat until the chamber is cooled down too far,
when the draughts are again reversed. Sometimes the producer gas itself
is heated up in this manner (especially when it has been cooled down by
travelling a long distance); in that case four recuperator chambers must
be provided instead of two. Another class of recuperators is not founded
on the alternating system, but acts continuously; the smoke gases travel
always in the same direction in flues contiguous to other flues or pipes
in which the air flows in the opposite direction, an interchange of heat
taking place through the walls of the flues or pipes. Here the surface
of contact must be made very large if a good effect is to be produced.
In both cases not merely is a saving effected of all the calories which
are abstracted by the cold air from the recuperator, but as less fuel
has to be burned to get a given effect, the quantity of smoke gas is
reduced. For details and other producer gases, see GAS, II. _For Fuel
and Power._
Gas-firing in the manner just described can be brought about by very
simple means, viz. by lowering the fire-grate of an ordinary fire-place
to at least 4 ft. below the fire-bridge, and by introducing the air
partly below the grate and partly behind the fire-place, at or near the
point where the greatest heat is required. Usually, however, more
elaborate apparatus is employed, some of which we shall describe below.
Gas-firing has now become universal in some of the most important
industries and nearly so in others. The present extension of
steel-making and other branches of metallurgy is intimately connected
with this system, as is the modern method of glass-making, of heating
coal gas retorts and so forth.
The composition of producer gas differs considerably, principally
according to the material from which it is made. Analyses of ordinary
producer gas (not such as falls under the heading of "semi-water gas,"
see _sub_ C) by volume show 22 to 33% CO, 1 to 7% CO2, 0.5 to 2% H2, 0.5
to 3% hydrocarbons, and 64 to 68% N2.
B. _Water Gas._--The reaction of steam on highly heated carbonaceous
matter was first observed by Felice Fontana in 1780. This was four years
before Henry Cavendish isolated hydrogen from water, and thirteen years
before William Murdoch made illuminating gas by the distillation of
coal, so that it was no wonder that Fontana's laboratory work was soon
forgotten. Nor had the use of carburetted water gas, as introduced by
Donovan in 1830 for illuminating purposes, more than a very short life.
More important is the fact that during nine years the illumination of
the town of Narbonne was carried on by incandescent platinum wire,
heated by water gas, where also internally heated generators were for
the first time regularly employed. The Narbonne process was abandoned in
1865, and for some time no real progress was made in this field in
Europe. But in America, T.S.C. Lowe, Strong, Tessie du Motay and others
took up the matter, the first permanent success being obtained by the
introduction (1873) of Lowe's system at Phoenixville, Pa. In the United
States the abundance of anthracite, as well as of petroleum naphtha,
adapted for carburetting the gas, secures a great commercial advantage
to this kind of illuminant over coal gas, so that now three-fourths of
all American gas-works employ carburetted water gas. In Europe the
progress of this industry was naturally much less rapid, but here also
since 1882, when the apparatus of Lowe and Dwight was introduced in the
town of Essen, great improvements have been worked out, principally by
E. Blass, and by these improvements water gas obtained a firm footing
also for certain heating purposes. The American process for making
carburetted water gas, as an auxiliary to ordinary coal gas, was first
introduced by the London Gas Light and Coke Company on a large scale in
1890.
Water gas in its original state is called "blue gas," because it burns
with a blue, non-luminous flame, which produces a very high temperature.
According to the equation C + H2O = CO + H2, this gas consists
theoretically of equal volumes of carbon monoxide and hydrogen. We shall
presently see why it is impossible to avoid the presence of a little
carbon dioxide and other gases, but we shall for the moment treat of
water gas as if it were composed according to the above equation. The
reaction C + H2O = CO + H2 is endothermic, that is, its thermal value is
negative. One gram-molecule of carbon produces 97 great calories (1
great calorie or kilogram-calorie = 1000 gram-calories) when burning to
CO2, and this is of course the maximum effect obtainable from this
source. If the same gram-molecule of carbon is used for making water
gas, that is, CO + H2, the heat produced by the combustion of the
product is 68.4 + 57.6 = 126 great calories, an apparent surplus of 29
calories, which cannot be got out of nothing. This is made evident by
another consideration. In the above reaction C is not burned to CO2, but
to CO, a reaction which produces 28.6 calories per gram-molecule. But as
the oxygen is furnished from water, which must first be decomposed by
the expenditure of energy, we must introduce this amount, 68.5 calories
in the case of liquid water, or 57.6 calories in the case of steam, as a
negative quantity, and the difference, viz. + 28.6 - 57.6 = 29 great
calories, represents the amount of heat to be expended from another
source in order to bring about the reaction of one gram-molecule of
carbon on one gram-molecule of H2O in the shape of steam. This explains
why steam directed upon incandescent coal will produce water gas only
for a very short time: even a large mass of coal will quickly be cooled
down so much that at first a gas of different composition is formed and
soon the process will cease altogether. We can avoid this result by
carrying on the process in a retort heated from without by an ordinary
coal fire, and all the early water gas apparatus was constructed in this
way; but such a method is very uneconomical, and was long ago replaced
by a process first patented by J. and T.N. Kirkham in 1854, and very
much improved by successive inventors. This process consists in
conducting the operation in an upright brick shaft, charged with
anthracite, coke or other suitable fuel. This shaft resembles an
ordinary gas producer, but it differs in being worked, not in a
continuous manner, which, as shown above, would be impossible, but by
alternately blowing air and steam through the coal for periods of a few
minutes each. During the first phase, when carbon is burned by
atmospheric oxygen, and thereby heat is produced, this heat, or rather
that part of it which is not carried away by radiation and by the
products of combustion on leaving the apparatus, is employed in raising
the temperature of the remaining mass of fuel, and is thus available for
the second phase, in which the reaction (b) C + H2O = CO + H2 goes on
with the abstraction of a corresponding amount of heat from the
incandescent fuel, so that the latter rapidly cools down, and the
process must be reversed by blowing in air and so forth. The formation
of exactly equal volumes of carbon monoxide and hydrogen goes on only at
temperatures over 1200 deg. C., that is, for a very few minutes. Even at
1100 deg. C. a little CO2 can be proved to exist in the gas, and at 900
deg. its proportion becomes too high to allow the process to go on.
About 650 deg. C. the CO has fallen to a minimum, and the reaction is
now essentially (c) C + 2H2O = CO2 + 2H2; soon after the temperature of
the mass will have fallen to such a low point that the steam passes
through it without any perceptible action. The gas produced by reaction
(c) contains only two-thirds of combustible matter, and is on that
account less valuable than proper water gas formed by reaction (b);
moreover, it requires the generation of twice the amount of steam, and
its presence is all the less desirable since it must soon lead to a
total cessation of the process. In ordinary circumstances it is evident
that the more steam is blown in during a unit of time, the sooner
reaction (c) will set in; on the other hand, the more heat has been
accumulated in the producer the longer can the blowing-in of steam be
continued.
The process of making water gas consequently comprises two alternating
operations, viz. first "blowing-up" by means of a current of air, by
which the heat of the mass of fuel is raised to about 1200 deg. C.; and,
secondly "steaming," by injecting a current of (preferably superheated)
steam until the temperature of the fuel had fallen to about 900 deg. C.,
and too much carbon dioxide appears in the product. During the steaming
the gas is carried off by a special conduit into a scrubber, where the
dust mechanically carried away in the current is washed out, and the gas
is at the same time cooled down nearly to the ordinary temperature. It
is generally stored in a gas-holder, from which it is conducted away as
required. It is never quite free from nitrogen, as the producer at the
beginning of steaming contains much of this gas, together with CO or
CO2. The proportion of hydrogen may exceed 50%, in consequence of
reaction (c) setting in at the close of the steaming. Ordinary "blue"
water gas, if, as usual, made from coke or anthracite, contains 48-52%
H2, 40-41% CO, 1-5% CO2, 4-5% N2, and traces of hydrocarbons, especially
methane. If made from bituminous coal, it contains more of the latter.
If "carburetted" (a process which increases its volume 50% and more) by
the vapours from superheated petroleum naphtha, the proportion of CO
ranges about 25%, with about as much methane, and from 10 to 15% of
"illuminants" (heavy hydrocarbons). The latter, of course, greatly
enhance the fuel-value of the gas. Pure water gas would possess the
following fuel-value per cubic metre:
0.5 cub. met. H2 = 1291 calories
0.5 " " CO = 1522 "
----
2813 "
Ordinary "blue" water gas has a fuel-value of at least 2500 calories.
Carburetted water gas, which varies very much in its percentage of
hydrocarbons, sometimes reaches nearly the heat-value of coal gas, but
such gas is only in exceptional cases used for heating purposes.
We must now turn to the "blowing-up" stage of the process. Until
recently it was assumed that during this stage the combustion of carbon
cannot be carried on beyond the formation of carbon monoxide, for as the
gas-producer must necessarily contain a deep layer of fuel (generally
about 6 to 10 ft.), any CO2 formed at first would be reduced to CO; and
it was further assumed that hardly any CO2 would be formed from the
outset, as the temperature of the apparatus is too high for this
reaction to take place. But as the combustion of C to CO produces only
about 30% of the heat produced when C is burned into CO2, the quantity
of fuel consumed for "blowing-up" is very large, and in fact
considerably exceeds that consumed in "steaming." There is, of course, a
further loss by radiation and minor sources, and the result is that 1
kilogram of carbon yields only about 1.2 cub. met. of water gas. Each
period of blowing-up generally occupies from 8 to 12 minutes, that of
steaming only 4 or 5 minutes. This low yield of water gas until quite
recently appeared to be unavoidable, and the only question seemed to be
whether and to what extent the gas formed during blowing-up, which is in
fact identical with ordinary producer gas (Siemens gas), could be
utilized. In America, where the water gas is mostly employed for
illuminating purposes, at least part of the blowing-up gas is utilized
for heating the apparatus in which the naphtha is volatilized and the
vapours are "fixed" by superheating. This process, however, never
utilizes anything like the whole of the blowing-up gas, nor can this be
effected by raising and superheating the steam necessary for the second
operation; indeed, the employment of this gas for raising steam is not
very easy, owing to the irregularities of and constant interruptions in
the supply. In some systems the gas made during the blowing-up stage is
passed through chambers, loosely filled with bricks, like Siemens
recuperators, where it is burned by "secondary" air: the heat thus
imparted to the brickwork is utilized by passing through the
recuperator, and thus superheating, the steam required for the next
steaming operation. In many cases, principally where no carburetting is
practised, the blowing-up gas is simply burned at the mouth of the
producer, and is thus altogether lost; and in no case can it be utilized
without great waste. A very important improvement in this respect was
effected by C. Dellwik and E. Fleischer. They found that the view that
it is unavoidable to burn the carbon to monoxide during the blowing-up
holds good only for the pressure of blast formerly applied. This did not
much exceed that which is required for overcoming the frictional
resistance within the producer. If, however, the pressure is
considerably increased, and the height of the column of fuel reduced,
both of these conditions being strictly regulated in accordance with the
result desired, it is easy to attain a combustion of the carbon to
dioxide, with only traces of monoxide, in spite of the high temperature.
Evidently the excess of oxygen coming into contact with each particle of
carbon in a given unit of time produces other conditions of chemical
equilibrium than those existing at lower pressures. At any rate,
experience has shown that by this process, in which the full heat-value
of carbon is utilized during the blowing-up stage, the time of
heating-up can be reduced from 10 to 1-1/2 or 2 minutes, and the
steaming can be prolonged from 4 or 5 to 8 or 10 minutes, with the
result that twice the quantity of water gas is obtained, viz. upwards of
2 cub. metres from 1 kilogram of carbon.
The application of water gas as a fuel mainly depends upon the high
temperatures which it is possible to attain by its aid, and these are
principally due to the circumstance that it forms a much smaller flame
than coal gas, not to speak of Siemens gas, which contains at most 33%
of combustible matter against 90% or more in water gas. The latter
circumstance also allows the gas to be conducted and distributed in
pipes of moderate dimensions. Its application, apart from its use as an
illuminant (with which we are not concerned here), was formerly retarded
by its high cost in comparison with Siemens gas and other sources of
heat, but as this state of affairs has been changed by the modern
improvements, its use is rapidly extending, especially for metallurgical
purposes.
C. _Mixed Gas (Semi-Water Gas)._--This class is sometimes called Dowson
gas, irrespective of its method of production, although it was made and
extensively used a long time before J.E. Dowson constructed his
apparatus for generating such a gas principally for driving gas-engines.
By a combination of the processes for generating Siemens gas and water
gas, it is produced by injecting into a gas-producer at the same time a
certain quantity of air and a corresponding quantity of steam, the
latter never exceeding the amount which can be decomposed by the
heat-absorbing reaction, C + H2O = CO + H2, at the expense of the heat
generated by the action of the air in the reaction C + O = CO. Such gas
used to be frequently obtained in an accidental way by introducing
liquid water or steam into an ordinary gas-producer for the purpose of
facilitating its working by avoiding an excessive temperature, such as
might cause the rapid destruction of the brickwork and the fusion of the
ashes of the fuel into troublesome cakes. It was soon found that by
proceeding in this way a certain advantage could be gained in regard to
the consumption of fuel, as the heat abstracted by the steam from the
brickwork and the fuel itself was usefully employed for decomposing
water, its energy thus reappearing in the shape of a combustible gas. It
is hardly necessary to mention explicitly that the total heat obtained
by any such process from a given quantity of carbon (or hydrogen) can in
no case exceed that which is generated by direct combustion; some
inventors, however, whether inadvertently or intentionally, have
actually represented this to be possible, in manifest violation of the
law of the conservation of energy.
Roughly speaking, this gas may be said to be produced by the combination
of the reactions, described _sub_ A and B, to the joint reaction: 2C + O
+ H2O = 2CO + H2. The decomposition of H2O (applied in the shape of
steam) absorbs 57.6 gram calories, the formation of 2CO produces 59 gram
calories; hence there is a small positive excess of 1.4 calories at
disposal. This in reality would not be sufficient to cover the loss by
radiation, &c.; hence rather more free oxygen (i.e. atmospheric air)
must be employed than is represented by the above equation. All this
free oxygen is, of course, accompanied by nearly four times its volume
of nitrogen.
The mixed gas thus obtained differs very much in composition, but is
always much richer in hydrogen (of which it contains sometimes as much
as 20%) and poorer in carbon monoxide (sometimes down to 20%) than
Siemens gas; generally it contains more of CO2 than the latter. The
proportion of nitrogen is always less, about 50%. It is therefore a more
concentrated fuel than Siemens gas, and better adapted to the driving of
gas-engines. It scarcely costs more to make than ordinary Siemens gas,
except where the steam is generated and superheated in special
apparatus, as is done in the Dowson producer, which, on the other hand,
yields a correspondingly better gas. As is natural, its properties are
some way between those of Siemens gas and of water gas; but they
approach more nearly the former, both as to costs and as to fuel-value,
and also as to the temperatures reached in combustion. This is easily
understood if we consider that gas of just the same description can be
obtained by mixing one volume of real water gas with the four volumes of
Siemens gas made during the blowing-up stage--an operation which is
certainly too expensive for practical use.
A modification of this gas is the _Mond gas_, which is made, according
to Mond's patent, by means of such an excess of steam that most of the
nitrogen of the coke is converted into ammonia (Grouven's reaction). Of
course much of this steam passes on undecomposed, and the quantity of
the gas is greatly increased by the reaction C + 2H2O = CO2 + 2H2; hence
the fuel-value of this gas is less than that of semi-water gas made in
other ways. Against this loss must be set the gain of ammonia which is
recovered by means of an arrangement of coolers and scrubbers, and,
except at very low prices of ammonia, the profit thus made is probably
more than sufficient to cover the extra cost. But as the process
requires very large and expensive plant, and its profits would vanish in
the case of the value of ammonia becoming much lower (a result which
would very probably follow if it were somewhat generally introduced), it
cannot be expected to supplant the other descriptions of gaseous fuel to
more than a limited extent.
Semi-water gas is especially adapted for the purpose of driving
gas-engines on the explosive principle (gas-motors). Ordinary
producer-gas is too poor for this purpose in respect of heating power;
moreover, owing to the prevalence of carbon monoxide, it does not light
quickly enough. These defects are sufficiently overcome in semi-water
gas by the larger proportion of hydrogen contained in it. For the
purpose in question the gas should be purified from tar and ashes, and
should also be cooled down before entering the gas-engine. The Dowson
apparatus and others are constructed on this principle.
_Air Gas._--By forcing air over or through volatile inflammable liquids
a gaseous mixture can be obtained which burns with a bright flame and
which can be used for illumination. Its employment for heating purposes
is quite exceptional, e.g. in chemical laboratories, and we abstain,
therefore, from describing any of the numerous appliances, some of them
bearing very fanciful names, which have been devised for its
manufacture. (G. L.)
FUENTE OVEJUNA [_Fuenteovejuna_], a town of Spain, in the province of
Cordova; near the sources of the river Guadiato, and on the Fuente del
Arco-Belmez-Cordova railway. Pop. (1900) 11,777. Fuente Ovejuna is built
on a hill, in a well-irrigated district, which, besides producing an
abundance of wheat, wine, fruit and honey, also contains argentiferous
lead mines and stone quarries. Cattle-breeding is an important local
industry, and leather, preserved meat, soap and flour are manufactured.
The parish church formerly belonged to the knights of Calatrava (c.
1163-1486).
FUENTERRABIA (formerly sometimes written _Fontarabia_; Lat. _Fons
Rapidus_), a town of northern Spain, in the province of Guipuzcoa; on
the San Sebastian-Bayonne railway; near the Bay of Biscay and on the
French frontier. Pop. (1870) about 750; (1900) 4345. Fuenterrabia stands
on the slope of a hill on the left bank of the river Bidassoa, and near
the point where its estuary begins. Towards the close of the 19th
century the town became popular as a summer resort for visitors from the
interior of Spain, and, in consequence, its appearance underwent many
changes and much of its early prosperity returned. Hotels and villas
were built in the new part of the town that sprang up outside the
picturesque walled fortress, and there is quite a contrast between the
part inside the heavy, half-ruined ramparts, with its narrow, steep
streets and curious gable-roofed houses, its fine old church and castle
and its massive town hall, and the new suburbs and fishermen's quarter
facing the estuary of the Bidassoa. Many industries flourish on the
outskirts of the town, including rope and net manufactures, flour mills,
saw mills, mining railways, paper mills.
Fuenterrabia formerly possessed considerable strategic importance, and
it has frequently been taken and retaken in wars between France and
Spain. The rout of Charlemagne in 778, which has been associated with
Fontarabia, by Milton (_Paradise Lost_, i. 587), is generally understood
to have taken place not here but at Roncesvalles (q.v.), which is nearly
40 m. E.S.E. Unsuccessful attempts to seize Fuenterrabia were made by
the French troops in 1476 and again in 1503. In a subsequent campaign
(1521) these were more successful, but the fortress was retaken in 1524.
The prince of Conde sustained a severe repulse under its walls in 1638,
and it was on this occasion that the town received from Philip IV. the
rank of city (_muy noble, muy leal, y muy valerosa ciudad_, "most noble,
most loyal, and most valiant city"), a privilege which involved some
measure of autonomy. After a severe siege, Fuenterrabia surrendered to
the duke of Berwick and his French troops in 1719; and in 1794 it again
fell into the hands of the French, who so dismantled it that it has
never since been reckoned by the Spaniards among their fortified places.
It was by the ford opposite Fuenterrabia that the duke of Wellington, on
the 8th of October 1813, successfully forced a passage into France in
the face of an opposing army commanded by Marshal Soult. Severe fighting
also took place here during the Carlist War in 1837.
FUERO, a Spanish term, derived from the Latin _forum_. The Castillan use
of the word in the sense of a right, privilege or charter is most
probably to be traced to the Roman _conventus juridici_, otherwise known
as _jurisdictiones_ or _fora_, which in Pliny's time were already
numerous in the Iberian peninsula. In each of these provincial _fora_
the Roman magistrate, as is well known, was accustomed to pay all
possible deference to the previously established common law of the
district; and it was the privilege of every free subject to demand that
he should be judged in accordance with the customs and usages of his
proper forum. This was especially true in the case of the inhabitants of
those towns which were in possession of the _jus italicum_. It is not,
indeed, demonstrable, but there are many presumptions, besides some
fragments of direct evidence, which make it more than probable that the
old administrative arrangements both of the provinces and of the towns,
but especially of the latter, remained practically undisturbed at the
period of the Gothic occupation of Spain.[1] The Theodosian Code and the
Breviary of Alaric alike seem to imply a continuance of the municipal
system which had been established by the Romans; nor does the later Lex
Visigothorum, though avowedly designed in some points to supersede the
Roman law, appear to have contemplated any marked interference with the
former _fora_, which were still to a large extent left to be regulated
in the administration of justice by unwritten, immemorial, local custom.
Little is known of the condition of the subject populations of the
peninsula during the Arab occupation; but we are informed that the
Christians were, sometimes at least, judged according to their own laws
in separate tribunals presided over by Christian judges;[2] and the mere
fact of the preservation of the name _alcalde_, an official whose
functions corresponded so closely to those of the _judex_ or _defensor
civitatis_, is fitted to suggest that the old municipal _fora_, if much
impaired, were not even then in all cases wholly destroyed. At all
events when the word _forum_[3] begins to appear for the first time in
documents of the 10th century in the sense of a liberty or privilege,
it is generally implied that the thing so named is nothing new. The
earliest extant written fuero is probably that which was granted to the
province and town of Leon by Alphonso V. in 1020. It emanated from the
king in a general council of the kingdom of Leon and Castile, and
consisted of two separate parts; in the first 19 chapters were contained
a series of statutes which were to be valid for the kingdom at large,
while the rest of the document was simply a municipal charter.[4] But in
neither portion does it in any sense mark a new legislative departure,
unless in so far as it marks the beginning of the era of written
charters for towns. The "fuero general" does not profess to supersede
the _consuetudines antiquorum jurium_ or Chindaswint's codification of
these in the Lex Visigothorum; the "fuero municipal" is really for the
most part but a resuscitation of usages formerly established, a
recognition and definition of liberties and privileges that had long
before been conceded or taken for granted. The right of the burgesses to
self-government and self-taxation is acknowledged and confirmed, they,
on the other hand, being held bound to a constitutional obedience and
subjection to the sovereign, particularly to the payment of definite
imperial taxes, and the rendering of a certain amount of military
service (as the ancient municipia had been). Almost contemporaneous with
this fuero of Leon was that granted to Najera (Naxera) by Sancho el
Mayor of Navarre (_ob._ 1035), and confirmed, in 1076, by Alphonso
VI.[5] Traces of others of perhaps even an earlier date are occasionally
to be met with. In the fuero of Cardena, for example, granted by
Ferdinand I. in 1039, reference is made to a previous forum Burgense
(Burgos), which, however, has not been preserved, if, indeed, it ever
had been reduced to writing at all. The phraseology of that of Sepulveda
(1076) in like manner points back to an indefinitely remote
antiquity.[6] Among the later fueros of the 11th century, the most
important are those of Jaca (1064) and of Logrono (1095). The former of
these, which was distinguished by the unusual largeness of its
concessions, and by the careful minuteness of its details, rapidly
extended to many places in the neighbourhood, while the latter charter
was given also to Miranda by Alphonso VI., and was further extended in
1181 by Sancho el Sabio of Navarre to Vitoria, thus constituting one of
the earliest written _fora_ of the "Provincias Vascongadas." In the
course of the 12th and 13th centuries the number of such documents
increased very rapidly; that of Toledo especially, granted to the
Mozarabic population in 1101, but greatly enlarged and extended by
Alphonso VII. (1118) and succeeding sovereigns, was used as a basis for
many other Castilian fueros. Latterly the word fuero came to be used in
Castile in a wider sense than before, as meaning a general code of laws;
thus about the time of Saint Ferdinand the old Lex Visigothorum, then
translated for the first time into the vernacular, was called the Fuero
Juzgo, a name which was soon retranslated into the barbarous Latin of
the period as Forum Judicum;[7] and among the compilations of Alphonso
the Learned in like manner were an _Espejo de Fueros_ and also the
_Fuero de las leyes_, better known perhaps as the _Fuero Real_. The
famous code known as the _Ordenamiento Real de Alcala_, or _Fuero Viejo
de Castilla_, dates from a still later period. As the power of the
Spanish crown was gradually concentrated and consolidated, royal
pragmaticas began to take the place of constitutional laws; the local
fueros of the various districts slowly yielded before the superior force
of imperialism; and only those of Navarre and the Basque provinces (see
BASQUES) have had sufficient vitality to enable them to survive to
comparatively modern times. While actually owning the lordship of the
Castilian crown since about the middle of the 14th century, these
provinces rigidly insisted upon compliance with their consuetudinary
law, and especially with that which provided that the _senor_, before
assuming the government, should personally appear before the assembly
and swear to maintain the ancient constitutions. Each of the provinces
mentioned had distinct sets of fueros, codified at different periods,
and varying considerably as to details; the main features, however, were
the same in all. Their rights, after having been recognized by
successive Spanish sovereigns from Ferdinand the Catholic to Ferdinand
VII., were, at the death of the latter in 1833, set aside by the
government of Castanos. The result was a civil war, which terminated in
a renewed acknowledgment of the fueros by Isabel II. (1839). The
provisional government of 1868 also promised to respect them, and
similar pledges were given by the governments which succeeded. In
consequence, however, of the Carlist rising of 1873-1876, the Basque
fueros were finally extinguished in 1876. The history of the _Foraes_ of
the Portuguese towns, and of the _Fors du Bearn_, is precisely analogous
to that of the fueros of Castile.
Among the numerous works that more or less expressly deal with this
subject, that of Marina (_Ensayo historico-critico sobre la antigua
legislacion y principales cuerpos legales de los reynos de Leon y
Castilla_) still continues to hold a high place. Reference may also be
made to Colmeiro's _Curso de derecho politico segun la historia de
Leon y de Castilla_ (Madrid, 1873); to Schafer's _Geschichte von
Spanien_, ii. 418-428, iii. 293 seq.; and to Hallam's _Middle Ages_,
c. iv.