OIL-WELLS 



OKKN- 



electric lighting. Kish oils are valuable for soap- 

 making ami aim much employed l>y curriers for 

 dressing leather; and the nil in again 'recovered and 

 sold fur furlliiT ii-" under the name of iltynu and 

 sod-oil. Sharks arc largely caught nil tin- Norwav 

 coast and in the Indian seas, chielly fur tlieir oil. 

 In Greenland .100 or 400 are taken every season, 

 tlieir liver* yielding 2500 larrels of oil, 'which is 

 much valued for lubricating. S/x-rmatrti, or ' head 

 matter,' as it is commercially termc.1. from the oil 

 being principally found in the enormous head of 

 Phytettr macracephaitu, has, like w hale oil, been 

 declining largely of lato vears. llritain only re- 

 ceives some U.'iu tun-, vnlue<l at l'.~>f>, :(_>.">, against 

 three times tlmt quantity iin|M)rte<l alniut the year 

 1K80. It useil to lie much employed in candle- 

 making, mixed with almut 5 JKT rent, of beeswax 

 to prevent crystallisation (see WHALE). Sen! -oil 

 is hence includi-d with train or ti-h oil. The cx- 

 .111 Newfoundland range from 3500 tuns to 

 6000 tuns yearly, according to the catch of seals. 

 In 1889(ireat Britain ini|iorted from that island 7000 

 tuns of oil, valued at nearly 67,000. There was a 

 large decline fully 60 per eent. in the prices of 

 fish oils in the years IH89-90. The current prices 

 in 1890 per tun of 252 gallons were, for sperm, 45 

 to 46; whale-oil, 21 to 23; pale seal-oil, 24 

 to 26 ; and cod-oil, 22. The medicinal cod-liver 

 oil realises higher prices. Fuller information on the 

 preparation of thcw will ! found under the various 

 head*. In 1H78 the British imports of fish oik 

 of all kinds were 20,656 tuns, valued at 810,891 ; 

 in 1890, 20,302 tun- receive*! were only valued at 

 4l!).2!Nt. In various quarters a considerable 

 quantity of oil is obtained from dill'erent birds, 

 such as the fulmar, the ]>engiiin, puffins, and 

 specie* of Procellaria. the (liiacharo (q.v.), the 

 goose, ostrich, emu, and rhea, the passenger pigeon, 

 and others; hut, with the excetion of 



from the Falkland*, none of tlie-e apt>ear to any 

 extent in commerce, and are only lined locally. 



The large and growing importance of the oil 

 trade is manifest from a consideration of the 

 statistic* of imports and exjxirts alone in a year, 

 independent of the various industries and labour 

 interested therein. Taking the English Board of 

 Trade figures for 1889, we find that the value of the 

 importx of animal oils and fats, including butter, 

 lard, tallow, &c., amounted to IS, 395,5 IX, the 

 vegetable oils to 3,718,074, the mineral oils to 

 2,963,834, and the nuts and seeds imported for 

 expressing oil to 8,2<>9,678, making a total of 

 33.347,104. The ini|mrts are nearly all used in 

 llritain, the re-exports living merely to the value of 

 3..-i31.242. If to this we add the 1,701,106 for 

 oil-seed cake imported, ami the export of oil, soap, 

 and candle- of British manufacture, amounting to 

 2,507,00.1, we have a total capital involved in the 

 trade of over :i7.5(J<>,iNio, and this quite irrespec- 

 tive of the home production of tallow, butter, fish 

 oils, and the like. 



Oil-wHIs. See BAKU, PENNSYLVANIA, PE 



Tltnl.KI'M 



Olnomanla. See DIPSOMANIA. 



Ointments are fatty substances intended to 

 be applied to the skin by nibbing in, ami having 

 the consi-t'Ti ...... f butter. The material employed 



M a hani* for tl ..... intment varies considerably, ami 



as a rule the activity and action are entirely 'due to 

 the ulmtanee incorporated with the basis. The 

 most generally us.., I Win is lard, either alone or 

 mixed with wax. Arc., to give it more consistence. 

 To avoid rancidity the lard is usually melted pre- 

 viously with gum-benzoin, and is then known as 

 bentoattd lard. Although l*rd is readily absorbed 

 by the kin, vet in this respect it is surpassed by 

 sho-p's wool fat and Oleic Acid (q.v.). The former 



of these, when incorporated with water, forms an 

 nt ointment boae, smooth, and in even* way 

 suitable. So also some of the unctuous oleates are 

 used with great advantage. Soft paraffin, known 

 in commerce under a numlier of names, has also 

 been used for ointments and does not turn rancid, 

 but on the whole its use is not extending. As 

 nearly all sulisUtnces may be made into ointment-. 

 there is no limit to tlieir nunilier, hut perhaps the 

 l>est known are Zinc Ointment (q.v.), lioracic 'int 

 incut, and the Hed and White Precipitate Oint- 

 ments (see PRECIIMTATK < IINTMKXT). In all cases 

 the greatest care is required to ensure that the 

 active principle is rubbed perfectly smooth with a 

 small quantity of oil or lard before adding the bulk 

 of the ingredients, otherwise the production of a 

 homogeneous ointment free from grit is impossible. 

 See COLD CKEAM. 



Olse, a department in the north of France, 

 separated from the English Channel by Seine- 

 Inferieure ; area, 2261 sq. m. ; pop. ( 1881 ) 404,555 ; 

 ( 1891 ) 401,835. The principal rivers are the Oise, 

 a tributary of the Seine, 150 miles in length, with 

 the Aisne and Therain, affluents of the Olse. The 

 soil is in general fertile, and agriculture advanced. 

 The products are the Usual grain-crops, with an 

 immense quantity of vegetables, which are sent to 

 the markets of the metropolis. There are exten- 

 sive iron manufactures ; porcelain, paper, chemicals, 

 beet-root sugar, woollens, cottons, and lace (at 

 Chant illy (are also made. The department is divided 

 into the four arrondissemente of Beauvais, C'ler- 

 iii. mi . Compiegne, Senlis ; capital, Beauvais. 



Olsin. See OSSIAN. 



Ojibbeways. See CHIPPEWAY INDIANS. 



Okil, an important navigable river of central 

 I!ussia, the principal affluent of the Volga from the 

 south, rises in the government of Orel, and Hows 

 in a generally north-east direction, and joins the 

 Volga at the citv of Nijni-Novgorod, after a course 

 of 706 miles. Its Iwisin comprises the richest and 

 most fertile region of Kussia. The principal towns 

 on its banks are Orel, Bielev, Kaluga, Kia/an, and 

 Murom ; the most import ant affluents are the rivei-s 

 Moscow, Kliasma, and Tzna. During spring the 

 Oka is navigable from Orel to the Volga ; but in 

 summer the navigation is obstructed by sand- 

 bank.s. 



Okavango. See NOAMI. 



Okcwhobcc, a lake of Florida (q.v.). 



Ok en (originally Ockenfuss), LORENZ, natural- 

 ist, was born at liohlslmch, in Baden, August 1, 

 1779. He studied at Wiir/.burg and Oottingen ; 

 became extra-ordinary professor of Medicine at 

 Jena in 1807 ; in 1812 he was appointed ordi- 

 nary professor of Natural Science; and in IKHi he 

 commenced the publication of a journal partlv 

 scientific and partly political, called Irit, whieli 

 led to government interference and his resigna- 

 tion. In 1828 he obtained a professorship in the 

 newly established university of Munich, but in 

 Is.'i'J exchanged it for another at Zurich, where In- 

 died llth August 1851. Oken aimed at construct- 

 ing all knowledge a priori, and thus setting forth 

 the system of nature in its universal relations. 

 His system of natural science is a nature-philo- 

 sophy, which, though decried as transcendental 

 and a deduction from foregone conclusions, was fer- 

 tile in suggestive ideas. It was he who wrought 

 out the theory, claimed by (ioethe, and now ex- 

 ploded, that the skull is but a modified vertebra. 



Hi* principal worki are hit Ltkrbuch ilrr A'atitrphilo- 

 Kfkit (im-11; Eng. trn. 1847), his Lehrlmeh dtr 

 y<rtMVMMdU*(>Tok. 1813-27), and A ll'iemtint A'atur- 

 MdUsUl ( 17 volm. 1833-45). See worki on Oken by 

 Ecker (1H80) and Guttler (1884), and Me Sir JUchard 

 Uwen'i article in the Eneyclopadia Sritannim. 



