OAK 



OBJ 



rolla many petalled ; berry many celled, 

 truncated. There are six species, of 

 which N. alba, white water-lily, has a 

 tuberous root, creeping 1 far and wide in 

 the mud ; the whole plant is larger than 

 the yellow water-lily ; petioles and pe- 

 duncles round, within full of pores ; flow- 

 crs large and very handsome, petals white, 

 from sixteen to twenty in number; sta- 

 mens sixty-eight, or seventy; germ round- 

 ish ; style none ; stigma raved ; accord- 

 ing to Linnxus, the flower raises itself 

 out of the water and expands about seven 

 o'clock in the morning, closing again, 

 and reposing upon the surface of the wa- 

 ter soon after four in the evening. 



The roots have an astringent bitter 

 tuste ; they are used in Ireland, and in 

 the Highlands of Scotland, to dye a dark 

 brown or chesnut colour ; this plant is a 

 native of most parts of Europe, in slow 

 streams, pools and ditches, flowering in 

 July and August. 



IfYSSA, in botany, a genus of the Poly- 

 gamia Dioecia class and order. Natural 

 order of Holoraceae. Elxagini, Jussieu. 

 Essential character: calyx, five parted; 

 corolla none : male, stamens ten : herma- 



phrodite, stamens five ; pistil one ; drupe 

 inferior. There are two species, viz. N. 

 integrifolia, mountain tupelo ; and N. 

 denticulate, water tupelo ; the former of 

 which grows naturally in Pennsylvania, 

 rising to the height of thirty or forty feet, 

 and nearly two in diameter, sending off 

 many horizontal and often depending 

 branches ; leaves of a dark green colour 

 on the upper surface, but lighter under- 

 neath ; the flowers are produced upon 

 long footstalks, from the base of the 

 young shoots, dividing irregularly into 

 several parts, each supporting a small 

 flower ; the female trees have fewer flow- 

 ers, produced upon much longer simple 

 cylindrical footstalks. The Virginian wa- 

 ter tupelo tree grows naturally in wet 

 swamps, or near large rivers in Carolina 

 and Florida, rising with a strong upright 

 trunk to the height of eighty or an hun- 

 dred feet, dividing into many branches 

 towards the top ; the leaves are large, of 

 an oval spear-shaped form ; the berries 

 are nearly the size and shape of small 

 olives, and are preserved by the French 

 inhabitants upon the Mississippi, where h 

 abounds, and is called the olive tree 



o. 



Oor o, the fourteenth letter, and 

 9 fourth vowel of our alphabet, pro- 

 nounced as in the words nose, rose, &c. 



The sound of this letter is often so soft 

 as to require it double, and that chiefly in 

 the middle of words ; as goose, reproof > 

 &,c. and in some words this oo is pro- 

 nounced like u short, as in food, blood, &c. 



As a numeral, O is sometimes used for 

 eleven ; and with a dash over it, thus, O, 

 for eleven thousand. 



In music, the O, or rather a circle, or 

 double CQ, is a note of time, called by us 

 a semi-breve ; and, by the Italians, circo- 

 lo. The O is also used as a mark of triple 

 time, as being the most perfect of all 

 figures. See TRIPLE. 



OAK. See QUERCCS. 



OAKUM, old ropes untwisted, and 

 pulled out into loose hemp, in order to 

 be used in caulking the seams, tree nails, 

 and bends of a ship, for stopping or pre- 

 venting leaks. 



OAR, in navigation, a long piece of 

 wood, made round where it is to be held 

 in the hand, and thin and broad at the 

 other end, for the easier cutting and re- 

 sisting the water, and consequently mov- 

 ing the vessel, by rowing. 



OAT. See AVKNA. 



OBELISK, in architecture, a truncated, 

 quadrangular, and slender pyramid, raised 

 as an ornament, and frequently charged 

 either with inscriptions or hieroglyphics. 



OBJECT, in philosophy, something ap- 

 prehended, or presented to the mind, by 

 sensation or by imagination. 



OBJECT glass of a telescope, or microscope, 

 the glass placed at the end of the tube 

 which is next the object. 



To prove the goodness and regularity 

 of an object-glass, on a paper, describe 

 two concentric circles, the one having its 

 diameter the same with the breadth of 

 the object-glass, and the other half that 

 diameter ; divide the smaller circumfer- 



