Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 07.djvu/91

OSTERODE 59 OSTWAJLD OSTEKODE, a town of Hanover, Prus- sia, at the W. base of the Harz Mount- ains, on the Sose, an affluent of the Leine, 30 miles N. W. of Nordhausen. Its church of St. Giles (724; rebuilt 1578) contains the graves of the dukes of Grubenhagen, and there are also a fine town hall, baths, large grain stores, and cotton, woolen, and linen factories. OsTERODE, in East Prussia, on the Drewenz, 77 miles N. E. of Thorn, has a castle of the Teutonic knights (1270) and iron manufactures. Pop. about 8,500. OSTIA, an ancient city of Italy, at the mouth of the Tiber, 6 miles from Rome by the "Way of Ostia." It was of great importance as the port of Rome and as a naval station, and for a long period it engrossed the whole trade of Rome by sea. It was destroyed by the Saracens in the 9th century. Its ruins comprise tombs, two temples, a theater, etc. The modern Ostia (founded by Gregory IV. in 830) is a miserable village with but few inhabitants. OSTIAKS, or OSTYAKS, a Ural-Al- taic people living along the lower course of the river Ob in Western Siberia, where they struggle against chronic poverty, drunkenness, frequently famine, to get a living by fishing and hunting fur- bearing animals. They dwell in wretched and very dirty huts, eat flesh raw, use bows and arrows, and weapons of bone and stone; and are still in great part heathens. They are decreasing in num- bers, and are estimated now at about 20,- 000. Their language belongs to the Fin- nish division. OSTRACISM, a practice introduced into Athens by Kleisthenes to preserve the democratic government which he had established, and which sooner or later existed also in Argos, Megara, Miletus, and Syracuse. If any citizen became so powerful that it was feared he would attempt to overthrow the government, an ostracism was asked from the Athenian senate and the public assembly. If granted, the citizens each deposited a shell or potsherd on which was written the name of any person of whom they entertained apprehension, and if 6,000 concurred in voting against the same in- dividual, he was required to go into hon- orable banishment for 10 years, retain- ing, however, all his property. OSTRICH, in ornithology, Strutkio ca- melus, from the deserts of Africa and Arabia. It is the largest of all living birds, standing from six to eight feet in height, and has been known from remote antiquity. The ostrich is hunted and bred for the sake of the quill feathers of the wings and tail, now used by women principally, though formerly ostrich Pj"J"fs decked the helmets of knights, !u r ,!?■' ^^^ ^^*^ °f ^^^ cavaliers, and the fashion came in again for a time at the Restoration. The ostrich is a vege- table feeder, but swallows stones, bits of iron, and other hard substances to aid the gizzard in its functions. The head and neck are nearly naked, body black, quill feathers of wings and tail white. The wings are useless for flight, but of so much assistance in running that the bird can outstrip the fleetest horse. Os- triches are polygamous, the hens lay their eggs in a common nest — a hole scratched in the sand, and the cockbird relieves the hens in the task of incubation, which is aided by the heat of the sun. OSTROGOTHS, the E. branch of the Gtothic race that, in a very early day, lived in Southern Russia near the Valley of the Don. Here in A. D. 375 they were attacked and conquered by the Huns. In 378 many of them settled in Pannonia, Theodoric became their king in 474, and in 479 led them over the Julian Alps, con- quered Odoacer in 493 and became King of Italy. The country prospered under his reign. Belisarius endeavored to ex- pel these people and in 552 the kingdom was taken from them and they gradually became incorporated with other nations. OSTROLENKA, Poland, formerly in Russian Poland, when it was a district town in the government of Lomza, on the River Narew, and on the Ostro- lenka-Piljava railways. During the great World War it was the center of almost continuous fighting for over a year, being held alternately by both Rus- sians and Germans. Pop. about 17,500. OSTUNI, a city of Italy, in the prov- ince of Lecce, about 20 miles N. W. of Brindisi. The city has a cathedral built in the 15th century, a library and a museum. Pop. about 25,000. OSTWALD, WILHELM. German chemist. Born at Riga, Prussia, he graduated at Dorpat, and taught chem- istry there and at Riga and then for twenty years at Leipzig University, act- ing as Harvard exchange professor in 1906. In 1909 the Nobel prize for chem- istry was awarded him, as a result of his discoveries in respect to the color of ions, the conductivity of organic acids, and their chemical reaction. His works include several text-books on general chemistry as well as "Elektrochemie"; and "Vorlesungen iiber Naturphiloso- phie." He edited numerous scientifie re-