INDEX. 3^7 



contribute to form an idea of the distance at which they 

 appear ; the power of seeing objects at a distance rarely 

 equal in both eyes ; in near-sighted persons, the best eye 

 sees every object the largest, ii. 29. 



Ocean occupies considerably more of the globe than the land, 

 i. 196. Its different names ; all the rivers in the world flow- 

 ing into it, would, upon a rude computation, take eight 

 hundred years to fill it to its present height, 197. Savages 

 consider it as an angry deity, and pay it the homage of 

 submission, 200. When England loses its superiority there, 

 its safety begins to be precarious, 201. The bays, gulfs, 

 currents, and shallows of it much better known and examin- 

 ed than the provinces and kingdoms of the earth, and why; 

 opinions concerning its saltness, and that of Boyle particu- 

 larly, 202. Winds never change between the tropics in the 

 Atlantic and Ethiopic Oceans, 290. Each has its insects ; 

 and its vegetables, 352. 



Ocelot, or cat-a-mountain, its description ; of the panther 

 kind ; one of the fiercest, and, for its size, one of the most 

 destructive animals in the world; its unceasing appetite 

 rather for the blood than the flesh of its prey ; it gene- 

 rally is on the tops of trees, like our wild cats, ii. 438. 



Ocotzimtzcan, a kind of pigeon, one of the most splendid te- 

 nants of the Mexican forests, iv. 241. 



Odours, diffused by the air as the fluid they swim in, i. 285. 



Ohio, several enormous skeletons, five or six feet beneath the 

 surface, on the banks of that river, lately discovered, iii. 

 356. 



Oil, train-oil, the drink of the Laplanders, ii. 76. The oil of 

 the fish cachelot is very easily converted into spermaceti, 

 v. 54*. The porpoise yields a large quantity of it, 60. The 

 liver of the shark affords three or four quarts of oil, 74. 

 By the application of sallad-oil, the viper's bite is effectual- 

 ly cured, 362. 



Olive (colour), the Asiatic of that colour claims the honour 

 of hereditary resemblance to our common parent ; an argu- 

 ment sufficient to prove the contrary, ii. 96. 



Oliver (William), the first who discovered that the application 

 of sallad-oil cured the viper's bite effectually, v. 362. 



Onager, or the wild ass, is in still greater abundance than the 

 wild horse, ii. 203. 



Ondatra, one of the three distinctions of the musk-rat ; a na- 

 tive of Canada ; creeps into holes where others seemingly 

 less cannot follow ; the female has two distinct apertures, 

 one for urine, the other for propagation ; this animal in some 

 measure resembles the beaver; its manner of life during 

 winter, in houses covered under a depth of eight or ten feet 

 of snow ; savages of Canada cannot abide its scent, call it 

 stinkard; its skin very valuable, iii. 186. 



