Falkland Islands (fa̤k′land), a cluster of islands in the south Atlantic, some 250 miles east of Patagonia. The group consists of East and West Falkland, with an area of 6,500 square miles, and about 100 small islands. Some of the islands are filled with myriads of penguins, and the governor has been called the king of the Penguins. The population in 1911 was 2,272. The climate is healthful, and resembles the Orkneys, off Scotland. There are no trees on the islands, neither is coal found there, but peat is plentiful. The chief industry is sheep-raising. The islands were first sighted by Davis in 1592 and received their present name in 1689 from Captain Strong in honor of Lord Falkland, his friend. The chief town is Port Stanley. Since 1833 the islands have belonged to Great Britain.
Fall River, a city of Massachusetts, 49 miles south of Boston, noted as a great cotton-manufacturing center. It contains nearly 42 cotton mills, and more cotton goods are made here than at any other point in America. A very important industry is the dyeing and finishing of textiles, and others are foundry and machine-shop products, etc. It has fine public schools, with a teaching force of 300 and an attendance of 17,100 pupils. The city has a free public library of about 40,000 volumes. Population, 119,295, an increase of over 60 per cent. in 20 years.
Fallieres, Clement Armand, French politician and legislator, born at Mezin in the Department of Lat-et-Garonne in 1841. He now is president of France, having been elected to that office on January 17th, 1906. At 30 he was elected mayor of Nérac, and in 1876 he became a representative in the national chamber of deputies. He was a member of many of the cabinets from 1880 to 1892. He was elected to the senate in 1890 and subsequently acted as president of that body.
Falls of Montmorenci. See Quebec.
Faneuil Hall. See Boston.
Faraday (făr′ȧ-dắ), Michael, the leading physicist of the English-speaking races during the first half of the 19th century, was born in the suburbs of London on Sept. 22, 1791, and died at Hampton Court on Aug. 25, 1867. At 14 he was apprenticed to a bookbinder, and there managed to educate himself largely from the books which were brought in for binding. Having attracted the attention of Sir Humphry Davy by a set of notes which he had prepared on some lectures heard at the Royal Institution, he received an appointment as assistant in chemistry at the Royal Institution. This was the beginning of that remarkable scientific career which led Sir Humphry Davy in his later years to reply to the query: “What do you consider the greatest scientific discovery you have ever made?” “Michael Faraday.” Among Faraday's principal achievements may be mentioned: The discovery of the laws of electromagnetic induction. (See Electricity); of those of electrostatic induction; and of those of electrolysis. (See Electrolysis); of the properties of paramagnetic and diamagnetic bodies; and of a connection between light and electricity, viz., the electromagnetic rotation of polarized light.
Every student should read his Experimental Researches in Electricity. His papers on electrolysis have been edited and reprinted by Professor Goodwin in Harper's Scientific Memoirs.
Faraday was a man of the highest character and beloved by every one who knew him. Many learned societies at home and abroad sought to honor themselves by honoring him. There is a true sense in which Faraday's work was completed by Maxwell, who clothed Faraday's ideas in mathematics, and by Hertz who showed by experiment (1888) that Maxwell's mathematical inferences were correct.
Fargo, a city of North Dakota, the county-seat of Cass County, opposite Moorehead, Minn., situated on the Red River, 254 miles west of Duluth. It is an important commercial and railroad center, having six banks and numerous other public institutions. The region about is a great wheat district, equipped with the latest and most approved farm machinery, and makes Fargo one of the great distributing centers of the U. S. for farm-equipment, as well as a manufacturing point of many articles used in farmwork. Besides a United States land-office, Fargo has the North Dakota Agricultural College, Experiment Station, a Congregational college, a Roman Catholic academy and a number of fine churches and public schools, a handsomely equipped High School, offering manual training as well as several courses. It was a small village in 1874, but now is the largest city in the state. Population 14,331.
Farinelli (fä′rḗ-nĕl′ḗ), Carlo, was one of the best singers of the 18th century. He was born at Naples or at Andria, on Jan. 24, 1705. He sang before nearly all of the European monarchs of his time, and through his voice gained wonderful power over Philip V of Spain, which gave him almost the place of a prime-minister. He died at Bologna on July 15, 1782.
Farjeon (fär′jŭn), B. L., English novelist, was born at London, of Jewish parentage, in 1833. He spent his early journalistic and literary life in New Zealand; he married in 1877 the daughter of Joseph Jefferson, the American comedian; and for a time he employed himself as a playwright. His first story to attract attention was Grif, which appeared in 1870, and dealt with Australian life. This was followed by a
