Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/771

OWSLEY papers, and eight churches. Owosso was set- tled in 1835 and incorporated in 1859. OWSLEY, an E. county of Kentucky, inter- sected by the S. fork of the Kentucky river ; area, about 460 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 3,889, of whom 75 were colored. It has a hilly and very broken surface, and a not very fertile soil. There are extensive forests and rich iron and coal mines. The chief productions in 1870 were 8,398 bushels of wheat, 103,055 of Indian corn, 20,072 of oats, and 42,073 Ibs. of butter. There were 796 horses, 1,119 milch cows, 1,926 other cattle, 4,139 sheep, and 6,289 swine. Capital, Booneville. OWYHEE, the S. W. county of Idaho, bound- ed N. by Snake river, S. by Utah and Nevada, and W. by Oregon; area, 13,600 sq. m. ; pop. in 1670, 1,713, of whom 368 were Chinese. It is watered by the Bruneau and numerous other affluents of the Snake. The surface is uneven and mountainous, the county containing the Owyhee range. It is in parts heavily timbered, is well adapted to grazing, and contains some valuable farming land. The Bruneau valley is well sheltered, has excellent pasturage, and is a common wintering place of cattle. This coun- ty is one of the richest mining regions in the territory, and in 1870, according to the United States census, 5 gold (placer) and 9 gold and silver (quartz) mines were in operation. The agricultural productions were small. The value of live stock was $55,075. Capital, Silver City. OX, a general name for bovine animals of all kinds, though primarily signifying only the male. The family bovince contains the genera bos, ovibos (musk ox), biibalus (buffalo), bibos, bison, and poephagus (yak). The general char- acters of the family are given under CATTLE OXALIC ACID 757 Skull of the Ox. and EUMINANTIA, and many of the species are treated in the articles AUKOCHS, BISON, BUF- FALO, YAK, and ZEBTJ. The old genus bos has been variously subdivided by authors, accord- ing to the structure of the hoofs, muzzle, direction and structure of the horns, the posi- tion of the knee, and the beard in the males. The domestic ox has been so modified by man, that it is impossible to draw any distinction between the permanent varieties and species. There is no animal more useful to mankind than the ox, its flesh and milk serving for food, its living strength being utilized in agriculture and transportation, and almost every part of the dead body employed for some important pur- pose in the arts. The principal characters are : horns curving outward and upward, broad and naked muzzle, wide space between the nostrils, large ears, long tufted tail, and broad hoofs. They are found all the world over, except in Australia, in a wild state. Fossil oxen have been found as early as the middle tertiary epoch both in America and the old world. It is probable that the aurochs, a contemporary of the extinct elephas primigenius, would long ago have been exterminated but for the protection of man ; the bos primigenius of the post-tertia- ry, according to Dana, is supposed to be the same as the ure ox B. urus described by Caesar, and said to abound in the forests of Gaul a distinct species from the aurochs, now extinct, but living in Switzerland into the 16th century. Extinct members of the genus bos and other allied genera have been described by Profs. Leidy, Cope, Marsh, and others in the "Smith- sonian Contributions," the " Proceedings and Journal of the Academy of Natural Sciences," and the "American Journal of Science." OXALIC ACID, an important and powerful acid discovered by Scheele in 1776, or as claimed by some by Bergman ; symbol, H 2 C 2 4 , 2H 2 O ; chemical equivalent, 126. It occurs in vegeta- bles, animals, and rarely in minerals, as in the form of sesquioxalate of iron in humboldtite. Of the juices of plants it is a frequent constit- uent. Its name is derived from its giving to the leaves of the wood sorrel (oxalis acetosella) their very acid taste. In this and in the com- mon sorrel (rumex acetosa) it occurs combined with potash as binoxalate of potash. Combined with lime, it gives solidity to many lichens, and is found in the roots of rhubarb, valerian, and other plants. It is found in a free state in the bristles of the chick pea (deer arietinum). It is artificially produced by the oxidation of sugar or of starch by nitric acid. ^ Schlesinger's method, recommended by Berzelius, is to dis- solve one part of dry loaf sugar in 8 parts of nitric acid of specific gravity 1*38, and heat in a flask till effervescence, caused by the es- cape of carbonic acid and nitric oxide, ceases. The solution is then evaporated by a water bath to one sixth of its bulk, and the acid crystallizes on cooling. The product varies greatly in quantity according to the manner in which the nitric acid is applied. The crystals are colorless transparent prisms of four or six sides. They have a very sour taste, and dis- solve in nine parts of cold or about one part of boiling water. In a very dry atmosphere they