sion. They swallow stones; pieces of me. tal, and other hard substances. Buffon states that one was opened by the academicians of France, which contained in its stomach ninety doubloons, and various stones, all highly smoothed by the attrition of the stomach. See Aves, Plate XI. fig. 1. O. tetrax, or the little bustard, is met with in many parts of Europe, particularly in France, where it is taken by nets. It is rarely seen in England; is shy and cunning; if molested will fly about two hundred paces, and then run so fast that a man cannot overtake it. Its flesh is like that of the great bustard, rich and delicate, and it would appear worth while to attempt the domestication of both these birds.

OTTER. See LUTRA.

OVAL, an oblong curvilinear figure, otherwise called ellipsis.

However, the proper oval, or egg-shape, differs considerably from that of the ellipsis, being an irregular figure, narrower at one end than at the other; whereas the ellipsis, or mathematical oval, is equally broad at each end though, it must be owned, these two are commonly confounded together; even geometricians calling the oval a false ellipsis.

:

The method of describing an oval chiefly used by artificers is by a string, the length of which is equal to the greater diameter of the intended oval, and which is fastened by its extreme ends to two pins, placed in its longest diameter, then by holding it always stretched out with a pin or pencil carried round the inside, the oval is described, which will be longer or shorter, as the two fixed points are further apart.

OVIEDA, in botany, so named in honour of Gonsalvo Fernandez d'Oviedo, a genus of the Didynamia Angiospermia class and order. Natural order of Personatæ. Caprifolia, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five-cleft; corolla tube subcylindric, superior, very long; berry globular, onecelled, quadripartile, four-seeded. There are two species, viz. O. spinosa, and O. mitis.

OVERSEERS of the poor. By 43 Elizabeth, c. 2, § 1, the churchwardens of every parish, or two substantial householders, to be nominated yearly in Easter week, or within one month after Easter, under the hand and seal of two justices of the peace of the county, shall be overseers of the same parish. In general all persons are liable to serve, with some exceptions as to peers of the realm, clergymen, par

liament men, attornies, practising barristers, the president and members of the college of physicians, surgeons, and apothecaries free of the hall; dissenting ministers, prosecutors of felons, having a Tyburn ticket, and soldiers actually serving in the militia. In extensive parishes a greater number of overseers are appointed under 13 and 14 Charles II. c. 12, § 21; and by 17 Geo. II. c. 88, if an overseer dies, removes, or becomes insolvent, the justices may appoint another, and their appointment is subject to appeal to the sessions. By 43 Elizabeth, c. 2, § 2, overseers shall, within fourteen days after the appointment of new ones, deliver to them an account to be allowed by two justices, and pay over balances due from them, which, if not paid, may be levied by distress, and the party committed to prison by the justices until the balance is paid, and the account delivered in ; and by 17 George II. c. 38, the account is to be verified by oath. If he removes, the overseer is to account in like manner. If he dies, his executors have forty days to aecount, and must pay the balance before any other debts. Their duty consists in raising the poor's-rate, taking care of the poor, giving relief to casual poor, and removing persons who come to settle in a tenement under 10l. a year, &c. without a certificate. They are also to bind out the children of poor persons, and in that case the infant parish apprentice and his master cannot vacate the indentures without the overseers. They also are to procure orders of maintenance of bastards to be made, and bonds to be taken from the reputed father to indem nify the parish. It has been usual for overseers in those cases, instead of taking a boud of indemnity, to accept of a sum of money and discharge the father. But this has been lately held to be illegal, because it gives the overseers an interest to procure the death of the child. In cases of removal also overseers should be careful not to execute the order in a harsh or improper manner, for if a person die in consequence of a removal at a time of sickness, the overseer may be guilty of murder, and liable to an indictment.. Overseers also should not improperly conspire to force persons who are with child of bastards to marry and relieve the parish, for this also is indictable. By 17 George II. c. 38, if any person shall be aggrieved by any thing done or omitted by the churchwardens and overseers, or by any of his Majesty's justices of the peace, he may, giving reasonable notice

to the churchwardens or overseers, appeal to the next general or quarter sessions, where the same shall be heard, or finally determined; but if reasonable notice be not given, then they shall adjourn the appeal to the next quarter sessions; and the court may award reasonable costs to either party, as they may do by 8 and 9th William, in case of appeals concerning settlements. See POOR. By 43 Elizabeth, c. 2, § 2, they forfeit 20s. on neglecting to meet in the vestry one Sunday in the month; and by 13 and 14 Charles II. c. 4, forfeit 51. for refusing relief to a person duly removed by warrant of two justices. By 9 George III. c. 37, § 7, they are to forfeit 10s. or 20s. for paying the poor in bad money.

OVERT act. In the case of treason, is compassing or imagining the death of the King, this imagining must be manifested by some open act; otherwise being only an act of the mind, it cannot fall under any judicial cognizance. Bare words are held not to amount to an overt act, unless put into writing; in which case they are then held to be an overt act, as arguing a more deliberate intention. No evidence is to be admitted of any overt act, that is not expressly laid in the indictment, 7 Will. c. 3.

OVIPAROUS, a term applied to such animals as bring forth their young, ab ova, from eggs; as birds, insects, &c.

OVIS, the sheep, in natural history, a genus of mammalia of the order Pecora. Generic character: the horns hollow, wrinkled, turning backwards and outwards into a spiral form; lower front teeth eight; no canine teeth. There are nine species mentioned by Shaw. The following are most worthy of attention.

O. ammon, or the Siberian sheep, or the argali. The argali, or wild sheep, is the presumed origin of all the domestic sheep. It is found on the immense chain of mountains reaching through the middle of Asia to the Eastern Ocean. In Barbary, Corsica, Sardinia, Greece, and Kamtschatka, it is also to be met with, and in some of these places in great abundance. Its size is that of a fallow deer. In Siberia the argali is fond of ranging the highest elevations, and is generally seen in small flocks. As winter approaches, they move downwards into the plains, and instead of the shoots of the mountain plants which were before their 'food, eat grass and other vegetables. They are extremely fond of salt, and will often remove the earth which covers this substance, in considerable quantities, in order

to obtain it. Their horns grow to a vast size and weight. These animals are timid in a very great degree; but the males will occasionally engage in fierce conflicts with each other, and, it is said, endeavour to precipitate each other down the steeps of the mountains which they inhabit. They move over these rugged eminences with great agility, and the chase of them is difficult and fatiguing. They are supposed to live to the age of fourteen years.

This

O. aries, or the common sheep. animal, in its state of complete domestication, appears equally stupid as it is harmless, and seems nearly to justify the obser vations of Buffon, who describes it as one of the most timid, imbecile, and contemptible of quadrupeds. When sheep, however, have an extensive range of pasture, and are left in a considerable degree to depend upon themselves for food and protection, they exhibit more respectability of character. A ram has been seen in these circumstances to attack and beat off a large and formidable dog, and even a bull has been felled by a stroke received between his eyes, as he was lowering his head to receive his adversary on his horns and toss him into the air. When individual efforts are unequal to the danger, sheep will unite their exertions, placing the females and their young in the middle of an irregular square, the rams will station themselves so as to present an armed front on every side to the enemy, and will support their ranks in the crisis of attack, harrassing the foe by the most formidable and sometimes fatal blows. Sheep display considerable sagacity in the selection of their food, and in the approach of storms they perceive the indications with accurate precision, and retire for shelter always to the spot which is best able to afford it. The domestic sheep is scarcely ever found (excepting in temperate latitudes) in a state approaching to perfection. In hot regions its wool degenerates into a species of hair, and in rigid climates, though the wool is fine at the roots, it is coarse towards the surface. The flesh of the animal, when it passes to great degrees, whether of heat or cold, appears also proportionally deteriorated. The wool of sheep in no country of the world attains greater excellence for the purposes of manufacture, without the assistance of any mixture, than in England. That of the Spanish breed is finer, but too short for manufacture by itself, and comparatively trifling in weight. Since England attained

any considerable advance in civilization its breed of sheep has been admired for the excellence of their fleeces, which constituted the grand material of national industry, wealth, and revenue. At present the worth of the wool annually shorn in this country is considerably upwards of two millions, and when wrought produces an amount of nearly seven millions sterling; facts which exhibit the importance of the cultivation of that animal, which is the source of all this opulence in a point of view particularly striking. There are several breeds or races in this country which have their respective admirers, and each of which will probably thrive better than others in certain soils and situations. The sheep of Lincolnshire afford the largest quantity of wool, but their flesh is more coarse and lean, and less pleasantly flavoured than that of some others. The sheep of the largest size are found in the rich district between Yorkshire and Durham, one of which was fed so highly as to weigh sixty-two pounds per quarter. These are reported to be equally prolific as they are large, and an ewe of this breed produced, at the age of two years, four young ones at a birth, and at the end of eleven months after, five more. The Dorsetshire breed is also considerably celebrated for fecundity, these are likewise highly admired for the delicacy and fine flavour of their flesh, but their wool is little in amount, though of excellent quality, In the North there is a hardy race of these animals, marked by their shaggy wool and black faces, which are admirably adapted to the bleak and mountainous, tracts where they are produced, and sustain the rigour of winter in these cold situations without any inconvenience. Their eyes are wild, their movements nimble and rapid, and their flesh is peculiarly excellent. Towards the extreme points of the north of Scotland, there is a race of sheep particularly small, not exceeding six pounds per quarter in weight. The attention of noblemen and gentlemen of the first distinction has now long been directed to the cultivation of the sheep with respect to every point of its economy, its breed, its food, and the nature and degree of those attentions which will best promote its excellence, both as an article for subsistence and manufacture. These efforts, not many years since, it must be acknowledged, took a somewhat singular direction, and it appeared to be the grand object of agricultural ingenuity, to raise the animal to that superlative de

gree of fatness which, in all but the most robust appetites, was calculated to excite disgust. In one instance particularly, it was considered as an exploit of transcendent merit to have carried this process so far, that the fat of the animal, cut, without any slope, directly through the ribs, measured upwards of seven inches. This ludicrous, as well as pernicious and wasteful folly, has, however, now for some years, ceased. The sheep is more subject to disorders than any of the domesticated animals; giddiness, consumption, scab, dropsy, and worms, frequently seizing upon and destroying it. The last are met with in vast numbers in the liver and gall bladder of these animals. These worns belong to the genus fasciola, are flat, oval, and pointed at the extremities. The fly is another formidable enemy, and is often fatal in the course of twentyfour hours, breeding within the skull of the animal. To extricate the sheep from this danger, the French shepherds apply the trephine without the slightest hesitation, and with the greatest dispatch and success. For the common ram see Mammalia, Plate XVII. fig. 4.

The Cretan sheep is remarkable for long and large horns, twisted in the shape of a screw.

The many-horned sheep is found most commonly in the north of Europe, and most frequently in Iceland. Three, four, and even five horns, are occasionally seen on these animals in considerably different forms, sizes, and situations. See Mammalia, Plate XVII. fig. 6.

The Cape sheep is remarkable for its emaciated appearance, long neck, and pendulous ears, and for having a pair of watfles under the neck like goats.

The broad-tailed sheep occurs in various countries of Asia and Africa, and is extremely similar to the European breed in almost all respects, but that its tail is of an immense weight, varying from fifteen to fifty pounds, under which the shepherds are reported to place a board with wheels, to facilitate the animal's movements. These tails are stated to constitute the most marrowy and luxurious food.

The Tibetian sheep yield wool of admi rable length and fineness, and are said to produce the material from which are fabricated the Indian shawls, which are sometimes sold in this country for between thirty and fifty pounds.

For a species of sheep called the dwarf sheep, see Mammalia, Plate XVII. fig. 5.

OUNCE, a little weight, the sixteenth part of a pound avoirdupoise, and the twelfth part of a pound troy: the ounce avoirdupoise is divided into eight drachms, and the ounce troy into twenty pennyweights. The avoirdupoise ounce is less than the troy ounce, but the avoirdupoisé pound is greater than the troy pound. One hundred and seventy-five troy ounces are equal to one hundred and ninety-two avoirdupois ounces; but one hundred and forty-four pounds avoirdupois are equal to one hundred and seventy-five pounds troy. Therefore one pound avoirdupois, is equal to one pound, two ounces, eleyen pennyweights, sixteen grains troy. See WEIGHT.

OVOLO, or OVUм, in architecture, a round moulding, whose profile, or sweep, in the Ionic and Composite capitals, is usually a quadrant of a circle: whence it is also commonly called the quarter round.

OUSTED, in law, means put out, or removed, as ouster of possession as to lands.

OUTLAWRY, is being put out of the law, or out of the king's protection. It is a punishment inflicted for a contempt in refusing to be amenable to the process of the higher courts. By outlawry in civil actions, a person is so put out of the protection of the law, that he is not only incapable of suing for the redress of injuries, but may be imprisoned, and forfeits all his goods and chattels, and the profits of his land; his personal chattels immediately upon the outlawry, and his chattels real, and the profits of his lands when found by inquisition. Proceeding to outlawry is usually had in civil suits where an action is brought against two partners, and one is abroad; it is then necessary to outlaw him before the other can be proceeded against.

OUTWORKS, in fortification, all those works made without side the ditch of a fortified place, to cover and defend it. Outworks, called also advanced and detached works, are those which not only serve to cover the body of the place, but also to keep the enemy at a distance, and prevent his taking advantage of the cavities and elevations usually found in the places about the counterscarp, which might serve them either as lodgments, or as rideaux, to facilitate the carrying on their trenches, and planting their batteries against the place: such are ravelines, tenailles, horn-works, velopes, crown-works, &c. It is a general rule in all outworks, that if there be several of them, one before ano

ther, to cover one and the same tenaille of a place, the nearer ones must, gradually one after another, command those that are further advanced out into the campaign, that is, must have higher ramparts, that so they may overlook and fire upon the besiegers when they are masters of the more outward works.

OWL. See STRIX. OX. See Bos.

OXALIC acid, in chemistry, is found native in some acid vegetable juices, and rather plentifully in the "oxalis acetocella," or "wood-sorrel," and in other plants of the same genus; it is naturally united with a quantity of potash, not sufficient for complete saturation, forming what has been long known under the name of "Essential salt of sorrel." The oxalic acid is prepared artificially by boiling a sufficient quantity of nitric acid with a variety of vegetable and animal substances, such as sugar, mucilage, alcohol, animal jelly, &c. Take sugar as an example: one ounce in powder is put into a retort, with three ounces of strong nitric acid. During the solution, great quantities of the nitrous acid escapes: heat is to be applied till the nitrous gas is driven off. Three ounces more of nitric acid are to be added, and the boiling continued till the fumes cease, and the colour of the liquor vanishes. Pour out the liquor into a wide shallow vessel, and, when it cools, crystals will be formed, which may be collected and dried on unsized paper. The crystals thus obtained may be again dissolved in distilled water, and evaporated to obtain new crystals. In this way oxalic acid may be obtained from the substances above enumerated, and many others, as alcohol, gum, honey, &c. Prepared in this way, oxalic acid is in a concrete state, crystallized in four-sided prisms, terminated in two-sided summits, They are white and transparent, and have considerable lustre. They have a sharp taste, and change vegetable blues into a red colour, and produce the same effect on all vegetables, excepting indigo. The acid properties of this substance are so strong, that one part of concretę oxalic acid gives to 3,600 parts of water the property of reddening paper stained with turnsole. When exposed to heat it is volatilized, partly in a liquid, and also in a crystaline form. It cannot be decomposed but by a very great heat. It is deliquescent in moist air; and cold water dissolves about one-half its weight of the acid: boiling water dissolves