OSB
172
OS T
Bgs.-je-iS 1 ;■■■■n ■ - 1, .~ i ~~rv-- T-r-j .
trees of various kinds, chiefly represses, near Ephesus ; on thecoast, a little up from the sea. 'i his place was tilled with shrinesand images. The priests of the goddess were eunuchs, and ex-ceedingly respected by the people.
Ortygia, an island of Sicily, in the bay of Syracuse , whichformed one of the four great quarters of that great city.
ORTZA, a fortified town of Lithuania , in Witepsk, 50 milesW. of Smolensko . Lon. 50. 30. E. Lat. 4. 45. N.
ORVIETANO, a territory of Italy , in patrimonio, belong-ing, till very lately, to the Pope, about twenty miles long, and fromten to fifteen broad.
ORVIETO, the capital of Orvietano, is alarge strong city , situ-ated at the conflux of the Paglia and the Chiana, 20 miles N. W.of Viterbo, and 50 N. N. W. of Rome . Lon. 12. 20. E. Lat. 42.50. N.
ORURO, a province or jurisdiction of South America , inBuenos Ayres.
ORYCTOLOGY, [from ojmtoi dug up, and >.oyor, a discourse]the science which treats on such animal and vegetable substancesas one dug out of the earth in a mineralized state. See Geology,Deluge, Fossils, &c.
ORYZA, Rice , in botany, a genus of the digynia order, andhexandria class of plants ; natural order, Gramina. Calyx a bi-vaived uniflorous glume ; corolla bivalved, nearly equal, and ad-hering to the seed. There is but one species.
O. Sativa, Common’ Rice, (with several varieties.) Thisplant is greatly cultivated in most of the eastern countries, whereit is the chief support of the inhabitants ; and great quantities of itare brought into England and other European countries everyvear, where it is much esteemed for puddings, &c. but is too ten-der to be produced in these northern countries without the assis-tance of artificial beat. It grows upon moist soils, where theground can be flowed over with water after it is come up. So thatwhoever would cultivate it in this country should sow the seedsupon a hot-bed ; and when the plants are come up, they should beremoved into pots filled with light rich earth, and placed in pans ofwater, which should be plunged into a hot-bed; and, as the waterwastes, it must from time to time be renewed. In July these plantsmay be set abroad in a warm situation, still preserving the waterin the pans, otherwise they will not thrive; and, toward the endof August, they will produce their grain, which wiU ripen tole-rably well, provided the autumn proves, favourable. The leaves otrice are long, like the reed, and fleshy; the flowers blow on thetop like barley ; but the seed which follows is disposed in clusters,each of which is inclosed in a yellow husk, ending in a spiralthread. The seed is oblong, or rather oval, and white. Rice isthe chief commodity and riches of Damietta in Egypt .
ORZI, a territory of Italy , in the department of the Meila, dis-trict and late duchy of Brescia .
Orzj, or Oicci/a town in Italy , in the department of the Meila,and district of Brescia , fifteen miles S. \V. of Brescia.
OS, £Lat.] a bone. See Anatomy.
OSACA, a commercial town of Japan , in Niphon ; with a mag-nificent castle and harbour. Lon. 133. 45. E. Lat. 35. 20. N.
OSAGES, a river of Louisiana, which runs E. into the Mis-souri .
Osages , a nation of North America Indians, who inhabit the S.banks of the Missouri .
OSBECK1A, in botany, a genus of the monogynia order, andoctandria class; natural order, Galycanthemte. Calyx four-cleft;corolla four and live-petaied; stamina eight or ten; anthersbeaked; capsule inferior, four-celled. There is one species, aplant of China .
OSBORN, Francis, an eminent English writer in the 17thcentury. lie frequented the court, and was master of the horse tcWilliam earl of Pembroke. Upon the breaking out of the civilwars, he adhered to the parliament, and had several public em-ployments conferred upon him. Ilis “Advice to a Son,” so wonas it was published, being complained of to Dr. John Tenant, vice-chancellor of Oxford, as of irreligious tendency, there was a pro-posal made to have it publicly burnt; but that taking no effect, itwas ordered that no bookseller or others should sell it, which onivmade it sell the faster. He wrote also “ Historical Memoirs ofthe Reigns of Queen Elizabeth and King James I.;” “ A Discour -eoil the Greatness and Corruption of the Church of Rome “ ADiscount? upon Machiavel , See. He died in 1059.
OSCHEOCELE, [oe^iov and xijiai,] a kind of hernia, whereinthe intestines break into the scrotum.
OSCHOPIIORIA, a festival observed by the Athenians. Itreceives its name «« tov t«c ovxa;, from carrying boughs hungup with grapes, called o:rx«<. Jt was instituted by 'I heseus, in ac-knowledgement for his having destroyed the Minotaur , and therebyfreed his country from the tribute of seven young men, who wereto be sent every year into Crete , to be devoured by that mon-ster. At this festival there was always a race by young men electedout of every tribe, who run from Bacchus’s temple to that of Mi-nerva Sciras ; the place where the race ended, was cal'ed Oscho-phorion, and the victor’s reward was a cup containing a mixture ofwine, honey, and oil.
OSCILLA, small images of wax or clay made in the shape ofmen or women, and consecrated to Saturn, to render him pro-pitious. The word is sometimes used to signify a kind of maskscooped from the baik of a tree, and worn by the performers ofcomedy in the ruder ages of Rome . In this sense we find it inVirg. Geo. ii. 386.
OSCILLATION , [from oscillo, Lat. to vibrate, swing to andfro] in mechanics, vibration, or the reciprocal ascent or descent ofa pendulum. It is demonstrated, that the time of a complete os-cillation in a cycloid, BE AD, Plain CXVI1I. fig. 15, is to thetime in which a body would fall through the axis of that cycloid,as the circumference of a circle to its diameter ; and that if a single'pendulum be suspended between two semicycloids BC, CD, thathave the diameter CE of the generating circle, equal to half thelength of the string, so that the string as it oscillates, folds aboutthem; all the oscillations, however unequal, will be isochronal ina non-resisting medium, whence it follows, 1. That the oscillationsin the cycloid are all performed in equal times, as being all in thesame ratio to the time in which a body falls through the diameter ofthe generating circle. 2. As the middle part ot the cycloid maybe conceived to coincide with the generating circle, the time ina small arch of that circle will be nearly equal to the time in thecycloid; and hence the reason is evident, why the times in very-little arches are equal. 3.'1 he time ot a complete oscillation in.any little arch of a circle, is to the lime in which a hotly would fallthrough half the radius, as the circumference of a circle, to its di-ameter ; and since the latter time is half the time in which a bodywould (all through the whole diameter, or any chord, it follows thattlie time of an oscillation in any little arch, is to the time in whicha body would fall through its chord, as the semicircle to the dia-meter. 4. The times of the oscillations in cycloids, or in smallarches of circles, are in a sub-duplicate ratio of the lengths of thependulums. 5. But if the bodies that oscillate are acted on by un-equal accelerating forces, then the oscillation will be performed intimes that are to one another in the ratio compounded of Hie directsubdupliuatc ratio of the lengths of the pendulums, and inverse sub-duplicate ratio of the accelerating lorces. Hence it appears that ifoscillations of unequal pendulums are performed in the same time,tlie accelerating gravities of these pendulums must be as theirlengths; and thus we conclude, that the force of gravity decreasesas you go towards tlie equator, since we find that tiie lengths ofpendulums that vibrate seconds are always less at a less instancefrom the equator. 6. The space described by a falling body inany given time, may be exactly known ; for finding by experi-ments, what pendulum oscillates in that time, the halt of the pen-dulum will be to the space required, in the duplicate ratio of Hiediameter of a circle to the circumference. 7. 'I he length of a pen-dulum, that will perform its oscillations in a second, is 39,125inches.
Oscillation Centre. See Mechanics.
OSERO, or ORSOllO, an island ot Dalmatia , one of th-FourIslands of the Quarnaro. It is 15 miles long, and from two (olivebroad. The surface is hilly, and the soil stony ; yet it is fertile iucorn, vines, orange, tig, and olive-trees.
Osero, the capital of the above island, the ancient Absyrtimn.Lon. 15, 30. E. Lat. 45. 0. N.
OSIMO, an ancient town of Italy, in Ancona , 10 miles S. ofAncona, and lit) N. E. ot Rome . Lon. JJ. 34. E. Lat. 43.23. N.
OSIRIS, in mythology, one of the gods of ancient Egypt , andgenerally supposed to mean the sun, or the mind actuating thatluminary. Macrobius says, that iu the hieroglyphic writings of7 ancient