FRIBURG, a town of Switzerland, and capital of the canton of the same name, seated on the river Sane, in E. Long. 6. 48. N. Lat. 46. 50. Its situation is Cast's most singular and picturesque: "It stands partly Travels in a small plain, partly on bold acclivities on a Sudten ridge lead."
ridge of rugged rocks, half encircled by the river Sane; and is so entirely concealed by the circumjacent hills, that the traveller scarcely catches the smallest glimpse, until he bursts upon a view of the whole town from the overhanging eminence. The fortifications, which consist of high stone walls and towers, enclose a circumference of about four miles, within which space the eye comprehends a singular mixture of houses, rocks, thickets, and meadows, varying instantly from wild to agreeable, from the bustle of a town to the solitude of the deepest retirement. The Sane winds in such a serpentine manner as to form in its course, within the space of two miles, five obtuse angles, between which the intervening parts of the current are parallel to each other. On all sides the descent to the town is extremely steep: in one place the streets even pass over the roofs of the houses. Many of the edifices are raised in regular gradation like the seats of an amphitheatre; and many overhang the edge of a precipice in such a manner, that on looking down, a weak head would be apt to turn giddy. But the most extraordinary point of view is from the Pont-neuf. To the north-west, part of the town stands boldly on the sides and the piked back of an abrupt ridge; and from east to west a semicircle of high perpendicular rocks is seen, whose base is washed and undermined by the winding Sane, and whose tops and sides are thinly scattered with shrubs and underwood. On the highest point of the rocks, and on the very edge of the precipice, appears, half hanging in the air, the gate of the town called Bourguillon: a stranger standing on the bridge would compare it to Laputa, or the Flying island in Gulliver's Travels; and would not conceive it to be accessible but by means of a cord and pulleys. The houses, constructed with a gray sand stone, are neat and well built; and the public edifices, particularly the cathedral, are extremely elegant. The inhabitants are Roman Catholics, as are those of the whole canton. The bishop of Lausanne, called here the bishop of Friburg, resides in this city. He is appointed by the pope, usually at the recommendation of the French court: and his revenues, including a small pension from France, and from the abbey of Hauterive, of which he was abbot, amount to about 4000. per annum. His diocese extends over the whole canton, and part of that of Soleure. In all his acts and deeds he signs himself bishop and count of Lausanne, and prince of the German empire. The sovereign power resides in the great council of two hundred; comprising the two advillers, the chancellor, the grand faurier, the senate or little council of twenty-four, the sixty, from which body are chosen the bannerets and principal magistrates, and the remaining hundred and twelve members, who are simply denominated burghers."
F R I B U R G, the Canton of, one of the 13 republics of Switzerland. It is surrounded on all sides by the canton of Bern. The land is fertile in corn, fruits, and pastures; and it is said the canton can send 18,000 men into the field. This canton is entirely Catholic.
F R I C A S S E E, a dish or mess hastily dressed in a frying pan, and seasoned with butter, oil, or the like. The word is French, formed of the Latin fricatura, "frying." Others will have fricasse formed in imitation of the noise made by butter, or other fat, when melted in the pan. We say a fricasse of pullets, of
rabbits, of tench, of tripe, of frogs, of eggs, of peas, Fricasse &c.
F R I C E N T I, an episcopal town of Italy, in the kingdom of Naples, and in the farther principato, near the river Tripalto, in E. Long. 15. 2. N. Lat. 40. 59.
F R I C T I O N, the act of rubbing or grating the surface of one body against that of another, called also attrition. The phenomena arising upon the friction of divers bodies, under different circumstances, are very numerous and considerable. Mr Hawksbee gives us a number of experiments of this kind; particularly of the attrition or friction of glass, under various circumstances, the result of which was, that it yielded light and became electrical. All bodies by friction produce heat; many of them emit light; particularly a cat's back, sugar, beaten sulphur, mercury, sea water, gold, copper, &c. but, above all, diamonds, which, when briskly rubbed against glass, gold, or the like, yield a light equal to that of a live coal when blown by the bellows. See ELECTRICS and ELECTRICITY.
F R I C T I O N, in Mechanics, denotes the resistance a moving body meets with from the surface on which it moves. Friction arises from the roughness or asperity of the surface of the body moved on, and that of the body moving: for such surfaces consisting alternately of eminences and cavities, either the eminences of the one must be raised over those of the other, or they must be both broke and worn off: but neither can happen without motion, nor can motion be produced without a force impressed. Hence, the force applied to move the body is either wholly or partly spent on this effect: and consequently there arises a resistance or friction, which will be greater, ceteris paribus, as the eminences are the greater and the substance the harder: and as the body, by continual friction, becomes more and more polished, the friction diminishes. See MECHANICS.
F R I C T I O N, in Medicine and Surgery, denotes the act of rubbing a diseased part with oils, unguents, or other matters, in order to ease, relieve, and cure it. Frictions are much used of late in venereal cases. They prefer the applying of mercury externally by way of friction, to that of giving it internally, to raise a salivation.
There are also frictions with the flesh brush, a linen cloth, or the hand only. These frictions are a sort of exercise which contributes greatly to health; as they excite and stir up the natural warmth, divert defluxions, promote perspiration, open the pores of the skin, and carry off stagnant humours.
The flesh brush (Dr Cheyne observes) is an exercise extremely useful for promoting a full and free perspiration and circulation. Every body knows the effect of currying horses; that it makes them sleek, gay, lively, and active; so as even to be judged equivalent to half the feeding. This it can no otherwise effect, but by assisting nature to throw off the secretions of the juices, which stop the free circulation, and, by constant friction, irritation, and stimulation, to bring the blood and spirits to the parts most distant from the seat of heat and motion; and so plump up the superficial muscles. And the same effect it would have in other creatures, and man himself, if managed in the same manner, and with the same care and regularity.
Persons,
Persons, therefore, of weak nerves and sedentary lives, would do well to supply the want of other exercise with spending half an hour, morning and night, in currying and rubbing their whole body, especially their limbs, with a flesh brush. But this means of health is most advantageously used when the primæ viæ are most empty.