OWEN (Thomas), a judge of the common pleas, son of Richard Owen, esq., of Condover in Shropshire. He was educated at Oxford; and, having taken his degree of A. M., he left the university, and entered himself of Lincoln's Inn in London, where he became an eminent counsellor. In 1583 he was elected Lent reader to that society. In 1590 he was made serjeant at law, and queen's serjeant soon after. In 1593 he was made judge of the common-pleas; which office he executed with great abilities and integrity. He died in 1598, and was buried in Westminster Abbey, where a monument was erected to his memory. He was a learned man, and a patron of literature. He was the author of Reports in the Common Pleas, London, 1656, folio. OWEN (John), M. A., a modern divine, one of the earliest members and long the Church of England's secretary of the Bible Society, was educated at Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he obtained a fellowship, and proceeded to the degree of master of arts. In 1791 he travelled through Europe, with a pupil, and on his return published an amusing account of his tour, in two volumes octavo. After this he became curate of Fulham, where his exertions procured him the patronage of bishop Porteus, who gave him the living of Paglesham, in Essex. But Dr. Randolph, the successor of that prelate, insisted upon Mr. Owen's residence at his rectory, by which he was obliged to relinquish the curacy of Fulham; when the inhabitants presented him with a purse of nearly £700. He died September 26th, 1822. His other works, besides tracts and sermons, are, The Retrospect, or Reflections on the State of Religion and Politics in France and Great Britain, 8vo.; The Christian Monitor for the Last Days, 8vo.; Vindication of the Bible Society, 8vo.; History of the same, 4 vols. 8vo. OWHYHÉE, the easternmost, and by far the largest, of the Sandwich Islands. It is of a triangular shape. The angular points make the north-east and south extremities, of which the northern is in long. 204° 2′ E., lat. 20° 17′ N.; the eastern in long. 205° 6′ E., lat. 19° 34′ N.; and the southern extremity in long. 204° 15′ E., lat. 18° 54′ N. Its greatest length, which lies in a direction nearly north and south, is eighty-five miles; its breadth is seventy-two miles; and it is about 255 geographical, or 293 English, miles in circumference. It is divided into six large districts; two of which, on the north-east side, are separated by a mountain that rises in three peaks, which are perpetually covered with snow, and may be seen clearly at forty leagues distance. To the north of this mountain the coast consists of high and steep cliffs, down which fall many beautiful cascades. The whole country is covered with cocoa-nut and bread-fruit trees. The peaks of the mountains on the north-east side are about balf a mile in height, and entirely covered with snow. To the south of this mountain the coast presents a prospect of the most dreary kind, the whole country appearing to have undergone a total change by some dreadful convulsion. Among the plantations are a few huts, for shelter to the laborers; but there are no villages at a greater distance from the sea than four or five miles. There are supposed to be on this island above 100,000 inhabitants. The men are above the middle size, stout, well made, and fleshy, but not fat. Their color is brown olive. The women are in general masculine, though there are some exceptions. The features of both sexes are good; and some of the females are really fine women. They are very healthy, and some live to a great age. They are all thieves, without exception. The custom of tattooing prevails greatly among them; but the men have a much larger share of it than the women. Both men and women are very cleanly in their persons; the latter wash their whole bodies in fresh water twice, and sometimes three times, a-day. They are extremely lascivious. Their clothing consists of cloth of different kinds : that worn by the men, which is called marro, is about half a yard wide, and four yards long; that of the women, three-quarters of a yard wide, and of the same length as the men's: this they call pah-o-ouwa; they both wear it round their middle, but the men pass it between their legs. This is the general dress of both sexes; but the better sort sometimes throw a large piece loosely over their shoulders. Besides the marro, they have several other kinds of cloth; all, however, are made from the Chinese paper mulberry tree. The principal of these is the cappa, which is about ten or twelve feet long, and nearly as many wide, and is thick and warm; they wrap themselves up in this when they retire to sleep. They have another kind, which is white, and much thinner; it is sometimes twenty or thirty yards long, and wide in proportion. The marro and pah-o-ouwa are curiously painted of various patterns; but the others are generally white, or dyed red, black, and yellow. The principal ornaments of the men are feather-caps and cloaks. They have also a kind of fly-flap, made of a bunch of feathers, fixed to the end of a thin piece of smooth and polished wood. The handle is very frequently made of one of the bones of the arm or leg of those whom they have killed in battle, curiously inlaid with tortoise-shell: these they deem very valuable, and will not part with them under a great price. This ornament is common to the superiors of both sexes. The ornament which the women value most is the orai. This is a kind of ruff or necklace, made of red, green, black, and yellow feathers, curiously put together, and in most elegant patterns. Others are composed of small variegated shells; and some consist of several rows of twisted hair, with a piece of carved wood or bone, highly polished, the bottom part forming a curve. They have also the poo-remah or bracelet; the most valuable of which are made of boars' tusks, fastened together side by side with a piece of string, by means of a hole drilled through the middle. In 1794 this island was ceded by the king and his chiefs to Great Britain. Mr. Puget, lieutenant of the Discovery, accompanied by some of the officers, went on shore, there displayed the British colors, and took possession of the island in his majesty's name, in conformity to the inclinations of Tamaahmaah and his subjects. On this ceremony being finished, a salute was fired We understand by some oulers, old people die in France. Tatler. from the vessels: after which the following inscription on copper was deposited in a very conspicuous place at the royal residence:-'On the 25th of February 1794, Tamaahmaah, king of Owhyhee, in council with the principal chiefs of the island, assembled on board his Britannic majesty's sloop Discovery, in Karakakooa Bay, and in presence of George Vancouver, commander of the said sloop; lieutenant Peter Puget, commander of his said majesty's armed tender the Chatham; and the other officers of the Discovery, after due consideration, unanimously ceded the said island of Owhyhee to his Britannic majesty, and acknowledged themselves to be subjects of Great Britain.' On this island the celebrated captain Cook fell a sacrifice to a misunderstanding, or sudden impulse of revenge, in the natives, on Sunday the 14th of February, 1779. Since captain Cook discovered these islands, an astonishingly rapid civilisation has taken place amongst the natives, by their intercourse with Europeans. In 1791 captain Vancouver laid down the keel, and prepared the frame-work, of a vessel for the king, whose size was thirtysix feet by nine and a quarter. Ten years after, this chief had increased his navy to twenty vessels of different sizes, from twenty-five to fifty tons, and some of them coppered, chiefly built by Americans. In 1805 his largest vessel was seventy tons, and he was well supplied with naval stores. His people, from making frequent voyages to the north-west coast of America, and in the South Sea whalers, have become expert seamen, and they talk of opening a direct trade in their own vessels with China; the island producing pearls, pearl-shell, and sandal-wood, all valuable in the China market. The king has a fortification round his house, mounting ten guns; and a guard of 200 native soldiers, well disciplined, and perfect in the use of fire-arms, who do regular duty night and day. He has, besides, 2000 stand of arms, and upwards of 12,000 Spanish dollars, together with other valuable articles, which he has collected in trade, and deposited in regular store-houses. Some horned cattle left at Owhyhee by Vancouver have greatly multiplied. OWL, n. s. ? Sax. ule; Dan. ugle; Sans. OWL'ET. Soolloo; Lat. ulula. (All, perhaps, from the noise of the bird). A well-known bird of night.. Return to her! By running goods, these graceless outers gain. OWLING, so called from its being usually carried on in the night, is the offence of transporting wool or sheep out of this kingdom, to the detriment of its staple manufacture. This was forbidden at common law, particularly by stat. 11 Edw. III. c. 1, when the importance of our woollen manufacture was first attended to; and there are now many later statutes relating to this offence, the principal of which are those enacted in the reign of queen Elizabeth, and since. The stat. 8 Eliz. c. 3, makes the transportation of live sheep, or embarking them on board any ship, for the first offence, forfeiture of goods, and imprisonment for a year, and that at the end of the year the left hand shall be cut off in some public market, and shall be there nailed up in the openest place; and the second offence is felony. The statutes 12 Car. II. c. 32, and 7 & 8 Will. III. c. 28, make the exportation of wool, sheep, or fullers' earth, liable to pecuniary penalties, and the forfeiture of the interest of the ship and cargo by the owners, if privy; and confiscation of goods, and three years' imprisonment to the master and all the mariners. And the statute 4 Geo. I. c. 11 (amended and farther enforced by 12 Geo. II. c. 21, and 19 Geo. II. c. 34) makes it transportation for seven years, if the penalties be not paid. 6 Now OWN, n. s. & v. a. Sax. agan; Goth. agn, OWNER, Saihn (property). OWNERSHIP. Sused as an emphatical addition to personal pronouns, as my own,' his own,' &c., meaning his property or possession. See OwE. Also denoting domestic as distinguished from foreign; mine; or his; yours: to own is to claim as property: hence to avow or avouch; confess: owner is he who owns or possesses; rightful possession: ownership, right of property or possession. Every nation made gods of their own, and put them. in high places. 2 Kings, xvii. 29. I yet never was forsworn, Scarce have coveted what was my own. Shakspeare. It is not enough to break into my garden, Climbing my walls in spite of me the owner, But thou wilt brave me. Id. That small muscle draws the nose upwards, when it expresses the contempt which the owner of it has upon seeing any thing he does not like. Addison. It must be owned, that, generally speaking, good parents are never more fond of their daughters, than when they see them too fond of themselves. Law. Victory hath not made us insolent, nor have we taken advantage to gain any thing beyond the honour of restoring every one's right to their just owners. Atterbury. Passion and pride were to her soul unknown, Convinced that virtue only is our own. Pope. Others on earth o'er human race preside, Of these the chief, the care of nations own, And guard with arms divine the British throne. Id. What is this wit, which must our cares employ? The owner's wife, that other men enjoy. Id. For he that wrote so much, and so fast, would through inadvertence and hurry, unavoidably have departed from rules which he might have found in books: but his own truly poetical talent was a guide which could not suffer him to err. Cowper. But, by each joy of his I've known, Sheridan. OXALIC ACID, in chemistry, which abounds in wood sorrel, and which, combined with a small portion of potash, as it exists in that plant, has been sold under the name of salt of lemons, to be used as a substitute for the juice of that fruit, particularly for discharging ink spots and iron-moulds, was long supposed to be analogous to that of tartar. In the year 1776, however, Bergman discovered that a powerful acid might be extracted from sugar by means of the nitric; and a few years afterwards Scheele found this to be identical with the acid existing naturally in sorrel. Hence the acid began to be distinguished by the name of saccharine; but has since been known in the new nomenclature by that of oxalic. Scheele extracted this acid from the salt of sorrel, or acidulous oxalate of potash, as it exists in the juice of that plant, by saturating it with ammonia, when it becomes a very soluble triple salt, and adding to the solution nitrate of barytes dissolved in water. Having well washed the oxalate of barytes, which is precipitated, he dissolved it in boiling water, and precipitated its base by sulphuric acid. To ascertain that no sulphuric acid remained in the supernatant liquor, he added a little of a boiling solution of oxalate of barytes till no precipitate took place, and then filtered the liquor, which contained nothing but pure oxalic acid, which he crystallised by evaporation and cooling. It may be obtained, however, much more readily and economically from sugar in the following way:-To six ounces of nitric acid in a stoppered retort, to which a large receiver is luted, add, by degrees, one ounce of lump sugar coarsely powdered. A gentle heat may be applied during the solution, and nitric oxide will be evolved in abundance. When the whole of the sugar is dissolved, distil off a part of the acid, till what remains in the retort has a syrupy consistence, and this will form regular crystals, amounting to fifty-eight parts from 100 of sugar. These crystals must be dissolved in water, recrystallised, and dried on blotting paper. Oxalate of lime is found in the roots of the following plants :-Alkana, apium, bistorta, carlina acaulis, curcuma, dictamnus albus, fœniculum, gentiana rubra, vincetoxicum, lapathum, liquiritia, mandragora, ononis, iris Florentina, iris nostras, rheum, saponaria, scilla, sigillum salomonis, tormentilla, valeriana, zedoaria, zingiber. And in the following barks:-berberis, cassia fistularis, canella alba, cinamomum, cas carilla, cassia caryophyllata, china, culilavan, frangula, fraxinus, quassia, quercus, simaruba, lignum sanctum, ulmus. In the state of binoxy late of potash it exists in the leaves of the oxali acetosella, oxalis corniculata, different species of rumex, and geranium acidum. The juice of the cicer parietinum is said to be pure oxalic acid. Bergman procured it from honey, gum-arabic, alcohol, and the calculous concretions in the kidneys and bladders of animals. Scheele and Herinbstadt from sugar of milk. Scheele from a sweet matter contained in fat oils, and also from the uncrystallisable part of the juice of lemons. Hermbstadt from the acid of cherries, and the acid of tartar. Goettling from beech-wood. Kohl from the residuum in the distillation of ardent spirits. Westrumb, not only from the crystallised acids of currants, cherries, citrons, and raspberries, but also from the saccharine matter of these fruits, and from the uncrystallisable parts of the acid juices. Hoffmann from the juice of the barberry; and Berthollet from silk, hair, tendons, wool; also from other animal substances, especially from the coagulum of blood, whites of eggs, and likewise from the amylaceous and glutinous parts of flour. M. Berthollet observes that the quantity of the oxalic acid obtained by treating wool with nitric acid was very considerable, being above half the weight of the wool employed. He mentions a difference which he observed between animal and vegetable substances thus treated with nitric acid, namely, that the former yielded, beside ammonia, a large quantity of an oil which the nitric acid could not decompose; whereas the oily parts of vegetables were totally destroyed by the action of this acid; and he remarks that in this instance the glutinous part of flour resembled animal substances, whereas the amylaceous part of the flour retained its vegetable properties. He further remarks that the quantity of oxalic acid furnished by vegetable matters thus treated is proportionable to their nutritive quality, and particularly that, from cotton, he could not obtain any sensible quantity. Deyeux, having cut with scissars the hairs of the chick pea, found they gave out an acid liquor, which, on examination, proved to be an aqueous solntion of pure oxalic acid. Proust, and other chemists, had before observed that the shoes. of persons walking through a field of chick peas were corroded. Oxalic acid crystallises in quadrilateral prisms, the sides of which are alternately broad and narrow, and summits dihedral; or, if crystallised rapidly, in small irregular needles. They are efflorescent in dry air, but attract a little humidity if it be damp; are soluble in one part of hot and two of cold water; and are decomposable by a red heat, leaving a small quantity of coaly residuum. 100 parts of alcohol take up nearly fifty-six at a boiling heat, but not above forty cold. Their acidity is so great that, when dissolved in 3600 times their weight of water, the solution reddens litmus paper, and is perceptibly acid to the taste. The oxalic acid is a good test for detecting lime, which it separates from all the other acids, unless they are present in excess. It has like wise a greater affinity for lime than for any other of the bases, and forms with it a pulverulent insoluble salt, not decomposable except by fire, and turning syrup of violets green. From the oxalate of lead Berzelius infers its prime equivalent to be 4:552, and by igneous decomposition he finds it resolved into 66-534 oxygen, 33-222 carbon, and 0-244 hydrogen. Since Berzelius published his analysis, oxalic acid has been made the subject of some ingenious remarks by Dobereiner, in the 16th vol. of Schweigger's Journal. We see that the carbon and oxygen are to each other in the simple ratio of 1 to 2; or, referred to their prime equivalent, as 2 of carbon 15, to 3 of oxygen = 3.0. This proportion is what would result from a prine of carbonic acid = C + 2. O, combined with one of carbonic oxide = C +0. C being carbon, and ( oxygen. The sum of the above weights gives 45 for the prime equivalent of oxalic acid, disregarding hydrogen, which constitutes but one-thirty-seventh of the whole, and may possibly be referred to the imperfect desiccation of the oxalate of lead subjected to analysis. Oxalic acid acts as a violent poison when swallowed in the quantity of two or three drachms; and several fatal accidents have lately occurred in London, in consequence of its being improperly sold instead of Epsom salts. Its vulgar name of salts, under which the acid is bought for the purpose of whitening boot-tops, occasions these lamentable mistakes. But the powerfully acid taste of the latter substance, joined to its prismatic or needle-formed crystallisation, are sufficient to distinguish it from every thing else. The immediate rejection from the stomach of this acid by an emetic, aided by copious draughts of warm water containing bicarbonate of potash, or soda, chalk, or carbonate of magnesia, are the proper remedies. With barytes it forms an insoluble salt; but this salt will dissolve in water acidulated with oxalic acid, and afford angular crystals. If, however, we attempt to dissolve these crystals in boiling water, the excess of acid will unite with the water, and leave the oxalate, which will be precipitated. The oxalate of strontian too is a nearly insoluble compound. Oxalate of magnesia too is insoluble, unless the acid be in excess. The oxalate of potash exists in two states, that of a neutral salt, and that of an acidule. The latter is generally obtamed from the juice of the leaves of the oxalis acetosella, wood sorrel, or rumex acetosa, common sorrel. The expressed juice, being diluted with water, should be set by for a few days, till the feculent parts have subsided, and the supernatant third is become clear; or it may be clarified, when expressed, with the whites of ergs. It is then to be strained off, evaporated to a pellicle, and set in a cool place to crystallise. The first product of crystals being taken out, the liquor may be farther evaporated and crystallised; and the same process repeated till no more can be obtained. In this way. Schlereth informs us, about nine drachias of crystals may be obtained from two pounds of juice, which are generally afforded by ten pounds of wood sorrel. Savary, however, says that ten parts of wood sorrel, in full vegetation, yield five parts of juice, which give little more than a 200th of tolerably pure salt. He boiled down the juice, however, in the first instance, without clarifying it; and was obliged repeatedly to dissolve and recrystallise the salt to obtain it white. This salt is in small, white, needley, or lamellar crystals, not alterable in the air. It unites with barytes, magnesia, soda, ammonia, and most of the metallic oxides, into triple saits. Yet its solution precipitates the nitric solutions of mercury and silver in the state of insoluble oxalates of these metals, the nitric acid in this case combining with the potash. It attacks iron, lead, tin, zinc, and antimony. This salt, beside its use in taking out ink spots, and as a test of lime, forms with sugar and water a pleasant cooling beverage; and, according to Berthollet, it possesses considerable powers as an antiseptic. The neutral oxalate of potash is very soluble, and assumes a gelatinous form, but may be brought to crystallise in hexahedral prisms with dihedral summits, by adding more potash to the liquor than is sufficient to saturate the acid. Oxalate of soda likewise exists in two different states, those of an acidulous and a neutral salt, which in their properties are analogous to those of potash. The acidulous oxalate of ammonia is crystallisable, not very soluble, and capable, like the preceding acidules, of combining with other bases, so as to form triple salts. But, if the acid be saturated with ammonia, we obtain a neutral oxalate, which, on evaporation, yields very fine crystals in tetrahedral prisms with dihedral summits, one of the planes of which cuts off three sides of the prism. This salt is decomposable by fire, which raises from it carbonate of ammonia, and leaves only some slight traces of a coaly residuum. Lime, barytes, and strontian, unite with its acid, and the ammonia flies off in the form of gas. The oxalic acid readily dissolves alumina, and the solution gives on evaporation a yellowish transparent mass, sweet and a little astringent to the taste, deliquescent, and reddening tincture of litmus, but not syrup of violets. This salt swells up in the fire, loses its acid, and leaves the alumina a little colored. OXALIS, wood sorrel, a genus of the pentagynia order, and decandria class of plants: natural order fourteenth, gruinales: CAL. pentaphyllous, the petals connected at the heels: CAPS. pentagonal, and opening at the angles. There are seven species; the only remarkable one is O. acetosella, common wood sorrel. This grows naturally in moist shady woods, and at the sides of hedges in many parts of Britain, and is seldom admitted into gardens. The roots are composed of many scaly joints, which propagate in great plenty. The leaves arise immediately from the roots upon single long footstalks, and are composed of three heart-shaped lobes. They are gratefully acid, and of use in the scurvy and other putrid disorders. OXFORD, a city of England, the county town of Oxfordshire, and celebrated for its university, which in the extent and number of its institutions and the wealth of its endowments is unequalled. The city stands on a gentle eminence, in a valley, at the confluence of the Isis and Cherwell, which descending towards the south, and uniting at an acute angle, nearly encompass it. Between these streams and the city, particularly on the south and west, are beautiful and luxuriant meadows; and beyond them the prospect is bounded on the east, south, and west, by an amphitheatre of hills. From these hills the city presents a noble spectacle. It is of an oval form, and was formerly surrounded by a wall, about two miles in circumference, having bastions at 150 feet distant from each other; very little of these works, however, remain. The city and suburbs now include a circuit of three miles, extending in length a mile and a quarter from east to west, and about as much from north to south. The entrances east, south, and west, present bridges crossing the respective rivers. Magdalen bridge is an elegant stone building over the Cherwell, 526 feet in length, built in 1779, at an expense of £8000. That over the Isis, on the west, consists of three substantial arches. On the south is another over the same river, on which, till lately, stood a lofty tower, termed Friar Bacon's Study. From Magdalen bridge the High-street stretches westwards, under different names, through the whole city. At Quarte Vois, or Carfax church, this is crossed at right angles by St. Giles's, the other principal street; and from these most of the other streets diverge. St. High-street is perhaps the most beautiful in the world for its length and breadth, the number and elegance of its public buildings, and its remarkably graceful curvature, continually presenting new combinations of objects. Giles's begins near the church of that name, and is for some distance of a fine width. It contains the town hall and Christ Church. All the streets are well lighted, paved, and watched. The houses originally erected as lodgings for the students or gentry during the occasional residence of the court here, still appear, and are often built of stone on an extensive scale. The best modern houses are situated in St. Giles's. The university consists of twenty colleges, and four halls, each of which has its own students and teachers, revenues and regulations, while they are all united in a common university government. The students all live in their respective colleges at their own expense or that of the university; and on their entrance qualify as members of the church of England. The university, as a corporate body, acts under a charter of Charles I., and consists of the vice-chancellor, heads of houses, and proctors; of the house of convocation, which is formed by the vice-chancellor, proctors, and all doctors and masters who have taken out their regency; and of the congregation, which is composed of the vice-chancellor, the proctors or their deputies, the necessary regents (doctors in divinity, law, or medicine, or masters of arts for the first two years after they are admitted to their degrees), and the regents ad placitum (all resident doctors, all public professors and lecturers, all heads of |