months, dry fallows, particularly those lying towards the sun with an ascent, are seldom without hares. FORM, in law, the rules established and requisite to be observed in legal proceedings.-The formal part of the law, or method of proceeding, cannot be altered but by parliament for if once these outworks were demolished, there would be an inlet to all manner of innovation in the body of the law itself. FORM is also used among mechanics for a sort of mould whereon any thing is fashioned or wrought. Thus, the Hatter's form is a large block or piece of wood, of a cylindrical figure; the top thereof rounded, and the bottom quite flat. Its use is to mould or fashion the crown of the hat, after the matter thereof has been beaten and fulled. Printer's form, a number of pages of types, few or many, according to the size of the book, laid in order, by the compositor, enclosed in an iron chase, and firmly locked by quoins of wood, so as the whole may at once be laid on the press, for printing. Two forms are required for every sheet; one for each side; but, in many of the sizes of books, both sides of a sheet may be printed on the same form, by laying the pages in a different order, so as those in one end or side of the chase may answer exactly those in the other, when the sheet is turned. This is called half sheet work, because each half of the sheet, when printed, contains a complete copy of the number of pages in the form. FORM, in physics, denotes the manner of being peculiar to each body; or that which constitutes it such a particular body, and distinguishes it from every other. Mr. Harris uses the term form likewise in another sense, as an efficient animating principle; These animating forms,' says he, are of themselves no objects either of the ear or of the eye; but their nature or character is understood in this, that were they never to exert their proper energies on their proper subjects, the marble on which the sculptor exercises his art would remain for ever shapeless, and the harp from which the harper calls forth sounds would remain for ever silent:' that is, in plain language, the former would have no peculiar form, and the latter no sound. Then why waste words and render language unintelligible, by such an ambiguous use of the word form? Philosophy, we humbly apprehend, can never be advanced by confounding cause and effect, as Mr. Harris seems to do in the following definition: The animating form of a natural body is reither its organisation nor its figure, nor any other of those inferior forms which make up the system of its visible qualities; but it is the power, which is yet able to produce, preserve, and employ these.' If words conveying so very different and opposite ideas, as form and power, are to be thus used synonymously, there will soon be an end of all accuracy in philosophical language. Philosophers generally allow two principles of bodies: matter, as the common basis or substratum of all; and form, as that which specifies and distinguishes each; and which, adaed to a quantity of common matter, de.ermines or denominates it this or that; wood, or fire, or ashes, &c. Substantial forms seem to have been first broached by the followers of Aristotle, who thought matter, under different modes or modifications, not sufficient to constitute different bodies; but that something substantial was necessary to set them at a greater distance; and thus introduced substantial forms, on the footing of souls, which specify and distinguish animals. What led to this erroneous notion was the circumstances of life and death: for observing that, as soon as the soul was departed out of a man, all motion, respiration, nutrition, &c., immediately ceased, they concluded that all these functions depended on the soul, and consequently that the soul was the form of the animal body, or that which constituted it such that the soul was a substance independent of matter, nobody doubted; and hence the forms of other hodies were concluded equally substantial. But to this it is answered, that though the soul be that by which man is man, and consequently is the form of the human body, as human; yet it does not follow, that it is properly the form of this body of ours, as it is a body; nor of the several parts thereof, considered as distinct from each other: for those several parts have their proper forms so closely connected with their matter, that it remains inseparable therefrom long after the soul has quitted the body: thus, flesh has the form of flesn, bone of bone, &c., long after the soul is removed, as well as before. The truth is, the body does not become incapable of performing its accustomed functions because the soul has deserted it; but the soul takes its leave because the boay is not in a condition to perform its functions. The ancient and modern corpuscular philosophers, therefore, with the Cartesians, exclude the notion of substantial forms; and show, by many arguments, that the form is only the modus, or manner of the primary modes of matter, viz. figure, rest, and motion, with two others arising therefrom, viz. magnitude and situation, the form of all bodies they hold to consist therein; and suppose the variations these modes are capable of, sufficient to present all the variety observable in bodies. Forms are usually distinguished into essential and accidental. FORMS, ACCIDENTAL, are those really inherent in bodies, but in such a manner as that the body may exist in all its perfection without them. Such as whiteness on a wall, heat in water, a figure of a man in wax, &c. FORMS, ESSENTIAL. Though the five modes above mentioned, generally taken, be adventitious; yet to this or that body, e.g. to fire or water, they are essential; thus, it is accidental to iron to have this or that magnitude, figure, or situation, since it might exist in different ones; yet to a knife or hammer, the figure, magnitude, and position of parts which constitute it a hammer or knife are essential; and they cannot exist or be conceived without them. Hence it is infeired, that though there be no substantial, there are essential, forms, whereby the several species of bodies become what they are, and are distinguished from all others. FORMA PAUPERIS, is when a person has just cause of suit, but is so poor that he cannot de fray the usual charges of suing at law or in equity; in which case, on making oath that he is not worth £5 in the world, on all his debts being paid, and producing a certificate from some law yer that he has good cause of suit, the judge will admit him to sue in formâ pauperis; that is, without paying any fee to counsellors, attorneys, or clerk; the statute 11 Hen. VII. c. 12, having enacted, that counsel and attorneys, &c., shall be assigned to such poor persons gratis. Where it appears that any pauper has sold or contracted for the benefit of his suit, whilst it is depending in court, such cause shall be thenceforth totally dismissed; and a person suing in forma pauperis shall not have a new trial granted him, but is to acquiesce in the judgment of the court. FORMAN (Andrew), archbishop of St. Andrews, earl of Pittenweem, and of Cottingham in England, and primate of all Scotland. He was employed in 1501, along with archbishop Blackader, and Patrick, earl of Bothwell, to negociate a match between James IV. of Scotland, and Margaret, eldest daughter of Henry VII. of England; which was next year ratified by the Scottish ambassadors. He was afterwards employed as Scots ambassador to Rome, England, and France, upon the most important occasions. In 1502 he was appointed archbishop of Moray, and in 1514 archbishop of St. Andrew's. Previous to this last promotion, he was employed as mediator betwixt pope Julius II. and Louis XII. of France, and he succeeded in conciliating the difference. Having taken leave of the pope, he passed through France, where he was kindly received by Louis, who bestowed upon him the bishopric of Bourges, which brought him in 400 tons of wines, 10,000 franks of gold annually, besides other revenues. He was also liberally rewarded by Julius, who, besides the archbishopFic, conferred on him the two rich abbeys of Dunfermline and Aberbrothic; and made him his legate a latere. In 1517 he was appointed by the states one of the lords of the regency, during the minority of James V., on occasion of the duke of Albany's going to France. Archbishop Forman died in 1521, and was buried at Dunfermline. According to Dempster, he wrote a book against Luther, another concerning the Stoic Philosophy, and a Collection out of Decretals. FORMEDON, in law (breve de forma donationis), a writ that lies for a person who has a right to lands or tenements, by virtue of any entail, arising from the statute of Westm. 2 Ch. II. This writ is of three kinds, viz.:- Formedon in descender lies where a tenant in tail infeoffs a stranger, or is disseised and dies, and the heir may bring this writ to recover the lands. Formedon in remainder lies where a man gives lands, &c. to a person in tail, and, for default of issue of his body, the remainder to another in tail: here if the tenant in tail die without issue, and a stranger abates and enters into the land, he in remainder shall have this writ. Formedon in reverter lies where lands are entailed on certain persons and their issue, with remainder over for want of issue; and, on that remainder failing, then to revert to the donor and his heirs in this case, if the tenant in tail dies without issue, and also he in remainder, the donor and his heirs, to whom the reversion returns, may have this writ for the recovery of the estate, though the same be alienated, &c. FORMENTERA, the ancient Pithyusa Minor, is the second of the Pithyusa Islands, situated to the south of Ivica, from which it is separated by a channel four miles wide. It belongs to Spain, and contains about 1200 inhabitants. Long. 1° 23′ 20′′ E., lat. 38° 37′ 6′′ N. FOR'MER, adj. Į 'From Sax. Foɲma, first; FOR MERLY, adv. ( whence former, and formost, now commonly written foremost, as if derived from before. Foremost is generally applied to place, rank, or degree, and former only to time,' says Dr. Johnson: but both former and foremost are the degrees of Sax. poɲe, anterior (either in time or place), and meaning respectively, more, and most fore. See FORE. Before another in time, or place; mentioned before another; past; as this was the custom in former times.' A bad author deserves better usage than a bad critick: a man may be the former merely through the misfortune of an ill judgment; but he cannot be the latter without both that and an ill temper. Pope. As an animal degenerates by diseases, the animal salts, formerly benign, approach towards an alkaline nature. Arbuthnot. The present point of time is all thou hast, The future doubtful, and the former past. Harte. FORMEY (John Henry Samuel), a celebrated Prussian writer, born at Berlin in 1711. He became pastor of a French church in that city, in which office he continued for several years, but resigned it on being chosen professor of philosophy in the French college; and, upon the restoration of the Royal Academy of Sciences at Berlin, hr was appointed secretary to the philosophical department, and afterwards made sole secretary. He was also chosen a privy counsellor. Formey, in conjunction with Beausobre, conducted the Bibliothéque Germanique; besides which he was the author of 1. Le Philosophe Chrétien; 2. Pensées Raisonnables; 3. Anti-Emile, against Rousseau; 4. The History of Philosophy Abridged; 5. An Abridgment of Ecclesiastical History; 6. Researches on the Elements of Matter; 7. Thoughts on the Tusculums of Cicero, &c. He died in 1797. Some of his works have been translated into English. FORMIA, or FORMIE, in ancient geography, a maritime town of the Adjected, or New Latium, on the south-east of Cajeta; built by the Lacedemonians, called originally Hormiæ, on account of its commodious harbour. It was an ancient municipium, but is now in ruins, near Mola. FORMIANI, the people of Formia, who were admitted to the liberty of the city the year in which Alexandria was built, but not to the right of suffrage till long after the second Punic war. FORMICA, in entomology, a genus of insects of the hymenoptera order, which have four feelers, with cylindrical articulations placed at the tip of the lip, which is cylindrical and membranaceous: anternæ filiform, a small erect scale between the thorax and the abdomen; males and females with wings; neuters wingless. See ENTOMO LOGY. La Marck explains the genus somewhat differently, and by the adoption of his character, several of the Linnaan and Fabrician formica are excluded. This writer lays down the essential character as follows: antennæ filiform and broken, the first joint very long; feelers unequal, the anterior pair longer; mandibles strong; tongue short, concave and truncated. To this is added, as a secondary character, that the abdomen is attached to the corselet by a pedicle, bearing a small scale, or vertical knob; and that of each species there are three kinds, males, females, and neuters, which latter are without wings. The larva destitute of feet. The species, according to Fabricius, are above ninety. See ANT: where we have described at some length the habits of this well-known insect. We shall, however, here give a short account from Mr. Huber of the masonry and buildings of the brown ants:-Their nests are formed of parallel or concentric stories, each four or five lines in height; the partitions being about half a line in thickness, and built of such fine materials that the interior appears perfectly smooth. On examining each of these stories, we discover chambers of different sizes, having long galleries of communication. The ceilings of the larger species are supported by small pillars, sometimes by slender walls, and in other cases by arches. Some cells have but a single entrance; others have passages, which open from the story underneath. In other parts, still larger central spaces, or halls, are met with, in which a great number of passages terminate, like the streets and avenues to a market-place. The whole nest often contains twenty of these stories above the level of the ground, and at least as many below it. The use of this numerous series of rooms will appear in the sequel. The surface of the nest is covered with a thicker wall, and has several doors, admitting, in the day-time, free ingress and egress. This species of ant is unable to bear much heat. During the day, therefore, and particularly when the sun shines, their doors are closed; and they either keep at home, or venture out only through the subterraneous passages. When the dew has given freshness to the nest, and softened the earthy materials on its surface, they begin to make their appearance above ground. On the first shower of rain that occurs, the whole swarm are apprised of it, and immediately resume their architectural labors. While some are engaged in moving the earth below, others are employed in building an additional story on the top; the masons making use of the materials furnished by the miners. The plan of the cells and partitions is first traced in relief on the walls, which are seen gradually to rise, leaving empty spaces between them. The beginnings of pillars indicate the situation of the future halls; and the rising partitions show the form of the intended passages. Upon the plan thus traced, they continue building, till they have arrived at a sufficient elevation. Masses of moistened earth are then applied at right angles to the tops of the walls, on each side, and continued in a horizontal direction till they meet in the middle. The ceilings of the larger chambers are completed in the same manner; the workers beginning from the angle of the walls, and from the tops of the pillars which have been raised in the centre. The largest of these chambers, which might be compared to the town-hall, and is frequently more than two inches in diameter, is completed with apparently as much ease as the rest. This busy crowd of masons arriving in every direction, laden with materials for the building, hastening to avail themselves of the rain to carry on their work, and yet observing the most perfect order in their operations, must present the most interesting and amusing spectacle. They raise a single story in about seven or eight hours, forming a general roof as a covering to the whole; and they go on, adding other stories, so long as the rain affords them facility of moulding the materials. FORMIC ACID. It has long been known that ants contain a strong acid which they occasionally emit; and which may be obtained from the ants, either by simple distillation, or by infusion of them in boiling water, and subsequent distillation of as much of the water as can be brought over without burning the residue. After this it may be purified by repeated rectifications, or by boiling to separate the impurities; or after rectification it may be concentrated by frost. The existence of this acid was first made known by Mr. Ray, in a correspondence with Dr. Hulse. The doctor informed him that these insects, when irritated, give out a clear liquid, which tinges blue flowers red; a fact which had been observed by others. Hence it was found to be an acid, which was obtained by bruising the insects, by distilling them, and by infusing them in water. The French chemists obtained the acid by bruising ants, and macerating them in alcohol. When the alcohol was distilled over, an acid liquor remained, which saturated with lime, mixed with sulphuric acid, and distilled, yielded a liquid that possessed all the properties of acetic acid This acid has been thought by some chemists, and especially by Margraaf, to be acetic acid, or at least to have a great analogy to vinegar; and by others to be a mixture of acetic and malic acid. A minute examination of it, however, sufficiently proves, that it differs very essentially from both, whether separate or in conjunction, quite as much, indeed, as these differ from each other; it differs in its specific gravity, its effects with alkalies, its metallic salts, and its affinities. Thouvenel, on the contrary, contended, that it is very closely related to the phosphoric, or, as he calls it, the microcosmic; but he has not stated in what the relation or analogy consists. Lister affirmed that he had extracted a similar acid from wasps and bees; but Arvidson and Oehrn failed in making the attempt after him, nor has any one been able to succeed since. This acid has a very sour taste, and continues liquid even at very low temperatures. Its specific gravity is 1'1168 at 68°, which is much denser than acetic acid ever is. Berzelius finds, that the formiate of lead consists of 4.696 acid, and 14 oxide of lead; and that the ultimate constituents of the dry acid are hydrogen 2.84 + carbon 32.40+ oxygen 64.76 100. M. Dobereiner has recently succeeded (see Gilbert's Annales, xi. 107) in forming this acid artificially. When a mixture of tartaric acid, or of cream of tartar, black oxide of manganese and water is heated, a tumultuous action ensues, carbonic acid is evolved, and a liquid acid distils over, which, on superficial examination, was mistaken for acetic acid, but which now proves to be formic acid. This acid, mixed with concentrated sulphuric acid, is at common temperatures converted into water and carbonic oxide; nitrate of silver or of mercury converts it, when gently heated, into carbonic acid, the oxides being at the same time reduced to the metallic state. With barytes, oxide of lead, and oxide of copper, it produces compounds having all the properties of the genuine formiates of these metals. If a portion of sulphuric acid be employed in the above process, the tartaric acid is resolved entirely into carbonic acid, water, and formic acid; and the product of the latter is much increased. The best proportions are, two parts tartaric acid, five peroxide of manganese, and five sulphuric acid diluted with about twice its weight of water. FORMICA-LEO, the ant-lion, in zoology, an insect so called from its devouring great numbers of ants. It is the caterpillar worm of a fly much resembling the libellula or dragon-flies. It has, in its general figure, somewhat of the appearance of the wood-louse, so that some have mistaken it at first sight for that animal. It is of a dirty grayish color, marked with black spots; and these also appear composed of many points when viewed with a microscope. Its body is composed of several rings, and has thence a wrinkled look. It has six legs; four are joined to the breast, and the other two to a longer part, which may be taken for its neck. Its head is small and flat, and it has two remarkable horns: these are about a sixth part of an inch long, and as thick as a hair: they are hard, hollow, and hooked at the end like the claws of a cat. At the origin of each of these horns, it has a clear and bright black eye, which sees very distinctly, and gives the creature notice to escape on sight of the smallest object. This creature is not able to hunt after its prey, nor to destroy large in sects; it can only draw into its snares such as come near its habitation, and of these very few are such as he can manage: all the winged kind are able to escape by flight; and the beetle kinds, and others that have hard shells upon their bodies, are of no use, as his horns cannot pierce them. The smallness of the ant, and the want of wings in the neuters, make them the destined prey of this devourer. The manner in which he catches his prey is as follows:-He usually encamps under an old wall, that he may be sheltered from the injuries of the weather; and he always chooses a place where the soil is com posed of a fine dry sand. In this he makes a pit of the shape of a funnel, or an inverted hollow cone. If he intends the pit to be but small, he thrusts down his hinder part into the sand, and by degrees plunges himself backwards into it; and, when he has got into a certain depth, he tosses out the loose sand which has run down with his head, artfully throwing it off beyond the edges of his pit. Thus he lies at the bottom of a small hollow, which is widest at the top, and comes sloping down to his body. But if he is to make a larger pit,. more pains are required to bring it to perfection. He first traces, in the surface of the sand, a large circle, which is the erected base or mouth of the pit he is to make in form of an inverted cone. He then buries himself in the sand near the edge of this circle, and carefully throwing up the sand above him, with his head, tossing it out beyond the circumference of the circle. Thus he continues his work, running down backwards in a spiral line all the way, and carefully throws off the sand from above him, till he is come to the place of his rest, which is the point or reverted apex of the hollow cone he has formed by his passage. The length of his neck, and the flatness of his head, give him a power of using the whole as a spade, and throwing off the sand with great ease; and his strength in this part is so great, that he is able to throw off a quantity of it to six inches distance. This is a power he exerts oftener, however, in throwing away the remains of the animals he has fed upon, that his den may not become frightful to others of the same species, by seeing their fellows' carcases about it. When this insect forms its pit in a bed of pure sand, it is made and repaired with great ease: but where it meets with other substances among the sand, the labor becomes more embarrassing. If, for instance, when the creature has half formed its pit, it comes to a stone of some moderate size, it does not desert the work for this, but goes on, intending to remove that impediment at last. When the pit is finished, the creature crawls backward up the side of the place where the stone is, and, getting its back under it, takes great pains and time to get it on a true poise, and then begins to crawl backwards with it up the edge to the top of the pit, to get it out of the way. It is a very common thing to see a formica-leo in this manner laboring at a stone four times as big as its own body; and as it can only move backward, and the poise is hard to keep, especially up a slope of such crumbly matter as sand, which moulders away from under its feet, and necessarily alters the position of its body, the stone very frequently falls down when near the verge, and rolls to the bottom. In this case the animal attacks it again in the same way, and often is not discouraged by five or six miscarriages of this kind; but attempts again, and at length gets it over the verge of the place. When it has done this, it does not leave it there, lest it should roll in again; but always pushes it farther on, till it has removed it to a necessary distance from the edge of the pit. When he has finished his pit, he buries himself at the bottom of it among the sand, leaving no part above ground but the tips of his two horns, which he expands to the two sides of his pit. In this condition he lies and waits for his prey. When an ant, or any other insect chances to walk over the edges of his pit, its steps throw down a little of the sand, which naturally running down to the bottom of the pit, gives the enemy notice of his prey; he then tosses up the sand which covers his head, to bury the ant, and bring him down with its returning force to the bottom; and as one such attempt cannot be sufficient to prevent the ant's escape, he throws more and more sand upon him, till he by degrees brings him down. All the endeavours of the ant to escape, when once it is within the verge of the pit, are in vain; for as it attempts to climb, the sand runs away from under its feet, it sinks the lower for every attempt. This motion of the sand also informs the enemy where it is, and directs him to throw up more sand in the right place; which it does, till the poor ant falls to the bottom between its horns. It then plunges the points deep into the ant's body; and, having sucked all the juice out of the prey, it throws out the empty skin as far from the hole as it can. This done, it mounts up the edges of its pit, and, if it has suffered any injury, repairs it with great care, and immediately buries itself again in the centre to wait for another meal. The horns of this creature are its only organs for receiving nourishment; it never brings any animal which it has seized near to its head, but always holds it at the tip of the horns. They therefore plainly serve as syringes, to draw into its stomach the juices of the bodies of the insects it feeds upon: neither is there any mouth or trunk, or any other organ to be discovered about its head, which could answer the purpose of eating; the head seeming only intended for throwing away the sand in forming the pit. The horns of this animal being so necessary to its life, nature has provided for the restoring them in case of accidents; and, if cut off, they are found to grow again. When the formica-leo has lived a proper time in this state, it leaves its pit, and is only seen drawing lines and traces on the surface of the and. After this it buries itself under the surface; and there encloses itself in a fine web, in which it is to pass its transformation into the winged state. This case is made of a sort of silk which the creature spins in the manner of the spider, and of a quantity of the grains of sand cemented together by a glutinous humor which flows from its pores. This case, however, would be too harsh and coarse for the body of the creature, and therefore it serves only for the outer covering to defend it from injuries; the creature spinning one of fine silk, of a beautiful pearl color within it, which covers its whole body. When the creature has lain some time in this manner, it throws off its outer skin, with the eyes, horns, and every other part necessary to its life before, and becomes an oblong nymph, in which a careful eye may trace the form of the fly into which it is to be transformed. There may be seen, through its transparent covering, new eyes, new horns, wings, and all the other parts of the animal in its perfect state. This nymph makes its way about half out of the shell, and remains in this condition, but without far ther life or motion, till the perfect fly makes its way out at a slit in the back. In this last state it much resembles the libellulæ or dragon-flies, common about our waters. The male couples with the female in this state only; and M. Poupart, to whom the world is indebted for this curious description, is of opinion that the females lay only one egg; but this is very different from the course of nature in the other animals of the same class. FORMICHE, a cluster of small fishing islands, between the coast of Florence and Corsica. They are in lat. 42° 40′ N., and long. 10° 25′ E. FORMICATION, n. s. From Lat. formica, an ant. A sensation like that produced by the creeping or biting of ants. One of the signs of this disorder (spasmus) is a sense of formication. Hill's Medical Dictionary. FOR MIDABLE, adj. Fr. formidable; Lat. FOR MIDABLENESS, n. s. formidabilis, à formiFOR MIDABLY, adv. do, to fear. Terrible; dreadful; tremendous; to be feared: the last is its most distinguishing meaning. It is applied to that which is apt to excite fear. The formidable acts neither suddenly nor violently: thus it differs from dreadful, which is usually considered as its synonyme; for the dreadful may act violently, but not suddenly: thus the appearance of an army may be formidable; that of a field of battle is dreadful. Behold! c'en to remoter shores, Dryden They seemed to fear the formidable sight, And rolled their billows on, to speed his flight. Id. I swell my preface into a volume, and make it formidable, when you see so many pages behind. Dryden's Eneid, Dedication. of their danger, than by a blind embracing it, to perish. They rather chust to be shewed the formidableness Decay of Piety. But let fancy muster up all the discouraging circumstances, and set them in the most formidable light, to bar your way to a supposed duty. Mason. France continued not only powerful, but formidable, to the hour of the ruin of the monarchy. Burke. ARNOLD.-Rival! CÆSAR.-I could be one right formidable. Byron. Deformed Transformed. FORMOSA, or Taiwan, an island in the Pacific Ocean, about 100 miles east of Canton in China, separated from the province of Fokien by a strait about sixty miles broad. Its most productive portion is subject to the Chinese; who, however, knew not of its existence until 1430. It is about eighty leagues long, and twenty-five broad. A long chain of mountains, which runs from north to south, divides it into two parts, the east and west. The Dutch formed an establishment in the west part in 1634, and built the fort of Zealand, which secured to them the principal port of the island; but they were driven thence in 1659 or 1661, by a celebrated Chinese pirate, who made himself master of all the western part, which afterwards submitted in 1682 to the authority of the emperor Kang-He. This western part of Formosa is divided into three distinct governments, all subordinate to the |