perpetual action of God upon creatures, and, in size. They are usually included in the genus fact, is but a modification of the system of direct assistance. OCCULTATIONS (Lat. occultatio, a concealment) are neither more nor less than 'eclipses; but the latter term is confined by usage to the obseuration of the sun by the moon, and of the moon by the earth's shadow, while the former is restricted to the eclipses of stars or planets by the moon. Occultations are phenomena of frequent occurrence; they are confined to a belt of the heavens about 10° 17' wide, situated parallel to, and on both sides of the equinoxial, and extending to equal distances north and south of it, being the belt within which the moon's orbit lies. These phenomena serve as data for the measurement of the moon's parallax; and they are also occasionally employed in the calculation of longitudes. As the moon moves in her orbit from west to east, the occultation of a star is made at the moon's eastern limb, and the star emerges on the western limb. When a star is occulted by the dark limb of the moon (a phenomenon which can only occur between new moon and full moon), it appears to an observer as if it were suddenly extinguished, and this appearance is most deceptive when the moon is only a few days old. When an occultation occurs between full moon and new moon, the reappearance of the star at the outer edge of the dark limb produces an equally startling effect. It has often been remarked, says Herschel, 'that when a star is being occulted by the moon, it appears to advance actually upon and within the edge of the disc before it disappears, and that sometimes to a considerable depth. This phenomenon he considers to be an optical illusion, though he admits the possibility of its being caused by the existence of deep fissures in the moon's substance. Occultations of stars by planeta and their satellites are of rarer occurrence than lunar occultations, and still more unfrequent are the occultations of one planet by another. Occultations are calculated in the same way as eclipses, but the calculation is simplified in the case of the fixed stars, on account of their having neither sensible motion, semi-diameter, nor parallax. OCEAN, a term which, like SEA, in its general acceptation, denotes the body of salt water that separates continent from continent, and is the receptacle for the waters of rivers. The surface of the ocean is about three-fifths of the whole surface of the earth. Although no portion of it is completely detached from the rest, the intervening continents and islands mark it off into divisions, which geographers have distinguished by special names: the Atlantic Ocean (q. v.), between America and Europe and Africa; the Pacific Ocean (q. v.), between America and Asia; the Indian Ocean (q. v.), lying south of Asia, and limited on the east and west by Australasia and South Africa; the Arctic Ocean (q. v.), surrounding the north pole; and the Antarctic Ocean (q. v.), surrounding the south pole. The general features and characteristics of the ocean will be described under SEA. OCEANIA, the name given to the fifth division of the globe, comprising all the islands which intervene between the south-eastern shores of the continent of Asia and the western shores of the American continent. It naturally divides itself into three great sections-Malay Archipelego (q. v.), Australasia (q. v.), or Melanesia and Polynesia (q.v.). O'CELOT, the name of several species of Felula, natives of the tropical parts of South America, allied to the leopard by flexibility of body, length of tail, and other characters, but of much smaller from two feet nine inches to four feet long, exclusive of the tail, which is from eleven to fifteen inches, and nearly of uniform thickness. The ears are thin, short, and pointed. The muzzle is rather elongated. The colours vary considerably, but the ground tint is always a rich red or tawny colour, blending finely with the dark brown on the margins of the open spots, of which there are chains along the sides; the head, neck, and legs being also variously spotted or barred with dark brown or black. The O. is easily tamed, and is very gentle and playful, but excessively mischievous. It may be fed on porridge and milk, or other such food, and is said to be then more gentle than if permitted to indulge in carnivorous appetites.-Very similar to the Common O. are several other American species, as the LINKED O. (F. catenata), the LONG-TAILED O. (F. macrourus), the CHATI (F. mitis), &c. The similarity extends to habits and disposition, as well as form. O'CHIL HILLS, a hilly range in Scotland, occupying parts of the counties of Perth, Clackmannan, Stirling, Kinross, and Fife, and extending from the vicinity of Stirling north-east to the Firth of Tay. The range is 24 miles in length, and about 12 miles in breadth. The highest summit is Bencleugh, (2352 feet) near the south-west extremity. The hills, which are formed chiefly of greenstone and basalt, contain silver, copper, and iron ores, and afford excellent pasturage. OCHNA'CEE, a natural order of exogenous plants, containing not quite 100 known species, natives of tropical and subtropical countries. Some of them are trees, most of them under-shrubs; all are remarkable for their smoothness in all parts. Bitter and tonic qualities prevail in this order, and some species are medicinally used in their native countries. The seeds of Gomphia jabotapita yield an oil, which is used in salads in the West Indies and South America. O'CHRES, the name usually applied to clays coloured with the oxides of iron in various proportions, giving to the clay a lighter or deeper colour. Strictly speaking, the term belongs only to a combination of peroxide of iron with water. From many mines large quantities of water charged with ferruginous mud are being continually pumped up,. and from this water the coloured mud or ochre settles. In this way large quantities are procured from the tin mines of Cornwall, and the lead and copper mines of North Wales and the Isle of Man. Ochres occur also ready formed, in beds several feet 33 315 OCHRO-OCTAGON. thick, in the various geological formations, and are occasionally worked, as at Shotover Hill, Oxford, in Holland, and many other places in Europe and America. Very remarkable beds are worked in Canada. The ochres so obtained are either calcined for use or not, according to the tint wanted. The operation adds much to the depth of colour, by increasing the degree of oxidation of the contained iron. The most remarkable varieties of ochre are the Siena Earth (Terra di Siena) from Italy; the so-called red chalk, with which sheep are marked; Dutch Ochre; Armenian Bole or Lemnian Earth; Italian Rouge, and Bitry Ochre. They vary in colour from an Isabelline yellow, through almost every shade of brown, up to a tolerably good red. The finest kinds are used by painters, the coarsest by carpenters for marking out their work, by farmers for marking cattle, &c. O'CHRO. See HIBISCUS. OCKMU'LGEE, a river in Georgia, U. S., which rises in the northern centre of the state by three branches, and after a course of 200 miles south south-east, joins the Oconee, to form the Altamaha. It is navigable to Macon, 130 miles above its mouth. OCO'NEE, a river of Georgia, U. S., rises in the north-east part of the state, and flows southerly 250 miles, where it unites with the Ockmulgee to form the Altamaha; it is navigable to Milledgeville, 100 miles. the purpose prescribed oaths of abjuration and supremacy, which then formed the ground of the exclusion of Roman Catholics from the legislature. This decisive step towards the settlement of the question, although it failed to procure for O'C. admission to parliament, led to discussions within the House, and to agitations outside, so formidable, that in the beginning of the year 1829, the Duke of Wellington and Sir Robert Peel found it expedient to give way; and, deserting their former party, they introduced and carried through, in the spring of that year, the well-known measure of Catholic Emancipation. O'C. was at once re-elected, and took his seat for Clare, and from that date until his death continued to sit in parliament. He was elected for his native county in 1830, for the city of Dublin in 1836, for the town of Kilkenny in 1836 (having been unseated for Dublin on petition), for Dublin again in 1837, and for the county of Cork in 1841. During all these years, having entirely relinquished his practice for of devoting himself to public affairs, he received, by means of an organised annual subsidy, tions of the people, by whom he was idolised as a large yearly income from the voluntary contributheir 'Liberator; and who joined with him in all the successive agitations against the act of Union, against the Protestant Church establishment, and in favour of reform, in which he engaged. In the progress of more than one of these political agitations, his associations were suppressed by the O'CONNELL, DANIEL, eldest son of Mr Morgan government; and the agitation for a Repeal of the O'Connell of Darrynane, near Cahirciveen, in the Union, recommenced in 1841, and carried on by county of Kerry, Ireland, was born August 9, 1775.monster meetings' throughout Ireland, at which His family was ancient, but straitened in circum-O'C. himself was the chief speaker, assumed proporstances. O'C. received his first education from a tions so formidable, that he, in common with several hedge-schoolmaster, and after a further training others, was indicted for a seditious conspiracy, and under a Catholic priest in the county of Cork, was after a long and memorable trial, was convicted, and sent in 1790 to the English College at St Omer. His sentenced to a year's imprisonment, with a fine of school reputation was very high; but he was driven £2000. This judgment was reversed by the House home prematurely by the outbreak of the Revolu- of Lords; and O'C., on his discharge, resumed his tion, and in 1794, entered as a law-student at Lin-career; but his health had suffered from confinement, coln's Inn. In 1798, he was called to the bar; and and still more from dissensions and opposition in it was the boast of his later career as an advocate of the councils of his party; and as, on the return of the the Repeal of the Union with England, that his first Whigs to power in 1846, he consented to support public speech was delivered at a meeting in Dublin, their government, the malcontents of the Repeal convened for the purpose of protesting against that Association openly separated from him, and a bitter projected measure. He devoted himself assiduously, feud between Young' and Old' Ireland ensued. however, to the practice of his profession, in which In this quarrel, O'C. steadfastly maintained his he rose steadily. By degrees, the Roman Catholic favourite precept of moral force,' and was supparty having begun to rally from the prostration ported by the great body of the Catholic bishops into which they had been thrown through the and clergy; but his health gave way in the struggle. rebellion of 1798 and its consequences, O'C. was He was ordered to try a milder climate; and on his drawn into public political life. In all the meetings journey to Rome in the spring of 1847, he was sudof his co-religionists for the prosecution of their denly seized with paralysis, and died at Genoa on claims, he took a part, and his unquestioned the 15th May of that year. His eminence as a ability soon made him a leader. He was an active public speaker, and especially as a master of popular member of all the successive associations which, eloquence, is universally admitted. Into the controunder the various names of Catholic Board,' versies as to his public and political character, it is Catholic Committee,' 'Catholic Association,' &c., not our place to enter here. His speeches unfortuwere organised for the purpose of procuring the nately were for the most part extempore, and exist repeal of the civil disabilities of the Catholic body. but in the reports (uncorrected by himself) taken at Of the Catholic Association he was himself the origi- the time. He published but a single volume, A nator; and although his supremacy in its councils Memoir of Ireland, Native and Saxon, and a few was occasionally challenged by some aspiring asso- pamphlets; the most important of which, as illusciates, he continued all but supreme down to its trating his personal history and character, is A final dissolution. By means of this association, Letter to the Earl of Shrewsbury.-See Life and and the Catholic Rent' which it was enabled Times of Daniel O'Connell, by his son, John O'Conto raise, he created so formidable an organisation nell; also Recollections of Daniel O'Connell, by throughout Ireland, that it gradually became appa- John O'Neill Daniel; and Fagan's Life of Daniel rent that the desired measure of relief could not O'Connell. longer be safely withheld; and the crisis was precipitated by the bold expedient adopted by O'C., of procuring himself to be elected member of parliament for Clare in 1828, notwithstanding his wellknown legal incapacity to serve in parliament, in consequence of his being obliged to refuse the O'CTAGON, a plane closed figure of eight sides. When the sides are equal, and also the angles, the figure is called a 'regular octagon ;' in this case, each angle is 135°, or equal to three half right angles. If the alternate corners of a regular octagon be joined, a square is constructed; and as the angle contained OCTAHEDRON-OD. between the sides of the square and of the octagon Domitianus. Many Roman and Greek festivals feb is one-fourth of a right angle, the octagon may easily be constructed from the square as a basis. OCTAHEDRON (Gr. okto, eight, hedra, base) is a solid figure bounded by eight triangles, and having twelve edges and six angles. A regular octahedron has its eight triangular faces all equilateral, and may, for convenience, be defined as a figure composed of two equal and similar square pyramids with equilateral triangles for their sides placed base to base. This solid is symmetrical round any angle, and is one of Plato's five regular solids. The octahedron appears in nature Octahedron. as one of the forms of crystals of sulphur. O'CTAVE (Lat. octavus, eighth), the interval between any musical note and its most perfect concord, which is double its pitch, and occupies the position of the eighth note from it on the diatonic scale. The name octave is often given to the eighth note itself as well as to the interval. There is between a note and its octave a far closer relation than between any other two notes; they go together almost as one musical sound. In combination, they are hardly distinguishable from one another, and their harmonics agree invariably, a coincidence which occurs in the case of no other interval. OCTAVIA, the sister of the Roman emperor Augustus, and wife of Mark Antony. She was distinguished for her beauty, her noble disposition, and womanly virtues. Her first husband was C. Marcellus, to whom she was married 50 B.C. He died 41 B.C., shortly after which she consented to marry Antony, to make secure the reconciliation between him and her brother. The event was hailed with joy by all classes. In a few years, Antony became tired of his gentle and virtuous spouse, and forsook her for Cleopatra. When the Parthian War broke out, O. wanted to accompany her husband, and actually went as far as Corcyra, whence Antony sent her home, that she might not interrupt his guilty intercourse with the Egyptian queen. In 35 B.C., O. made an effort to rescue him from a degradation that was indifferent even to the honour of the Roman arms, and sailed from Italy with reinforcements; but a message reached her at Athens ordering her to return home. She proudly obeyed, but, with a magnanimity that reminds us of the Roman character in earlier and better days, she forwarded the supports to her husband. brother, Octavian, was indignant at the treatment she received, and would have had her quit her husband's house, and come and live with him; but she refused. In 32 B.C., war, long inevitable, broke out between Antony and Octavian; and the former crowned his insults by sending O. a bill of divorcement. But no injury was too great to be forgiven by this patient Grizel' of the ancient world; and after her husband's death, she brought up with maternal care not only her own children, but also Cleopatra's bastards. Her death took place 11 B.C. Her OCTO'PODA (Gr. eight-footed), a section of dibranchiate cephalopods (see CEPHALOPODA), having the body in general very short, the head very distinct; eight arms, not very unequal, furnished with simple suckers; with or without a shelly covering. To this section belong Argonauts, Poulps, &c. See these heads. O'CTOSTYLE, the name given in classic architecture to a portico composed of eight columns in front. OCTROI (Lat. auctoritas, authority), a term which originally meant any ordinance authorised by the sovereign, and thence came to be restrictively applied to a toll or tax in kind levied from a very early period in France, and other countries of Northern Europe, on articles of food which passed the barrier or entrance of a town. The right to levy this toll was often delegated to subjects, and in order to increase its amount, a device was resorted to of raising the weight of the pound in which the octroi was taken. The large pound, an ounce heavier than that in ordinary use, was called the livre d'octroi, whence the expression pound troy. The octroi came eventually to be levied in money, and was abolished in France at the Revolution. In 1798, it was re-established, under the pretext that it was required for purposes of charity, and called the octroi de bienfaisance, and it has been reorganised in 1816, 1842, and 1852. Of the octroi duty which is at present levied at the gates of the French towns, one-tenth goes to the imperial treasury, and the rest to local expenses. The octroi officers are entitled to search all carriages and individuals entering the gates of a town. From the octrois of Paris alone government derives a revenue of about 56 million francs. In 1860, the Belgian government acquired great popularity by abolishing the octroi. The epithet octroyé is applied by continental politicians to a constitution granted by a prince, in contradistinction to one which is the result of a paction between the sovereign and the representatives of the people. Any public company possessing an authorised monopoly like that held by the East India Company, is said to be octroyé. OD (from the same root as Odin, and supposed to mean all-pervading), the name given by Baron Reichenbach (q. v.) to a peculiar physical force which he thought he had discovered. This force, according to him, pervades all nature, and manifests itself as a flickering flame or luminous appearance at the poles of magnets, at the poles of crystals, and wherever chemical action is going on. This would account for the luminous figures said to be sometimes seen over recent graves. The od force has positive and negative poles, like magnetism. The human body is od-positive on the left side, and od-negative on the right. Certain persons, called OCTOBER (Lat. octo, eight) was the eighth sensitives,' can see the odic radiation like a lumimonth of the so-called year of Romulus,' but nous vapour in the dark, and can feel it by the touch became the tenth when (according to tradition) like a breath. As the meeting of like odic poles Numa changed the commencement of the year causes a disagreeable sensation, while the pairing of to the first of January, though it retained its unlike poles causes a pleasant sensation, we have original name. It has since maintained its posi- thus a sufficient cause for those likings and antition as the tenth month of the year, and has 31 pathies hitherto held unaccountable. Some sensitive days. October preserved its ancient name notwith-persons cannot sleep on their left side (in the standing the attempts made by the Roman senate, and the emperors Commodus and Domitian, who substituted for a time the terms Faustinus, Invictus, northern hemisphere), because the north pole of the earth, which is od-negative, affects unpleasantly the od-negative left side. All motion generates od; ODAL OR UDAL RIGHT-ODER. In why, then, may not a stream running underground Board. These wide spread ramifications of this affect a sensitive water-finder, so that the divining- society enable emigrant members to be at once rod in his or her hand shall move without, it may received into fellowship in those countries. be, any conscious effort of will? All the pheno- the American states, Odd-fellowship is said to mena of mesmerism are ascribed to the workings of exercise considerable political influence. A quar this od-force. Reichenbach does not pretend to terly periodical, called the Odd-fellows' Magazine, have had the evidence of his own senses for any of devoted to its interests, is published in Manchester. those manifestations of his assumed od-force; the In an early number of this publication, an Oddwhole theory rests on the revelations made to him fellow is described as 'like a fox for cunning, by 'sensitives.' It may be added, that few if any a dove for tameness, a lamb for innocence, a lion really scientific men have any belief in the exist- for boldness, a bee for industry, and a sheep for ence of such a force.-Those curious in such matters usefulness.' are referred for the details of the subject to Reichenbach's large work, translated into English by Dr Ashburner, under the title of The Dynamics of Magnetism, or to a briefer account in his OdischMagnetische Briefe (Stutt. 1852). O'DAL or UDAL RIGHT (Celtic od, property), a tenure of land which was absolute, and not dependent on a superior, and prevailed throughout Northern Europe before the rise of feudalism. It was founded on the tie of blood which connected freeman with freeman, and not on the tie of service. It was the policy of the sovereign authority everywhere to make it advantageous for the freemen to exchange the odal tie for the tie of service-a change which paved the way for the feudal system. The odallers of Orkney were allowed to retain or resume their ancient privileges, on paying a large contribution to the erection of St Magnus's Cathe dral at Kirkwall; and the Odal tenure prevails to this day to a large extent in the Orkney and Shetland Islands, the right to land being completed without writing by undisturbed possession proved by witnesses before an inquest. ODE (Gr. a song) originally meant any lyrical piece adapted to be sung. In the modern use of the word, odes are distinguished from songs by not being necessarily in a form to be sung, and by embodying loftier conceptions and more intense and passionate emotions. The language of the ode is therefore abrupt, concise, and energetic; and the highest art of the poet is called into requisition in adapting the metres and cadences to the varying thoughts and emotions. Hence the changes of metre and versification that occur in many odes. the ode, leads the poet to conceive all nature as The rapt state of inspiration that gives birth to animated and conscious, and, instead of speaking about persons and objects, to address them as present. Among the highest examples of the ode are the Song of Moses and several of the psalms. Dryden's Alexander's Feast is reckoned one of the first odes in the English language. We may mention, as the Passions, Burns's Scots wha ha'e, Coleridge's Odes additional specimens, Gray's Bard, Collins's Ode to to Memory and Despondency, Shelley's Ode to the Skylark, and Wordsworth's Ode on the Recollections of Immortality in Childhood. O'DENSEE (anciently known as Odin's-Ey, or Odin's Oe (i. e., Odin's Island), the chief town of the Danish island of Fünen, and the oldest city of the kingdom, is situated in the amt or district of the same name, in 55° 25′ N. lat., and 10° 20' E. long. Pop. (1860) 14,255. O., which is the seat of the governor of the island and the see of a bishop, has a gymnasium, several literary societies, and is an active, thriving provincial town. A bishopric was founded here in 988, prior to which time O. bore the reputation of being the first city established by Odin and his followers. The cathedral, founded in 1086 by St Knud, whose remains, like those of several of the early Danish kings, were deposited here, is a fine specimen of the early simple Gothic style. The lay convent or college for ladies contains an extensive library, furnished with copies of all printed Danish works. At O., a diet was held in 1527, in which the Reformed or Lutheran doctrines were declared to be the established creed of Denmark, and equality of rights was granted to Protestants; while another diet held there in 1539 promulgated the laws regu lating the affairs of the Reformed Church. ODD-FELLOWS, the name assumed by one of the most extensive self-governed provident associations in the world. The institution was originated in Manchester in 1812, although isolated 'lodges' had existed in various parts of the country for some time previously. These latter were generally secret fraternities, humble imitations of Freemasonry-adopting a similar system of initiatory rites, phraseology, and organisation-instituted for social and convivial purposes, and only occasionally extending charitable assistance to members. On its institution in Manchester, the main purpose of Odd-fellowship was declared by its laws to be, to render assistance to every brother who may apply through sickness, distress, or otherwise, if he be well attached to the Queen and government, and faithful to the order;' and this continues to be the basis of all its operations. It still, however, retains some of the characteristics of Freemasonry, in possessing pass-words and peculiar grips,' whereby members can recognise one another. The headquarters of the society is at Manchester, where reside the Grand Master and Board of Directors of the Manchester Unity of the Independent Order of Odd-fellows.' In January 1852, the total number of members was 224,441; in January 1864, the number was 358,556; and during 1863, O'DER (Lat. Viadrus, Slavon. Vjodr), one of the 15,603 new members joined. The lodges number principal rivers of Germany, rises in the Leselberg 3555, spread over 440 districts; the annual income on the table-land of Moravia, more than 1000 feet being about £350,000, with an expenditure of nearly above the level of the sea, and enters Prussian £300,000. Should any lodge fail to meet its legiti-Silesia at Odersberg, after a course of some 60 miles. mate obligations, the district becomes liable; failing After traversing Brandenburg in a north-west directhe district, the responsibility falls upon the entire tion, it crosses Pomerania, and empties itself into Unity. The order is widely spread over the whole the Stettiner Haff, from whence it passes into of England and Scotland. It exists independently the Baltic by the triple arms of the Dievenow, in America, Australia, New Zealand, and the West Peene, and Swine, which enclose the islands of Indies; but there are 'lodges' in Philadelphia, Wollin and Usedom. The O. has a course of more New York, in all the British colonies, and one in than 500 miles, and a river-basin of 50,000 square Constantinople (originated in 1862), which are miles. The rapid flow of this river, in luced by its affiliated to and in connection with the Manchester | very considerable fall, is accelerated by the affluence O'DENWALD. See HESSE-DARMSTADT. ODESSA-ODIN. of several important mountain-streams, and thus contributes, together with the silting at the embouchores of these streams, to render the navigation difficult; great expense and labour being, moreover, necessary to keep the embankments in order, and prevent the overflowing of the river. The O. has numerous secondary streams, the most important of which are the Oppa, Neisse, Ohlau, Klodnitz, Bartsh Warte, and the Ihna; and is connected with the Havel and thence with the Elbe by the Finow Canal, and with the Spree by the Friedrich-Wilhelms Canal. The chief trading port of the O. is Swinemunde, which constitutes an important centre for the transfer of colonial and other foreign goods to Northern Germany and Poland. At Ratibor, 17 miles below Oderberg, the river becomes navigable, and is upwards of 100 feet in breadth; at Oppeln, in Prussian Silesia, it has a breadth of 238 feet. As a boundary river, it is of considerable importance in a military point of view, and is well defended by the fortresses of Kosel, Grossglogau, Küstrin, and Stettin. the beginning of the 15th c., the Turks constructe ODEYPOO'R, a town of British India, capital of the small state of the same name, 320 miles west of Calcutta. The town is unimportant, and the state, which is within the jurisdiction of the political agent for the south-west frontier of Bengal, has an area of 2506 square miles, and a pop. of 133,000. ODESSA, an important seaport and commercial city of South Russia, in the government of Kherson, stands on an acclivity sloping to the shore, on the north-west coast of the Black Sea, 32 miles north-east of the mouth of the Dniester. Lat. 46 29' N., long. 30° 44′ E. The harbour is formed by two large moles defended by strong works, and is capable of containing 200 vessels. The bay is deep enough even close in shore to admit the approach of the largest men-of-war, and is frozen only in the severest winters, and then only for a short time. The promenade along the face of the cliff, descending to the shore by a broad stone stair of 204 steps, is the favourite walk of the inhabitants. Here also stands the monument of the O'DIN, the chief god of Northern Mythology. Duc de Richelieu, to whom in great part the town According to the sagas, O. and his brothers, Vile is indebted for its prosperity. In the pedestal of the and Ve, the sons of Boer, or the first-born, slew monument is preserved the ball by which he was Ymer or Chaos, and from his body created the shot during the bombardment of the town by the world, converting his flesh into dry land; his blood, allied fleet in 1854. There is a high school of law, which at first occasioned a flood, into the sea; his literature, and science, called Richelieu's Lyceum, bones into mountains; his skull into the vault of in honour of its founder. The city contains many heaven; and his brows into the spot known as fine edifices, as the Cathedral of St Nicholas, the Midgaard, the middle part of the earth, intended Admiralty, the Custom-house, &c. Owing to the for the habitation of the sons of men. O., as the intensity of the heat in summer (rising occasionally highest of the gods, the Alfader, rules heaven and to 120°), and the dryness of the soil, vegetation earth, and is omniscient. As ruler of heaven, in the vicinity of O. is very poor. In the neigh- his seat is Valaskjalf, from whence his two black bourhood are quarries of soft stone, which is used ravens, Huginn (Thought) and Muninn (Memory), for building purposes in O. and in the surround-fly daily forth to gather tidings of all that is being ing towns. One of the great deficiencies of O. is Its want of good water. At present (1864), a project is on foot of drawing water from the Dniester. O. is the seat of the Company for Steam-navigation and Commerce; but its progress is much hindered by want of means of communication with the interior. During spring and autumn, the roads are almost impassable for mud, so that it is with the greatest difficulty that goods are conveyed from the warehouses to the place of lading. The Odessa-Parchiansky Railway, now (1864) in process of construction, will connect O. with the Dniester; and the Odessa Kief Railway, already authorised by government, will have great influence on the commercial importance of this city. The principal exports of 0. are wheat and other sorts of grain, linseed, tallow, leather, and wool, all of which articles abound in South Russia. In 1853, 18,002,400 bushels of wheat, valued at about £3,120,000, were exported from Odessa. The whole exports amount at present to £6,000,000. The whole imports amount to £2,100,000. Pop. 117,999, chiefly Jews, Greeks, and Italians. done throughout the world. As god of war, he holds his court in Valhalla, whither come all brave warriors after death to revel in the tumultuous joys in which they took most pleasure while on earth. His greatest treasures are his eight-footed steed Sleipner, his spear Gungner, and his ring Draupner. As the concentration and source of all greatness, excellence, and activity, O. bears numerous different names. By drinking from Mimir's fountain, he became the wisest of gods and men, but he purchased the distinction at the cost of one eye. He is the greatest of sorcerers, and imparts a knowledge of his wondrous arts to his favourites. Frigga is his queen, and the mother of Baldur, the Scandinavian Apollo; but he has other wives and favourites, and a nume. rous progeny of sons and daughters. Although the worship of O. extended over all the Scandinavian lands, it found its most zealous followers in Denmark, where he still rides abroad as the wild huntsman, rushing over land and water in the storm-beaten skies of winter. The historical interpretation of this myth, as given by Snorre Sturleson, the compiler of the In ancient times, O. (Gr. Odessus) was inhabited Heimskringla, or Chronicles of the Kings of Norway by a Greek colony, and later by Tartar tribes. In prior to the introduction of Christianity, and 37 |