OBERHAUSEN 



trade route between Venice and 

 Augsburg, Oberammergau was 

 once of considerable importance. 



Oberhausen. Town of Ger- 

 many, in Prussian Rhineland. Near 

 the right bank of the Rhine, 44 m. 

 by rly. N. of Cologne, it is a 

 junction of the Cologne -Hamburg 

 and Wesel-Emmerich rlys. It 

 has extensive iron, steel, zinc, and 

 metal foundries, besides manu- 

 factures of glass, porcelain, and 

 chemicals. The Gutehoffmmgs- 

 Hiitte, one of the largest iron and 

 steel works of the Ruhr district, 

 employs 24,300 workmen. Ober- 

 hausen became a town in 1875. 

 Pop. 90,000. 



Oberleutensdorf. Town, for- 

 merly in the Bohemian prov. of 

 the Austrian Empire, now known 

 as Litvinov Horni (q.v.). 



Oberlin, JEAN FRJSDRIC (1740- 

 1826). Alsatian pastor and philan- 

 thropist. Born Aug. 31, 1740, at 

 Strasbourg, he 

 studied at the 

 university, 

 and in 1767 

 became pastor 

 of Waldbach, 

 in the Stein- 

 thai, Ban-de- 

 la - Roche, a 

 barren tract 

 J. F. Oberlin, on the borders 

 Alsatian pastor o { Alsace-Lor- 

 raine. Here he built schoolhouses, 

 introduced improved methods of 

 agriculture, laboured devotedly to 

 improve the well-being of the 

 people, and preached a mystical 

 piety. Awarded the medal of the 

 Legion of Honour in 1819, he 

 died June 1, 1826. See Life, 

 Josephine Butler, 1882. 



Oberon (Fr. Auberon, Ger. 

 Alberich, ruler of the elves). 

 King of the Fairies. He appears as 

 king in the Charlemagne romance 

 of Huon of Bordeaux, and as the 

 dwarf, Alberich, of the Nibelungen- 

 lied, long before he was, as it were, 

 re-created by Shakespeare in A 

 Midsummer Night's Dream (q.v.). 



Obesity. Excessive deposit of 

 fat in the body. Corpulence, or 

 general overgrowth of fat in the 

 body, results from some disorder 

 of nutrition, probably due both to 

 excessive absorption of the fat- 

 producing constituents of food and 

 to incomplete combustion of fat 

 in the tissues. Some persons remain 

 thin in spite of being large eaters, 

 and others become corpulent 

 though they take food sparingly. 

 In some cases heredity is a marked 

 factor. Excessive obesity leads to 

 shortness of breath, interference 

 with the action of the heart, and 

 difficulty in walking. Corpulent 

 persons should avoid taking too 

 much food, and particularly should 



reduce those articles of diet which 

 contain much starch or sugar. 

 Several diets have been advocated 

 for lessening obesity. See Diet. 



Obiter Dictum (Lat., said by 

 the way). Legal phrase denoting 

 an opinion expressed incidentally 

 by a judge in the course of his 

 judgement, which is not an in- 

 tegral part of the judgement, i.e. 

 is not necessary for the decision of 

 the case. Though it may be valu- 

 able, owing to the learning of the 

 judge who pronounces it, a dictum 

 which is merely obiter is not 

 binding in any other court of the 

 same or inferior jurisdiction. See 

 Birrell, Augustine. 



Object. In grammar, a word, 

 phrase, or clause used substan- 

 tively in immediate dependence on 

 a verb, as denoting that on or to- 

 ward which its action is directed. 

 As an example, in the sentence " I 

 killed him," him is the object of, the 

 verb killed. In optics the object 

 glass is the lens or system of lenses, 

 also known as the objective, placed 

 at the end of a telescope or micro- 

 scope nearest the object being ex- 

 amined. In philosophy, object is the 

 antithesis of subject, and denotes 

 the totality of external phenomena 

 observed by the individual. 



Object teaching is a method of 

 instruction in which illustrative 

 objects are employed, e.g. as in a 

 kindergarten. The object ball in 

 billiards, pyramids, etc., is the ball 

 which is designed to be hit by the 

 cue ball, i.e. the ball which is being 

 directly aimed at. In medicine, 

 object blindness is a condition in 

 which objects may be seen dis- 

 tinctly, but are of no significance to 

 the mind. In astronomy, object 

 metal is the principal mirror of a 

 reflecting telescope. 



Oblates (Lat. oblatus, offered, 

 part, of offerre, to offer). Won? 

 used in various monastic senses. 

 Originally oblates were children 

 brought to the monastery by their 

 parents and dedicated to the 

 religious life. Later they were lay 

 brothers. Still later, they were 

 associate members, in some cases 

 known as confratres or tertiaries, 

 who observed a simple rule of life, 

 and devoted themselves and their 

 fortunes to the service of the com- 

 munity. Henry VI of England was 

 a confrater of the abbey of S. 

 Edmundsbury. In the Roman 

 Catholic Church, the title oblateg 

 has been assumed by congregations 

 of priests devoted to preaching, 

 conducting missions, and educa- 

 tion. Among women are the con- 

 gregations devoted to high school 

 teaching. See Monasticism. 



Obligation. Term used in 

 English law. It describes any act 

 or instrument whereby a person, 



OBREGON 



called in England the obligor, is 

 bound by law to do or refrain from 

 doing something. The person in 

 whose favour the obligation runs 

 is called the obligee. 



Oblique Motion. Term used in 

 music. When one part or voice 

 stands still while another moves, 

 the motion of the latter is termed 

 oblique, e.g. 



NOUNS. 



See Motion. 



Obock OR OBOK. Port on the 

 Red Sea. Situated on the N. shore 

 of the Bay of Tadjoura, opposite 

 Jibuti (q.v. ), it was acquired by 

 France in 1856, officially annexed 

 in 1862, but not occupied until 

 1884. Formerly an independent 

 sultanate, it forms part of the 

 French Somali Coast Protectorate. 

 Oboe. Italian form of the name 

 of the double reed musical instru- 

 ment, the hautboy (q.v.). 



Obolus. Ancient Greek silver 

 coin alloyed with copper. It was 

 equal to about IJd. in English 

 money, and six obols made a 

 drachma (q.v.). 



Obra. River of Poland, .n 

 Posen. It rises near Kosmin, flows 

 W. and N.W. to join the Warthe 

 (Warta) near Schwerin, in a maze 

 of swamp and bog. Length 130 m. 

 Obregon, ALVARO (b. 1880). 

 Mexican president. Born in Sonora, 

 he became a prosperous agricul- 

 turist with ad- 

 vanced ideas 

 and marked 

 sympathy with 

 the Indians. In 

 1912 he re- 

 cruited and 

 commanded a 



4&- A I troop which 



. JrM^S^ \ helped to sup- 



press Orozco's 

 rebellion, and 

 in 1913 he joined Carranza, de- 

 feating Huerta's forces at Santa 

 Rosa. In command of the Con- 

 stitutionalist army, he won several 

 battles and entered Mexico City, 

 Aug. 15, 1914. A supporter of 

 Carranza, he carried out successful 

 campaigns against Villa in 1915, 

 and took part in the negotiations 

 between Carranza and the U.S. 

 government in 1916. 



During this period of unrest 

 Obregon had made himself Mexico's 

 most prominent soldier. After 

 Carranza's murder a provisional 

 president was elected, but he soon 

 gave way to Obregon, who, the 

 most powerful man in the country, 

 was elected without opposition in 

 Sept., 1920. He set to work to 

 restore order, declaring against 

 Bolshevism. He was succeeded by 

 P. E. Calles, 1924 



Alvaro Obregon, 

 Mexican president 



