OAK -BARK. 



OATH. 



- ****** example, ; *uoh a. 



of U door.. Edward Ox Confaanr. ahrine, wd the Coronation 



. 



chair. at WeMminrter Abbey; fragments of King John'* palace t 

 Km-m ; the Pbatecmt stall. of (Souo-Ur CaZdnl ; U,. p 



Jfe ^LSVt ?* : >"" P"? beomUl I" b"""-" and "Urling. of 

 " L ^fe," nd : : *" rood n ** nowOngar; and C<mey.taki 

 near OalUod._which were applied to their rr.,*ctive UM. at period. 

 jr-rytag from fir. to nineteen hundred you, wo. Mora important, 

 hMr.wr.tkM anr ol thM UM. of Brituh oak.1. iu employment in 



Ti i .\ "OMu DM. i* iu employment m 



hip-building, with which U u avociated in nog and metaphor as well 

 a. in fact. An oaken veaMl 'or boat, perfectly *ound. and nearly a* 

 hard a. iron, wa. found a few yean ago In the bed of the river Rotier, 

 in Kant, where it I* wppoMd to have Uin aince the time of Alfred the 

 Orert. For more than a thousand yean Britiah ships have been 

 mainly built of Britiah o* Daring U great war. of 173 to 1815, 

 the oouKiinptiao was enormous. In 1SOC it wa. calculated that tlie 

 ^!F!L2( ^J*" 7 oootoined n ri 7 1.200.000 load, of timber ; and that 

 100.000 load* a year would be required to keep up the strength, by 

 renewal, and repairs. It require* 60 acre* of Lnd, and about 100 

 yean in time, to grow oak timber sufficient for one 74-Riin ship a 

 tact that will illustrate the value of old forest* to our ahip-yards. The 

 royal fared* of England either do not contain oak trees enough for 

 national tue, or they are too badly managed to yield the supply when 

 wanted. A* a consequence. Urge purchases are made nearly every 

 year A parliamentary return, called for a few years ago, showed that 

 ia eleven yean 0840 to 1850 inclusive) the average purchase of British 

 r the royal dockyards was nearly 9000 load., varying from 3000 to 

 20,000 in a year There are other varieties of oak. besides fhe British, 

 which yield Umber ueeful for many purpose, in the arts. Turkey oak 

 is not *o strong and durable a. Britiah, but a. it* grain is more beau- 

 Uful, and take* a bettor polish, it is available for ornamental purposes. 

 The American white oak is much used for ship-building and house 

 building, for oaak atav... for milk pail*,axe hudles, Ac. ; while the wood 

 ol the young tree, being very elastic, and susoepUble of easy division, 

 bu**d for many of the purposes of willow, bamboo, or whalebone, in 

 the making ol baaketa, broom*, chair *eato, riddle*, and carters' whips. 

 The live oak, or fiurciu rirew, i* very hugely used in the United State* 

 for ahip-building; it is strong and durable, though in some degree 

 unfavourable on account of it* great weight ; it is found, also, to be 

 far better than the white oak for the naves and felloe* of heavy wheels, 

 ^T^*?* c T rl "*? ?* of "^ill-wheel*. There are other varieties of 



. 



Every part of the oak tree comes to use. The bark is a more valu- 

 able tanning agent than any other known substance ; and even the 

 and the aaw-diut contain an astringent principle which is 

 ajpUoableto the *une purpo^ The Valoni. oak of ^Archipelago 

 yields those acorn, and cup. which constitute the valuable tannimt 

 ingredient called valuta. The Dyers oak is the kind which yield- 

 the dye-drug, OMm'rw, fror*. It i, from . ipeci(1 , of ^ ^ ' 



e *?T **. , rea f k ble *. *. Wch is to superior 

 ub * tanc for ** PticuUr purpose. to which it is 

 The soviet dye, called kermu. i. obtained from an insect 

 feeds upon one particular sort of oak to which it form* a kind 

 01 "*" Chn m 8 to tne "ranches. The black-dye dnig nut oaU is a 

 morbid excrescence, produced by the puncture of a winged insect in a 

 . of o^ called the fWM ,',,/^ona^LtT called 

 the oak apfU u a somewhat similar excrescence on the British oak 

 applicable to the same purposes as the nut gall, but not in so great a 

 jtne. 



The rootol the oak was formerly carved into knife and dagger 



iestob^xx, boxes, ^ nall Jmplementa and instrumentTof 



t u inow frequently cut into veneers, which present a 



uUy diversified surf^x, when polkhei Oak leaves, fathered 



and dried, furnuh in aome places a winter forage for sheip, deer, 



Sif^, 0r f"T 7 - g *" 1 " 1 ?' the ? ~n>etimes lerve u a substi- 



^^i k> m , m r? tainin "~t of hothouM., Ac. The 



.( ^ u"? * Talu4ble Produce of our forest*. Evelyn used 



o aav, that a peek of acorn, with a little bran will increase the weigh* 



" for two monu * io ^ er ** even " HTb. 



untou<:hed ^e truth that acorn, form 





to be used, thev are 



into pieces, and then 



, , " 'p-uden. Tl,, w,,,k 

 to tl i , "TT 1 eU ' I> yment fa ""V fri*""- Tho 



.loos. .rreguUr kind of rope, fn,n, half ,, inch 

 i thickness. TheM oakum ropea are used for driving int.. 



the crevice* or aeam* in the outaide or deck of a ship, to prevent the 

 entrance of tea-water. Thi. process i* called eaultiitg, and is effected 

 by the aid of a Urge mallet or hammer and a caulking chisel ; by 

 which a dense layer of oakum U forced into the orevioe afterwards to 

 be well tarred. If this prooe** be well conducted, the ship'* side is not 

 only rendered waterproof, but i* actually strengthened ; for 

 little nature becomes filled up with a substance little leu compact 

 than the timber itself. 



OASIS ( in Greek, "Ooit, and sometimes A&uris) is the appellation 

 given to those fertile spota watered by springs and covered with verdure 

 which are scattered about the great sandy deserts of Africa. (Di 

 In Arabic they are called wadys. The Arabic and the Greek name 

 seem to contain the same root, and possibly the word may be originally 

 a native African term. The most noted oases are in tin- Libyan desert, 

 namely Augila, Siwah, the great oasis west of Thebes, or El Khargeh, 

 the little oasis, or Wah el Bahryeh, and several smaller ones which are 

 noticed under EGTPT, in GEOO. Div. Fezzan also may be considered 

 as a great oasis of the Sahara. [KEZZAS; SAHARA, in GEOO. 

 Div.] 



The oases appear to be depressions in the table-land of Libya. < >n 

 going from the Nile westward, the traveller gradually ascends till he 

 arrive* at the summit of an elevated plain, which continues nearly 

 i with slight undulations, for a considerable distance, and rises 

 higher on advancing towards the south. The oases are valleys sunk in 

 this plain, and when you descend to one of them you find the level 

 space or plain of the oasis similar to a portion of the valley of I 

 surrounded by steep hills of limestone at some distance from the 

 vated land. The low plain of the oasis is sandstone or cla\ 

 this last the water rises to the surface and fertilises the country 

 as the table-land is higher in the latitude of Thebes than in that of 

 Lower Egypt, we may readily imagine that the water of the oases ii 

 conveyed from aome elevated point to the south, and being retained by 

 the bed of day, rues to the surface wherever the limestone superstratum 

 i* removed. 



OATH. Oaths have been in use in all countries of which we have 

 any exact information, and it is probable that there is no nation which 

 has any clear notion of a Supreme Being, or of superior beings, that 

 does not make use of oaths on certain solemn occasions. An oath may 

 be described generally as an appeal or address to a Superior Being, by 

 which the person making it engages to declare the truth on the 

 occasion on which he takes the oath, or by which he promuea 

 to do something hereafter. The person who imposes or receive* 

 the oath, imposes or receives it on the supposition that the 

 person making it apprehends some evil consequences to himself from 

 the Superior Being, if he should violate the oath. The person taking 

 the oath may or may not fear such consequence*, but the value of the 

 <>ath in the eyes of him who receives or imposes it consists in the 

 opinion which he has of its influence over the person taking it 

 oath may be taken voluntarily, or it may be imposed on a person under 

 certain circumstances by a political superior; or it may be thr 

 condition on which the assertion or declaration of a person shall bo 

 admitted as evidence of any fact. 



The form of taking the oath has varied greatly in different countries 

 Among the Greeks (with whom the uplifted hands as if in prayer and 

 the solemn sacrifice and libation marked the religious element, while 

 the placing the hands on the victims or the altars reminded all parties 

 that the deity himself was present, Iliad iii., 276, and iv., 158 ; Ari- 

 Acharn, 148; Thucyd. v., 47) the forms of oaths were almost as various 

 as the occasions. Oaths were often used by them in judicial proceed- 

 ings. The Dicasto, who were judges and jurymen, gave th. ii verdict 

 upon oath. The Heliastic oath is stated at length in the speech 

 of Demosthenes against Tirnocrates (c. 36). It does not appear that 

 the oath was always imposed on witnesses in judicial proceedings; 

 and yet it does appear that sometimes witnesses gave their evidence 

 on oath : perhaps the oath on the part of witnesses was generally 

 voluntary. (Demosth., fykr*At*|S*> VtvS, c. 16 ; Kori KoVwrai, c. 10; 

 Meier and Schomann, ' Alt.' Process., p. 675, and Smith's ' Diet, of Or. 

 and Rom. Antiq.,' arts. Oath (Greek), and ttaprvpla.) 



In the Roman jurisprudence an oath was required in some case* 

 from the plaintiff or the defendant, or both. Thus the oath of 

 calumny was required from the plaintiff, which was a solemn declara- 

 tion that he did not prosecute his suit for any fraudulent or malicious 

 purpose. The offence of false-swearing was perjurium, jwrjury ; but 

 it was considered a less offence in a party to a suit when the oath was 

 imposed by a judex than when it was voluntary. It does not appear 

 that in civil proceedings witnesses were necessarily examin. 

 but witnesses appear to have been examined on oath in the j 

 publica, which wen- criminal proceedings. (D. 12. 2. C. 1. 1. Bris- 

 Kiniii and Calvini Lexic. ' Juramentum ;' Bonnier, 'Trait< ! dcs Preuvea ' 

 388-878.) 



The law of England, as a general rule, requires all evidence or 

 testimony for judicial purposes to IK- given on oath, and all persons 

 -worn as witnesses who, being questioned on the occasion of 

 taking the oath, will declare their In-licf in the existence of Go.! 

 future state of rewards and punishment*, and who will further di 

 their belief that perjury will be punished by the Deity. This rule 

 permit* all persons, of all religious persuasions, who profess to have 

 -sary U-lief, to be sworn as witnesses; and it exclud. 



