132 O X 
they are not common, but very troublefome, and often 
make a horfe halt; 
OX'-FLY. See Tabanus bovinus. 
OX'-GALL, f. The gall, or bile, of the ox ; a fubftance 
much ufed by painters, and occafionally for other pur- 
pofes. 
It had been long a defideratum to find out a method 
of preparing ox-gall for the ufe of painters, fo as to avoid 
the difagreeable fmell which it contracts by keeping in 
a liquid Hate, and at the fame time to preferve its ufeful 
properties. Mr. Richard Cathery, of Mead’s Row, near 
the Afylum, has invented a method of doing it with very 
little expenfe, which will be to thofe who ufe gall a great 
faving, as it will prevent it from putrifying, or breeding 
maggots. Mr. C. communicated his procefs to the So¬ 
ciety of Arts in the Adelphi, who, at their feflion in 
May 1810, voted him a gratuity of ten guineas. 
The following is Mr. Cathery’s procefs for preparing 
the ox-gall in a concentrated fate : Take a gall frefti 
from the ox, and put it in a bafon : let it Hand all night 
to fettle ; then pour it off from the fediment into a clean 
earthen mug, and fet it in a faucepan of boiling water 
over the fire, taking care that none of the water gets into 
the mug. Let it boil till it is quite thick ; then take it 
out, and fpread it on a plate or difh, and fet it before the 
fire to evaporate; and, when as dry as you can get it, 
put it into finall pots, and tie papers over their tops to 
keep the duft from it. One gall, thus prepared, will 
ferve an artift a long time, as it will keep a great num¬ 
ber of years. It will be a convenient article for ufe, as 
a fmall cup of it may be placed in the fame box which 
contains other colours, where it will be always ready. 
The qualities of gall are well known to artifts in water- 
.colours, particularly to thofe who colour prints, as many 
colours will not, without gall, work free on fuch paper, 
on account of the oil that is ufed in the printing-ink. 
The artifts who make drawings in water-colours alio ufe 
gall in the water which they mix their colour with, as 
it clears away that greafinefs which arifes from moift 
hands upon paper, and makes the colour to work clear 
and bright. This preparation is ready for ufe in a few 
minutes, all that is necefiary being to dilfolve about 
the fize of a pea of it in a table-fpoonful of water. It 
is alfo of great ufe to houfe-keepers, bailors, and others, 
to clean woollen clothes from greafe, tar, &c. and will 
be found advantageous for many other purpofes. 
Accompanying the communication to the Society, 
there w'ere certificates from Mr. Bayfield and Mr. Ed¬ 
wards, both botanical colourers ; ftating, that they have 
ufed the ox-gall prepared by Mr. Cathery, and find it to 
anfwer better than gall in a liquid ftate ;_that this prepa¬ 
ration is free from difagreeable fmell, and is much cheaper, 
as one ox-gall thus prepared will lalt one perfon for two 
years, and be as frefh as if juft taken from the ox. A 
certificate was received alfo from Mr. James Stewart, 
St. MartinVftreet, Leicefter-fquare, ftating, that he 
lately belonged to the Veftal frigate, and that he took 
out with him, in a voyage to Newfoundland, a large 
pot of the prepared ox-gall for the purpofe of walk¬ 
ing his greafy clothes for two years; that he found it 
very ferviceable, and to keep its virtue as well as the 
firft day. 
OX'-GANG of Land, f. Ordinarily taken for fifteen 
acres. It is fometimes called oxgate; and, in the north, 
corruptly, ajkcn. —A carucate of land contains ioo acres; 
eight ox-gangs make a carucate ; and every ox-gang con¬ 
tains 15-acres. Kdham's Bomefday Booh Illvftr. 
OX'-GOAD, /'. The pointed rod with which oxen are 
driven in their work.—Shamgarflew of the Philiftines fix 
hundred men with an ox-goad. Jad. iii. 31. 
Mr. Maundrell obferves, that in the Holy Land they 
ufe, in ploughing, goads of an extraordinary fize. Upon 
meafuring of feveral, he found them about eight feet 
long, and at the bigger end fix inches in circumference. 
They were armed at the fmaller end with a fliarp prickle 
O X A 
for driving the oxen, and at the other end with a fmall 
fpade, or paddle of iron, ftrong and mafly, for cleanfing 
the plough from the clay that encumbers it in working. 
“ May we not from hence conje&ure, (fays he,) that it 
w r as with fuch a goad as one of thefe that Shamgar made 
that prodigious daughter related of him in the above 
quotation. I am confident that whoever fiiould fee one 
of thefe inftruments, would judge it to be a weapon, not 
lefs fit, perhaps fitter, than a fword for fuch an execution. 
Goads of this fort I faw always ufed hereabouts, and alfo 
in Syria: and the reafon is, becaufe the fame fingle per¬ 
fon both drives the oxen, and alfo holds and manages 
the plough ; which makes it necefiary to ufe fuch a goad 
as is above defcribed, to avoid the encumbrance of two 
inftruments.” journey from Aleppo to Jerufalem, p. no. 
OX'-HARROW, f. A very large harrow, called in 
fome counties a drug. 
OX'-HEAD, J'. The head of an ox : 
I’d fet an ox-head to your lion’s hide, 
And make a monfter of you. Shakefpeare. 
OX'-HEAL, /. A plant. 
OX'- HIDE, f. Thefkin of an ox. On the artifice con- 
nefted with an ox’s hide, by which plenty of land was 
faid to have been obtained for the founding or building 
of Carthage and other places, fee the Gentleman’s Maga¬ 
zine for 1771. p. 500. 
OX'-LIKE, adj. Refembling an ox in look or quality. 
—With ox-like eyes. Pope's Dunciad. 
I made the mighty elephant, 
Who, ox-like, feeds on every herb and plant. Sandys. 
OX'-LIP, f. [oxan-yhppa, Sax. this w'ord fiiouid there¬ 
fore be written ox-flip .] The fame with cowfip. See Pri¬ 
mula. —The cowflipthen they couch, and the ox-fiip, for 
her meet. Drayton's Polyolb. 
A bank whereon the wild-thyme blow-s, 
Where ox-lip and the nodding- violet grows. Skakefpeare. 
OX MOU'NTAIN, a mountain of Ireland, in the 
county of Sligo : ten miles weft-fouth-weft of Sligo. 
OX'-STALL,A (land for oxen. 
OX'-TONGUE, f. A plant. See Picris. 
OX'ALATS, f. in chemiftry, are combinations of the 
oxalic acid with the bafies of falts. 
OXAL'IC AC'ID, a vegetable acid, naturally formed 
in the Oxalis acetofella, or wood-forrel, from which it 
takes its name. See the article Chemistry, vol. iv. p. 
165, 329. 
OXAL'IDI AFFI'NIS. See Oxalis. 
OX'ALIS, J\ [from o|rf, Gr. acid.] Woc-d-Sorrel; 
in botany, a genus of the clafs decandria, order penta- 
gynia; natural order of gruinales, (gerania, Jaff.) 
Generic characters.— Calyx: perianthium five-parted, 
acute, very fiiort, permanent. Corolla: five-parted, of¬ 
ten cohering by the claws, ereft, obtufe, emarginate ; 
border fpreading. Stamina: filaments ten, capillary, 
(awl-fhaped, Jacquin,) ereft ; the outer ones Ihorter. An¬ 
thers rounuifli, grooved. Piftillum : germen five-cor¬ 
nered, fuperior ; ltyles five, filiform, the length of the 
ftamens ; ftigmas blunt. Pericarpium : capfule five-cor¬ 
nered, five-celled, ten-valved, (five-valved, Jacquin,) ga¬ 
ping at the corners longitudinally. Seeds roundifh, fly¬ 
ing out-covered with a flelhy elaftic aril. Capfule in 
fome fiiort, with folitary feeds: in others long, with many 
feeds : the filaments of moft coalefce at the bafe.— E/Jeu- 
tial Character. Calyx five parted ; petals five ; often eon- 
neiled at the bafe; capfule five-celled, five-cornered, 
opening at the corners. Seeds arilled. 
This curious and pretty genus, .of which only thirteen 
fpecies are found in the firft edition of the Species Planta- 
runi, is augmented to twice that number in the Syft. Veg. 
ed. 14.. The difcoveries of recent botanifts, at the Cape 
of Good Hope, have added a much greater number to 
the original ftock. jacquin, in a valuable quarto mono¬ 
graph on the genus, defcribes 96. Willdenow reduces 
1 them 
