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ONEIROCRITICA, the art of interpreting dreams, or fore-telling future events by means of dreams. See Dream . The-word is formed from the Greek ovfq®-, dream, and kji7i%ii, ofjudgement. Some call it oncirocratica, and derive it from imj®-,and I possess, 1 command. It appears from various pas-

sages of scripture, that there was, under the Jewish dispensation,such a thing as foretelling future events by dreams ; but then therewere particular gifts or revelations required for that purpose. SeeGen. xxviii. 12, xxxvii. xl. xli. Dan. ii. iv. vii—xii. Mattb. i. 20,Acts x. &c. But as a human art it is doubtless as vain and chime-rical as astrology or magic.

ONElROCftlTIClSM, the art of interpreting dreams. Seethe above article.

ONEIROCRITICS, signify also books written on dreams.There is no regard to be bad to those Greek books called oneiro-critics. It is indeed surprising that the patriarch of Constantinople and otlieis should have written on such a subject. Rigault hasgiven a collection of the Greek and Latin works of this kind ; oneattributed to Astrampsichus; another to Nicephoros, patriarch ofConstantinople ; with the treatises of Artemidorns and Achmet.But the books themselves are mere reveries; a kind of wakingdreams, to explain and account for sleeping ones.

ONEIRODYNIA, uneasiness during sleep. See Incubus.

ONEIROSCOPIST, [from °v»gof, a dream,' and <rxmtw, toview,] one who inquires into the meaning of dreams.

ON EKOTAN, one of the Kurile Isles. It is about 60 milesin circumference. Lon. 155. 25. E. Lat. 50. 0. N.

ON EMACK, a cape of North America , the S. W. point of thatcontinent on the N.W. coast, and the S. limit of Bristol Bay .Lon. 163. 30. W. Lat. 54. 30. N.

ON ESLE THERMJE, were, according to Strabo , excellentbaths, and salutary waters, at the foot of the Pyrenees in Aqui-tania-

ONESICR1TUS, a cynic philosopher and historian of fEgina,who accompanied Alexander the Great into Asia , and was sent byhim to the Indian Gvmnosophists. lie wrote a history of Alex-ander’s Expedition, which has been censured for the romantic andexaggerated anecdotes it contains.

ONGLEE, in heraldry, an appellation given to live talons orclaws of beasts or birds, when borne of a different colour fromthat of the body of the animal.

ONGOLE, a town and district of Iiindostan, in the N. part ofthe Carnatic ; 65 miles N. of Nellore. Lon. 80. 5. E. Lat. 15.30. N.

ONION. See Allium . Onions, leeks, and garlic, ate all intheir recent state acrid, but harmless to the human body. When,by age or climate, this acrimony is too great, they are not used asfood. In Spain , the garlic being equally mild with the onion, isused as common food. By the ordinary culinary preparation theiracrimony is dissipated, and a remarkably mild substance remains,affording much nutriment. They are used in medicine, unitingthe two qualities of pectorals, viz. by their acrimony, being intheir recent state expectorant; in their boiled state, on account oftheir mucilage, demulcent, provided the quantity taken be suffi-cient. Some have found in leeks a somniferous quality ; andonions are undoubtedly possessed of this property, as any personmay be satisfied by eating one or two, when wakeful in the night.

ONISCUS, in zoology, a genusof insects belonging to the or-der aptera. Jaw truncate, denticulate; lip bifid; antennae fromtwo to four, setaceous; body ovai, consisting of about fourteentransverse segments; legs fourteen. These insects feed on animalanti vegetable matter, and they cast their skin. There are nearlyfifteen species divided into sections. A. without feelers; four an-tennae, sessile. B. feelers unequal, the hind ones longer; antennaefiliform.

O. Aquaticus, is of an ashen colour, and tolerably smooth.Its body is composed of seven articulations, exclusive of the headand tail; which last part is much larger than the other segments,round at the extremity, from which issue two appendices, eachdivided into two threads. The antenna; have but three long arti-culations, the last of which is much longer than the rest. T hisinsect-is found in pools, small rivulets, anti especially in springs.

O. Armapjuo, is broad, very glossy, and smooth: its colouris black, with a small portion of white on the edge of the seg-ment, which colour often varies; but still tbe insect is glossy and

smooth. Its body is composed of ten segments, besides the headand tail. It is found in woods. .

O. Asellus, Millepes, or Wood-uous.e, is oval; tbe tail ob-tuse, with two undivided bristles; various as to colour,; length,five lines. Their use in medicine is veil known..

ONKELOS, sirnamed tiie Proselyte, a famous rabbi of thefirst century, and the author of the Chaldee Targum on the Pen-tateuch, Pie flourished in the time of Jesus Christ , according tothe Jewish writers. The Talmudists tell us that he assisted at thefuneral of Gamaliel, and was at a prodigious expence to make itmagnificent.

ONKOTOMY, [from Oyxof, Gr. a tumour, and rof*n, cutting,]in surgery, the opening of a tumour or abscess. See Surgery.

ONOCLEA, in botany, a genus of the cryptogamia filices classand order: natural order, Filices, or Ferns. Capsules under therecurved and contracted pinnules of the frond, resembling peri-carps. There are two species, viz. O. sensibilts, and O. polypo-dioides, tiie former is a native of Virginia, the latter was found byKoenig, in the fissures of the rocks near the top of the TableMountain at the Cape of Good Hope .

ONOMANCY, O NO M ANTI A, or ONOMANCIA, [ovo ;i *.and ftdvW,] a branch of divination, which foreteis tiie good or badfortune of a man, from tiie letters in his name. From tbe sameprinciple the young Romans toasted their mistresses as often asthere were letters in their names: Hence Martial says, Nxviasex cyathis, septem Justina bibatur.

ONOMATOPOEIA, in grammar and rhetoric, a figure wiicr?words are formed to resemble tiie sound made by the things signi-fied ; as tiie buzz of bees, tiie cackling of hens, &c. See AllT-teratton, Oratory, &c.

ONONDAGO, a river of New York , which rises from lakeOneida, and runs W. into lake Ontario at Oswego . Salmonabound in this river.

Onondago, an extensive and fertile county of New York , 78.miies long from N. to S. ai)d 59 broad from E. to VV.

ONON DAGOES, a nation of North American Indians, whoinhabit tiie banks of lake Onondago.

ONONGHOUAGO, a town of New York , on the Sustjue*hannah, 13 miles E. of Chenonga.

ONONIS, Restharrow; in botany, a genus of tbedecandriaorder, and diadelphia class of plants ; natural order, Papilionaceic.Calyx five-parted, with the segments linear; vexiihim striated ;legumen turgid, sessile; filaments coalited without a fissure.There are thirty species, chiefly herbaceous plants.

ONOPORDUM, Woolly Thistle ; in botany, a genus ofthe polygainia :equalis order, and syngenesia class of plants: natu-ral order, Composita:. Receptacles honey-combed; scales of thecalyx mucronate or pointed. It has seven species.

ONORE, a sea-port-town of Iiindostan, on the coast of Mala-bar, in Canara; 46 miles N. W. of Bedamore, 70 S. S. E. of Goa ,and 398 S. by E. of Bombay. Lon. 74. 12. E. Lat. 14. 13. N.

ONOSANDER, a Greek author and Platonic philosopher,who wrote Commentaries on Plato’s Politics , which are lost: butparticularly famous for a treatise intituled Aoyo; Erjar-iyixac, “ Ofthe Duty and Virtues of tiie General of an Army;” which hasbeen translated into Italian, Spanish, and French . The timewhen he lived is not precisely known: but is imagined to havebeen in tbe reign of Claudius 1 .

ONOSMA, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, andpentandria class of plants; natural order, Asperifulix. Corollacampauuk'.te, w ith tiie throat pervious; seeds four. It has threespecies.

ONOTH, a town of Hungary , 50 miles N. E. of Buda. Lon.19. 22. E. Lat. 48. 12. N.

ONRUST, an island in the East Indian Ocean, on the coast ofJava, in tiie harbour of Batavia, where the Dutch build and repairtheir ships.

ONS, an island in the Atlantic, near Spain . Lon. 7. 52. E.of Tenerifle. Lat. 42. 23. N.

ONSLOW, a maritime county of North Carolina, in Wilming-ton district, bounded E. by Carteret, S. E. by the ocean, S. W.by New Hanover and Duplin counties, and N. by Craven county.Swansborough is the capital.

Onslow, a township of Nova Scotia, in Halifax county ; 34miles N. E. of Windsor, and 46 N. by W. of Halifax .

ONTARIO,