in 



OCARINA 



OCHIL HILLS 



certainly marks one of the most beneficent 

 advances in the history of obstetrics proliably 

 the greatest since tin- invention of the fon-cp. 

 Betide* relieving ami abolishing un'.old snlleriiig 

 in ordinary Inbour. it |MTiiiit.s tin- i*'rformance of 

 many operation* ami the correction of untoward 

 conditions which previously were ini|>ott8ible or 

 irrenivdialile. It should l>e added that BypnotUm 

 (q.v.) IIILH within recent years been employed on 

 the Continent for the name purpose. 



(4) The Employment of Antuepties and the Pre- 

 vention of Puerperal Fever. Till 1870 the great 

 scourge of maternity hospitals, and also a frequent 

 cause of disaster in private practice, was the ]> 

 valence of outbreak)* of puerperal fever or srptie- 

 remia. In that year the teaching of Lister began 

 to influence obstetric practice, and since then 

 ri^'irons antiseptics are the rule in all maternity 

 hospitals. Thus a mortality reaching in many 

 instances to 6 per cent, of all coxes has lieen 

 reduced almost to zero, and this opprobrium of 

 obstetric practice has been removed. 



The teaching of midwifery is provided for in the 

 curricula of all the medical schools of the United 

 Kingdom. In most a three months' course of 

 lectures with attendance on a certain numlier of 

 cases is demanded of each student. The Scottish 

 universities require attendance on a six months' 

 coarse of 100 lectures, besides practical training by 

 the bedside. As has been said, the licensing Uxlies 

 demand an adequate knowledge of midwifery from 

 every candidate for a license to practise ; and 

 further, at every maternity hospital tlie training of 

 nurses by lectures and demonstration is regularly 

 carried on. The ignorant midwife of the pact is 

 thus being replaced by trained women, who are 

 competent to undertake the management of all 

 ordinary cases of labour. There is, however, con- 

 siderable room for improvement in the training and 

 certification of these midwives. In recent years, in 

 Great Britain and elsewhere, the facilities offered to 

 women to obtain a full medical training are being 

 greatly increased, and it is not unlikely that in 

 course of time a very large part of the practice in 

 this department, at the present undei taken by men, 

 may be transferred to women. And that properly 

 educated women are capable of undertaking all 

 the responsibilities of this department of practice 

 is shown by such case* as those of Mesdames 

 Boivin and Lochapelle, who (in the words of 

 Velpeau), 'although the pupils of Baudelocque, 

 were not afraid to shake off, to a certain extent, 

 the yoke of his scientific authority, and whose high 

 position and dignity form the starting-point ofa 

 new era for the science of obstetrics in Paris.' 



Sea aroonnt EnglUh worki on the nubject those of 

 Playfairaudliarnci; American, thorn of Liuk and 1'nrvin, 

 and the Amrrir.m Sylttm of Obttttna ; the French 

 treatise by Tarnier and liudin ; and German worki by 

 Hchroeder, Spiegelberg, and \Vinekcl (ill of which have 

 been translated). Sec also articles in tint work on ABOII- 

 Ti'.s. C.esAHiA* Ornunox, Fcrrus, FOBCEPS, Paro- 

 SAXCT, Ac. 



Ocarinn. a recent Italian toy instrument of 

 flute-like sound, made of pottery, and shaped like 

 the body of a bird ( without heat) or neck). 



Orrnra, WILLIAM OK. Sec OCKHAM. 



Occasionalism. See DESCARTES. 



Occleve, THOMAS. See HOCCLEVE. 



Occlusion, a term applied to the solution of 

 a gas by a melted solid 



of oxygen by melted 



silver which gas is given up by the melted 

 material when It solidifies, so that in the case of 

 silver the metal sometimes 'spits' or gives off the 

 ga* in bubbles, thereby roughening its otherwise 

 smooth surface. Sometime* the gas is absorbed or 

 'occluded* (in a wider sense) even though the 



metal be not fused e.g. hydrogen gas by cold 

 palladium, carlmnic oxide by red-hot cast-iron. 

 Occult allon> LakoomtBafto/aveonoMUineiit') 



are neither more nor less than 'eclipses;' but the 

 latter term in routined by usage to the obscuration 

 nl' tlie Klin by the moon, anil of the moon by the 

 i-aithV shadow, while the former is restricted to 

 the eclipses of stars or planets by the moon. 

 Occultations are phenomena of frequent occur- 

 rence; they are conlined to a belt of the hea\rns 

 aliout 10" 'l7V wide, situated parallel to and on 

 sides of the equinoctial, and extending to 



equal di-tani-rs north and south of it. bcinx the 

 belt within which tlie moon's orbit lies. I 

 phenomena serve as data for the measurement of 

 the moon's parallax ; and they are also occasionally 

 employed in the calculation of longitudes. 

 Occultism. See MAGIC, ALCHEMY, ASTRO- 



LOGY, TllKosnl'HY. 

 Ocean, generally the body of salt water that 



separates continent from continent, embracing 

 altogether about three-fifths of the whole surface 

 of the earth. The separate oceans me the Atlantic, 

 separating America from Europe and Africa; the 

 I'ncilic, lietween America and Asia ; the Indian, 

 King south of Asia, and limited on the east anil 

 west by Australasia and South Africa ; the Arctic, 

 surrounding the north pole ; and the Antarctic, sur- 

 rounding the south pole. There are articles on the 

 several weans, and the physical features and 

 characteristics of the ocean will be found described 

 under SEA. 



Oceania, a name sometimes 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 America. It naturally divides itself into three 

 great sections the Malay Archi|ielago, Australasia 

 or Melanesia, and Polynesia (q.v.). 



Ocelot ( t'elis jmrdalis ) is a species, with several 

 varieties, which is confined to the New World, 

 and ranges from Arkansas in the north to Pata- 

 gonia. These animals are inhabitants of foreste, 

 mid very expert in climbing trees. Their prey con- 

 sists in great part of birds. They are beauti- 

 fully marked and coloured. The coloration varies 



Ocelot ( Fdii pardalii ). 



considerably, but the ground tint is always a rich 

 red or tawny colour, blending finely with the dark 

 blOWB 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. 



Ocllll II ills, a pastoral range occupying parts 

 of the Scottish counties of Stirling, Perth, and 

 Clackmannan, and extending from the vicinity of 

 Stirling north-east to the Firth of Tay. It is 

 24 miles in length, and al>oiit 12 in breadth. 

 Chief summits are Bencleugh (2303 feet), Dunmyat 

 (1375), and King's Seat (2111). The hills, which 

 are formed chiefly of greenstone and basalt, contain 

 silver, copper, and iron ores. See Beveridge's 

 Vetvxcn the Ochilt and the Forth ( 1888). 



