O E N
104
(E S T
partly fabulous, flourished about 1266 B. C. He was given byhis father to a shepherd, who was ordered to put him to death, toprevent the misfortunes with which he was threatened by an oracle.But the shepherd, unwilling to kill him with his own hands, tiedhim by the feet to a tree, that he might be devoured by wildbeasts. The infant was however found in this situation by anothershepherd named Phorbas, who carried him to Polybus king ofCorinth ; where the queen, having no children, educated him withas much care as if he had been her own son. When he was grownup, he was informed that he was not the son of Polybus: on which,by order of the oracle, he went to seek for his father in Phocis ;but scarcely was he arrived in that country, when he met his fatheron the road, and killed him without knowing him. A short timeafter, having delivered the country from the monster called theSphinx, he married Jocasta , without knowing that she was hismother , and had four children by her; but afterwards, being in-formed of his incest, he quitted the throne, and thinking, himselfunworthy of the light, put out his eyes. Eteocles and Polynices,who were celebrated among the Greeks, were born of this inces-tuous marriage.
OEGWA, a town of Africa , on the Gold Coast.
OELAND, an island of Sweden , seated on the Baltic, betweenthe continent of Gothland and the isle of Gothland . It lies be-tween 56° and 57° Lat. N. and between 17“ and 18° of Lon. E.It is about 60 miles long, and 15 broad ; having a wholesome air,and a fertile soil, with rising hills, and several castles. Borck-holm is the capital.
OELFELDT, a town ofSaxony, in Magdeburg , on the Aller;55 miles E. of Brunswick. Lon. 11. 20. E. Lat. 52. 27. N.
OELS, a principality of Silesia, bounded on the S. by Brieg,W. by Wohlau, and Nf. and E. by Poland . The soil is sandy.
Oels, the capital of the above territory, 14 miles E. N. E. ofBreslau .
CENANTHE, Water-Dropwort, a genus of the digyniaorder, and pentandria class of plants ; natural order, Umbellata:.Florets difform ; those of the disk sessile, barren ; fruit crownedwith the calyx, and pistil. 1 here are eleven species ; of which themost remarkable is the
O. Crocata, or Hemlock-Dropwort, growing frequently onthe banks of ditches, rivers, and lakes, in many parts of Britain .The root and leaves are strong poison ; several persons haveperished by eating it through mistake, for water-parsneps or forcelery, which last it resembles pretty much in its leaves. Lobelcalls this plant ccnanthe aquatica cicutae facie. It grows in greatplenty all over Pembrokeshire, and is called by the inhabitantsfive-fingered root; it is much used by them in cataplasms for thefelon or worst kind of whitlow. They eat some parts of it, butcarefully avoid the roots and stalk. 1 hese indeed are most per-nicious, and prove instantly fatal, unless a proper remedy is ap-plied.
(ENEUS, in fabulous history, a king of Calydonia in T.tolia,son of Parthaon, grandson of Neptune, and father of Mele-ager, Tydeus, Dejanira , &c. See these articles.
(ENOMAUS, in fabulous history, the son of Mars by Sterope,the daughter of Atlas and father of flippodamia the wife of Pelops .See Pelops .
CENONE, a nymph of Mount Ida, daughter of the Cebrenus,and wife of Paris , before he was known to be the son of king Priam.Being educated with the spirit of prophecy, she foretold to him, thathis voyage to Greece would be attended with the ruin of hisfamily and country ; an’d that he would return to her for aid at thehour of his death: all which happened, and (Euone killed herselfnn hLbodv.
CENOPTjE, in Grecian antiquity, a kind of censors at Athens,who regulated entertainments, and took care that none drank toomuch, nor too little.
CENOS, [from Oi*of, vinum, wine,] in ornithology, the nameused by authors for the stock-dove, or wood-pigeon, called alsoby some vinago, from its wine colour.
OENOTHERA, Tree Primrose, a genus of the monogynia•rder, and octandria class of plants; natural order, Calycanthemai.Calyx four-cleft; petals four; capsule cylindrical, inferior; seedsnaked. There are eleven species.
O. Pumila, the Low Perenial Trf.e-Primrose, hath fibrousroots, crowned with many oval, spear-shaped, close sitting leaves;
slender herbaceous stems from 10 to 12 inches long; garnished withspear-shaped, blunt, smooth leaves, having very short foot-stalks ;and at the axillas smallish bright yellow flowers, succeeded byacute-angled capsules.
CENOTRI, the people of (Enotria. These GF,notrian3 werecalled Aborigines; and after they had been engaged for manyyears in a war with the Siculi, entered into an alliance with acolony of the Pelasgi, who came out of Thessaly into Italy , afterhaving been driven from the former country.
CENOTRIA, an ancient name of Italy ; so called from theCEnotri, who inhabited between Paistum and Tarentum, originallyArcadians, conducted by CEnotrus, son of Lycaon, 17 generationsbefore the war of Troy, or 459 years, at 27 years each generation,and gave name to the people. Cato derives the name from CE-notrus, king of the Latins ; and Servius from the Greek name forwine, for which Italy was famous ; of which opinion, is Strabo .
CENOTRIDES, two small islands in the Tuscan sea, overagainst Velia, in Lucania, called Pontia and Iscia; now Penza andIschta.
OESEL, an island of the Baltic sea, at the entrance of the gulfof Livonia. It is about 70 miles in length, and 50 in breadth, andcontains 10 parishes. It lies between 22° and 24° Lon. E. andbetween 58° and 59° Lat. N.
(ESOPHAGUS, [from ostn;, wicker, from some similitude inthe structure of this part to the contexture of that; and fayw toeat,] the gullet; a long, large, and round canal, that descendsfrom the mouth, lying all along between the windpipe and thejoints of the neck and back, to the fifth joint of the back, where itturns a little to the right, and gives way to the descending artery;and both run by one another, till at the ninth the oesophagus turnsagain to the left, pierces the midriff', and is continued to the leftorifice of the stomach. See Anatomy.
CESTRUS, in zoology, a genus of insects of the order diptera.Mouth with a simple aperture, and not exserted ; feelers two, oftwo articulations orbicular at the tip, and seated each side in a de-pression of the mouth; antennae of three articulations, the lastsubglobular, and furnished with a bristle on the fore-part, placedin two hollows on the front; face broad, depressed, vesicular, andglaucous. The larva are without feet, short, thick, and annulate,and often furnished with small hooks. There are twelve species,named chiefly from the animals which they infest. This is one ofthe most curious genera of insects. From the hinder part of theirbody issues a whimble of wonderful structure. It is a scaly cylin-der, composed of four tubes, which draw out like the pieces of aspying-glass; the last is armed with three hooks, and is the gimb-let with which the cestri bore through the tough hides of hornedcattle. The animal seems to experience no pain from the punc-ture, unless the insect, plunging too deep, attacks some nervousfibre; in which case, the beast runs about, and becomes furious.The eggs being hatched, the grub feeds on the matter of thewound. The place of its abode forms upon the body of thequadrupeds a bunch sometimes above an inch high. When fullgrown, the larva breaks through the tumor, and slides down tothe ground; for doing which, it takes the cool of the morning,that it may neither be overpowered by the heat of the day, norchilled by the cold of the night: it then digs itself a burrow, intowhich it retires. Its skin grows hard, and turns to a very solidshell. There it is transformed to a chrysalis, and afterwards to awinged insect. The shell wherein the ccstrus is inclosed, is of sostrong a texture, that it could not make its way out, if at one of theends there were not a small valve, fastened only by a very slightfilament. The first push the oestrus makes, the door gives way,and the prison opens. The insect wings its way to woods andplaces frequented by cattle.
O. Ilovis, The Breeze or Gad-fly. Thorax yellow, with ablack transverse line between the wings. Abdomen tawny, withfine black transverse lines; last segment black: Wings white, witha brown transverse line, and three brown spots. Size of the largeblue fly, Deposits its eggs under the skin on the back of oxen,where the maggots are nourished the whole winter till the month ofJune ; and plague the cattle all the summer.
O. Ovis, the Grey Fly, spotted with black; front pale y r ellow;legs brownish ; wings with short black veins; length half an inch.Breeds in the frontal sinus of sheep ; w here the maggots, hatchedfrom the eggs, lodge the whole winter, vellicating the internal4 membranes