Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume VII.djvu/147

FERDINAND (TUSCANY) FERGUSON 139 for a short time in 1815, when Murat pro- claimed the independence of Italy. The battle of Waterloo restored him. FERDINAND IV., grand duke of Tuscany and archduke of Austria, grandson of the prece- ding, born June 10, 1835. He married Anna Maria, daughter of the king of Saxony, in 1856, and began to reign in 1859, after the abdica- tion of his father Leopold II. ; but a few months later the Tuscan constituent assembly declared in favor of annexation to Sardinia, which was consummated March 22, 1860, and which involved the forfeiture of the grand- ducal crown of Tuscany. FERDINAND (Augustus Francis Anthony), titular king of Portugal, born Oct. 29, 1816. He is a son of Prince Ferdinand of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. In 1836 he became the second husband of Queen Maria II. of Portugal, and the title of king was conferred on him, Sept. 16, 1837. After the death of the queen (Nov. 15, 1853) he was regent during the minority of his son, the late Pedro Y., which ended Sept. 16, 1855. In 1870 he declined the Spanish crown offered to him by Prim and Serrano. He excels as a painter and engraver, and possesses many other accomplishments. He married on June 10, 1869, Eliza Ilensler, born in Boston, Mass., in 1840. She is the daughter of a German shoemaker. Possessing remarkable beauty of person and voice, she was educated for the opera, and first appeared in New York in her 16th year. She afterward studied in Paris, sang at the Grand Opera with little success, and went to Lisbon, where she became a favor- ite. Ferdinand procured for her the title of countess of Edla previous to marrying her. FERENTINO (anc. Ferentinum), a town of Italy, in the province and 40 m. S. E. of the city of Rome ; pop. about 8,000. It is situated nearly 1,600 ft. above the sea, and is sur- rounded by ancient walls built of hewn stone without mortar. The cathedral is paved with ancient marbles and mosaics. Ferentino is cel- ebrated for its splendid view over the Volscian mountains, for its mineral springs, and for its antiquities. Besides large portions of the walls built in the Cyclopean style of large ir- regular and polygonal blocks, there are many other interesting remains of Roman structures and numerous inscriptions. The ancient Fe- rentinum seems, judging from the remains, to have been an important place, although little mention is made of it in history beyond the fact that Hannibal devastated it in 211 B. 0. Horace alludes to Ferentinum as a remote country town, but he is supposed to refer to another place of the same name in Tuscany. FERGUSON, Adam, a Scottish philosopher and historian, born at Logierait, Perthshire, in 1724, died in St. Andrews, Feb. 22, 1816. He was educated in Perth and in the university of St. Andrews, and studied theology in Edinburgh, where he became associated with Robertson, Blair, and Home. In 1745, though he had stu- died but half the required term, he was ordained, in consequence of having been selected for his knowledge of the Gaelic language to act as chaplain of one of the highland regiments, which he accompanied to Flanders. He re- mained in this situation till 1757, when he be- came conspicuous by his defence of the moral- ity of stage plays, written upon occasion of the success of his friend Home's tragedy of " Douglas." In 1759 he was elected professor of natural philosophy in the university of Ed- inburgh, and in 1764 of moral philosophy. In 1778 he came to America as secretary of the commission appointed to negotiate with the revolted colonies, his place in the university being supplied during his year's absence by Dugald Stewart, who in 1785 became his suc- cessor. In his 70th year he paid a visit to the principal cities of the continent, and was elected a member of several learned societies. The last years of his life were passed in St. Andrews, where he observed a strictly Pytha- gorean diet. His " History of the Progress and Termination of the Roman Republic " (1783) is valuable for its philosophical reflections, clearness of style, and masterly portraitures of character. His "Essay on the History of Civil Society" (176 7) discusses the origin, end, and form of. government, affirms the natural sociability of men, in opposition to the hy- pothesis of Hobbes of their natural hostility, and defends civilization against the charges of Rousseau. His philosophical views are con- tained in his " Institutes of Moral Philosophy " (1769), and in his " Principles of Moral and Political Science " (1792). He belongs by his general method to the school of Bacon, recom- mending everywhere experience and the study of facts as the condition of successful research. FERGUSON, James, a Scottish experimental philosopher and astronomer, born near Keith, Banffshire, in 1710, died in London, Nov. 16, 1776. His father, a day laborer, taught him to read and write, which was the only educa- tion he was able to bestow on his children. When seven or eight years of age his attention was attracted to mechanics by observing his father raise a heavy weight with a lever. He investigated the principle and made several machines combining the lever and the pulley, which he described in a treatise with draw- ings. On showing this to a gentleman, he was surprised to find that those things had been treated of before, but was equally pleased that he had discovered the true principle. While tending sheep he made models of mills, spinning wheels, and other machines, acquired the rudi- ments of astronomy, taught himself to draw, made maps, and learned the principles of ge- ography. By the aid of patrons he afterward studied portrait painting in Edinburgh, and next medicine, but finally devoted himself to astronomy. In 1743 he removed to London, where he attracted attention by a publication of astronomical tables. In 1747 he published "A Dissertation on the Phenomena of the