Fasting, the partial or total abstinence of mankind and animals from the ordinary requisite supply of aliment, by which it is to be understood that quantity which is adapted to preserve them in a healthy and vigorous condition. It would appear that various warm-blooded animals are capable of sustaining total abstinence much longer than human beings. Cats and dogs have survived for several weeks without nourishment of any kind, but it is probable that few human beings could survive such deprivation for more than a week. The use of water without solid food enables life to be sustained much longer than it could otherwise be.
Fasts, temporary abstentions from food, especially on religious grounds. Abstinence from food, accompanied by signs of humiliation and repentance or grief, is to be found more or less in almost all religions. Among the Jews fasts were numerous, and we find many instances of occasional fasting in the Old Testament. Herodotus says that the Egyptians prepared themselves by fasting for the celebration of the great festival of Isis. So in the Thesmophoria at Athens, and in the rites of Ceres at Rome, it was practised. The Church of Rome distinguishes between days of fasting and of abstinence. The former are: (1) the forty days of Lent; (2) the Ember days, being the Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday of the first week in Lent, of Whitsun week, of the third week in September, and of the third week in Advent; (3) the Wednesdays and Thursdays of the four weeks in Advent; (4) the vigils or eves of Whitsuntide, of the feasts of St. Peter and St. Paul, of the Assumption of the Virgin, of All Saints, and of Christmas Day. When any fasting day falls upon Sunday, it is observed on the Saturday before. The Greek Church observes four principal fasts: that of Lent, one beginning in the week after Whitsuntide, one for a fortnight before the Assumption, one forty days before Christmas. In the East, however, the strict idea of a fast is more preserved than in the West. The Church of England appoints the following fixed days for fasting and abstinence, between which no difference is made: (1) the forty days of Lent; (2) the Ember days at the four seasons; (3) the three Rogation days before Holy Thursday; (4) every Friday except Christmas Day. The Church, however, gives no directions concerning fasting.—Bibliography: L. Duchesne, Christian Worship; J. Dowden, The Church Year and Kalendar; article Fasting in Hastings' Encyclopædia of Ethics and Religion.
Fat, an oily concrete substance, a compound of carbon, hydrogen, and oxygen, deposited in the cells of the adipose or cellular membrane of animal bodies. In most parts of the body the fat lies immediately under the skin. Fat is of various degrees of consistence, as in tallow, lard, and oil. It is generally white or yellowish, with little smell or taste. It consists of esters of glycerine with fatty and other acids, and these are generally termed glycerides. The commonest of these are stearin, a waxy solid, palmitin, a softer solid, and olein, an oil. Fats are insoluble in water. When boiled with caustic alkalies, e.g. caustic soda, they are decomposed (saponified), yielding an alkali salt of the fatty acid (soap) and glycerine. The consistency of any natural fat depends on the proportions in which these three substances are present, e.g. mutton suet consists mainly of stearin, and olive
oil of olein. In the body fat serves as a packing, and helps to give roundness of contour. Being a bad conductor of heat, it is useful in retaining warmth, but its chief function is that of nutrition.
Fa´talism, the belief in fate, or an unchangeable destiny, to which everything is subject, uninfluenced by reason, and pre-established either by chance or the Creator. Fatalism existed among the Hebrews, Greeks, and Romans, and is still prevalent among Mohammedans. The fact that many events in man's life seemed to be inevitable gave rise to the belief in fatalism. Amongst notable historical examples of the belief in fate may be mentioned the old Greek conception of a fate which stood behind the gods themselves as a controlling power; the Mohammedan fatalism, which regards all things great and small as inexorably predetermined, so that no accident is possible. Fatalism is to be distinguished both from determinism and predestination.
Fategarh (fat-e-gar´), a town, United Provinces of India, on the Ganges, now municipally united with Farukhabad; the scene of a massacre of upwards of 200 Europeans during the Mutiny of 1857. Pop. 12,500.
Fatehpur (fat-e-pör´), a town of India, in district of the same name, Allahabad division, United Provinces, 50 miles S.E. of Cawnpore. Pop. 16,939.—The district has an area of 1639 sq. miles, and a pop. of 686,400.
Fatehpur Sikri, a town of India, district of Agra, United Provinces. It was the favourite residence of the Emperor Akbar, who enclosed and fortified it. It now chiefly consists of a vast expanse of magnificent ruins enclosed by a high stone wall some 5 miles in circuit. Pop. 6132.
Fates (in Lat. Parcæ, in Gr. Moirai), in Greek and Latin mythology, the inexorable sisters who spin the thread of human life. The appellation Clotho (the spinner) was probably at first common to them all among the Greeks. As they were three in number, and poetry endeavoured to designate them more precisely, Clotho became a proper name, as did also Atrŏpos and Lachĕsis. Clotho means she who spins (the thread of life); Atropos signifies unalterable fate; Lachesis, lot or chance; so that all three refer to the same subject from different points of view. They know and predict what is yet to happen. Lachesis is represented with a spindle, Clotho with the thread, and Atropos with shears, with which she cuts it off. We find also in the northern mythology three beautiful virgins, the Nornen, who determine the fate of men. Their names are Urd (the past), Varande (the present), and Skuld (the future).
Fatherlasher, or Bull-head, a fish of the genus Cottus (Cottus bubălis), from 8 to 10 inches in length. The head is large, and is furnished with several formidable spines. The fish is found on the rocky coasts of Britain, and near Newfoundland and Greenland. In the latter regions it attains a much larger size, and is a considerable article of food.