FALKLAND

falkland, a royal and police burgh of fifeshire, scotland. pop. (1901) 809. it is situated at the northern base of the hill of east lomond (1471 ft. high), 2-1/2 m. from falkland road station (with which there is communication by 'bus), on the north british railway company's main line to dundee, 21 m. n. of edinburgh as the crow flies. it is an old-world-looking place, many of the ancient houses still standing. its industries are chiefly concerned with the weaving of linen and the brewing of ale, for which it was once specially noted; and it has few public buildings save the town hall. the palace of the stuarts, however--more beautiful than holyrood and quite as romantic--lends the spot its fame and charm. the older edifice that occupied this site was a hunting-tower of the macduffs, earls of fife, and was transferred with the earldom in 1371 to robert stewart, earl of fife and menteith, afterwards duke of albany, second son of robert ii. because of his father's long illness and the incapacity of robert iii., his brother albany was during many years virtual ruler of scotland, and, in the hope of securing the crown, caused the heir-apparent--david, duke of rothesay--to be conveyed to the castle by force and there starved to death, in 1402. the conversion of the thane's tower into the existing palace was begun by james iii. and completed in 1538. the western part had two round towers, similar to those at holyrood, which were also built by james v., and the southern elevation was ornamented with niches and statues, giving it a close resemblance to the perpendicular style of the semi-ecclesiastical architecture of england. the palace soon became the favourite summer residence of the stuarts. from it james v. when a boy fled to stirling by night from the custody of the earl of angus, and in it he died in 1542. here, too, queen mary spent some of her happiest days, playing the country girl in its parks and woods. when the court was held at falkland the green was the daily scene of revelry and dance, and "to be falkland bred" was a proverb that then came into vogue to designate a courtier. james vi. delighted in the palace and especially in the deer. he upset the schemes of the gowrie conspirators by escaping from falkland to st andrews, and it was while his majesty was residing in the palace that the fifth earl of bothwell, in 1592, attempted to kidnap him. in september 1596 an intensely dramatic interview took place in the palace between the king and andrew melville and other presbyterian ministers sent by the general assembly at cupar to remonstrate with him on allowing the roman catholic lords to return to scotland. in 1654 the eastern wing was accidentally destroyed by fire, during its tenancy by the soldiers of cromwell, by whose orders the fine old oaks in the park were cut down for the building of a fort at perth. even in its neglected state the mansion impressed defoe, who declared the scottish kings owned more palaces than their english brothers. in 1715 rob roy garrisoned the palace and failed not to levy dues on the burgh and neighbourhood. signs of decay were more evident when thomas carlyle saw it, for he likened it to "a black old bit of coffin or protrusive shin-bone striking through the soil of the dead past." but a munificent protector at length appeared in the person of the third marquess of bute, who acquired the estate and buildings in 1888, and forthwith undertook the restoration of the palace. falkland became a royal burgh in 1458 and its charter was renewed in 1595, and before the earlier date it had been a seat of the templars. it gives the title of viscount to the english family of cary, the patent having been granted in 1620 by james vi. the town's most distinguished native was richard cameron, the covenanter. his house--a three-storeyed structure with yellow harled front and thatched roof--still stands on the south side of the square in the main street. the hackstons of rathillet also had a house in falkland. falkland islands (fr. _malouines_; span. _malvinas_), a group of islands in the south atlantic ocean, belonging to britain, and lying about 250 m. e. of the nearest point in the mainland of south america, between 51 deg. and 53 deg. s., and 57 deg. 40' and 61 deg. 25' w. with the uninhabited dependency of south georgia island, to the e.s.e., they form the most southerly colony of the british empire. the islands, inclusive of rocks and reefs, exceed 100 in number and have a total area of 6500 sq. m.; but only two are of considerable size; the largest of these, east falkland, is 95 m. in extreme length, with an average width of 40 m., and the smaller, west falkland, is 80 m. long and about 25 m. wide. the area of east falkland is about 3000 sq. m., and that of west falkland 2300. most of the others are mere islets, the largest 16 m. long by 8 m. wide. the two principal islands are separated by falkland sound, a narrow strait from 18 to 2-1/2 m. in width, running nearly n.e. and s.w. the general appearance of the islands is not unlike that of one of the outer hebrides. the general colouring, a faded brown, is somewhat dreary, but the mountain heights and promontories of the west display some grandeur of outline. the coast-line of both main islands is deeply indented and many of the bays and inlets form secure and well-protected harbours, some of which, however, are difficult of access to sailing ships. east falkland is almost bisected by two deep fjords, choiseul and brenton sounds, which leave the northern and southern portions connected only by an isthmus a mile and a half wide. the northern portion is hilly, and is crossed by a rugged range, the wickham heights, running east and west, and rising in some places to a height of nearly 2000 ft. the remainder of the island consists chiefly of low undulating ground, a mixture of pasture and morass, with many shallow freshwater tarns, and small streams running in the valleys. two fine inlets, berkeley sound and port william, run far into the land at the north-eastern extremity of the island. port louis, formerly the seat of government, is at the head of berkeley sound, but the anchorage there having been found rather too exposed, about the year 1844 a town was laid out, and the necessary public buildings were erected on stanley harbour, a sheltered recess within port william. west falkland is more hilly near the east island; the principal mountain range, the hornby hills, runs north and south parallel with falkland sound. mount adam, the highest hill in the islands, is 2315 ft. high. the little town of stanley is built along the south shore of stanley harbour and stretches a short way up the slope; it has a population of little more than 900. the houses, mostly white with coloured roofs, are generally built of wood and iron, and have glazed porches, gay with fuchsias and pelargoniums. government house, grey, stone-built and slated, calls to mind a manse in shetland or orkney. the government barrack is a rather imposing structure in the middle of the town, as is the cathedral church to the east, built of stone and buttressed with brick. next to stanley the most important place on east falkland is darwin on choiseul sound--a village of scottish shepherds and a station of the falkland island company. the falkland islands consist entirely, so far as is known, of the older palaeozoic rocks, lower devonian or upper silurian, slightly metamorphosed and a good deal crumpled and distorted, in the low grounds clay slate and soft sandstone, and on the ridges hardened sandstone passing into the conspicuous white quartzites. there do not seem to be any minerals of value, and the rocks are not such as to indicate any probability of their discovery. galena is found in small quantity, and in some places it contains a large percentage of silver. the dark bituminous layers of clay slate, which occur intercalated among the quartzites, have led, here as elsewhere, to the hope of coming upon a seam of coal, but it is contrary to experience that coal of any value should be found in rocks of that age. many of the valleys in the falklands are occupied by pale glistening masses which at a little distance much resemble small glaciers. examined more closely these are found to be vast accumulations of blocks of quartzite, irregular in form, but having a tendency to a rude diamond shape, from 2 to 20 ft. in length, and half as much in width, and of a thickness corresponding with that of the quartzite ridges on the hills above. the blocks are angular, and rest irregularly one upon another, supported in all positions by the angles and edges of those beneath. the whole mass looks as if it were, as it is, slowly sliding down the valley to the sea. these "stone runs" are looked upon with great wonder by the shifting population of the falklands, and they are shown to visitors with many strange speculations as to their mode of formation. their origin is attributed by some to the moraine formation of former glaciers. another out of many theories[1] is that the hard beds of quartzite are denuded by the disintegration of the softer layers. their support being removed they break away in the direction of natural joints, and the fragments fall down the slope upon the vegetable soil. this soil is spongy, and, undergoing alternate contraction and expansion from being alternately comparatively dry and saturated with moisture, allows the heavy blocks to slip down by their own weight into the valley, where they become piled up, the valley stream afterwards removing the soil from among and over them. the falkland islands correspond very nearly in latitude in the southern hemisphere with london in the northern, but the climatic influences are very different. the temperature is equable, the average of the two midsummer months being about 47 deg. fahr., and that of the two midwinter months 37 deg. fahr. the extreme frosts and heats of the english climate are unknown, but occasional heavy snow-falls occur, and the sea in shallow inlets is covered with a thin coating of ice. the sky is almost constantly overcast, and rain falls, mostly in a drizzle and in frequent showers, on about 250 days in the year. the rainfall is not great, only about 20 in., but the mean humidity for the year is 80, saturation being 100. november is considered the only dry month. the prevalent winds from the west, south-west and south blow continuously, at times approaching the force of a hurricane. "a region more exposed to storms both in summer and winter it would be difficult to mention" (fitzroy, _voyages of "adventure" and "beagle,"_ ii. 228). the fragments of many wrecks emphasize the dangers of navigation, which are increased by the absence of beacons, the only lighthouse being that maintained by the board of trade on cape pembroke near the principal settlement. kelp is a natural danger-signal, and the sunken rock, "uranie," is reputed to be the only one not buoyed by the giant seaweed. of aboriginal human inhabitants there is no trace in the falklands, and the land fauna is very scanty. a small wolf, the _loup-renard_ of de bougainville, is extinct, the last having been seen about 1875 on the west falkland. some herds of cattle and horses run wild; but these were, of course, introduced, as were also the wild hogs, the numerous rabbits and the less common hares. all these have greatly declined in numbers, being profitably replaced by sheep. land-birds are few in kind, and are mostly strays from south america. they include, however, the snipe and military starling, which on account of its scarlet breast is locally known as the robin. sea-birds are abundant, and, probably from the islands having been comparatively lately peopled, they are singularly tame. gulls and amphibious birds abound in large variety; three kinds of penguin have their rookeries and breed here, migrating yearly for some months to the south american mainland. stray specimens of the great king penguin have been observed, and there are also mollymauks (a kind of albatross), cape pigeons and many carrion birds. kelp and upland geese abound, the latter being edible; and their shooting affords some sport. the falkland islands form essentially a part of patagonia, with which they are connected by an elevated submarine plateau, and their flora is much the same as that of antarctic south america. the trees which form dense forest and scrub in southern patagonia and in fuegia are absent, and one of the largest plants on the islands is a gigantic woolly ragweed (_senecio candicans_) which attains in some places a height of 3 to 4 ft. a half-shrubby veronica (_v. decussata_) is found in some parts, and has also received cultivation. the greater part of the "camp" (the open country) is formed of peat, which in some places is of great age and depth, and at the bottom of the bed very dense and bituminous. the peat is different in character from that of northern europe: cellular plants enter but little into its composition, and it is formed almost entirely of the roots and stems of _empetrum rubrum_, a variety of the common crow-berry of the scottish hills with red berries, called by the falklanders the "diddle-dee" berry; of _myrtus nummularia_, a little creeping myrtle whose leaves are used by the shepherds as a substitute for tea; of _caltha appendiculata_, a dwarf species of marsh-marigold; and of some sedges and sedge-like plants, such as _astelia pumila_, _gaimardia australis_ and _bostkovia grandiflora_. peat is largely used as fuel, coal being obtained only at a cost of l3 a ton. two vegetable products, the "balsam bog" (_bolar glebaria_) and the "tussock grass" (_dactylis caespitosa_) have been objects of curiosity and interest ever since the first accounts of the islands were given. the first is a huge mass of a bright green colour, living to a great age, and when dead becoming of a grey and stony appearance. when cut open, it displays an infinity of tiny leaf-buds and stems, and at intervals there exudes from it an aromatic resin, which from its astringent properties is used by the shepherds as a vulnerary, but has not been converted to any commercial purpose. the "tussock grass" is a wonderful and most valuable natural production, which, owing to the introduction of stock, has become extinct in the two main islands, but still flourishes elsewhere in the group. it is a reed-like grass, which grows in dense tufts from 6 to 10 ft. high from stool-like root-crowns. it forms excellent fodder for cattle, and is regularly gathered for that purpose. it is of beautiful appearance, and the almost tropical profusion of its growth may have led to the early erroneous reports of the densely-wooded nature of these islands. the population slightly exceeds 2000. the large majority of the inhabitants live in the east island, and the predominating element is scottish--scottish shepherds having superseded the south american gauchos. in 1867 there were no settlers on the west island, and the government issued a proclamation offering leases of grazing stations on very moderate terms. in 1868 all the available land was occupied. these lands are fairly healthy, the principal drawback being the virulent form assumed by simple epidemic maladies. the occupation of the inhabitants is almost entirely pastoral, and the principal industry is sheep-farming. wool forms by far the largest export, and tallow, hides, bones and frozen mutton are also exported. trade is carried on almost entirely with the united kingdom; the approximate annual value of exports is l120,000, and of imports a little more than half that sum. the falkland islands company, having its headquarters at stanley and an important station in the camp at darwin, carries on an extensive business in sheep-farming and the dependent industries, and in the general import trade. the development of this undertaking necessitated the establishment of stores and workshops at stanley, and ships can be repaired and provided in every way; a matter of importance since not a few vessels, after suffering injury during heavy weather off cape horn, call on the falklands in distress. the maintenance of the requisite plant and the high wages current render such repairs somewhat costly. a former trade in oil and sealskin has decayed, owing to the smaller number of whales and seals remaining about the islands. communications are maintained on horseback and by water, and there are no roads except at stanley. there is a monthly mail to and from england, the passage occupying about four weeks. the falkland islands are a crown colony, with a governor and executive and legislative councils. the legislative council consists of the governor and three official and two unofficial nominated members, and the executive of the same, with the exception that there is only one unofficial member. the colony is self-supporting, the revenue being largely derived from the drink duties, and there is no public debt. the falklands are the seat of a colonial bishop. education is compulsory. the government maintains schools and travelling teachers; the falkland islands company also maintains a school at darwin, and there is one for those of the roman catholic faith in stanley. there is also on keppel island a protestant missionary settlement for the training in agriculture of imported fuegians. stanley was for some years a naval station, but ceased to be so in 1904. the falkland islands were first seen, by davis in the year 1592, and sir richard hawkins sailed along their north shore in 1594. the claims of amerigo vespucci to a previous discovery are doubtful. in 1598 sebald de wert, a dutchman, visited them, and called them the sebald islands, a name which they bear on some dutch maps. captain strong sailed through between the two principal islands in 1690, landed upon one of them, and called the passage falkland sound, and from this the group afterwards took its english name. in 1764 the french explorer de bougainville took possession of the islands on behalf of his country, and established a colony at port louis on berkeley sound. but in 1767 france ceded the islands to spain, de bougainville being employed as intermediary. meanwhile in 1765 commodore byron had taken possession on the part of england on the ground of prior discovery, and had formed a settlement at port egmont on the small island of saunders. the spanish and english settlers remained in ignorance, real or assumed, of each other's presence until 1769-1770, when byron's action was nearly the cause of a war between england and spain, both countries having armed fleets to contest the barren sovereignty. in 1771, however, spain yielded the islands to great britain by convention. as they had not been actually colonized by england, the republic of buenos aires claimed the group in 1820, and subsequently entered into a dispute with the united states of america concerning the rights to the products of these islands. on the representations of great britain the buenos aireans withdrew, and the british flag was once more hoisted at port louis in 1833, and since that time the falkland islands have been a regular british colony. in 1845 mr s. lafone, a wealthy cattle and hide merchant on the river plate, obtained from government a grant of the southern portion of the island, a peninsula 600,000 acres in extent, and possession of all the wild cattle on the island for a period of six years, for a payment of l10,000 down, and l20,000 in ten years from january 1, 1852. in 1851 mr lafone's interest in lafonia, as the peninsula came to be called, was purchased for l30,000 by the falkland islands company, which had been incorporated by charter in the same year. see pernety, _journal historique d'une voyage faite aux iles malouines en 1763 et 1764_ (berlin, 1767); s. johnson, _thoughts on the late transactions respecting falkland's islands_ (1771); l.a. de bougainville, _voyage autour du monde_ (1771); t. falkner, _description of patagonia and the falkland islands_ (1774); b. penrose, _account of the last expedition to port egmont in the falkland islands_ (1775); _observations on the forcible occupation of malvinas by the british government in 1833_ (buenos ayres, 1833); _reclamacion del gobierno de las provincias unidas de la plata contra el de s.m. britanica sobre la soverania y possesion de las islas malvinas_ (london, 1841); fitzroy, _narrative of the surveying voyage of h.m.s. "adventure" and "beagle"_ (1839); darwin, _voyage of a naturalist round the world_ (1845); s.b. sullivan, _description of the falkland islands_ (1849); w. hadfield, _brazil, the falkland islands, &c._ (1854); w. parker snow, _two years' cruise off the tierra del fuego, the falkland islands, &c._ (1857); sir c. wyville thomson, _voyage of the "challenger"_ (1877); c.p. lucas, _historical geography of the british colonies_, vol. ii. "the west indies" (oxford, 1890); _colonial reports annual_; ms. sloane, 3295. footnote: [1] see b stechele, in _munchener geographische studien_, xx.(1906), and _geographical journal_ (december 1907). fallacy (lat. _fall-ax_, apt to mislead), the term given generally to any mistaken statement used in argument; in logic, technically, an argument which violates the laws of correct demonstration. an argument may be fallacious in _matter_ (i.e. misstatement of facts), in _wording_ (i.e. wrong use of words), or in the _process of inference_. fallacies have, therefore, been classified as: i. material, ii. verbal, iii. logical of formal; ii. and iii. are often included under the general description _logical_, and in scholastic phraseology, following aristotle, are called fallacies _in dictione_ or _in voce_, as opposed to material fallacies _in re_ or _extra dictionem_. i. _material._--the classification widely adopted by modern logicians and based on that of aristotle, _organon_ (_sophistici elenchi_), is as follows:--(1) _fallacy of accident_, i.e. arguing erroneously from a general rule to a particular case, without proper regard to particular conditions which vitiate the application of the general rule; e.g. if manhood suffrage be the law, arguing that a criminal or a lunatic must, therefore, have a vote; (2) _converse fallacy of accident_, i.e. arguing from a special case to a general rule; (3) _irrelevant conclusion_, or _ignoratio elenchi_, wherein, instead of proving the fact in dispute, the arguer seeks to gain his point by diverting attention to some extraneous fact (as in the legal story of "no case. abuse the plaintiff's attorney"). under this head come the so-called argumentum (a) _ad hominem_, (b) _ad populum_, (c) _ad baculum_, (d) _ad verecundiam_, common in platform oratory, in which the speaker obscures the real issue by appealing to his audience on the grounds of (a) purely personal considerations, (b) popular sentiment, (c) fear, (d) conventional propriety. this fallacy has been illustrated by ethical or theological arguments wherein the fear of punishment is subtly substituted for abstract right as the sanction of moral obligation. (4) _petitio principii_ (begging the question) or _circulus in probando_ (arguing in a circle), which consists in demonstrating a conclusion by means of premises which presuppose that conclusion. jeremy bentham points out that this fallacy may lurk in a single word, especially in an epithet, e.g. if a measure were condemned simply on the ground that it is alleged to be "un-english"; (5) _fallacy of the consequent_, really a species of (3), wherein a conclusion is drawn from premises which do not really support it; (6) _fallacy of false cause_, or non sequitur ("it does not follow"), wherein one thing is incorrectly assumed as the cause of another, as when the ancients attributed a public calamity to a meteorological phenomenon; (7) _fallacy of many questions_ (_plurium interrogationum_), wherein several questions are improperly grouped in the form of one, and a direct categorical answer is demanded, e.g. if a prosecuting counsel asked the prisoner "what time was it when you met this man?" with the intention of eliciting the tacit admission that such a meeting had taken place. ii. _verbal fallacies_ are those in which a false conclusion is obtained by improper or ambiguous use of words. they are generally classified as follows. (1) _equivocation_ consists in employing the same word in two or more senses, e.g. in a syllogism, the middle term being used in one sense in the major and another in the minor premise, so that in fact there are _four_ not _three_ terms ("all fair things are honourable; this woman is fair; therefore this woman is honourable," the second "fair" being in reference to complexion). (2) _amphibology_ is the result of ambiguity of grammatical structure, e.g. of the position of the adverb "only" in careless writers ("he only said that," in which sentence, as experience shows, the adverb has been intended to qualify any one of the other three words). (3) _composition_, a species of (1), which results from the confused use of collective terms ("the angles of a triangle are less than two right angles" might refer to the angles separately or added together). (4) _division_, the converse of the preceding, which consists in employing the middle term distributively in the minor and collectively in the major premise. (5) _accent_, which occurs only in speaking and consists of emphasizing the wrong word in a sentence ("he is a fairly good pianist," according to the emphasis on the words, may imply praise of a beginner's progress, or an expert's depreciation of a popular hero, or it may imply that the person in question is a deplorable violinist). (6) _figure of speech_, the confusion between the metaphorical and ordinary uses of a word or phrase. iii. the purely _logical_ or formal _fallacies_ consist in the violation of the formal rules of the syllogism (q.v.). they are (a) fallacy of four terms (_quaternio terminorum_); (b) of undistributed middle; (c) of illicit process of the major or the minor term; (d) of negative premises. of other classifications of fallacies in general the most famous are those of francis bacon and j.s. mill. bacon (_novum organum_, aph. i. 33, 38 sqq.) divided fallacies into four _idola_ (idols, i.e. false appearances), which summarize the various kinds of mistakes to which the human intellect is prone (see bacon, francis). with these should be compared the _offendicula_ of roger bacon, contained in the _opus maius_, pt. i. (see bacon, roger). j.s. mill discussed the subject in book v. of his _logic_, and jeremy bentham's _book of fallacies_ (1824) contains valuable remarks. see rd. whateley's _logic_, bk. v.; a. de morgan, _formal logic_ (1847); a. sidgwick, _fallacies_ (1883) and other text-books. see also article logic, and for fallacies of induction, see induction.