Oxford

Oxford University

Oxford county, and seat of one of the 500 feet, and abounds in beautifully premost celebrated universities in the world, served fossil shells of belemnites, ammois situated about 50 miles W. N. W. of nites, etc.

London, on a gentle acclivity between the Oxford University, one of the two great English universities, established in the middle ages, and situated in the city of Oxford (which see). Like Cambridge it embraces a number of colleges forming distinct corporations, of which the oldest is believed to be University College, dating from 1253, though Merton College was the first to adopt the collegiate system proper. The following list contains the name of the colleges, with the time when each was founded:

Cherwell and the Thames, here called the
Isis. Oxford, as a city of towers and
spires, of fine collegiate buildings old and
new, of gardens, groves and avenues of
trees, is unique in England. The oldest
building is the castle keep, built in the
time of William the Conqueror and still
all but entire. Of the numerous churches,
the first place is due to the cathedral, be-
gun about 1160, and chiefly in the late
Norman style. Of the university build-
ings the most remarkable are Christ's
Church, the largest and grandest of all
the colleges, with a fine quadrangle and
other buildings, a noble avenue of trees
(the Broad Walk), the cathedral serving
as its chapel; Magdalen College, consid-
ered to be the most beautiful and com-
plete of all; Balliol College, with a mod-
ern front (1867-69) and a modern Gothic
chapel; Brasenose College; and New Col-
lege (more than 500 years old), largely
consisting of the original buildings, and
especially noted for its gardens and clois-
ters; besides the Sheldonian Theater, a
public hall of the university; the new ex-
amination schools, new museum, Bodleian
Library, Radcliffe Library, and other
buildings belonging to the university.
(See Oxford University.) Oxford de-
pends mostly on the university, and
on its attractions as a place of resi-
dence. Pop. 53,049.-The county is
bounded by Northampton, Warwick,
Gloucester, Berks and Buckingham;
area, 750 sq. miles, of which more than
five-sixths are under crops or in grass.
The south part of the county presents al-
ternations of hill and dale, the former,
particularly the Chiltern Hills, being
beautifully varied with fine woods, tracts
of arable land, and open sheep downs.
The central parts are more level, and are
also adorned by numerous woods. Much
of the soil is well adapted for the growth
of green crops and barley. The grass
lands are also rich and extensive, dairy
husbandry is largely practiced, and great
quantities of butter are made. Manu-
factures are of little importance. The
principal_rivers are the Thames or Isis,
Thame, Evenlode, Cherwell and Wind-
rush. Pop. 199,277.
Oxford, LORD. See Harley.

Oxford-Clay, in geology, a bed of
dark-blue or blackish
clay, interposed between the Lower and
Middle Oölites, so called from its being
well developed in Oxfordshire. It some-
times attains a thickness of from 200 to

1. University College
2. Balliol College
3. Merton College
4. Exeter College
5. Oriel College
6. Queen's College
7. New College
8. Lincoln College

1253

1268

1274

1314

1326

1340

1379

1427

9. All Souls' College

1437

10. Magdalen College

1458

11. Brasenose College

1509

12. Corpus Christi College

1516

1546

1554

1555

1571

1612

1624

1714

1870

1874

13. Christ Church College
14. Trinity College
15. St. John's College
16. Jesus College
17. Wadham College
18. Pembroke College
19. Worcester College
20. Keble College
21. Hertford College

There are also two Halls,' St. Mary Hall and St. Edmund Hall, which are similar institutions, but differ from the colleges in not being corporate bodies.

Oxford University is an institution of quite the same character as that of Cambridge. (See Cambridge, University_of.) Most of the students belong to and reside in some college (or hall), but since 1869 a certain number have been admitted without belonging to any of these institutions. The students receive most of their instruction from tutors attached to the individual colleges, and those of each college dine together in the college hall and attend the college chapel. The ordinary students are called commoners.' There are four terms or periods of study, known as Michaelmas. Hilary or Lent, Easter and Trinity or Act. The two latter have no interval between them, so that the terms of residence are three of about eight weeks each. The degrees conferred are those of Bachelor and Master

in Arts, and Bachelor and Doctor in Mu

sic, Medicine, Civil Law and Divinity. Twelve terms of residence are required for the ordinary degree of B.A. No further residence is necessary for any degree, and no residence whatever is required for

Oxides

Oxygen

degrees in music. Any B.A. may proceed w. through a broad valley and N. W. to the degree of M.A. without further through the deserts of western Turkestan examination or exercise, in the twenty- to the southern extremity of the Sea of seventh term from his matriculation, pro- Aral. The Oxus for a considerable disvided he has kept his name on the books tance forms the boundary between Afof some college or hall, or upon the reg-hanistan and Bokhara. Total course, ister of unattached students for a period 1300 miles.

of twenty-six terms. In the case of all Oxy-acetylene Flame is produced

other degrees (except honorary ones) by the mixsome examination or exercise is neces- ture of oxygen and acetylene gas. The sary. Women were admitted to the ex- highest furnace temperature, with solid aminations in 1884, but do not receive de- fuel, is about 3000° F. The oxy-hydrogen grees. Three colleges for women have flame gives a minimum of nearly 4000° been established: Somerville Hall, Lady F. The oxy-acetylene blowpipe yields a Margaret Hall and St. Hugh's Hall. temperature of 6300° F. An envelope of Mansfield College, for the education of hydrogen, which at the great temperature men for the nonconformist ministry, was generated does not combine with the oxyestablished in 1888. The total number of gen, surrounds the flame of the torch. students is about 3000. The total num- The oxy-acetylene flame is employed for ber of professorships, etc., in the univer- various purposes where a great heat is sity is about fifty. The total annual required, such as welding, caulking, leaks, revenues are between $2,000,000 and $2,- etc. It is also extensively used for cut500,000. The institutions connected with ting metal. It has been found useful in the university include: the Bodleian Li- clearing up metallic wreckage, as steel brary (the second in the kingdom), the building structures, bridges, etc. It makes Ashmolean Museum, Botanic Gardens, a clean cut of little width. See Acetylene. Taylor Institution for modern languages, Oxycoccus plants of the natural or(oks-i-kok'us), a genus of University Museum, Radcliffe Library, Observatory and Indian Institute. Affil- der Vaccinaceæ, commonly known as the iated Colleges are: St. David's College, cranberry (which see).

Lampeter (1880); University College,

Nottingham (1882); and Firth College,
Sheffield (1886).

Oxygen (oks/i-jen), a gas which is the

most widely distributed of all the elements. Eight-ninths by weight of Oxides (oks/idz), the compounds of water, one-fourth of air, and about oneoxygen with one other element; half of silica, chalk and alumina consist thus hydrogen and oxygen from oxide of of oxygen. It enters into the constitution hydrogen or hydrogen oxide, oxygen and of nearly all the important rocks and chlorine form a series of oxides of chlo- minerals; it exists in the tissues and rine, oxygen and copper form oxide of blood of animals; without it we could not copper or copper oxide, and so on. When live, and by its agency disintegration of two oxides of the same element exist, the the animal frame is carried on after name of that which contains the greater death. All processes of respiration are proportion of oxygen ends in ic, while the carried on through the agency of oxygen. name of the oxide containing less oxygen all ordinary processes of burning and of ends in ous; thus we have NO, called producing light are possible only in the nitrous oxide, and N2O2, called nitric presence of this gas. Oxygen was first oxide. If there be several oxides they isolated in 1774 by Joseph Priestley. may be distinguished by such prefixes as Lavosier, the year following Priestley's hypo, per, etc., or by the more exact pre- discovery, put forward the opinion that fixes mono, di, tri, tetra, etc. For the the new gas was identical with the subdifferent oxides see the articles on the stance which exists in common air. and individual chemical elements. gave the name oxygen-from the Greek

Oxlip (oks/lip: Primula elatior), a orys, acid, and root gen to produce-be

kind of primrose, so called from some resemblance in the flowers to the lips of an ox, and intermediate between the primrose and cowslip.

Ox-peckers (oks/pek-ėrs), a name for

certain African birds, also known as Beef-eaters (which see).

Oxus, AMOO, AMOO-DARIA, or JIHOON, a large river in Central Asia, which has its sources between the Thian Shan and Hindu Kush ranges in the elevated region known as the Pamir, flows

cause he supposed that it was present as the active constituent in all acids; modern experiments, however, prove that it is not necessary in all cases to acidity or combustion. Oxygen is invisible, inodorous, and tasteless; it is the least refrac tive, but the most magnetic of all the gases; it is rather heavier than air, hav ing a specific gravity of 1.1056, referred to air as 1.00; it is soluble in water to the extent of about three volumes in 100 volumes of water at ordinary tempera

Oxyhydrogen Blowpipe

Oyster

(-rin'kus), a cele

Oxyrhynchus brated Egyptian fish,

tures. Oxygen was liquefied for the first
time in 1877 by the application of intense
cold and pressure; it has since then been sacred to the goddess Athor, and repre
solidified. It is possessed of very marked sented in sculptures and on coins. It was
chemical activity, having a powerful at- anciently embalmed.

traction for most of the simple sub- Oxyria (ok-sir'i-a), a genus of plants

stances, the act of combining with which

of the nat. order Polygonaceæ.

is called oxidation. Some substances O. reniformis (mountain-sorrel) is found when brought into contact with this gas on the summits of the White Mountains, unite with it so violently as to produce and north to the Arctic Sea.

is much more gradual, as in the rusting

those salts which contain

light and heat; in other cases oxidation Oxysalts (oks'i-saltz), in chemistry, of metals. The presence of oxygen is, so oxygen. The oxysalts form a very imfar as we know, one of the physical con- portant series of substances; among them ditions of life. In inspiring we receive are included all the sulphates, nitrates, into the lungs a supply of oxygen; this oxides, hydrates, chlorates, carbonates, oxygen is carried by the blood to the va- borates, silicates, etc.

rious parts of the body, and there de- Oxysulphide (oks-i-sul'fid), a com

posited to aid in the functions of the or

pound formed by the gans; the deoxygenated blood returns to combination of sulphur and oxygen with the lungs, and again receives a fresh sup- a metal or other element. The oxysulply of the necessary oxygen. Trees and phides are not very numerous or implants evolve oxygen, which is formed by portant.

the decomposition of the carbonic acid Oyama, Marquis (o'ya-má), a Japa

absorbed by the leaves from the atmos

nese general, born phere. This is due to the action of the about 1842. As chief-of-staff and field sun's rays and the chlorophyll or green marshal, he was commander-in-chief in coloring matter of the leaves. When the war with Russia in 1904, and comOxygen unites with another element the manded in person in the latter part of product is called an oxide. The oxides that victorious campaign. He received form a most important series of chemical the British Order of Merit in 1906.

compounds (see Oxides and the articles Oyer and Terminer (oyer, ter'mi

on the various chemical elements). The

ner; Law).

power of supporting combustion is one of The name of courts of criminal jurisdic-
the leading features of oxygen, and until tion in the United States, generally held
the discovery of oxygen no well-founded at the same time with the Court of
explanation of the facts of combustion Quarter Sessions, and by the same judges,
was known.
Oxygen exists in another and which have power, as the terms im-
form different from that of the ordinary ply, to hear and determine all treasons,
gas; in this form it exhibits many marked felonies, and misdemeanors _committed
peculiarities. See Ozone.
within their jurisdiction.. The terms
Over and Terminer are derived from the

Oxyhydrogen Blowpipe.

Oxyhydrogen Light fen), or LIME

Old French.

Oyster (ois'ter), an edible mollusc,
Mollusca, and a near ally of the mus-

one of the Lamellibranchiate

LIGHT, a brilliant light produced when a sels, etc. It belongs to the genus Ostræa,
jet of mixed oxygen and hydrogen gas family Ostræida, the members of which
is ignited and directed on a solid piece of are distinguished by the possession of an
lime. It is commonly used in magic lan- inequivalve shell, the one half or valve
tern exhibitions; and the two gases are being larger than the other. The shell
kept in separate air-tight bags, or iron may be free, or attached to fixed objects,
cylinders into which the gas is forced or may be simply imbedded in the mud.
under very high pressure. From these re-
ceptacles tubes conduct the gases to meet
in a common jet.

The foot is small and rudimentary, or
may be wanting. A single (adductor)
muscle for closing the shell is developed.
The most common American species is

Oxyhydrogen Microscope, Ostraa virginiana, which is found on the

one in which the object is illuminated by Atlantic coast from the Gulf of St. Lawmeans of the oxyhydrogen light, and a rence to the Gulf of Mexico. The most magnified image of it thrown on a screen. favorable bottom and locality for oysterOxymoron (oks-i-mo'ron), in het beds appear to be those situated in parts oric, a figure in which an where the currents are not too strong, epithet of quite contrary signification is and where the sea-bed is 'shelving, and added to a word; as, cruel kindness. covered by mud and gravel deposits.

1

Oyster

Oyster

Ostræa edulis is the most familiar Euro- bj. The organ of Bojanus, or renal' organ, ol pean member of the genus. The fry or the right side of the oyster. The nucis winch it fertilized-ova of the oysters are termed sends into the mantle are not shown, nor is its connection with the genito-urinary sinus indi'spat,' and enormous numbers of ova are cated.) produced by each individual from May bp. The large branchial pores which open from or June to September-the spawning the subdivided cavities of the pouch-like gills season. The spat being discharged, each into the cloaca cl. br. The anterior branchiocardiac "vein," which mbryo is found to consist of a little body inclosed within a minute but per- conveys part of the blood from the gills to the fectly formed shell, and possessing vibrac. Right pericardiac membrane, which has been thrown back over M in order to expose the heart ve and au.

removed.

auricle.

cl. Cloacal space, through which the water used on respiration passes out, and into which the excrement of the animal is discharged from the vent v. d. Nervous commissure of the right side, which connects the parieto-splanchnic with the supracesophageal ganglion.

9. Gills, which extend as four flattened transversely, subdivided sacks from the palps p to the point, at the edge of the mantle.

ge. Superficial network of the generative ducts as they appear when the oyster is yawning.

h. Groove in the hinge end of the left valve, which receives the ridge developed in the corresponding situation on the right one.

1. Dark brown elastic body o. ligan ent by which the valves are held together at the hinge.

M. Great abductor muscle, which is here viewed from the end, and which is attached to the inuer faces of the valves over the dark purple scars. It opposes the elastic ligament and closes the valves, and corresponds to the posterior al ductor muscle of dimyary mollusks

m. Mouth.

mt. "Mantle of the left side fringed with two row of tentacles; m t', portion of the mantle of the right side.

n to z marks the extent to which the right and left leaves of the mantle are joined together; the hood thus formed above and at the sides of the palps is called the cucullus.

P. Palps exposed, a part of the cucullus on the right being cut away.

pd. Pedal muscle of right side, which is also inserted upon the shell of the same side.

Pg. Parieto-splanchnic ganglion.

8. Genital opening of the right side.

8 g. Supracesophageal ganglion.

v. Vent or anus.

ve. Ventricle of the heart, which is dilated, or in the condition of diastole

xxx. Areas at the edge of the inner surface of the shell, where intruded mud has been inclosed by a thin laminae of shelly matter deposited by the mantle.

y. Point at the posterior extremity of the gills, where the right and left leaves of the mantle are A. Hinge or anterior umbonal end of the left joined together by the membrane which supporte valve of an adult oyster, upon which the soft parts the gills. of the animal are represented as they lie in situ, but with the greater part of the mantle of the right side tile filaments or cilia, by which the young animal at first swims freely about. au. The auricle of the right side of the heart and then attaches itself to some object. B. Posterior or ventral end of the left valve, which In about three years it attains its ful in life is usually directed upward more or less, and growth. The oysters congregate together during the act of feeding and respiration is sepa- in their attached state to form large sub rated slightly from the margin of its fellow of the marine tracts or oyster-beds,' as they opposite side to admit the water for respiration, and are termed. which also contains the animal's food in suspension.

contracted.

bm. Body-mass, traversed superficially by the generative ducts g e.

4

The United States and France are the chief seats of the oyster industry. In the United States the natural oyster-beds are