O X Y 
169 
static acid have hitherto been proved to exift. See Wil- 
denow’s Principles of Botany and Vegetable Phyfiology, 
Edinb. 1811. Davy’s Leisures at the Royal Inftitute, 
k8i 2. Aikin’s Account of recent Difcoveries in Chemif- 
try, 1814. Accum’sChemical Amufements, 3d edit. 1818. 
OX'YGON, f. [from the Greek lharp, and ywxa, 
a corner.] In geometry, a triangle having three acute 
angles. 
OXYGO'NIAL, or Oxyg'onous, adj. Belonging to 
an oxygon ; having three acute angles. 
OXYLAP'ATHUM, f. in botany. See RumeX. 
OXYLO'BIUM, /! [from the Gr. o|vs, (harp, and Xo| 3 o;, 
a pod or legume; alluding to the (harp point or beak of 
that part.] In botany, a genus of the clafs decandria, or¬ 
der nionogynia, natural order papilio'nacese, Linn, (legu- 
minofe, JujJ.) Generic charaifers—Calyx: perianthium 
inferior, fomewhat two-lipped, in five deep fegments, 
without appendages; the three lower ones rather more 
deeply ferrated. Corolla: papilionaceous, of five petals; 
itandard roundifli, broad, with a fliort claw ; wings obo- 
vate, a little (hotter than the ftandard, oblique at the bafe, 
with fliort linear claws ; keel comprefled, as long as the 
wings, of two heart-fhaped petals cohering at their fum- 
mits, with two fliort, linear, diftinft, claws. Stamina : 
filaments ten, avvl-fiiaped, afcending, all enclofed in the 
keel; antherae roundifli. Piftillum: germen ovate; ftyle 
awl-fliaped, afcending, permanent, and finally hardened; 
ftigma fimple. Pericarpium : legume ovate, turgid, acute, 
of one cell. Seeds: feveral, roundifli, kidney-(haped, in- 
ferted into the margin of each valve at the dorlal future. 
—Bjfentiul Charafler. Calyx deeply five-cleft, fomewhat 
two-lipped; corolla papilionaceous; keel comprefled, 
nearly as long as the fpreading ftandard ; ftyle afcending; 
ltigma fimple ; legume ovate, inflated, pointed, of one 
cell, with leveral feeds. There are three fpecies. 
1. Oxylobium arborefcens, or tall oxylobium : leaves 
linear-lanceolate; bradfes permanent, at the top of the 
fiower-ftalk ; corymbs denfe ; legume fcarcely longer than 
the calyx. Found by Mr. Brown in Van Diemen’s Land ; 
brought to Kew-garden in 1805, w here it flowers from 
April to June, and is kept in the green-houfe. The Item 
is (hrubby or arborefcent. 
2. Oxylobium ellipticum, or oval-leaved oxylobium : 
leaves elliptic-oblong; bractes below the top of the fiower- 
ftalk, deciduous; corymbs denfe; legumes twice the 
length of the calyx. Difcovered firlt by the late Mr. 
David Nelfon, in Van Diemen’s Land, from whence it 
was brought to Kew by Mr. Brown in 1805. It is kept 
in the green-houfe, and flowers molt part of the fummer. 
From the plate and defcription of Labillardiere, the (tern 
is fhrubby, nine feet high, with upright filky branches 
that are fometimes whorled. Leaves imperfedtly-whorled, 
near an inch long, elliptical, filky beneath, tipped with 
a fmall point. Flowers numerous, in denfe (hort filky 
corymbs. We prefume the corolla is yellow ; but Labil¬ 
lardiere, having defcribed from his dried fpecimens only, 
generally omits that particular. The legume is clothed 
with denfe twifted yellowifli hairs, which are very fenfible 
hygrometers. 
3. Oxylobium cordifolium, or heart-leaved oxylobium : 
leaves ovate, lomewdiat heart-fhaped, loofely hairy; um¬ 
bels terminal, feftile, of few flowers. Difcovered in New 
South Wales by fir Jofeph Banks, in the courfe of his 
celebrated voyage. Seeds were imported by Mr. Loddige, 
who raifed plants from them about 1804 or 1807. This 
flirub is kept in the green-houfe, and bloffoms through¬ 
out the fummer, producing plenty of feeds, by which, or 
by cuttings, it is readily increafed. It is of humble 
growth, with numerous, partly-vvhorled, round, hairy, 
purplifh, leafy, branches. Flowers of a rich deep-orange, 
verging towards fcarlet, from three to fix in each clofe 
terminal umbel. Brown in Ait. Hort. Kew , vol. iii. 
OX'YMEL, [from the Gr. four, and p,eXt, ho¬ 
ney.] A mixture of honey and vinegar boiled to the con¬ 
fidence of a fyrup:—In fevers, the aliments prefcribed 
Vol. XVIII. No. 1233. 
O X Y 
by Hippocrates, were ptifans and decoffions of fome ve¬ 
getables, with oxymel, or the mixture of honey and vine¬ 
gar. Arbutlmot. 
Simple Oxymel is compofed of two pounds of clarified 
honey, and a pint (lb.) of acetic acid (diftilled vinegar), 
boiled in a glafs veflel by a gentle heat into the confift- 
ence of a fyrup. Simple oxymel diffolved in barley-water, 
forms a pleafant and cooling beverage in fevers and in¬ 
flammatory affections. It is often added to gargles in 
cynanche tonfillaris, and is a common article with other 
remedies in catarrhal complaints. 
Oxymel of Squills is prepared by boiling three pounds 
of clarified honey in two pints of vinegar of fquill in a 
glafs veflel, over a gentle fire, to a proper confidence. 
This is principally employed as an expectorant, and, as 
fuch, is very ufeful in humoral afthma, and chronic 
coughs. It is generally given in fome aromatic diftilled 
water, to prevent the naufea which it is apt to induce ; 
in large dofes it is given to excite vomiting, and at the 
fame time to clear the cheft, in hooping-cough. 
Oxymel of Verdigris, confifts, according to the Dublin 
College, of the following ingredients : Prepared verdi¬ 
gris, one ounce; wine vinegar, feven fluid ounces ; and 
clarified honey, fourteen ounces. Diflolve the verdigris 
in the vinegar, and drain it through a linen cloth; add 
the honey, and boil the mixture to a proper thicknefs. 
This preparation is detergent and efcharotjc. In the 
above (fate it is ufed for taking down fungous flefh ; and, 
confiderably diluted, it is an ufeful ftimulant to foul 
ulcers, which it clears, and excites to a more healthy ac¬ 
tion. 
OXYMO'RON, f [Greek.] A rhetorical figure which 
feems to imply a contradiction; as when Ovid (viii. 47) fays of 
Althea, Impieiate pia eft .—Some elegant figures and tropes 
of rhetorick, biting farcafms, fly ironies, ftrong meta¬ 
phors, lofty hyperboles, paranomafies, oxymorons, lie 
very near upon the confines of jocularity. Barrow. 
OXYOI'DES, f. in botany. See Oxalis. 
OXYO'PIA, J'. [from the Gr. o|v?, fliarp, and otJa?, vi- 
fion.] A peculiar acutenefs of fight fometimes obferved in 
fair perfons. 
OXYPET'ALUM, f. [from ofv?, lharp, and itilctXov, a 
petal.] In botany, a genus of the clafs pentandria, order 
digynia, natural order contortae, Linn, (apocyneae, Jvjf. 
afclepiadeae, Brown.)—Ejfential Chara 6 ler. Corolla with 
a lhort inflated tube ; the limb in five deep fegments, each 
with a ligulate appendage above ; crown of the ftamens 
of five roundifli, fimple, flefliy, leaves ; antherae tipped 
with a membrane ; mafles of pollen linear, pendulous, 
attached to the curvature of the precedes, which are fub- 
fequently turned upwards; ftigma with an elongated 
deeply-divided point. 
Oxypetalum fragrans, the only fpecies, difcovered by 
fir Jofeph Banks, in 1768, near Rio Janeiro. A twining 
flirub, with oppofite heart-fhaped leaves. Umbels be¬ 
tween the footftalks, fomewhat corymbofe. Flowers 
fweet-fcented. Brown in Wern. Tranf. vol. i. p. 41. 
OXYRIN'CHITES, in ancient geography, a nome of 
Egypt, in Ileptanomia, to the left of the Nile, on the bor¬ 
ders of Libya. 
OXYRIN'CHUS, a town of Egypt, the capital of the 
preceding nome, took its name from a fifh, called by the 
Greeks which was an objeft of w’orfliip to the 
Egyptians, and which had a temple in this nome. This 
city became epifcopal, and was much celebrated in the 
earlier ages of the church. Baillet fays that it contained 
20,000 nuns and 10,000 monks, whence we may infer that 
the remaining population was very numerous; but this 
eftablifliment contributed in procefs of time to the di¬ 
minution of the inhabitants and the decline of the place. 
Nothing remains of this city in the village called Be- 
nefch, built on its ruins, but fome fragments of ftone 
pillars, marble columns in the mofques, and a Angle co¬ 
lumn left Handing, along with its capital, and parts of 
the entablature, which fliow that it is the fragment of a 
X x portico 
