osc 
ORY 
of the rhinocecos, and with bones and teeth 
of the niammouthean elephant of Siberia. 
To the fossil remains already mentioned, 
may be added the animal incognitum of 
Symore, in Languedoc ; the enornions stag, 
found in the mosses of Ireland; the gigantic • 
tapir, found at the bottom of the black 
mountains of Languedoc; the bears, of two 
species, now unknown, found in Bareith; 
and the numerous animals of unknown spe- 
cies which the admirably indefatigable 
Cuvier is perpetually discovering, in that 
mine of fossils, the quarries of gypsum, 
near Paris. 
Of the mineralized remains of man no 
■well attested instance is known. In a 
cavern, indeed, in Mendip Hills, some' hu- 
man bones have been found, invested with 
stalactite ; these appear to be but com- 
paratively of modern existence. Scheuch- 
zer published an essay describing a sup- 
posed skeleton of a man; which was un- 
doubtedly the remains of some large fish. 
A view of the foregoing sketch cannot 
but shew, that the study of this science must 
prove a source of the highest gratification 
to every mind that contemplates the works 
of nature, for the purpose of obtaining a 
glimpse of the beauty which they display, 
and of the power which they manifest. By 
this science we obtain, not only a knowledge 
of the peculiar beings which dwelt on this 
planet in its antediluvian state, but we also 
acquire a more correct knowledge of the 
structure of this globe itself. We at the 
same time discover the strongest proofs of 
those changes which it has suffered, and 
which are recorded in the Holy Scriptures;, 
whilst our reverential admiration is excited 
at this wonderful display of the power and 
providence of the Almighty Creator. 
ORYZA, in botany, rice, a genus of the 
Hexandria Digynia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Gramina, Gramine*, or 
Grasses. Essential character : calyx glume 
two-valved, one-flowered ; corolla two-valv- 
ed, almost equal, growing to the seed. There 
is but one species, with many varieties. 
Rice has the culm from one to six feet in 
length, annual, erect, simple, round, joint- 
ed; leaves subulate, linear, reflex, em- 
bracing, not fleshy ; flowers in a terminat- 
ing panicle; calycine leaflets, lanceolate; 
valves of the corolla equal in length; the in- 
ner valve even, awnless ; the outer twice as 
wide, four-grooved, hispid, awned; style 
single, two-parted. Rice is cultivated in 
great abundance all over India, where the 
country will admit of being flooded, and in 
the southern provinces of Ciiiua, Cochin- 
china, Cambodia, Siam, and Japan ; in the 
latter place it is particularly white, and of' 
the best quality. 
OSBECKIA, in botany, so named in ho- 
nour of Peter Osbeck, a genus of the Oc- 
tandria Monogynia class and order. Natu- 
ral order of Calycanthemm. Melastomse, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx four- 
cleft, with the lobes separated by a ciliary 
scale ; corolla four-pe.talled ; anthers beak- 
ed; capsule inferior, four- celled, surround- 
ed by the truncated tube of the calyx. 
There are two species, viz. O. Chinensis, 
and O. Zeylauica. 
OSCILLATION, in mechanics, the vi- 
bration, or reciprocal eiscent and descent of 
a pendulum. See Pendulum. It is de- 
monstrated, that the time of a complete os- 
cillation in a cycloid, is to the time in which 
a body would fall through the axis of that 
cycloid, as the circumference of a circle to 
its diameter; whence It follows: i. That 
the oscillations in the cycloid are all per- 
formed in equal times, as being ail in the 
same ratio to the time in which a body falls 
through the diameter of the generating cir- 
cle. 2. As the middle part of the cycloid 
may be conceived to coincide with the ge- 
nerating circle, the time in a small arch of 
that circle will be nearly equal to the time 
in the cycloid : and hence the reason is evi- 
dent, why the times in very little arches 
are equal. 3. The time of a complete os- 
cillation in any little arch of a circle, is to 
the time in which a body would fall through 
half the radius ; as the circumference of a 
circle to its diameter : that is, as 3.1416 to 1. 
If I denote the length of a pendulum, g = 
16j’j = 193 inches, the space a heavy body 
falls through in the first second of time, aud 
P = 3.1416 == periphery of a circle whose 
diameter is 1, then, by the laws of falling 
bodies, it will \/g'. \/ ~ :: 1" : \/ ~ 
= A nearly the time of fall- 
ing through 1 I : therefore 1 :p :: \/ — 
X ^ ^ 
: p — , which is the time of one vibra- 
tion in any arch of the cycloid which has 
the diameter of its generating circle equal 
to 1 being the length of the pendulum in 
inches; and since the latter time is half 
the time in which a body would fall through 
the whole diameter, or any chord ; it fol- 
lows, that the time of an oscillation in any 
little arch, is to the time in which a body 
