3. The part or place opposed to the face. (Bacon). 4. The van of an army (Milton). 5. The forepart of any thing, as of a building (Brown). 6. The most conspicuous part or particular.

To FRONT. v. a. (from the noun.) 1. To oppose directly, or face to face; to encounter (Dryden). 2. To stand opposed, or overagainst any place or thing (Addison).

To FRONT. v, n. To stand foremost (Shakspeare).

FRONTAL. s. ( frontale, Latin.) Any external form of medicine to be applied to the forehead (Quincy. Brown).

FRONTAL, in architecture, a little pediment, sometimes placed over a small door or window.

FRONTAL BONE. Os frontis. The cockleshell-like bone which forms the forehead, and contains the two anterior lobes of the brain. Its principal processes are the two superciliary arches, and two external and internal orbital apophyses. Its cavities are two orbital cavities, a notch for the trochlea of the superior oblique muscle, two large pituitary sinusses, one on each side above the root of the nose, called the frontal sinuses; the ethmoid notch, and superciliary foramen. In the fetus it is composed of two bones. The union of the frontal bone with the parietal bones forms the coronal

FRONTATED. a. (from frons, Latin.) The frontated leaf of a flower grows broader and broader, and at last, perhaps, terminates in a right line; in opposition to cuspated (Quincy)

FRONTBOX. s. (front and box.) The box in the playhouse from which there is a direct view to the stage (Pope).

FRONTED. a. (from front.) Formed with a front (Milton).

FRONTIER. s. (frontiere, French.) The marches; the limit; the utmost verge of any territory; the border (Milton).

FRONTIER. a. Bordering (Addison). FRONTIGNIAC, a town of France, in the department of Herault, and late province of Languedoc, remarkable for its excellent Muscadine wines. Lat. 43. 46 N. Lon. 3. 48 E. FRONTINUS (Sextus Julius), an ancient Roman writer, was of consular dignity, and flourished under the emperors Vespasian, Titus, Domitian, Nerva, and Trajan. He commanded the Roman armies in Britain, was made city-prætor when Vespasian and Titus were consuls, and Nerva made him curator of the aqueducts, which occasioned his writing De aquæductibus urbis Romæ. He wrote four books upon the Greek and Roman art of war; a piece De re agraria, and another De limitibus. These have been often separately re-printed; but were all collected together in a neat edition at Amsterdam, in 1661, with

notes, by Robertus Keuchenius. He died under Trajan.

FRONTISPIECE. s. (frontispicium, Lat.) That part of any building or other body that directly meets the eye (Milton). Hence, an engraving at the beginning of a book is called a frontispiece.

FRONTLESS. a. (from front.) Not blushing; wanting shame (Dryden). FRONTLET. s. (from frons, Latin.) A bandage worn upon the forehead (Wiseman). FRONTON, in architecture, a pediment. FRONTROOM. s. (front and room.) An apartment in the forepart of a house (Moxon).

FRORE. a. Frozen not in use (Milton). FRORNE. a. Frozen: obsolete (Spenser). FROST. (Fɲost.) 1. The last effect of cold; the power or act of congelation (South). 2. The appearance of plants and trees sparkling with congelation of dew (Pope).

FROST, such a state of the atmosphere as causes the congelation or freezing of water or other fluids into ice. In the more northern parts of the world, even solid bodies are affected by frost, though this is only or chiefly in consequence of the moisture they contain, which being frozen into ice, and so expanding as water is known to do when frozen, it bursts and rends any thing in which it is contained, as plants, trees, stones, and large rocks. Many Aluids expand by frost, as water, which expands about th part, for which reason ice floats in water; but others again contract, as quicksil ver, and thence frozen quicksilver sinks in the fluid metal.

Frost, being derived from the atmosphere, naturally proceeds from the upper parts of bodies downwards, as the water and the earth: so, the longer a frost is continued, the thicker the ice becomes upon the water in ponds, and the deeper into the earth the ground is frozen. In about 16 or 17 days frost, Mr. Boyle found it had penetrated 14 inches into the ground. At Moscow, in a hard season, the frost will penetrate two feet deep into the ground: and Captain James found it penetrated 10 feet deep in Charlton Island, and the water in the same island was frozen to the depth of six feet. Sheffer assures us, that in Sweden the frost pierces two cubits, or Swedish ells into the earth, and turns what moisture is found there into a whitish substance, like ice; and standing water to three ells or more. The same author also mentions sudden cracks or rifts in the ice of the lakes of Sweden, nine or ten feet deep, and many leagues long; the rupture be ing made with a noise not less loud than if many guns were discharged together. By such means, however, the fishes were furnished with air; so that they are rarely found dead.

The natural history of frosts furnishes very extraordinary effects. The trees are often scorched and burnt up, as with the most excessive heat, in consequence of the separation of water from the air, which is therefore very drying. In the great frost in 1683, the trunks of oak, ash, walnut, &c. were miserably split and cleft,

so that they might be seen through, and the cracks often attended with dreadful noises like the explosion of fire-arms. Philos. Trans. Number 165.

The close of the year 1708, and the beginning of 1709, were remarkable throughout the greatest part of Europe, for a severe frost. Dr. Derham says, it was the greatest in degree, if not the most universal in the memory of man ; extending through most parts of Europe, though scarcely felt in Scotland or Ireland.

In very cold countries, meat may be preserved by the frost six or seven months, and prove tolerably good eating. See captain Middleton's observations made in Hudson's Bay, in the Philos. Trans. Number 465, sect. 2.

In that climate the frost seems never out of the ground, it having been found hard frozen in the two summer months. Brandy and spirits, set out in the open air, freeze to solid ice in three or four hours.

Lakes and standing waters, not above 10 or 12 feet deep, are frozen to the ground in winter, and all their fish perish. But in rivers where the current of the tide is strong, the ice does not reach so deep, and the fish are preserved. Id. ib.

Some remarkable instances of frosts in Europe, and chiefly in England, are recorded as below in the year

220. Frost in Britain that lasted five
months.

250. The Thames frozen nine weeks.
291. Most rivers in Britain frozen six
weeks.

359. Severe frost in Scotland for 14 weeks.
508. The rivers in Britain frozen for two
months.

558. The Danube quite frozen over.
695. Thames frozen six weeks; booths
built on it.

759. Frost from Oct. 1, till Feb. 26, 760.
827. Frost in England for nine weeks
859. Carriages used on the Adriatic Sea.
908. Most rivers in England frozen two
months.

923. The Thames frozen 13 weeks.
987. Frost lasted 120 days: began Dec.

22.

1747. Severe frost in Russia.
1751. Severe one in England.
1760. The same in Germany.
1776. The same in England.
1788. The Thames frozen below bridge;
booths on it.

1794. Hard frost of many weeks. Ther. at
London, mostly at 20 below 0 of
Fahrenheit.

Hoar frost, is the dew frozen or congealed early in cold mornings; chiefly in autumn. Though many Cartesians will have it formed of a cloud; and either congealed in the cloud, and so let fall; or ready to be congealed as soon as it arrives at the earth.

Hoar frost, M. Regius observes, consists of an assemblage of little parcels of ice crystals, which are of various figures, according to the different disposition of the vapours, when met and condensed by the cold. See FREEZING, and CONGELATION.

Frost, as is well known, is particularly destructive to the blossom of fruit-trees; and the following method of securing such trees from being damaged by early frosts may be acceptable to many of our readers. A rope is to be interwoven among the branches of the tree, and one end of it brought down so as to be iminersed in a bucket of water. The rope, it is said, will act as a conductor, and convey the effects of the frost from the tree to the water. This idea is not new; for the following passage may be found in Colerus: "If you dig a trench around the root of a tree, and fill it with water, or keep the roots moist till it has bloomed, it will not be injured by the frost. Or, in spring, suspend a vessel filled with water from the tree. If you wish to preserve the bloom from being hurt by the frost, place a vessel of water below it, and the frost will fall into it." Philosophical Magazine, No. 11.

An anonymous foreign writer suggests the practice of depriving, towards the latter end of autumn, those fruit-trees of their leaves, which are exposed to the injury of winter-frosts; and adds, that some precaution is necessary in this operation, to save the buds which are by nature destined to unfold in the succeeding spring from any external injury. Yet such defoliation ought not to be undertaken with all trees, at the same period of time; as those which possess a greater abundance of sap, should be allowed to keep their leaves to a later season, than others having a less portion of vegetable juices.

In order to recover and preserve such trees from total decay, as have evidently been injured by severe winter-frost, a correspondent has favoured us with the following easy and expeditious remedy; for the success of which he appeals to his repeated experience: When a tree appears to have suffered from intense cold, he advises to make longitudinal incisions in the bark, extending to the whole length of the trunk, on the north, west, and east sides; but never in a southern direction. As the castwinds are dry and piercing, very few and superficial slits only should be made on that side.

This operation ought to be performed in the month of March, before the first sap rises; and repeated in June, while the second sap ascends; but always so managed, that only the uppermost bark, or epidermis, be divided; as too deep an incision, though harmless in the spring, might be attended with fatal consequences in the heat of summer. In trees, how ever, which are thoroughly frozen, it will be useful to make deeper cuts; thus to give vent to the stagnant fluids, and promote their circulation. These cuts should be directed against the centre of the tree, drawn in a straight line downwards; for, in the contrary case, the bark is apt to separate in chinks, afford shelter to vermin, and eventually frustrate the attempt. By a strict adherence to these rules, it will be found that apple-trees, in particular, when slit in every direction (except the south side) retain all their bark; others, which had undergone one-half of the operation, were but partially preserved; and such as had received only two cuts, retained only the intermediate portion of the bark, from which they produced new shoots. This simple method is farther attended with the additional benefit that, while contributing to the growth of the tree thus affected, it tends to prevent the decay of those which have in the preceding year been injured by the depredations of caterpillars, and the subsequent stagnation of their fluids.

Although it has been generally believed, that frost meliorates the soil, and especially claylands, yet as ice contains no nitrous particles, such improvements can only be of a transitory nature, by enlarging the bulk of some moist soils, and leaving them more porous for some time after the thaw; but, when the water has exhaled, the ground becomes as hard as before, being compressed by the incumbent weight of the air.

Nor is the salutary influence of frosty seasons, on the health of mankind, in the least confirmed by the annual bills of mortality; as many old and debilitated persons, whose vital heat is insufficient to excite into action their vessels, already too unsusceptible of irritation, die in consequence of long frosts, during severe winters. Birds, and other wild animals, as well as tender vegetables, perish benumbed from the same cause. It deserves, however, to be remarked, that a sharp dry frost does not affect the human skin with that sensation of chilly and piercing cold which we experience when the air is loaded with moisture, the temperature of which is near the freezing point. This remarkable difference arises from the intense degree of cold produced by the evaporation of fluids which continually takes place on the surface of living bodies, where it naturally produces a more perceptible effect, than the simple contact of dry air would occasion, when it is but a few degrees below freezing. To the young and robust, therefore, frost is more pleasing than moist air; as, in the former, they are able to keep themselves warm by increased exercise; which, in the latter, only tends to promote and render the evaporation

more severely felt on the skin. For the same reason, Dr. Darwin observes, severe and continued frosts "destroy the children of the poor, who want both food, fire, and clothing in this harsh climate."

To preserve vegetable roots, as well as fruit, from the effect of cold, the following directions will be sufficient: Dry sand, and cut straw, are eminently adapted to that purpose. Potatoes, turnips, onions, &c. should be loosely placed on sand, either under or above ground, and slightly covered with cut straw or chaff; but carrots and parsnips, we are informed, may be kept during the whole winter, by placing them in rows or heaps, so that their tops project at the sides, being the reverse of the method followed with turnips when packed in carts.

If, notwithstanding these precautions, vege tables should be injured by the frost, it will be advisable, especially with frozen potatoes, to immerse them in cold water for a short time, on the approach of a thaw. By this expedient, the frosty particles are gradually extracted, and the vegetating principle is preserved, after the séverest season.

On the other hand, an intense degree of cold is also attended with some good effects. Thus, aromatic spirits possess a weaker flavour when newly distilled, than after they have been kept six or seven months, especially during the winter season. Experience has evinced, that this favourable change was produced only by the influence of cold; and M. Baume found, that by immersing quart bottles filled with liquors into a mixture of pounded ice and seasalt, for six or eight hours, the spirit proves as grateful to the palate as that which had been kept for several years.

FROSTBITTEN. a. Nipped or withered by the frost (Mortimer).

FROSTED. a. Laid on in inequalities like those of the hoar-frost from plants (Gay). FROSTILY. ad. (from frosty.) 1. With frost; with excessive cold. 2. Without warmth of affection (Ben Jonson). FRO'STINESS. s. (from frosty.) Cold; freezing cold.

FRO'STNAIL. s. (frost and nail.) A nail with a prominent head driven into the horse's shoes, that it may pierce the ice (Grew).

FROSTWORK. s. (frost and work.) Work in which the substance is laid on with inequa lities, like the dew congealed upon shrubs (Blackmore).

FROSTY. a. (from frost.) 1. Having the power of congelation; excessive cold (L'Estrange). 2. Chill in affection; without warmth of kindness or courage (Shakspeare). 3. Hoary; gray-haired; resembling frost (Shakspeare).

FROTH. s. (froe, Danish and Scottish.) I. Spume; foam; the bubbles caused in liquors by agitation (Bacon). 2. Any empty or senseless show of wit or eloquence. 3. Any thing not solid or substantial (Tusser).

FROTH, from a horse's mouth when champing upon the bit, either in action upon the road, or in the field with hounds, may be con