OEDIPUS TYRANNUS 



5825 



OFFENBACH 



Antigone, there In liml 



relief from tll^ li.i.lllv .111(1 mental 



Millet-inns in death. I IIH- nf the 

 Riost beautiful of the choric 

 passages contains a glorification 

 nl the poet's home. The dat of the 

 play is unknown. 



Oedipus Tyrannus (King 

 Oedipus). Tragedy l>v Suphocles, 

 produced 430 or 4*.>9 B.C. Al- 

 though generally regarded as the 

 greatest of his plays, it failed to 

 nlit.iin the |ni/.- at the Dionysia. 

 The story contains one of the moat 

 striking examples of what is 

 known as " tragic irony." The 

 play is one of the few ancient 

 tragedies that could be succes.sfiil.1 y 

 produced In-foro a modern audience 

 in spite of the somewhat repellent 

 plot. See Oedipus. 



Oehlenschlager, ADAM GOTTLOB 

 (1779-1850). Danishpoet. Hewas 

 born Nov. 14, 1779, at Vesterbro, 

 Copenhagen, 

 the son of a 

 musician, who 

 became stew- 

 ard of the 

 royal palace 1 

 of Frederika- 

 borg. After 

 four years of 

 school life in 



Copenhagen 



._> A. Oehlenschlager. 

 aiid a years Danish poet 



private study, 



he was for a time an actor, but 

 literature absorbed him, and he fell 

 under the influence of Goethe and 

 other German thinkers. 



In 1803 he published his fjrst 

 volume of poems, which included 

 the play entitled The Eve of St. 

 John. All kinds of poetical works 

 followed in quick succession, that 

 which won for him the most fame 

 being his drama Aladdin. In 1805 

 the Danish government allowed 

 him a pension which enabled him 

 to spend some years in Halle, 

 Berlin, Weimar, Dresden, Paris, and 

 Switzerland. In Halle he wrote 

 two of his best known historical 

 dramas, Hakon Jarl and Palna- 

 toke. In 1810 he was appointed 

 professor of aesthetics at the uni- 

 versity of Copenhagen. His lyrics, 

 epics, sagas, and dramatic work 

 are remarkable for masculine 

 vigour, wealth of invention, and 

 width of range. He died Jan. 20, 

 1850. See Works, with biography, 

 15 vols., 1897-1900. 



Oelsnitz. Town of Germany, in 

 Saxony. Situated on the right 

 bank of the White Elster, at 

 1,330ft. alt., 26m. S.W. of Zwickau, 

 its buildings include the ancient 

 Jakobskirche and the rathaus. It 

 has carpet factories, breweries, and 

 brick works, and corsets, furniture, 

 yarn, and wool are manufactured. 

 Pearl fishing is carried on in the 



Miinincr in the KUter ami it* 

 tnhutaries. The town was founded 



in tli.- till, , ,-nt.iry. In 1869 it WM 

 almost burnt.) t the ground and 

 afterward* n-lunlt. Pop. 14,000. 



Oenanthic Ether. <>ily liquid 

 uilli ;i \ inn iii odour, coiuiiMtillg of 

 various ether*, such an 

 caprate and pelargonate. It i- 

 prepared by the distillation of 

 wine-lees, and is uaed for flavouring 

 iiiiin i.il brandy, and, when mixed 

 with Peru balsam and cassia and 

 liivender oiln, for j>erfuiiMng aoap. 

 < >enanthic ether ia alao known at 

 oil <>f cognac. 



Oenolin. Natural colouring 

 mutter of wine. In analysing wine, 

 it ia necessary to distinguish be- 

 tween artificial colours and the red 

 colour due to oenolin. The chemi- 

 cal tests are numerous. Dupre's 

 gelatin test consists in pouring 

 wine into a soup-plate into which 

 a cube of gelatin has been placed. 



Oenone. In Greek legend, a 

 nymph of Mt. Ida, and wife of 

 Paris, who deserted her for Helen. 

 Her story is the subject of a poem 

 by Tennyson. See Paris. 



Oersted, HANS CHRISTIAN 

 (1777-1851). Danish physicist. 

 Born at Rudkjobing, Langeland, 

 and educated at Copenhagen, he 

 won a travelling scholarship and 

 visited Hol- 

 land and Ger- 

 many, and 

 Paris. In 

 1819 he made 

 the discovery, I 

 on which his IB -* 

 fame rests, | 

 that a mag- 

 n e t i c needle 

 was deflected HEM C. Dented, 

 by a current Daiuth pbyncut 

 in a wire passing below or over it, 

 the initial discovery in electro- 

 magnetism. For the discovery he 

 was awarded the Copley medal of 

 the Royal Society. He wrote many 

 popular scientific works in physics 

 and chemistry, and showed the 

 connexion between chemical and 

 electrical forces. See Ampere. 



Oesel, C-SKL, EZEL. OR SARRE 

 MA A. Island of Esthonia. Situated 

 at the entrance to the Qulf of Riga, 

 the island haa an irregular coast- 

 line and a low, level surface. 

 Farming, horse -rearing, and fishing 

 are the principal occupations 01 

 the iii ha hit ant-, most of waom 

 are Esthoniana. Arensburg ia the 

 chief town. Area, 1,010 aq. m. 

 Pop. 45,000. 



Oesophagus OR < JrLLET. HUB- 

 cular tube, lined internally with 

 mucous membrane, which leads 

 from the pharynx or posterior part 

 of the mouth to the stomach. 

 About nine inches in length, it 

 passes down behind the trachea 



ami m front of the spinal vertebrae. 

 In the , he*t it lie* behind the Wt 

 lir.rii.hii- .in.) the pericardium. 



Obstruction of the oesophagus 



may result from swallowing a 



i body, such as a fish bone, 



tlse teeth, etc. The obstrac- 



in sometimes be withdrawn 



by a suitable oesophageal forceps, 



but when in mly impacted there is 



riik of injury to the wall* 



of the oesophagus in the process 



of e\tra. IIOM. iin.l the case should 



be promptly referred to a surgeon. 



Off* (d. 796). King of Mercia. 

 A member of the royal house, he 

 obtained the crown by crushing a 

 rival in 757. Mercia was tin 

 shrunken and distressed condition. 

 hut Offa restored its fortunes, 

 victorious battles bringing Kent, 

 Essex, and probably Sussex and 

 other regions under his rule, and 

 driving the Welsh farther into their 

 own land. He was virtually over- 

 lord of all England except North- 

 umbria, and created a third English 

 archbishopric, that of Lachneld. 

 After Offa s death Mercia' s premier 

 position quickly disappeared. 



Offal. Word, literally off-fall, 

 meaning refuse or waste. It is 

 uaed for feeding stuffs for animals, 

 these consisting of husks, etc., 

 which are stripped from grain. It 

 is also used for those parts of the 

 hull, sheep, or nig which are not 

 eaten as food by human beings. 

 In the Great War, however, an ex- 

 tended use was given to the word, 

 and it included those parts of the 

 animal which were eaten, but were 

 not rationed, for instance, liver. 

 See Food Control. 



Offa 's Dyke. Ancient entrench- 

 ment built by Offa, king of Mercia, 

 about 779, to form a barrier be- 

 tween England and Wales. It ex- 

 tended from the mouth of the Dee 

 to the Wye, close to its confluence 

 with the Severn, and passed 

 through the counties of Flint, Den- 

 bigh, Montgomery, Shropshire, 

 Radnor, Hereford, and Gloucester. 

 It was preceded by Watt's dyke, 

 some little distance to the E., and 

 both probably utilised prehistoric 

 entrenchments. It consisted of an 

 earthen rampart and a ditch. 



Offenbach. Town of Hesse, 

 Germany. It stands on the Main, 

 3 m. from Frankfort, with which it 

 is connected by rly.,one line being 

 an electric one. The chief buildings 

 are the castle, once the residence of 

 the counts of Isenburg, several 

 churches, and a synagogue. The 

 town haa manufactures of leather 

 goods, etc. In the 17th and lv>, 

 centuries French refugees made it a 

 manufacturing town. Offenbach 

 existed as a village through the later 

 Middle Ages, being on the lands of 

 the counts of Isenburg. About 



IF 7 



