3
FUMARIACEÆ.
tion. At an early age he was apprenticed to a jeweler in Philadelphia, and in addition to de- voting himself to this trade, he applied him- self to painting. The sale of his portraits and landscapes enabled him, in the space of four years, to buy a small farni^ on which he placed his widowed mother. At the age of twenty-two he proceeded to London, where he studied paint- ing under Sir Benjamin West; but after several years thus spent he abandoned painting to de- vote himself wholly to mechanics. Some works that he executed in Devonshire obtained for him the patronage of the Duke of Bridgewater and of the Earl of Stanhope. In 1794 he ob- tained from the British Government a patent for an inclined plane, the object of which was to displace canal locks, and in the same year he in- vented a mill for sawing and polishing marble. His next invention was a machine for spinning flax, followed by one for making ropes. He was received as a civil engineer in 1795, and wrote a work on canals, in which he developed his sys- tem and ideas. Accepting an invitation from the United States Minister at Paris, he pro- ceeded to that city in 1796, and remained there for seven years, devoting himself to new projects and inventions. Among the inventions developed here was the Nautilus, or submarine boat, carry- ing torpedoes, invented to be used in naval war- fare ; but he was unable to secure its adoption by either the French, British, or United States Gov- ernment. He next turned his attention to a sub- ject that had frequently occupied his mind before, and about which he had written a treatise in 1793, viz. the application of steam to navigation. In 1803 he constructed a small steamboat, and his experiments with it on the Seine were at- tended with great success. The French Govern- ment, however,, did not give him any encour- agement, but he had the cooperation of Robert Livingston, the Minister of the United States to France, who assisted Fulton in his experi- ments. Returning in 1806 to New York, Fulton superintended the construction of a larger steam- ship provided with an English engine. In 1807 he launched the Clermont upon the Hudson, which started off on her trip to Albany in the presence of thousands of astonislied spectators. At the beginning the average speed was only about five miles an hour, which was considered a great achievement. From this perio<l steamers, for tlie use of which on the waters of New York State Fulton and Livingston were granted a monopoly by the Legislature, came into gen- eral use upon the rivers of the United States. Although Fulton was not the first to apply steam to navigation, as a steam-vessel had been tried upon the Forth and Clyde Canal as early as 1789, and by Rumsey and Fitch in Amer- ica in 1780-87, yet he was the first to do so with any degree of success. His reputation as an engineer and inventor was now firmly established, and he was employed by the I'niteil States (Joveriiment in the execution of various projects with reference to camUs and other en- gineering works. In 1814 he obtained the assent of Congress to constnict a steam-frigate, which was launched in the following year. Though the labors of Fulton were attended with such great success, various lawsuits in which he was en- gaged in reference to the use of some of his patents prevented him from ever l)eeoniing
wealthy; and anxiety, as well as excessive appli- cation, tended to shorten his days. His death in New York, February 24, 1815, produced ex- traordinary demonstrations of mourning through- out the United States, He married, in 1806, a niece of Robert Livingston, United States Minister to France. His published works in- cluded: A Treatise on the Improvement of Canal Navigation (1796) ; Letters on Submarine Navi- gation (1806); Torpedo War (1810); Letter to the Secretary of the Navy on the Practical Use of the Torpedo (1811) ; Report on the Practica- bility of Navigating with Steamboats on the Southern Waters of the United States (1813); Memorial of Robert Fulton and Edward P. Liv- ingston in Regard to Steamboats (1814) ; Advan- tages of the Proposed Canal from Lake Erie to the Hudson River (1814). Consult: Thurston, History of the Groicth of the Steam Engine (New York, 1878) : Golden, Life of Robert Ful- ton (New York, 1817) ; Reixart, Life of Fulton (Philadelphia, 1856) ; Knox, Fulton and Steam Navigation (New York, 1886).
FUL'VIA. Daughter of :M. Fulvius Bambalio of Tusculum. She married first P. Clodius, and their daughter afterwards became the wife of Oe- tavianus ( Augustus ) . In B.C. 44 she married Mar- cus Antonius, with whom she was deeply in love, and into all whose ambitious plans she entered with enthusiasm. Cicero was murdered in 43, and when his head was brought to Antonius, Fulvia is said to have pierced with her needle, in vindic- tive spite, the tongue that had uttered so many reproaches against her husband. But Antonius in the East fell into the snares of Cleopatra, and Fulvia attempted to stir up a riot in order to secure his recall to Rome, but failed and was banished from Italy. At Athens Fulvia and An- tonius met, and he reproached her so bitterly for her part in political affairs that she retired to Sicyon in despair, and died there shortly after (B.C. 40).
FXT'MAGE (OF. fumage, :ML. fumagium, fuel, from Lat. fumus, smoke). In the law of England, a chimney tax, commonly called smoke-farthing. This tax is mentioned in Domesday as paid by custom to the King for every chimney in the house. Edward, the Black Prince, is said to have imposed a tax of a florin for every hearth in his French dominions. The first statutory enactment on the subject in England is 13 and 14 Car. XL, ch. 10, whereby a tax of 2s. on every hearth in all houses paying to Church and poor was granted to the King forever. This tax was abolished in 1689.
FU′MARIA′CEÆ (Neo-Lat. nom. pl., from Fumaria, from Lat. fumus, smoke). An order of herbaceous plants with water}' juice; alternate, much divided leaves; calyx of two deciduous sepals; corolla of four very irregular, white, yel- low, pale red, crimson, or purplish petals; stamens sometimes four and distinct, more generally six, and in two bundles; ovary free, one-celled, one- seeded, or many seeded : and seeds with large albu- men. Botanically. the Fumariaceae are regarded as most nearly approaching the Pjipaveracea* (pop- py, etc.) : but their genenil aspect is very dif- ferent, and they do not possess the same powerful properties. More than one hundred species are known, mostly natives of temperate climates in the Northern Hemisphere, some of great beauty in both flower and foliage. Bleeding-heart {Di-
