Osmium
in chemistry, a tetrad metallic element, discovered by Tennant in 1804; symbol, Os; at. wt., 190.9; occurs combined with iridium, forming the native alloy osmiridium, in platinum ore.
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Single-source entries: O (30)
These 10 listings are so strange that each appears in only one of the 7 encyclopedias we compared. They include such classics as Osmium, Osmium, Osmose.
Osmium
This metal was discovered by Tennant in 1803. It belongs to the class usually termed "noble," and occurs in association with platinum in the form of an alloy with iridium. It is the least fusible of all the metals, as the oxyhydrogen jet will volatilize, but not fuse it. This metal, like iridium, is extensively employed for tipping gold pens. See METALS.
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Osmose
in chemistry, osmosis, the mixing of dissimilar substances through a porous diaphragm-a phenomenon due to the attraction which the liquids have for each other.
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Osmunda
in botany, fern royal, osmund royal, or flowering fern; the typical genus of Osmundeæ. Six are known. One, O. regalis, the common osmund OSNABRÜCK royal, or flowering fern, is the noblest of domestic ferns; the fronds are bipinnate, fertile at the top. It is frequent in boggy places and the wet morasses of woods in the W. of Scotland and the S. of Ireland. Found also in England, Continental Europe, Asia, and Canada. The powdered stem has been used successfully in rickets, the dose being three drachms. Sometimes this fern has been called bog onion. OSNABRÜCK, a town of Prussia; province of Hanover, in the valley of the Hase, 75 miles S. S. W. of Bremen. Its great Catholic cathedral, in the Transition style of the first half of the 13th and the town hall (1486-1512) contains lads. portraits of all the plenipotentiaries who here, Oct. 24, 1648, signed the peace of Westphalia. Osnabrück has important iron and steel works, and manufactures of railway plants, agricultural machinery, gas-meters, paper, tobacco, etc. It suffered much in the Thirty Years' War, (1618-1648), but recovered, thanks to its linen industry, during the eighteenth century. The name Osnaburgs given to coarse linens is derived hence. Pop. about 75,000.
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Osprey
or OSPRAY, in ornithology, Pandion haliaëtus, the fish hawk, bald buzzard, or fishing eagle. A bird of prey, of almost world-wide distribution, subsisting on fish. The osprey is about two feet long, with a wing expanse nearly three times as great. The plumage is dark brown, white on the under surface, AMERICAN OSPREY with a few streaks of brown on the throat; crown light brown edged with white, and a streak of dark brown from the eye to the shoulders. Ospreys nest usually near the seashore, and, unlike rapacious birds generally, are in some measure gregarious. In North America large communities of ospreys are found. They lay three or four eggs of a rich red to buffy white, with large reddish and brown markings.
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Ossa
the ancient name of a mountain on the E. side of Thessaly, near Pelion, and separated from Olympus by the vale of Tempe. The ancients placed the seat of the Centaurs and Giants in the neighborhood of Pelion and Ossa.
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Ossification
the formation of bone. In the growth of the skeleton of man and the higher animals, this process goes on naturally, and it occurs in the reproduction of new bones after the destruction or loss of old ones. Ossification also occurs as an unnatural or morbid process. It occurs most frequently in the cartilage of the ribs, after the 50th year; but in some cases it commences between the ages of 30 and 40. The cartilages of the windpipe are next to those of the ribs in their liability to become osseous. The disease called "ossification of the heart" is not an affection of the proper substance of that organ, but of its valves, in which earthy matter is sometimes deposited.
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Ossining
a village in Westchester co., N. Y., on the Hudson river, and on the New York Central and Hudson River railroad; 30 miles N. of New York. It is situated at the widest part of the river on ground rising to an altitude of 300 feet, and commands a fine view of many interesting points on the river. Here are military academies, street railroad and electric light plants, a portion of the Croton aqueduct, which is carried across Kill brook by a stone arch 88 feet wide and 70 feet high; National and savings banks, and several weekly newspapers. It has manufactories of lime, sleighs, carriages, cotton gins, steam engines, gas and water pipe, etc. A State penitentiary, one of the most famous of American prisons, is located here. On this account, after many attempts to have its former name, Sing Sing, changed, the Legislature in 1901 granted this privi- pr lege and the lege, and the name Ossining was adopted. Pop. (1910) 11,480; (1920) 10,739.
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Ostend
a place in the Belgian province of West Flanders, on the German Ocean, 77 miles W. N. W. of Brussels. Two spacious floating basins for the Dover mail-packets were completed in 1874; and as a station also for London steamers, and the terminus of various lines of railway, Ostend is a lively and active place of transport traffic. It is an important fishing station, and has a good school of navigation, a handsome Cursaal (1878), a city hall (1711), a fish market, and a lighthouse (1771; 175 feet). The manufactures include linen, sail cloth, candles, and tobacco. Dating from 1072, Ostend is memorable for the protracted siege by the Spaniards which it underwent from July 7, 1601, to Sept. 20, 1604. Twice again it surrendered to the Allies in 1706, and to the French in 1745. The fortifications have been demolished since 1865. Pop. about 45,000. In the World War (1914-1918) Ostend was for a brief period the capital of Belgium. Occupied by the Germans Oct. 5, 1914. It was bombarded 187 times in the course of the war, during which 271 persons were killed and 496 injured, with damage to the town of $15,- 400,000.
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Osteolepis
a genus of fossil ganoid fish peculiar to the Old Red Sandstone. It is characterized by smooth rhomboidal scales, by numerous sharply pointed teeth, and by having the two dorsal and anal fins alternating with each other. The body is long and slender.
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