in antiquity, a thin cloth which the Roman women wrapped round their bodies, next to the skin, in order to make them slender. Something of this sort seems also to have been in use amongst the Grecian ladies, if we can depend upon the representation given by Terence, Eun. act ii. sc. 4.

Haud similis est virginiæ nostrarum, quas matres fluident Demissis humeris eft—vincì corpore, ut graciles fiant.

in Architecture, signifies any flat member having a considerable breadth but a small projection, as the band of an architrave, larmier, &c. In brick buildings, the jutting out of the brick beyond the windows in the several stories except the highest are called fascia or fasciae.

FASCIA Lata, in Anatomy, a muscle of the leg, called also semi-membranous. See ANATOMY, Table of the Muscles.

FASCLE, in Astronomy, the belts seen on the disk of the superior planets, Mars, Jupiter, and Saturn.—See ASTRONOMY, paffion.