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O'MEARA OOLITE. 



are of much higher importance, and are extracted 

 from a class of plants, hence called oleaginous. The 

 oil is expressed from the seed of all these plants 

 excepting the olive, in which it is obtained from 

 the pericarp. The greater part of the seeds of 

 oleaginous plants contain albumen, and it is from 

 this that the oil is obtained; but when the seed 

 bus no albumen, as is the case with the poppy, 

 it is the embryo which furnishes the oil. In the 

 family of the Euphorbaceae, all of which have ole- 

 aginous seeds, the embryo is of a venomous nature, 

 and oil extracted from it would be poisonous; 

 while that expressed from the albumen of the same 

 plant, situated contiguous to the embryo, is per- 

 fectly innocent. Such is Bancul nut (Aleurites 

 Muluccanum'), which is remarkably mild, and is 

 eaten by the inhabitants of the Molucca isles, as 

 we eat hedge-nuts in Europe, while oil obtained 

 from the embryo is an acrid poison. The fixed oils 

 obtained by cultivation may be ranged under three 

 heads : 1st, Olive-oil, the produce of warm climates; 

 Jd. Nut-oil, that of temperate climates ; and 3d, 

 Oils obtained from the seeds of oleaginous herbs. 

 The olive-tree originally came from Syria. That 

 plant, as well as the vine, was brought to Marseil- 

 les by the Phocians ; and, at the present day, it is 

 cultivated on all the shores of the Mediterranean. 

 It is a tree of very slow growth, but of long dura- 

 tion ; it can support a temperature as low as eight 

 or ten degrees of Fahrenheit, provided the air be 

 dry; but, if accompanied with humidity, one or 

 two degrees below the freezing point, proves fatal. 



The cultivation of oleaginous herbs enters into 

 the course of cropping; they exhaust the soil al- 

 most as much as grain, on account of the number 

 of seeds to be ripened; they require, therefore, a 

 considerable quantity of manure. These herbs are 

 generally of the cruciform family, containing azote, 

 an element of the animal kingdom which forms 

 excellent manure ; so that, after the soil is ex- 

 pressed, the cake which remains serves to restore 

 the exhausted soil. Rape is a species of cabbage 

 with thin roots, whose seeds yield excellent oil. 

 The poppy is an oleaginous plant, with white, scar- 

 let, and violet flowers, while the seeds are white 

 or black. They yield oil, perfectly innoxious and 

 wholesome, though drawn from the same plant 

 which supplies us with opium. Flax also is an 

 oleaginous herb. It is, however, chiefly cultivated 

 for its stalks, from which linen thread is fabricated; 

 but its seed also yields the oil we call linseed-oil. 

 It is much used in the art of painting. Hemp is 

 of the same description. There are some few ole- 

 aginous herbs of the leguminous family, such as 

 the subterranean aracbis (Arachis hypogcea), a plant 

 we derive from America, which has the singular 

 property of ripening its seeds under ground. This 

 plant requires a loose sandy soil, in order that, the 

 lower branches may be enabled to bury themselves 

 in the ground. In a state of cultivation, the earth 

 should be heaped over them, as is done with po- 

 tatoes. The upper branches, which blossom in the 

 air, ripen no seed ; while the lower lateral branches, 

 which burrow in the earth, develope no regular 

 blossom; that is to say, have no petals; but the 

 stamens and pistils bring the seeds to perfection. 



O'MEARA, BARRY EDWARD, formerly surgeon 

 to the ex-emperor Napoleon ; was a native of Ire- 

 land, and the son of a military officer. He was 

 educated at Trinity College and the royal college 

 of surgeons, Dublin ; and at an early age was ap- 

 pointed assistant surgeon in the sixty-second regi- 



ment, with which he served for some years in Si- 

 cily, Egypt, and Calabria, and was the senior 

 medical officer to the troops which held the cele- 

 brated fortress of Scylla, the last stronghold by 

 England on the continent of Europe during the 

 resistless sway of Napoleon. Having sustained a 

 siege for six weeks from a French corps of 6,000 

 men, under gen. Lamarque, the garrison was at 

 length compelled to abandon the fort, then reduced 

 to a heap of ruins, and to retreat in boats. Mr 

 O'Meara was recommended for promotion ; but, 

 some months after, had the misfortune to incur 

 the displeasure of lieut.-gen. Sir John Stuart, by 

 having acted as second to an old schoolfellow in 

 an affair of honour; and, though the issue of it 

 was bloodless, Sir John thought fit to compel both 

 the challenger and his second to quit the army, 

 judging it necessary to adopt the most rigorous 

 measures in order to put a stop to a practice then 

 too prevalent in the British army in Sicily. How- 

 ever, by the recommendation of Mr Green, 

 then the chief of the medical department in the 

 Mediterranean, Mr O'Meara was immediately ap- 

 pointed assistant surgeon in the navy, and served 

 as such on board the Victorious, commanded by 

 admiral Sir John Talbot, and afterwards as sur- 

 geon of the Espiegle sloop and of the Goliah rasee. 

 In the latter he served until the surrender of 

 Bonaparte to the British government, when be 

 was directed to accompany the emperor to St 

 Helena in the capacity of medical attendant. In 

 this difficult situation he acted to the entire satis- 

 faction of Sir George Cockburn, who then had 

 charge of Bonaparte, and of his successor Sir 

 Pulteney Malcolm, and also received the thanks of 

 lord Melville ; but not harmonizing so well with 

 the measures of Sir Hudson Lowe, which he 

 deemed arbitrary and cruel, and " finding that 

 more was required from him than he could recon- 

 cile with his feelings of honour," a rupture took 

 plnce. Sir Hudson desired him to hold no further 

 communication with the ex-emperor or any of his 

 suite except on medical subjects; Mr O'Meara 

 tendered his resignation, and after a long corres- 

 pondence returned to England. On his arrival in 

 London, he was well received by the lords of the 

 admiralty, and it is said the valuable situation of 

 surgeon to Greenwich hospital was offered to him ; 

 but, having preferred to the admiralty accusations 

 against Sir Hudson Lowe for tyrannical and oppres- 

 sive conduct towards his prisoner, and other serious 

 charges, his name was, by order of their lordships, 

 erased from the list of naval surgeons. He after- 

 wards produced various publications relative to 

 his late employment ; the titles of which were- 

 "Manuscript de 1'Ile d'Elbe. By Napoleon." 

 " Letters from the Cape of Good Hope." " Let- 

 ters from St Helena." " Letters from Count. Las 

 Casas, with a Preliminary Discourse." Exposi- 

 tion of the treatment of Napoleon Bonaparte." 

 " A Translation of the Memoirs of Napoleon, by 

 himself." " A Voice from St Helena; or Napo- 

 leon in Exile," 2 vols. 8vo. 



Mr O'Meara's death took place at London, on 

 the 3d June, 1836. Some time before his death, 

 he had married a lady of considerable fortune, 

 which made him very easy in his circumstances. 



OOLITE ; one of the series of geological for- 

 mations, the Lias, (which see) forming the lowest 

 division. It is called oolite, or roestone, from &/, 

 an egg, and */&?. stone, being composed of innu- 

 merable small globules, like the roe of a fish, im- 



