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bones ; and on that account was chiefly worshipped by pregnantwomen.

OSSOLA, or OSCELLA, a district of Italy , in the depart-ment of the Agogna ; about 35 miles long, and from 15 to 25broad.

Ossola, Domo d’, the capital of the above district. Lon. 8.■25. E. Lat. 46. 3. N.

OSSUNA, a town of Spain, in Andalusia , with an universityand an hospital. Lon. 4. 18. W. Lat. 37. 8. N.

OSTALRIC, a town of Spain, in Catalonia . Lon. 2. 45. E.Lat. 42. 44. N.

OSTEND, a very strong sea-port town of France , in the de-partment of the Lys, and iate province of Austrian Flanders, 10miles VV. of Bruges , 8 N. E. of Nieuport, 22 N. E. of Dun-kirk, and 60 N4\V. of Brussels. Lon. 3. 1. E. Lat. 51. 14. N.

OSTEOCOLLA, [orwxoxxa,] in natural history, a white orash-coloured sparry substance, in shape like a bone, and by somesupposed to have the quality of uniting broken bones, on whichaccount it is oidercd in some plasters; a supposition not warrantedby experience.

OSTEOLOGY , [orrer and xiy»',] iu anatomy, a descriptionof the bones. See Anatomy.

OSTEOSl’ERMIUM, Hard-seeded Chrysanthum; inbotany, a genus of plants, of the syngenesia class, and poly-gamia necessaria order ; natural order, Compositie. Calyx sim-ple, or in two rows, many-leaved, almost equal; seeds globular,coloured, bony : down none ; receptacle naked. There are se-venteen species.

OSTERVALD, John Frederick, a celebrated Protestant divine, born at Ncufchatel, in 1603, and descended of an ancientfamily. He made such rapid progress in his studies, that lie be-came M. A. at Saumur before he was 16 years of age. He after-wards studied at Orleans and at Paris . At his return to Neuf-chatel in 1699, he became professor of divinity and pastor of thechurch there ; and contracted a strict friendship w ith die cele-brated John Alphonsus Turret'll) of Geneva, and the illustriousSamuel Werentels of Basil . The union of these three divineswhich was called the Triumvirate of the divines of SwEsevland,lasted till his death. Mr. Ostervald acquired the highest reputa-tion by his virtues, his zeal in instructing his disciples, and restor-ing ecclesiastical discipline. 11c wrote many books in Frenc h ;the principal of which are, 1. A Treatise concerning the Causesof the present Corruptions of Christians , and the Remedies:which was translated into English and lias been often published.2. A Catechism, or Instruction in the Christian Religion; whichhas been translated into German, Dutch, and English ; and theAbridgment of the Sacred History, which he prefixed to it, wastranslated and printed in Arabic , to be sent to the East Indies, bythe Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, established in London ; who admitted him an honorary member. 3. A Treatiseagainst Impurity. 4. An edition of the French Bible of Geneva,with Arguments and Reflections, in folio. 5. Ethica Christiana.6. Theologi.e Compendium, &c. He died in 1747. He had ason, who was pastor of tile English church at Basil , and main-tained the reputation of his father. He published a work, whichis much esteemed, intituled, Les Devoirs des Communicans.

OSTIA, an ancient and celebrated town of Italy , in Cam-pagna, at the mouth of the Tiber . It was built by Ancus Mar-tins, the fourth king of Rome , and was called Ostia Tiberina, inthe plural number, i. e. the two mouths of the Tiber . It is 12miles S. \V. of Rome. Lon. 12. 24. E. T-at. 41. 44. N.

OSTIACKS, a people of Asia in Siberia . They live upon thebanks of the Oby and Jenisay, and some other rivers which fallinto these. They are very poor, and very lazy, and in summerlive mostly upon lish ; and at other times upon venison, wildfowls, fish, and roots, for they have neither rice nor bread. Theydrink for the most part water, and it is said they can very wellrelish a draught of train oil. They are immoderately fond of to-bacco, and of swallowing the smoke, which intoxicates them.

OSTRACION, the Trunk Fish, in zoology, a genus offi-hes, of the order Cartilaginei. Teeth cylindric, pointing for-wards and rather blunt; body mailed by a complete long cover-ing. There are twelve species. Ostracion quactricornus is repre-sented in Pate CXXI.

OSTRACISM, in Grecian antiquity, denotes the banishment

of such persons whose merit and influence excited the jealousy ofthe people of Athens , lest they should attempt any thing againstthe public liberty. This punishment was called ostracism, fromthe Greek word orjrexor, which properly signifies a shell; but whenapplied to this object, it is used for the billet on which the Athe-nians wrote the names of the citizens whom they intended to ba-nish, which was a piece of baked earth, in the form of a shell ;the person who produced the law was its first victim, hulas to hisname, and the time of its establishment, the ancients differ ex-tremely.

OSTRACITES, fossile oysters, which are common in manyparts of England. They are of various shapes and kinds ; and thename is by some authors used tor the shell itself, when preservedin its native state and condition ; as is the case with those aboutWoolwich and Blackheath ; and by others, for the stene cast orformed in those shells, Or in cavities from whence they have beenwashed away and dissolved: in both these cases the stone carriesthe exact resemblance of the shell, even in its nicest lineaments ;in the first case, bearing every mark of the inside ; in the other ofthe outer surface.

OSTIIEA, the Oystf.k; in zoolog }, a genus of the vermestestacea class and order.. Animal a tethys : shell bivalve, gene-rally with unequal valves and slightly eated ; hinge without teeth,but furnished with an ovate hollow, and mostly lateral transversegrooves. About 150 species have been enumerated, and classedinto sections and subsections. A. furnished with ears and radiate;scallop. B. rough, and generally plated on the outside ; oysters.C. hinge with a perpendicular grooved line. This sea-fish, saysBarbut, occupies in the scale of nature one of the degrees themost remote from perfection ; destitute of defensive weapons andprogressive motion, without art or industry, it is reduced to merevegetation in perpetual imprisonment, though it every day opensregularly to enjoy the element necessary to its preservation. Theanimal figure, and the springs of its organizations, are scarcely dis-cernible through the coarse and shapeless mass ; a ligament placedat the summit of the shell serves as an arm to its operations. Oy-sters are reputed to be hermaphrodites: the spawn which they eastin May adheres to the rocks and other matters at the bottom ofthe sea; and in the space of 24 hours is provided with shells inwhich are contained other oysters, that never leave the spot onwhich they were fixed, till the greedy fisherman tears them fromthe element. The green oysters eaten at Paris are commonlybrought from Dieppe . Their colour is owing to the care takento bed them in creeks, encompassed with verdure, whence theyacquire their delicacy. Common oysters should he fresh, tender,and moist. The most esteemed are those caught at the mouths ofrivers, and in clear water. The want of fresh water renders oy-sters hard, hitter, and unpalatable. Mud and sea-weeds destroythem in their very birth; galangal root, muscles, scollops, sea-slars, and crabs, are formidable enemies to the oyster. There arefound in Spain red and russet-coloured oysters; in Illyria , browncoloured, with the flesh black ; and in the Red Sea , of the co-lours of the Iris. Oysters of the mangle-tree are of two sorts;those of St. Domingo are delicate, adhering to the stumps of thetrees that dip in the waiter. The negro-divers cut them off with abill, and they are served upon table with the roots. Britain liasbeen noted for oysters from the time of Juvenal , and still preservesIts superiority in oysters over other countries. Most of our coastsproduce them naturally ; and in such places they are taken bydredging, and are become an article of commerce, both raw andpickled. The very shells, calcined, become an useful medicineas an absorbent. In common with other shells, they prove an ex-cellent manure. Stews or layers of oysters are formed in placeswhich nature never allotted as habitations for them. Those nearColchester have been long famous ; at present there are othersthat at least rival the former, near the mouth of the Thames. Theoysters, or their spats, are .brought to convenient places, wherethey improve in taste and size. It is an error to suppose, that thefine" green, observed in oysters taken fivm artificial beds, is owingto copperas ; it being notorious how destructive the substance orthe solution of it is to all fish. We cannot give a better accountof the cause, or of the whole treatment, of oysters, than that inthe learned Bishop Sprat’s history of the Royal Society , p. 307 to309. “ In May, the oysters cast their spawn', (which the dredgers

call their spats); it is like to a drop of candle, and about the big-ness