659 



OSIER 



OSMIUM 



Augsburg ( 1530), and at the signing of the Schmal 

 kald articles (I.V<7). In l.VIH he was deprived of 

 his oilice as preacher because he refused to agre< 

 to the AngMiiurg Interim ; but was immediately 

 afterwards invited by Albert, Duke of Prussia. t'i 

 become professor of Theology in the newly-estab- 

 lished university of Konigsl'ierg. He was" hardly 

 settled there when he liecame entangled in a the- 

 ological strife that was greatly embittered by his 

 vehement and arrogant temper. In a treatise, De 

 Lcge tt Euanyclio, Oxiaiider asserted that the 

 righteousness l,y which sinners are justified is not 

 to be conceived as a mere justificatory or imputa- 

 tive act on the part of (jod, hut as something 

 inward anil subjective, springing in a mystical way 

 from the union of Christ with man. The most 

 notable of his opponents was Martin Chemnitz 

 (q. v. ). Osiander's death in the midst of this tierce 

 jMileiuiral war, on 17th Uctolier 15iV2, did not check 

 It : the battle was continued by his followers, 

 called Osiamlrists, and led by his son-in-law Funk, 

 who was executed for high-treason in 1566, and 

 the entire party was banished from Prussia in 1567. 

 See Lives by Wilken (1844), Miiller (1870), and 

 Hase (1879). Osiander's son Lukas (1534-1604) 

 and /tin son Lukax ( 1571-1638) won reputations 

 theologians of note. 



Osier, the popular name of those species of 

 Willow (q.v.) which are used chiefly for bosket- 

 making and other wickenvork. They are of low 

 bii.-lry growth, few of them ever becoming trees, 

 their branches long and slender ; and they are the 

 more valuable in proportion to the length,' slender- 

 ness, suppleness, and toughness of their branches. 

 The Common Osier (Salix viminalis), a common 



native of wet allu- 

 vial grounds in 

 Britain and many 

 parts of Europe, is 

 one of those which 

 sometimes become 

 trees, although when 

 cultivated for bosket- 

 making it is not per- 

 , milled to do so. It 



~ML Ki:j is often planted to 



V \\*' JB9 prevent the banks of 



)JU A '^TO^a liv<M>i f"' m being 



1 /< M>wS& Cashed away. Its 



^f l f / mSKfis branches are used 



mff ; HP* f r '"iking hoops 



I'M 7 \V ' am ' coarse Baskets. 



VI There are several 



si'v ii ' varieties in cnltiva- 



vf If \ ''""' " ot cn *''. v ''' s ~ 



Vi m \\jl/ tinguished except by 



* / / % " very practised eye, 



but much more use- 

 ful than the original 

 or wild kind, which 

 Common Oner (Salix viminalit): is apt to break, and 

 o, iMlecmtkln; (., female Mtkln. therefore of little 



value. More -\i\\ 



able for the finer kinds of basket making are ,W,> 

 f<irl/itnn. some! imes called the Fine Basket Osier, 

 and ,s'. rnlnii, known near London as the Oreen- 

 h-avcd Osier , Onianl ; X trinnilrn, a triandrous 

 species, known to Knglish osier cultivators and 

 iNixkct-makerH as the Spaniard ]{od ; whilst X. 

 vttellina, a pentandroni species, sometimes ln-com- 

 ing a tree, is the C.ddi-n Osier or Cohlen \\illow, 

 remarkable for the bright -yellow colour of its 

 branches, as well as for their pliancy nnd tough- 

 ness. There are other species, not natives of 

 Britain, which also are valuable. 



( Isirrx an- veiy extensively cultivated in Holland, 

 Belgium, ami France, on alluvial soils, especially 

 neur the months of rivers; and from these countries 



great (piantities of rods' , ln . importwl into Britain. 

 Thex are riilli\ated also to a c<insiderable extent 

 in some parts of Kngland, pitrtiruhirly on the banks 

 of the Thames and the Severn, anil in the le\el 

 distiicts of Cambridgeshire, Huntinfldnwhira, >Vc. 

 I -lets in the Thames and olhiT rivers, entirely 

 planted with osiers, are called Oxicr holts. Osiers 

 grow particularly well on grounds Hooded by the 

 tide. Much depends on the closeness of planting 

 of osier grounds; as when space is too abundant 

 the sh(K)ts of many of the kinds do not grow 

 uii so long, slender, and mihranclicd as is desir- 

 able. The French cultivators, when they \\ish 

 osiers for the finest kinds of basket wm'k, rut 

 branches into little bits with a hud or eye in each, 

 and plant these pretty close together, BO as to 

 obtain weak but line shoots; but generally cut- 

 tings of l.> or lli inches in length are used, and of 

 tolerably thick branches, and these are placed in 

 rows from 18 inches to 2 feet apart, and at dis- 

 tances of 15 to 18 inches in the row. Osier planta- 

 tions in light soils continue productive for fifteen 

 or twenty years, and much longer in rich alluvial 

 soils. Osiers succ<t>. I l.est in licli soils, but not in 

 clays. No cultivation is required after planting; 

 but the shoots are cut once a year, at any time 

 between the fall of the leaf and the rising 'of the 

 sap in spring. After cutting they aie sorted, and 

 those intended for bi-own baskets are carefully 

 dried and stacked, care being taken that they do 

 not heat, to which they are liable, like hay, and by 

 which they would l>e rotted and rendered worth- 

 less. The stacks must 1* protected carefully from 

 rain. The osiers intended for white baskets cannot 

 at once be peeled, but, after being sorted, they are 

 placed upright in wide shallow trenches, in which 

 there is water to the depth of about four inches, or 

 in rivulets, ln-ing kept secure in their upright posi- 

 tion by |M)sts and rails; and thus they remain till 

 they begin to bud and blossom in spring, which 

 they do as if they remained on the parent plant, 

 sending forth small roots at the snme time into the 

 water. They are then, in ordinary seasons, easily 

 peeled by drawing them through an instiiimen't 

 called a treat, but in cold springs it is sometimes 

 necessary to lay them for a while under a quantity 

 of litter. After being peeled, they are stacked", 

 preparatory to sale. Sec KASKET. 



Osiris, greatest of Egyptian gods, is the son of 

 Seb(the Earl h- here the father) and Nut < Heaven 

 the mother). He wedded Isis his sister while 

 they were yet in the womb; was slain by Set, was 

 avenged by his son Horns, and judges tfie dead in 

 the nether woi Id. The m\ this generally interpreted 

 by taking Osiris for the Sun, Set for darkness. 

 Osiris had by Nephthys another son Annbis (i.e. 

 Dusk), who is said to have swallowed his father. 

 Osiris has also been identified with the god Ka, 

 with the Moon, with the Nile, and with the annual 

 sun -period or summer (as against the daily appear- 

 ing sun). For farther dUoumion of the myth, see 

 IMS, and works there quoted ; also \\iedcmann, 

 ii- lli-li'ijiuii iler Allen JBfypttr ( 1890). 



OsknloOSfl, capital of Mahaska county, Iowa, 



1O4 miles liy rail \\N\\. ol Burlington. It pos- 

 sesses mines of bituminous coal, and manufactures 

 flour, woollens, boilers, electric appliances, &c. 

 Here are Pen n College ((.iiiaker) and two others. 

 1'op. (lS!H))(i.->5H; (I'.MKI) 1C_1 



Osmium (sym. OK; atom, wt, 191) is a metal 

 which occurs in association with platinum in 

 the form of an osmium-indium alloy. It may be 

 ibtained in the metallic condition by several 'pro- 

 cesses which yield it either sis a black amorphous 

 :K)wder or in hard bluish -white crystals. It is the 

 east fusible of all the metals, the oxyhydrogen 

 jet volatilising, but not fusing it. It is the heaviest 



