rsi 



OXFORD 



OXYGEN 



X're the day-to-day impressions of Oxford residents, 

 nth. my W.MK! for the 17th century and Tlioiuu 

 He.nu- for tli.- IKtli (best edition i.f Utli by the Ox- 

 ford Historical Society), or in reminiscences of Oxford 

 life in memoir* nd autobiographies t.g. in the auto- 

 biographies of Edmund Uihbon, K. L. Edgeworth, Ac., 

 and in .Stanley's Lift of Arnold. Part of the ground 

 traversed by Wood has been gone over from the point 

 of view of modem criticism by James Parker for the city 

 (to the year 1100) in hi* Enrty Uittory of Oxford (Oxf. 

 Hist Soe. 1888), and by H. C. Maxwell Lyte for the 

 university (to the year 1530) in hi* Hittory of the Li'ni- 

 nrtity of Oxford (1886). See also He minor-ewe* of 

 r,i Me*, edited by Miiu Quiller-Couch 

 (1891); 8. F. Hulton, Hint Oxonientr* ( W-') : Joseph 

 Porter, Aluuni OxunienK* 1SUI)-1> - < !<** !H ). and hi. 

 / .W.ii aifl Ihnr ColUya (1H!O); Well*, Oxford 

 ti,,r:l Liir ( 1W.O) ; Offunt at it it, by a mm Don 

 \ I ; Ooldvta Smith, Ost'vnl ami her CMojrt (1896) ; 

 anil The CoUeije* of Oxford, their Hittory unit Tradition*, 

 edited by the present writer ( 1HU1 ). Periodical publica- 

 tions are the Pott-offife Directory and <>jfnl Almanae; 

 for tho univemity, Oxford Unitertity Calendar, Student'* 

 if to the Unireriity, Regulation* of the Board* of 

 Stuttirt, Unireriity Oajctte ; for the diocese, the Ifiocctan 

 Calendar aud ttioeetan Uazette. The local press is vigor- 

 ous, not to speak of the OxfurJ Unirertity Herald, the 

 Oxford Review, and the Oxford Mayaiinc. 



Oxford, EARL OF. See HARLEY. 



Oxford flay, the principal member of the 

 Mill. Hi- Oolite MAM, See JURASSIC SYSTEM. 



Oxford Movement. See ENGLAND ( CHURCH 

 OF), an<l Kriiu.K, XKW.MAS, PUSEY. 



Oxfordshire, an inland county of England, in 

 shape very irregular, and with an extreme length 

 ami breadth nf 4S miles liy 20; is liounded on the 

 N. l>y Warwickshire and Northanto, E. by Bucks, 

 S. by the river Thames, and \V. by Gloucestcr- 

 Bhire. Area, 755 sq. in., or 483,621 acres. Pop. 

 (I.S41) 103,1 43: (1881) 179,559; (1891) 185,060. 

 Flat and bleak in the north and west, except near 

 Kdgehill (q.v. ), on the Warwickshire border, and 

 undulating in the central district, the county in 

 the south present N a succession of richly wooded 

 hills, alternating with pfctatOMM dales, and ter- 

 minating on the south-east border with H Inunch of 

 the rhiltern Hills, which, near Nullield, attain a 

 height of nearly 700 feet above the sea-level. 

 Foremost, however, among the minimi l>eaiitics of 

 Oxfordshire me the numerous rivers by which it is 

 watered, notably the Thames, with itn affluents the 

 Windrush, KvenliMle, Cherwell, and Thame. The 

 Oxford mill Bbmingtuun Canal all'onls access to the 

 miilliiiid coallields. The soil in general is fertile, 

 and the state of agriculture advanced, as evidenced 

 by the fact that in 1889, exclusive of 2061 acres 

 under cultivation an orchards and market-gardens, 

 no less than 414,192 acres were under crops, fallow, 

 or grass. Ironstone is extensively worked near 

 Banliury, whilst of manufactures the most-im- 

 iKirtant are those of blankets at Witney, |>a|>cr at 

 Shipl.-ikc and Henley, and, to a certain extent, of 

 gloveM at Woodstock. The county contains four- 

 teen hundreds, the inunici|ial iMironghs of llanbury, 

 ('hipping Norton, llciiley-on-Tliamett, and Wood- 

 and parts of those of the city and nniveisity 

 i.r ' 'xf'Mil, and of Abingdon (the remainder Ix-ing 

 in 15>'ikshin-), and '2<.CJ ei\il paii-hes, nil in the 

 diocese of Oxford. Three member* are returned to 

 the House of I 'ominous for the county, a also one 

 for the city of Oxford and two for the university : the 

 minify council numlx-is seven! v MX iiiemlieis. M,,,| 

 of the hintorienl event- connected with the county 

 tiKik place at Oxford (<|.v.), but apart from them 

 IIIRV ! mentioned (he battle- of ('hiilgrove (1643) 

 and Cronrody Bridge (1644). The bent known of 

 its wortliiif are Kdwnid tin- f'onfefwor, I.elalid (the 

 nntii|ii.iry ), I>r lleylin, \ i"connt Falkland, 'Doctor' 

 Fell, Thomaa Kllwood, Lord Chief-justice Holt, 



Hev. JaniCM Grander, \\aiien Hiistings. l.or.l K, 

 Cuilford, Sir William IIce.-hc\, Miss Kd^eworth, 

 Charles Rcade, (Meeii (the historian), L<'id 1'en- 

 Sir William Vcrmm Harcomt, and I.oul 

 .||.h Churchill. See works by Skclton (1823) 

 and Daven|K>rt (1809). 



Oxidation is the U-rm applieil in chemistry, 

 with a somewhat wid:- signilicance, to the changes 

 which tM-ciir when elementary or coni|.ouiid sub- 

 stances enter into new combinations with oxygen. 

 The majority of those chemical actions to which 

 the term Combustion (q.v.) is applied are examples 

 of oxidation. The products of the processes of oxi- 

 dation are frequently (but not invaiiably ) oxides. 



Oxides are compounds of oxygen with other 

 elements, and are amongst the most important of 

 the classes of chemical compounds, liu-ic oxides 

 and acid oxides are descrilied in the article 

 'IIKMISTRY (q.v.). In addition to these two large 

 classes of oxides there are numerous oxides which 

 do not possess either basic or acid propertiM, or if 

 at all only to a very insignificant degree, 



Oxlip. See COWSLIP. 



Ox-pecker. See BEEF-EATER. 



OxtlS, the ancient name of a river in western 

 Asia, which is called by Arab writers Jihlin, ami by 

 the Asiatics of the regions through which it Hows 

 Amu or Amu- I>aria, It rises in the cletated. table- 

 lands between the Tian Shan Mountains and the 

 Hindu-Hush, and How s west as far as (iti K. long. 

 through Badakshan, and then north-west Ihiontji 

 Bokhara and Khiva, and empties itself by several 

 mouths into the -outhern end of the Sea of Aral. 

 There arc two main head-streams issuing at l.'i,042 

 and 14,177 feet respectively, and uniting in 7T 20' 

 K. long, at 7500 feet. In the first part of its course 

 the volume of the Oxus is increased by numerous 

 atlliicnis, but it receives few tributaries alter it 

 turns north-west, its course then running through 

 the deserts of Turkestan. The delta is 90 miles 

 long, and embraces many lakes ami marshes. The 

 principal use made of the river is for irrigation 

 pur|MMtes ; Khiva owes its prosperity entirely to its 

 waters. The river has been ascended for 280 miles 

 by steamlKMits. It is Ix'lievcd that before the 

 Christian em the O.xns (lowed into the Caspian, 

 and that since alnmt (HK) A.I), it has twice changed 

 its course. The Russians have been considering 

 the possibility of turning it back again into the 

 Caspian. The physical conditions seem to be 

 favourable, and it the plan were carried out Itussia 

 would get a navigable highway a couple of hundred 

 miles farther towards the centre of Asia. For 

 the great railway bridge across the river (1888), 

 see BRIDOB, Vol.' II. p. 444 : ami see works by J. 

 Wood (1S41 : new ed. by Colonel Yule, 1S72J and 

 MacGahan (187(. . 



Oxyazo. See DYEING, Vol. IV. p. 142. 



Ox.vrlilorides, chemical compounds contain- 

 ing both chlorine and oxygen in combination with 

 some othei element, ami inteiniediate in compo-i- 

 tioii between the oxides on the one band and the 



chlorides on tl ther. Thus, antimonious oxy- 



chlonde, SbOCI, is intermediate between unti- 

 monious oxide, SboO,, and antimonious chloride, 

 SbCl,. 



Oxygen (sym. O, atom. wt. 16) is a colour- 

 less, inodorous, tasteless gas, long regarded as a 

 ' |HTin:inent 'gas, but lii|iicticd by I'ictet of Ceneva 

 for the first time in 1*77. Its chemical allinities 

 ; for other elemental v substances are very powerful ; 

 with most of them it is found in combination, or may 

 IK; imulc to combine, in more than one proportion ; 

 with several in OH many as four diMcnut pro|x>r- 

 tions; and there is only one element illnonno) 

 with which it does not enter into any combination. 



