with the species of animal. In man, Burian and Schur state that one | half of the total amount is so converted. Some workers, like Wiener, hold that uric acid may be synthesized in the body, but while this is undoubtedly so in the case of the bird, in the mammal it has not been definitely established. The other chief purin bodies present in urine are xanthin and hypoxanthin, purins less oxidized than uric acid: the first is a dioxypurin, and the second is a monoxypurin. The ma source of total purin supply would seem to be muscle metabolism. The mother substances from which all are derived in the body are the nucleins. These complex bodies are apparently first broken down by enzyme action to aminopurins. These in their turn have their amino groups split off, and then, according to the degree of oxidation, the different purin bodies are formed. Creatinin. The physiological significance of this substance is as yet unknown. The daily excretion varies little with the character of the diet, provided, of course, that the diet be creatin creatinin free. It appears to be proportional to the muscular de velopment and muscular activity of the individual. Hence it would seem to be derived from the creatin of muscle, a substance which is very readily changed into creatinin outside the body. In the body the conversion of creatin into creatinin seems to be strictly limited, and hence when creatin is taken in flesh in the food it tends to appear as such in the urine. It would seem that it is either in great part decomposed in the body into what we do not at present know or that, as suggested by Folín, it may be used as a specialized food. Whatever its source, after urea and ammonia it is one of the most important nitrogenous substances excreted, the daily excretion being about 1.5 grms. The sulphur excreted in the urine comes chiefly from the sulphur of the protein molecule. It is excreted in various forms. (1) As the ordinary preformed sulphates, that is, sulphur in the form of sulphuric acid combined with the ordinary bases. (2) As ethereal sulphates, that is, in combination with various aromatic substances like phenol, indol, &c. (3) In the form of so-called neutral sulphur in such substances as cystin, which are intermediate products in the complete oxidation of sulphur. Phosphorus appears linked to the alkalis and alkaline earths as phosphoric acid. A very small part of the phosphoric acid may be eliminated in organic combination such as the glycero-phosphates, &c. Sodium (mostly as sodium chloride), potassium, calcium and magnesium are the common bases present in the urine. The lungs are the important channel of excretion for the waste product of carbon metabolism CO2 (see RESPIRATORY SYSTEM); and also a very important channel for the excretion of water. As regards the skin, the sweat carries off a large amount of the water, but it is difficult to determine the total amount. It has been estimated that about 500 c.c. is excreted per diem under normal conditions. Sweat contains salts, chiefly sodium chloride, and organic waste products. Of the organic solids excreted from this source urca forms the most important under normal conditions. Under pathological conditions, especially when there is interference with free renal action, the amount of nitrogenous waste excreted may become quite important. There is also a small amount of CO, excreted by this (D. N. P.; E. P. C.) channel. NUTTALL, THOMAS (1786-1859), English botanist and ornithologist, who lived and worked in America from 1808 until 1842, was born at Settle in Yorkshire on the 5th of January 1786, and spent some years as a journeyman printer in England. Soon after going to the United States he was induced by Professor B. S. Barton (1766-1815) to apply himself to the study of the plants of that country. In 1825-1834 he was curator of the botanic gardens of Harvard university. In 1834 he crossed the continent to the Pacific Ocean, and visited the Hawaiian Islands. Some property having been left him in England on condition of his residing on it during part of each ycar, he left America in 1842, and did not again revisit it except for a short time in 1852. He died at St Helens, Lancashire, on the roth of September 1859. Almost the whole of his scientific work was done in the United States, and his published works appeared there. The more important of these are, The Genera of North American Plants, and a Catalogue of the Species to the year 1817 (2 vols., 1818); Journal of Travels into the Arkansas Territory during the year 1819 (1821); The North American Sylva: Trees not described by F. A. Michaux (3 vols., 1842-1849); Manual of the Ornithology of the United States and of Canada (1832 and 1834); and numerous papers in American scientific periodicals. NUWARA ELIYA, a town and sanatorium of Ceylon. Pop. (1901) 5026, with rooo additional visitors during the season. It is situated 6240 ft. above sea-level, with the highest mountain in the island, Pedrotallagalla, towering over the plain for 2056 ft. more. Nuwara Eliya is reached from Colombo by railway, eight hours to Namuoya, and thence, by a light 24-ft.-gauge line, running up to the heart of the sanatorium. The average shade temperature for the year is 58° F.; the rainfall, 95 in. Considerable sums have been spent by the government in improving the place. NUX VOMICA, a poisonous drug, consisting of the seed of Strychnos Nux-Vomica, a tree belonging to the natural order Loganiaceae, indigenous to most parts of India, and found also in Burma, Siam, Cochin China and northern Australia. The tree is of moderate size, with a short, thick, often crooked, stem, and ovate entire leaves, marked with three to five veins radiating from the base of the leaf. The flowers are small, greenish-white and tubular, and are arranged in terminal corymbs. The fruit is of the size of a small orange, and has a thin hard shell, enclosing a bitter, gelatinous white pulp, in which from 1 to 5 seeds are vertically embedded. The seed is disk-shaped, rather less than 1 in. in diameter, and about in. in thickness, slightly depressed towards the centre, and in some varieties furnished with an acute keel-like ridge at the margin. The external surface of the seed is of a greyish-green colour and satiny appearance, due to a coating of appressed silky hairs. The interior of the seed consists chiefly of horny albumen, which is easily divided along its outer edge into halves by a fissure, in which lies the embryo. The latter is about in. long, and has a pair of heart-shaped membranous cotyledons. The chief constituents of the seeds are the alkaloids strychnine (q.v.) and brucine, the former averaging about 0-4%, and the latter about half this amount. The seeds also contain an acid, strychnic or igasuric acid; a glucoside, loganin; sugar and fat. The dose of the seeds is 1 to 4 grains. The British Pharmacopoeia contains three preparations of nux vomica. The liquid extract is standardized to contain 1.5% of strychnine; the extract is standardized to contain 5%; and the tincture, which is the most widely used, is standardized to contain 0.25% The pharmacology of nux vomica is practically that of strychnine. The tincture is chiefly used in cases of atonic dyspepsia, and is superior to all other bitter tonics, in that it is antiseptic and has a more powerful action upon the movements of the gastric wall. The extract is of great value in the treatment of simple constipation. NYACK, a village of Rockland county, New York, U.S.A., in the town of Orangetown, on the western bank of the Hudson river, about 25 m. north of New York City. Pop. (1890) 4IFI; (1900) 4275, of whom 583 were foreign-born; (1905) 4441; (1910) 4619. Nyack is served by the Northern Railroad of New Jersey (a branch of the Erie), and is connected by ferry with Tarrytown, nearly opposite, on the eastern bank of the Hudson. The New York, Ontario & Western and the West Shore railways pass through West Nyack, a small village about 2 m. west. For about 2 m. above and 3 m. below Nyack the river expands int Tappan Zee or Bay, which is about 3 m. wide immediately opposite the village. The first grant of land within the present limits of Nyack was made by Governor Philip Carteret, of New Jersey, to one Claus Jansen, in 1671, but the permanent settlement apparently dates from about 1700. The adjacent villages of Upper Nyack, pop. (1905) 648, (1910) 591, and South Nyack, pop. (1910) 2068, form with Nyack practically one community. Nyack was named from a tribe of Algonquian Indians. See David Cole, History of Rockland county, (New York, 1884). NYANZA (from the ancient Bantu root word anza, a river or lake), the Bantu name for any sheet or stream of water of considerable size; especially applied to the great lakes of east Central Africa. The word is variously spelt, and the form Nyasa" has become the proper name of a particular lake. Nyanza is the spelling used in designating the great lakes which are the main reservoirs of the river Nile. NYASA, the third in size of the great lakes of Central Africa, occupying the southern end of the great rift-valley system which traverses the eastern half of the equatorial region from north to south. Extending from 9° 29′ to 14° 25′ S., or through nearly 5° of latitude, the lake measures along its major axis, which is slightly inclined to the west of north, exactly 350 m., while the greatest breadth, which occurs near the middle of its length, between 11° 30′ and 12° 20′ S., is 45 m. In the northern and southern thirds of the length the breadth varies generally from 20 to 30 m., and the total area may be estimated at 11,000 sq. m. northern end by E. D. Young in 1876. From this date onwards it has been the scene of much civilizing work on the part of British (principally Scottish) missionaries, traders and government officials, and, in more recent years, of Germans also. Its shores have been divided between Great Britain, Portugal and Germany, Great Britain holding (within the British Nyasathe southern extremity of the east coast (south of 13° S.); Portugal the rest of the east coast south of 11° S.; and Germany the remainder. British steamers, including two or three gunboats, have been launched on Nyasa, which forms an important link in the water-route from the Zambezi mouth to the heart of the continent. Germany also has a gunboat on the lake. The first detailed survey of its shores was executed by Dr James Stewart (1876-1877), but this has been superseded by later work, especially that of Lieuts. Rhoades and Phillips. See Proc. R.G.S. (1883), p. 689; Geogr. Journal, vol. xii. p. 580; J. E. S. Moore, ib. vol. x. p. 289, and "The Geology of Nyasaland, by A. R. Andrew and T. E. G. Bailey, with note on fossil plants, fish remains, &c., by E. A. N. Arber and others and bibliography in vol. 66 of Quart. Jnl. Geog. Society (May 1910). (E. HE.) NYBORG, a seaport of Denmark on the east side of the island of Fünen, in the amt (county) of Svendborg, and the point from which the ferry crosses the Great Belt to Korsör in Zealand (15 m.). Pop. (1901) 7790. The fortress, built by Christian IV. and Frederick III., was dismantled in 1869, and the ruins of the castle are used as a prison. In the 12th century the town was founded and a castle erected on Knudshoved (Canute's Head) by Knud, nephew of Waldemar the Great; and from the 13th to the 15th century Nyborg was one of the most important places in Denmark. In 1658 it surrendered to the Swedes; but by the defeat of the latter under the walls of the fortress their dominion. In 1808 the Marquis La Romana, who with Ion the 24th of November 1659, the country was freed from a body of Spanish troops garrisoned the fortress for France, revolted from his allegiance, and held out till he and a portion of his men escaped with the English fleet. The lake lies at an altitude of about 1650 ft. above the sea. The sides of the valley in which Nyasa lies, which are somewhat irregular towards its southern end, take a decided character of fault scarps in the northern third, and are continued as such beyond the northern extremity. Apart from the recent alluvium on the immediate shores, the lake lies almost entirely in granite and gneiss formations, broken, however, by a band of horizontally-land Protectorate) all the west coast south of the Songwe, and bedded sandstones, which cuts the axis of the lake in about 10° 30' S., the flat-topped, terraced form of the latter contrasting strangely with the jagged or rounded outlines of the former. Near the margin, overlying the sandstones, there are beds of limestone with remains of recent molluscs, pointing, like the raised beaches which occur elsewhere, to an upward movement of the coasts. Lacustrine deposits up to 700 ft. above the present lake-level have been discovered. Geologically, the lake is believed to be of no great age, a view supported by topographical evidence. The depth of the lake seems to vary in accordance with the steepness of the shores, increasing from south to north. The greater part of the northern half shows depths of over 200 fathoms, while a maximum of 430 fathoms was obtained by Mr. J. E. S. Moore in 1899, off the high western coast in about 11° 40′ S. A more complete series of soundings, however, since made by Lieut. Rhoades, and published in the Geographical Journal in 1902, gives a maximum of 386 fathoms off the same coast in 11° 10' S. The lake receives its water-supply chiefly from the streams which descend from the mountains to the north, all the rest becoming very small in the dry season. Like other lakes of Central Africa it is subject to fluctuations of level, apparently caused by alternations of dry and wet series of years. At the north-western end is a plain of great fertility, traversed by the Kivira, Songwe and other streams, rising either among the volcanic masses to the north or on the western plateau. Just north of 10° S. on the delta of the Rukuru, is the British station of Karonga, the northern port of call for the lake steamers, though with but an open roadstead. Southwards the plain narrows, and in about 10 S. the sandstone scarp of Mount Waller rises sheer above the indentation of Florence Bay, the high western plateaus continuing to fall steeply to the water in wooded cliffs for more than 80 m. In this stretch occur the land-locked bays of Ruarwe (11° 5' S.) and Nkata (11° 36′ S.), and the mouth of the Rukuru (10° 43′ S)., which drains the plateau from south to north. At Cape Chirombo (11° 40′ S.) the coast bends to the west, and soon the plateau escarpments recede, and are separated from the lake along its southern half by an undulating plain of varying width. In 11° 56' S. is the British station of Bandawe, and in 12° 55' that of Kota Kota, on a lake-like inlet, forming a sheltered harbour. A little north of the latter the Bua river, coming from a remote source on the upper plateau, enters by a projecting delta. At Domira Bay, in 13° 35', the coast turns suddenly east, contracting the lake to a comparatively narrow neck, with the British stations of Fort Rifu on the west, and Fort Maguire, near the headland of Makanjira Point, on the east. Beyond this the lake runs southwards into two bays separated by a granitoid peninsula, off which lie several small rocky islands. On this peninsula was placed the mission station of Livingstonia, the first to be established on the shores of Nyasa. From the extremity of the eastern bay the Shiré makes its exit to the Zambezi. On the eastern side the plateau escarpments keep generally close to the lake, leaving few plains of any extent along its shores. The crest of the castern watershed runs generally parallel to the shore, which it approaches in places within 20 m. From the north point to 10° 30′ S. the coast is formed by the unbroken wall of the Livingstone or Kinga range, rising where highest (9° 41′ S.) fully 6000 ft. above the water. On this coast, on a projecting spit of land, is the German station of Old Langenburg, some 10 m. from the northern extremity. In 10° 30' the plateau is broken by the valley of the Ruhuhu, the only important stream which enters the lake from the east. The formation is here sandstone, corresponding to that of Mount Waller on the opposite shore. Just north of the Ruhuhu is the German station of Wiedhafen, on an excellent harbour, formerly Amelia Bay. South of the Ruhuhu the wall of mountains recedes somewhat, and the remainder of the eastern shore shows a variation between rocky cliffs, marshy plains of restricted area and groups of low hills. In 11° 16' is the deep inlet of Mbampa Bay, offering a sheltered anchorage. South of it the coast forms a wide semicircular bay, generally rock-bound, and ending south in Malo Point (12° 10'S.), off which are the largest islands the lake possesses, Likoma and Chisamulu, the former measuring about 4 m. by 3. In the southern half the coast is highest in about 13° 10' S., where the Mapangi hills rise to 3000ft. Nyasa, reached in 1859 both by David Livingstone (from the south) and by the German traveller Albrecht Roscher (from the east), was explored by the former to about 11°, and to its NYCKELHARPA (Swed. nyckel = key, harpa-harp; Ger. Schlüsselfiedel), a kind of bowed hurdy-gurdy, much used in Scandinavia during the late middle ages, and still in use in some parts of Sweden. It consists of a body some 2 ft. long, shaped like an elongated viol, with sloping shoulders and highly arched sound-board glued over a less arched back, and ribs cut out of a single block of wood. There is no fingerboard, but along the neck, arranged like frets, are a number of keys or wooden tangents, which when pressed inwards bring a little knob or stud into contact with the first string of thin catgut, thus stopping it and raising the pitch as in the hurdy-gurdy. At three points these keys also act upon the third string. There are in the comparatively modern instruments usually four melody strings of catgut and three drones of fine spun wire. The bridge is quite flat, so that when the bow is passed over the strings, they all sound at once. The tailpiece is very long, extending over half the length of the body, and the two oval sound-holes, far removed from the strings, are at the tail end of the instrument. NYE, EDGAR WILSON (1850-1896), American humorist, was born at Shirley, Maine, on the 25th of August 1850. His parents removed to a farm on the St Croix river in northern Wisconsin in 1852, and young Nye was educated in Wisconsin at the academy at River Falls, where he studied law. In 1876 he was admitted to the bar at Laramie, Wyoming, where he served as justice of the peace, superintendent of schools, member of the city council and postmaster. Here he began to contribute humorous articles under the pseudonym of " Bill Nye" to newspapers, especially the Cheyenne Sun and the Denver Tribunc. In 1881 he founded at Laramic the Boomerang, and his reputation as a humorist was soon widespread. Later he became a successful lecturer, and in 1885, with James Whitcomb Riley, the poet, made an extended tour through the country, each reading from his own writings. Nye removed to New York City in 1886, and passed the later years of his life at Arden, a village in Buncombe county, North Carolina (about 10 m. south of Asheville), where he died on the 22nd of February 1896. His principal books are Bill Nye and Boomerang (1881); Forty Liars and Other Lies (1882); Nye and Riley's Railway Guide (1886), with James Whitcomb Riley; and two comic histories, Bill Nye's History of the United States (1894) and Bill Nye's History of England from the Druids to the Reign of Henry VIII. (1896). NYEZHIN or NEZHIN, a town of Russia, in the government of Chernigov, 62 m. by rail S.E. of the town of Chernigov and 79 m. N.E. of Kiev, on the railway between Kursk and Kiev. The old town is built on the left bank of the (canalized) river Oster, and its suburbs, Novoye-Myesto and Magerki, on the right. It has an old cathedral, a technical school and a former high school (lyceum | of Bezborodko, at which N. V. Gogol, the novelist, was a student). now transformed into a philological institute. The inhabitants (33,000), are mostly Little-Russians and Jews; there are also some Greeks, descendants of those who immigrated in the 17th century at the invitation of the Cossack chieftain Bogdan Chmielnicki. Unyezh, which is supposed to have been the former name of Nyezhi., is mentioned as early as 1147. At that time it belonged to the principality of Chernigov; afterwards it fell under the rule of Poland. It was ceded to Russia about 1500, but again became a Polish possession after the treaty of Deulina (1619) between Poland and Russia. In 1649, after the revolt of Little Russia and its liberation from the Polish rule, Nyezhin was the chief town of one of the most important Cossack regiments. It was annexed to Russia in 1664. NYIREGYHÁZA, the capital of the county of Szabolcs, in Hungary, 169 m. E.N.E. of Budapest by rail. Pop. (1900) 31,875. It is a busy railway junction, and its inhabitants are engaged in agriculture, wine-growing and the manufacture of soda, matches and saltpetre. About 20 m. to the N.W. lies the famous wine-producing district of Tokaj (Tokay). NYKJÖBING, a seaport of Denmark, in the amt (county) of Maribo, on the west shore of the island of Falster, 94 m. S.S.W. | of Copenhagen by rail. Pop. (1901) 7345. Its church contains a genealogical tree of the Mecklenburg ducal family, with portraits, dating from 1627 or earlier. Here is the house occupied by Peter the Great of Russia in 1716, restored in 1898. A railway runs south to Gjedser (14 m.), from which the sea-passage (29 m.) to Warnemünde links the fastest route between Copenlagen and Berlin. Other towns of the name of NYKJÖBING in Denmark are (1) on Limfjord in Thisted amt (pop. 4492); and (2) in Zealand, Holbaek amt (pop. 2000). NYKÖPING, a seaport of Sweden, chief town of the district (län) of Södermanland, 98 m. S.W. of Stockholm by a branch from the Stockholm-Malmö railway. Pop. (1900) 7375. It lies at the head of the Byfjord, an inlet of the Baltic. The ruins of its once famous castle, the town hall (1662), and the district governor's residence, are notable buildings. The port, together with that of Oxelösund (10 m. S.E.) at the mouth of the bay, which is seldom closed in winter, exports iron and zinc cre, timber, wood-pulp and oats, Nyköping (i.e. New-Market, Latinized as Nicopia) begins to appear as a town early in the 13th century. Its castle was the seat of the kings of Södermanland, and after those of Stockholm and Kalmar was the strongest in Sweden. The death of Waldemar in 1293, the starving to death of Dukes Waldemar and Eric in 1318, the marriage and the deaths both of Charles IX. and his consort Christina of Holstein, the birth of their daughter Princess Catherine and in 1622 the birth of her son Charles X. are the main incidents of which it was the scene. Burned down in 1665 and again damaged by fire in 1719, it still remained the seat of the provincial authorities till 1760. The town was burned by Albert of Mecklenburg's party in 1389, by an accidental conflagration in 1665, and by the Russians in 1719. NYLSTROOM, a town of the Transvaal, South Africa, capital of the Waterberg district, and 81 m. N. of Pretoria by rail; altitude 4250 ft. Pop. (1904) 599. It was founded about 1860 and owes its name to the belief of the early Boer trekkers that the river which they had discovered was the head stream of the Nile. The Waterberg gold-fields are 20 m. N.N.E. of the town. NYMPHAEUM (Gr. νύμφαιον, νυμφαίον), in Greek and Roman antiquities, a monument consecrated to the nymphs (q.v.). especially those of springs. These monuments were originally natural grottoes, which tradition assigned as habitations to the local nymphs. They were sometimes so arranged as to furnish a supply of water. Subsequently, artificial took the place of natural grottoes. The nymphaea of the Roman period were borrowed from the constructions of the Hellenistic east. The majority of them were rotundas, and were adorned with statues and paintings. They served the threefold purpose of sanctuaries, reservoirs and assembly-rooms. A special feature was their use for, the celebration of marriages. Such nymphaea existed at Corinth, Antioch and Constantinople; the remains of some twenty have been found at Rome and of many in Africa. The so-called exedra of Herodes Atticus (which answers in all respects to a nymphaeum in the Roman style), the nymphaeum in the palace of Domitian and those in the villa of Hadrian at Tibur (five in number) may be specially mentioned. The term nymphaeum was also applied to the fountains of water in the atrium of the Christian basilica, which according to Eusebius (x. 4) were symbols of purification. NYMPHENBURG, formerly a village, but since 1899 an incorporated suburb of Munich, in the kingdom of Bavaria. It has a palace, built about the middle of the 17th century, on the model of that at Versailles, and long a favourite residence of the Bavarian elector, Maximilian Joseph. The famous china manufactory of Nymphenburg, founded in 1754 at Neudeck by a potter named Niedermeyer, was shortly afterwards removed hither and, after being long under royal patronage, is now a private undertaking. The elector Charles Albert of Bavaria was reputed to have made a treaty with Louis XV. of France in May 1741 at the beginning of the War of the Austrian Succession for the division of Austria, and this was called the treaty of Nymphenburg. It has, however, been conclusively proved a forgery. But a treaty was concluded here on the 28th of May 1741, between Bavaria and Spain, and another between Bavaria and the Rhenish Palatinate in 1766. NYMPHS, in Greek mythology, the generic name of a large number of female divinities of inferior rank, personifications of the creative and fostering activities of nature. The word is possibly connected with the root of védos, nubes (“cloud "), and originally meant "veiled," referring to the custom of a bride being led veiled from her home to that of the husband: hence, a married woman, and, in general, one of marriageable age. Others refer the word (and also Lat. nubere and the Ger. Knospe) to a root expressing the idea of "swelling" (according to Hesychius, one of the meanings of vuμon is "rose-bud "). The home of the nymphs is on mountains and in groves, by springs and rivers, in valleys and cool grottoes. They are frequently associated with the superior divinities, the huntress Artemis, the prophetic Apollo, the reveller and god of trees Dionysus, and with rustic gods such as Pan and Hermes (as the god of shepherds). The nymphs were distinguished according to the different spheres of nature with which they were connected. Sea nymphs were Oceanids or Nereids, daughters of Oceanus or Nereus. Naiades (from Gr. váew, flow, cf. vâua, "stream") presided over springs, rivers and lakes. Orcades (opos, mountain) were nymphs of mountains and grottoes, one of the most famous of whom was Echo. Napaeae (vánn, dell) and Alseides (ăλoos, grove) were nymphs of glens and groves. Dryades (q.v.) or Hamadryades were nymphs of forests and trees. The Greek nymphs, after the introduction of their cult into Latium, gradually absorbed into their ranks the indigenous Italian divinities of springs and streams (Juturna, Egeria, Carmentis, Fons), while the Lymphae (originally Lumpae), Italian water-goddesses, owing to the accidental similarity of name, were identified with the Greek Nymphae. Among the Romans their sphere of influence was restricted, and they appear almost exclusively as divinities of the watery element. F. G. Ballentine, "Some Phases of the Cult of the Nymphs" in Harvard Studies in Classical Philology, xv. (1904). The sixteenth letter of the Phoenician and early Greek alphabets, the fifteenth in English and the fourteenth in Latin. Between N and O the Phoenician and the Ionic Greek alphabet have a sibilant in Greek E=x. The Western Greek alphabet had a different symbol, X, for the sound of x and placed it at the end, as did its descendant the Latin alphabet. The original form of o was a more or less roughly formed circle. The Aramaic and Hebrew, which seem so different, arise from a circle left open at the top, U, a form which can be traced in Aramaic from the 5th or 6th century B.C. In the Greek alphabets the circle appears sometimes with a dot in the centre, but in many cases it is doubtful whether this mark is intentional, or is only the result of fixing a sharp point there while describing the circle. Sometimes O is lozenge-shaped ◊ and rarely (in Arcadia and Elis) rectangular In many varieties of the Greek alphabet this symbol was used, as it always was in Latin, for the long as well as the short o-sound and also for the long vowel (in the Ionic alphabet written ov) which arose from contraction of two vowels or the loss of a consonant (dŋλoûte=ônλóere, οἴκους = οίκους). As early as the 8th century Ionic Greek had invented a separate symbol for the long o-sound, viz. N. This when borrowed by other dialects showed at first some variety of usage, though practically none in form. As this was placed at the end of the ordinary (not the numeral) Greek alphabet, "alpha and omega "has become a proverbial phrase for first and last. The Greeks themselves, however, did not call 9 omega (great o) nor did they call O omicron (little o), though these names are given even in modern Greek grammars. The former was called simply o and the latter u (ov, pronounced as oo in moon). The Hebrew and probably the Phoenician name for O was Ain (Ayin), and in the Semitic alphabet, which does not indicate vowels, the symbol stood for a "voiced glottal stop" and also for a "voiced velar spirant" (Zimmern). The most important feature of this vowel is the rounding of the lips in its production, which, according to its degree, modifies the nature of the vowel considerably, as can be observed in the pronunciation of the increasingly rounded series saw, no, who. In Attic Greek O and were not really a pair, for o+o became not w but ov, o being a close and w an open sound. In Latin the converse was more nearly true. Though short o changed in the Latin of the last age of the Roman republic to u in unaccented syllables always (except after u whether vowel or consonant), and sometimes also in accented syllables, this was not equally true of vulgar Latin, as is shown by the Romance languages. In English also the short and the long are of different qualities, the short in words like not, got being in Sweet's phonetic terminology a low-back-wide-round, the long in words like no a mid-back-wide-round. The long vowel becomes more rounded as it is being pronounced, so that it ends in a u-sound, though this is not so noticeable in weak syllables like the final syllable of follow. The so-called modified o is a rounded e-sound found in several varieties. The sound heard in words like the German Götter is, according to Sweet, a low-front-wide-round, while Jespersen regards it as not low but middle. A mid-front-narrow-round vowel is found short in French words like peu, long in jeûne and in endings like that of honteuse The Norse sound written is of the same (P. G1.) nature OAK (O Eng., dc), a word found, variously modified, in all Germanic languages, and applied to plants of the genus Quercus, natural order Fagaceae (Cupuliferae of de Candolle), including some of the most important timber trees of the north temperate zone. All the species are arborescent or shrubby, varying in size from the most stately of forest trees to the dwarfish bush Monoecious, and bearing their male flowers in catkins, they are readily distinguished from the rest of the catkin-bearing trees by their peculiar fruit, an acorn or nut, enclosed at the base in a woody cup, formed by the consolidation of numerous involucral bracts developed beneath the fertile flower, simultaneously with a cup-like expansion of the thalamus, to which the bracteal scales are more or less adherent. The ovary, three-celled at first, but becoming one-celled and one-seeded by abortion, is surmounted by an inconspicuous perianth with six small teeth. The male flowers are in small clusters on the usually slender and pendent stalk, forming an interrupted catkin; the stamens vary in number, usually six to twelve. The alternate leaves are more or less deeply sinuated or cut in many species, but in some of the deciduous and many of the evergreen kinds are nearly or quite entire on the margin. The oaks are widely distributed over the temperate parts of Europe, Asia, North Africa and North America. In the western hemisphere they range along the Mexican highlands and the Andes far into the tropics, while in the Old World the genus, well represented in the Himalayas and the hills of China, exists likewise in the peninsula of Malacca, in the Indian Archipelago and Malaya to the Philippine Islands and Borneo. On the mountains of Europe and North America they grow only at moderate elevations, and none approach the arctic circle. The multitude of species and the many intermediate forms render their exact limitation difficult, but those presenting sufficiently. marked characters to justify specific rank probably approach 300 in number. The well-known Q. Robur, one of the most valued of the genus, and the most celebrated in history and myth, may be, taken as a type of the oaks with sinuated leaves. Though known in England, where it is the only indigenous species, as the British oak, it is a native of most of the milder parts of Europe, extending from the shores of the Atlantic to the Ural; its most northern limit is attained in Norway, where it is found wild up to lat. 63°, and near the Lindesnaes forms woods of some extent, the trees occasionally acquiring a considerable size. In western Russia it flourishes in lat. 60°, but on the slope of the Ural the 56th parallel is about its utmost range. Its northern limit nearly coincides with that of successful wheat cultivation. Southwards it extends to Sardinia, Sicily and the Morea. In Asia it is found on the Caucasus, but does not pass the Ural ridge into Siberia. In Britain and in most of its Continental habitats two varieties exist, regarded by many as distinct species: one, pedunculata, has the acorns, generally two or more together, on long stalks, and the leaves nearly sessile; while in the other, Q sessiliflora, the fruit is without or with a very short peduncle, and the leaves are furnished with well-developed petioles. But, though the extreme forms of these varieties are very dissimilar, | by Evelyn two centuries ago; like most of the giant oaks of innumerable modifications are found between them; hence it Britain, it is of the pedunculate variety. is more convenient to regard them as at most sub-species of Q. Robur. The British oak is one of the largest trees of the genus, though old specimens are often more remarkable The wood of the British oak, when grown in perfection, is the most valuable produced in temperate climates. The heartwood varies in colour from dark brown to pale yellowishbrown; hard, close-grained, and little liable to split accidentally, it is, for a hard wood, easy to work. Under water it excels most woods in durability, and none stand better alternate exposure to drought and moisture, while under cover it is nearly indestructible as long as dry-rot is prevented by free admission of air. Its weight varies from 48 to about 55 lb the cubic foot, but in very hard slowly-grown trunks sometimes approaches 60 lb. The sap-wood is lighter and much more perishable, but is of value for many purposes of rural economy. The relative qualities of the two varieties have been the frequent subject of debate, the balance of practical testimony seeming to establish the superiority of Q. pedunculata as far as durability in water is concerned; but when grown under favourable circumstances the sessile oak is certainly equally lasting if kept dry. The wood of the durmast oak is commonly heavier and of a darker colour, hence the other is sometimes called by woodmen the white oak, and in France is known as the "chêne blanc." The llow oak of Britain is still in demand for the construction of merchant sewa shipping, though teak has become in some measure its substitute, and foreign oak of various quality and origin largely takes its place. Its great abundance of curved trunks and boughs rendered the oak peculiarly valuable to the shipwright when the process of bending timber artificially was less understood; the curved pieces are still useful for knees. The younger oaks are employed by the carpenter, wheelwright, wagon-builder and for innumerable purposes by the country artisan. most durable of fences are those formed of small oaks, split lengthwise by the wedge into thin boards. The finely-grained heart-wood is sought by the cabinetmaker for the manufacture sman nabigsod gban dallo sob doldy,sadenc ni bax (ni) nid any lettola, baoloy" adTommiS) equ od lo.gaibano ads adibom ni bando ad The of furniture, and high prices are often given for the gnarled and knotted portions of slowly-grown trees, to be sawn into veneers. Oak was formerly largely used by wood-carvers, and is still in some demand for those artists, being harder and more durable than lime and other woods that yield more readily to the sculptor's tool. Oak was thus applied at a very early date; the shrine of Edward the Confessor, still existing in the abbey at Westminster, sound after the lapse of 800 years, is of dark-coloured oak-wood. The wood, of unknown age, found submerged in peat-bogs, and of a black hue, is largely used in decorative art under the name of "bog-oak." The oak grows most luxuriantly on deep strong clays, cal careous marl or stiff loam, but will flourish in nearly any deep well-drained soil, excepting peat or loose sand; in marshy of moist places the tree may grow well for a time, but the timber is rarely sound; on hard rocky ground and exposed hillside the growth is extremely slow and the trees small, but the wood |