OLD RED SANDSTONE 



S836 



OLEAR1A 



novel contains many vivid pictures, 

 together with graphic impressions 

 of the battles of Drumclog and 

 Bothwell Brig. The marriage of 

 the hero, Henry Morton, with the 

 heroine, Edith Bellenden, is 

 brought about by one of the most 

 convincing love-stories that Scott 

 ever wrote. 



Old Eed Sandstone. In geo- 

 logy, name given to a series of 

 Palaeozoic rocks. They are named 

 from their commonest constituent, 

 red sandstone, but the series also 

 contains grey, yellow, and green 

 sandstones, and limestones and 

 clay beds. The rocks of the group 

 are of immense thickness, computed 

 to be 20,000 ft. thick in Scotland, 

 and are called Old to distinguish 

 them from similar deposits of a 

 later period of geological time. The 

 series lies below the Carboniferous 

 strata. The time of the formation of 

 Old Sandstone rocks corresponds 

 to that of the Devonian marine 

 deposits. The series is found in 

 Scotland, Wales, Ireland, Russia, 

 where it alternates with Devonian 

 deposits, Scandinavia, and N. 

 America. In some Old Red Sand- 

 stone rocks fossils are wanting, in 

 others there are remarkable remains 

 of fossil fishes and plants. See 

 Devonian ; Triassic ; consult also 

 The Old Red Sandstone, H. Miller, 

 new ed. 1869. 



Old Testament. Name given 

 to the collection of books which 

 form the first part of the Bible and 

 give an account of the history and 

 religion of the Jewish people from 

 the earliest times to the beginning 

 of the Christian era. From one 

 point of view, the O.T. is the litera- 

 ture of the Jewish nation ; from an- 

 other, it is the record of the Divine 

 education of Israel for the recep- 

 tion of the Christian Revelation. 



The books as they stand in the 

 English Bible were written during 

 the 600 years between 750 and 150 

 B.C., but many of them embody 

 documents and excerpts which go 

 back to a much earlier period. It 

 was only gradual!}', however, that 

 these books were collected together 

 into what is known as the O.T. 

 canon. The process of forming the 

 canon took about 500 years. It 

 commenced about 440 B.C. and was 

 not finally completed till the synod 

 of Jamnia, in A.D. 90. 



There are three well-defined 

 stages in the growth of the O.T. 

 (1) The earliest canon, which was 

 formed about 440, contained the 

 Pentateuch, or rather the Hexa- 

 teuch for the book of Joshua was 

 included. The explanation of the 

 canonisation of the Pentateuch is 

 to be found in the fact that it 

 contains the Law of God, on which 

 the whole national life was centred. 



(2) About 200 years later the first 

 edition of the O.T. was expanded 

 by the addition of the prophetical 

 writings, or the major part of them, 

 among which were included the 

 historical books known as Samuel 

 and Kings. (3) During the last two 

 centuries B.C. various other addi- 

 tions were made at different times, 

 known as " the writings," including 

 Job, The Psalter, the Minor 

 Prophets, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, 

 Chronicles, etc. 



For some time several of these 

 books were the subject of con- 

 siderable controversy, e.g. Esther, 

 Ecclesiastes, etc., but by the de- 

 cision of the synod of Jamnia their 

 inclusion in the canon was finally 

 sanctioned. It was the destruction 

 of Jerusalem and the loss of the 

 Temple that finally gave the O.T. 

 its supreme place in the religion of 

 the Jewish race, while its adoption 

 bv the Christian Church secured it 



Oleander. Flowers and leaves o'i 

 the evergreen shrub 



a position which it could not other- 

 wise have gained. The process of 

 enlarging the canon was continued 

 in Alexandria, after it was com- 

 pleted in Palestine. The Alexan- 

 drians made a fourth addition to the 

 O.T., consisting of the books which 

 are now placed in the Apocrypha 

 (q.v.). This addition is recognized 

 as canonical by Roman Catholics, 

 but not by Protestants. See Bible ; 

 Criticism, Biblical ; Hexateuch ; 

 and the articles on the various books 



Oleandra. Rootstock with leaves, 

 one turned to show spores 



and characters ; consult also The 

 Canon of the Old Testament, H. E. 

 Ryle, 1892. 



Old Trafford. Suburb of 

 Manchester. In the W. of the city 

 proper, it is served by the L. & 

 N.W., G.C., and Cheshire Lines 

 Rlys. Here is the cricket ground 

 of the Lancashire club and near is 

 Trafford Park (q.v.). See Man- 

 chester. 



Oleaceae. Olive family, a 

 natural order of trees and shrubs. 

 They are natives of the tropical and 

 temperate regions, chiefly of the 

 N. hemisphere. They have op- 

 posite leaves and four-parted 

 flowers, the calyx and corolla 

 being sometimes absent. Repre- 

 sentative genera are Olea (olive), 

 Fraxinus (ash), Jasminum (jessa- 

 mine), Syringa (lilac), and Ligus- 

 trum (privet). 



Clean. City of New York, U.S.A., 

 in Cattaraugus co. It stands at the 

 junction of the Olean Creek and 

 the Allegheny river, 70 m. S.S.E. 

 of Buffalo, and is served by the 

 Erie and other rlys. Its buildings 

 include the state armoury and a 

 memorial hospital. It contains a 

 noted driving park, and near by is 

 Rock City, a group of uniform 

 conglomerate rocks about 40 acres 

 in area. Olean lies near the Penn- 

 sylvania oil and natural gas region, 

 in whose produce it largely trades. 

 Other industries include tanneries 

 and engineering works. Settled 

 in 1804, a city charter was 

 granted to Olean in 1893. Pop. 

 20,500. 



Oleander (Nerium oleander). 

 Evergreen shrub of the natural 

 order Apocynaceae, native of the 

 Mediterranean region. The erect 

 stems grow to a height of 14 ft., 

 and the narrow lance-shaped, 

 leathery leaves are in whorls of 

 three. The large, bright-red, 

 funnel-shaped flowers are produced 

 in clusters. The plant grows by 

 riversides, and all parts of it are 

 extremely poisonous, so that great 

 care is required in handling it, 

 pruning, etc. 



Oleandra. Small genus of tropi- 

 cal ferns, natives of Ceylon, Natal, 

 N. India, Malaya, Mascarenes, and 

 the W. Indies. Their average height 

 is 1 ft., and they thrive in hot- 

 houses in a mixture of peat and 

 loam. They should be planted in 

 early spring, and receive plenty of 

 water until the autumn. Oleandras 

 are propagated by spores from the 

 back of the leaves of the ferns, 

 sown in sandy soil at an average 

 temperature of 75. 



Olearia. Genus of trees and 

 shrubs of the natural order Com- 

 positae, natives of New Zealand 

 and parts of Australia. They 

 are distinguished by the fact that 



