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FINLEY 136 FIRE ALABM 40', and between Ion. 23° and 30° 10' E. It has a length of 260 miles, by a vary- ing width of between 25 and 90 miles. FINLEY, JOHN HUSTON, an Ameri- can educator; born in 1863 at Grand Eidge, 111. He was educated at Knox College and at Johns Hopkins Univer- sity. From 1892 to 1899 he served as president of Knox College, and after that as editor of "Harper's Weekly," and later of "McClure's Magazine." Princeton University appointed him in 1900 professor of politics, and three years later he was elected president of the College of the City of New York. In 1913 he becairte Commissioner of Education for the State of New York, a position he still holds. In 1917 he went to France as special commissioner representing the State of New York in matters pertaining to education. He is the author of many periodical articles and reviews, and his recent books are: "The French in the Heart of America" (1914) ; "French Schools in War Time" (1917) ; "A Pilgrim in Palestine" (1918). FINNAN, or FINDON, a fishing vil- lage of Scotland, Kincardine county; 6 miles S. of Aberdeen. It has been long celebrated for its preparation of smoked haddocks, known far and wide as "Fin- nan haddocks," or "baddies." This deli- cacy is prepared by gutting, cleaning, splitting, and smoking the fish. The most particular part of the process is the smoking, which should be done by the green branches of the fir tree, or still better, spruce; thus communicating to the fish its peculiar odor and bright yellow color. FIORD, an inlet of the sea, generally long, narrow, and deep; a term applied in Scandinavian countries to any bay, creek, or arm of the sea which extends inland, and sometimes used to express an inland lake or considerable sheet of water; as, Sogne Fiord. The fiords of Iceland, like those which indent the gra- nitic coasts of Norway, were formed by immense flows of lava, raised and rent by subterraneous forces. In the S. part of the island, the caverns, basaltic colon- nades, and natural arches of Stapi re- mind one of the strangest formations of Ireland, and the beautiful grotto of Antrim. These gulfs, often but half a mile in width, extend as far as 5 or 6 miles into the mountains, where they are suiTounded on all sides by perpendicular rocks, rising to an immense height. FIR, the common name of a large number of coniferous trees, of a pyra- midal form^ and elegant proportions. This name is often used in a sense co- extensive with the widest sense of the word Pine {q. v.), and therefore so as to include a large portion of the Pina- cese (coniferse) , or at least the whole of the Linnsean genus Pinus. But the name fir is also often used in a more restricted signification, and the trees so designated are those forming the genus Abies of some authors, Abies and Picea of others, which the greater number of botanists have now agreed in separating from Pinus. In the classification of Lindley, all the firs are included in the genus Abies. The common silver fir, Abies picea, has erect cylindrical cones, 5-6 inches long, and two-rowed leaves, with two white lines upon the under side. It forms considerable woods upon the mountains of central Europe and of the N. of Asia, and attains a height of 150-180 feet, and an age of 300 years. The wood is white, contains little resin, is very soft and light, and is employed for the ordinary purposes of coopers, turn- ers, and joiners, and in ship and house carpentry, also for making bandboxes, and for many fine purposes, especially for the sounding-boards of musical in- struments. It yields the beautiful clear turpentine known as Strassburg turpen- tine. Very similar to the silver fir, but generally of much smaller size, and indeed seldom much above 40 feet in height, is the Balm-of-Gilead fir (Abies bal- samea) , a native of the United States, from Virginia to Canada. The wood is of little value, but the tree yields the Canada balsam. (See Turpentine.) The other important species of firs will be seen under their particular names. FIRDAXJSI (fer-dou'se) , or FIRDUSI (-do-se), a Persian poet; lived from about 935 to about 1020. His true name was Abul Kasim Mansur. He is the greatest of Persian epic poets. In 1010, after 35 years of labor, was completed his first heroic epic, the "Shah-Namah" (King's Book), in about 80,000 distichs; it recounts the ancient Persian tradi- tions of heroism. His other great poem, "Jussuf and Zullkha," a religious-roman- tic epos, is founded on the Biblical story of Joseph and Potiphar's wife. He lived long at the court of Mahmud of Ghazni. FIRE ALARM, elective signaling equipment connected by wire with a central office for the purpose of notify- ing the fire department in case of fire. The instrument is usually reduced to its simplest dimensions so that people not familiar with the system may operate it. Fire-alarm boxes contain devices to make and break electric currents. There is usually a wheel provided with teeth separated by a non-conducting substance