FELDSPAR
653
FELLAH
perience is pleasant, but the same experience may be very unpleasant to one who is tired or sick. Again, whatever interferes with our purposes, as the failure to recall a name that we wish to use, the inability to see any suggestion looking toward the solution of the problem at which we are working, the recognition that we have omitted an indispensable step in some work that we are carrying on, are all disagreeable. On the other hand, whatever furthers the purposes of the mind is pleasant.
It will be seen that on this basis disagreeable feelings are the spur that incites us to intenser activity in readjusting ourselves to conditions that at present are unsatisfactory, while agreeable feelings encourage this activity when it is successful or seems likely to prove so. Feeling is the stimulating and relative agency in mental life. It is not so much a result of experience as a judgment on its significance and value.
A similar explanation can be given of the function of the emotions. These are very complex mental conditions in which some exciting object, e. g., a dangerous beast, occupies the focus of attention, but the background of consciousness is made up of a mass of organic sensations arising from the general bodily disturbance that constitute reflex reactions to the terrifying object. These organic disturbances consist in changes in the heart-beat, in the circulation and in the activities of the digestive and secretive organs, as well as vigorous expressions of the outer muscles. The emotions are usually toned with very intense feeling. So important are the organic sensations that Professors James and Lange have declared that without them there is no emotion, but merely an indifferent intellectual apprehension of the exciting object. So far, therefore, as we can stimulate or suppress emotional expressions, we can excite or allay the corresponding emotions. This offers a valuable suggestion to the teacher concerning the importance of encouraging the expression of desirable emotions and discouraging that of others.
The organic and external expressions of emotion may both be regarded as instinctive. In many cases their utility is obvious, as in that of flight because of fear or striking from anger. In other cases, although no longer < useful, they may have served our ancestors. The paralysis of fear, harmful to us, causes the lower animals to lie quiet and thus escape the observation of their enemies. A still more significant function of emotional excitement is brought out by Professor Dewey, who points out that the violent internal disturbances that cause emotions constitute the condition for an immense amount of experimental activity through which eventually the unusual situation that excites the emotion may be sat-
isfactorily dealt with. Emotion like feeling is thus seen to be a spur to readjustment, and frequently a desirable aid to education. See CHILD STUDY, ADOLESCENCE, INTEREST. Consult James '$> Principles of Psychology, Holt & Co.; Angell's Psychology, Holt & Co.; and Ribot's Psychology of the Emotions, Scribners. E. N. HENDERSON.
Feldspar or Felspar, a class of minerals always found in granite rocks and, when decomposed, forming clay. It is what is known as a rock-forming mineral, that is, it is one of the substances that crystallize when lavas solidify into firm rocks or when rock-masses become crystalline from heat and pressure. Feldspars always contain silica and alumina, while the other constituent or constituents vary. There are several varieties, known as soda-feldspar, lime-feldspar, potash-feldspar, etc., according to the composition. In granite the color is given by feldspar, and so we have gray, red or pink granites. Some varieties are used in jewelry, because of their hardness, which admits of a beautiful polish, and of their bright colors. Labradorite, so named because found by Moravian missionaries on the coast of Labrador, is one of the most beautiful kinds used for this purpose; so are a variety which is cut into stones known as moonstone and the Amazon stone, a bright green in color, found at Pike's Peak, Col. Of the clay-formed feldspar-rocks, those which have the most feldspar make the finest clays, such as kaolin, and are much used in porcelain-manufacture.
Felix, Antonius or Claudius, a Roman governor of Judaea in the time of the Apostle Paul. His wife was Drusilla, according to Tacitus, a daughter of A^ntony and Cleopatra. He was an energetic ruler, clearing the country of the robber-bands that abounded and holding the seditious Jews in check. When Paul was brought before him as a prisoner, and he heard him "concerning the faith in Christ," he trembled and said: "Go thy way for this time. When I have a convenient season, I will call for thee." When he was recalled in 62 A. D. to Rome, he left Paul in prison to please the Jews.
Fellah (fel'd), an Arabic word, meaning tiller of the soil. Fellahin are the descendants of the ancient Egyptians, intermingled with Syrians and Arabs. The men are of middle stature, large skull and oval face, thick lips and small hands and feet. The women are slender and graceful, and often of beautiful features. They marry at eleven, become mothers at twelve, and grandmothers at twenty-four. Their food consists almost entirely of vegetables, and their drink is Nile water and coffee. They exhibit the moral qualities of the ancient Egyptians and inherit their traditional hatred against the paying of taxes. See A. B. Edwards' Fellah and Fellahin.
