CETA OFFERINGS. 



293 



skin of horses as are subject to be much licked 

 by the animal, and thus they are conveyed to the 

 stomach, where the heat speedily hatches the lar- 

 vae, too well known under the name of bolts. Hor- 

 ses are sometimes so afflicted by these pests as to 

 die in consequence. The perfect insect is seldom 

 observed, as it lives but a very short time after 

 arriving at the winged state. Taking no nourish- 

 ment, it seeks but to deposit its eggs in a proper 

 situation, and having accomplished this object, it im- 

 mediately dies. The animals which are the subjects 

 of its attacks are instinctively aware of its intentions, 

 and exhibit much restlessness and alarm when they 

 discover it. OS. ovis deposits its eggs in the nostrils 

 of sheep, where the larva is hatched, and immediately 

 ascends into the frontal sinuses, attaching itself very 

 firmly to the lining membrane by means of two strong 

 hooks situated at its mouth. All the insects of the 

 genus oestrus are thus distinguished by naturalists : 

 haustellum, or trunk, concealed between two tumid 

 lips, which are merely separated by a small orifice ; 

 palpi, none ; antennae short and setaceous. The 

 oviduct, through \\hich the eggs are extruded, con- 

 sists of a membranaceous, cylindrical tube, furnished 

 with three short, reflected, membranaceous bristles. 

 The pupa is hard, and of an oval form, burrowing in 

 the earth and under stones, where it experiences its 

 final transformation into a winged insect. It has 

 been observed that the larvae of cutaneous cestri 

 have the mouth furnished with simple papillae, 

 while those which infest the stomach and frontal 

 sinuses are provided with strong oral hooks, by 

 which they attach themselves very firmly to the 

 membranes. During the months of June and July, 

 the pupae are transformed into the perfect insect. 

 M. Humboldt states that, in South America, he 

 observed some Indians whose abdomens were 

 covered wilh small protuberances, which appeared 

 to have been formed by the larvae of a species of 

 gadfly. It is also stated that a species exists which, 

 in the larva state, inhabits the frontal sinuses of 

 men. In Arabia, and in some parts of India where 

 camels abound, there is also found a gadfly peculiar 

 to them. An admirable monograph of these insects, 

 illustrated by figures, and observations on their 

 habits and economy, and veterinary observations, 

 has been published in the Linnaean Transactions by 

 Mr Bracy Clark, and since republished, with addi- 

 tions, in a separate volume. 



GET A ; a celebrated mountain in ancient Greece, 

 between Thessaly and Macedonia ; or, more accu- 

 rately, a chain of mountains extending to the west 

 from the gulf of Malia to Pindus, and thence to the 

 bay of Ambracia. See Hercules, and Thermopylae, 



OPEN. See Buda. 



OFFERINGS are gifts, which man brings to the 

 Deity, in order to represent the giving up of him- 

 self to him. This was the first mode of openly re- 

 cognising the Divine Being, and a principal part of 

 the service of the Deity in all the religions of anti- 

 quity ; and, even to this day, the inhabitant of the 

 East makes offerings to God as he makes presents 

 to his temporal lords. The idea that God has 

 physical wants, and finds pleasure in food, drink, 

 and perfumes, was the origin of such offerings, 

 which took their character from the mode of life of 

 those who presented them. Herdsmen and hunters 

 offered beasts ; husbandmen, fruits and bread, select- 

 ing the choicest of what they possessed. From similar 

 feelings, Abraham consented to offer up his beloved 

 son, and Agamemnon his daughter Ephigenia ; 

 though the fortunate issue of these offerings shows 

 tliat, even in those early times, the pure idea existed 

 that God did not desire the blood of men, and was 

 appeased by a devout disposition. Still the custom 



of offering men as victims prevailed, even among 

 those heathen nations who had emerged from their 

 primitive rudeness. The Phoenicians offered chil- 

 dren to their idol (Moloch); as did also the German 

 nations, and the ancient Mexicans and Peruvians, to 

 their gods. Afterwards, new motives were added to 

 those of reverence and gratitude ; men began to 

 consider misfortunes and sufferings as divine punish- 

 ments for their sins, and, to propitiate the offended 

 Deity, even the life of man did not appear too 

 valuable. But, while the altars of the heathen 

 world flowed with the blood of innocent children 

 and defenceless captives, Moses made unblemished 

 beasts, and fruits, the symbols of the resignation and 

 penitence of his people, before Jehovah. Offerings 

 constituted the principal part of the Israelitish 

 worship. These were either bloody, when the 

 offering was bullocks, goats, and sheep, or, in case 

 of necessity, doves, slain by the priests, which were 

 wholly or partially burnt (burnt-offerings); or blood- 

 less, when the offering was meal, cake, salt, oil, 

 honey and frankincense, or wine, which was poured 

 out upon the altar (drink-offerings). With regard 

 to their meaning and object, these offerings were 

 either thank-offerings and peace-offerings, which 

 consisted of a bullock, or some small animal, and 

 were usually accompanied with offerings of vegetable 

 food ; or trespass and sin-offerings, in which only 

 animals were used. In the last-mentioned cases, the 

 priests were accustomed to sprinkle the parties who 

 made the offerings with the blood of the victims, as 

 a sign of reconciliation with Jehovah ; and where the 

 offering was an expression of the penitence and 

 expiation of the whole people, it was usual to burn 

 the victim ; but if it concerned only private persons, 

 the priests used to eat the flesh. The offerings of 

 beasts, and the first fruits (which were required to be 

 offered on certain festivals, and in case of important 

 occurrences in families, or for the expiation of indi- 

 viduals), belonged to the priests, who burned only 

 the part that could not be eaten. The heathen 

 priests enjoyed the same advantage ; and although, 

 among both Jews and heathen, the priests alone were 

 allowed to offer the sacrifices, they permitted the 

 givers to take a part in the feasts for which their 

 offerings were used, from the time of the hecatombs 

 of the Greeks, before Troy, down to that of the 

 sacrifice banquets, which Theodosius, as is well 

 known, abolished in A. D. 392, together with all 

 the heathen worship in the Roman empire. The 

 hecatombs of the Greeks and Romans were burnt- 

 offerings; their libations, drink-offerings. The 

 truth, confessed by the prophets of the Old Testa- 

 ment, that man cannot offer any thing to God which 

 is not already his, Christianity acknowledged by the 

 abolition of the heathen and Jewish offerings, and 

 required of its professors only the moral offering of a 

 renunciation of evil, the devotion of their powers 

 and property to the welfare of mankind, and the per- 

 fect resignation of the heart to God. Consecrated 

 gifts, however, were applied to the support of public 

 worship and the clergy. Of this kind were the obla- 

 tions of the first Christians. When the payment of 

 tithes to the clergy was introduced, these offerings 

 were withheld, and most generally commuted for 

 money. With the oblations are connected the offer- 

 toria, which, according to a usage still existing 

 among many religious sects, were laid, at an ap- 

 pointed time, for the priests, upon the altar. These 

 qffertoria, however, had nothing to do with the 

 religious services. The mass is a conspicuous part 

 of the worship in the Catholic church, and, even to 

 this time, is called the bloodless offering; since, 

 according to the doctrine of this church, the priest 

 who officiates at the mass, offers anew, as it were, 



