owosso 68 OXENHAM on pterylological and osteological char- acters, broadly dividing the owls into two sections: (1) The screech-owl, and (2) the tawny-owl section, with (the Lin- naean) Strix fianimea and S. stridula as the respective types. The former is known as the Alucine (from Fleming's name for the genus, Aluco), and the latter as the Strigine section. The pre- vailing color of the plumage is brown, with a tinge of rusty-red, and it is exceed- ingly loose and soft, so that their flight (even in the larger species) is almost noiseless, enabling them to swoop upon their prey, which they hunt in the twi- light. All owls cast up in the form of pellets the indigestible parts of the food swallowed. They range over the whole globe. OWOSSO, a city in Shiawassee cc, Mich.; on the Shiawasse river, and on the Michigan Central, the Grand Trunk, and the Ann Arbor railroads; 38 miles S. W. of Saginaw. It contains libraries, waterworks, street railroad and electric light plants, several banks, and a num- ber of daily and weekly newspapers. It has manufactories of door and window screens, hickory handles, caskets, furni- ture and dining-room tables, rugs, news- papers and books. Pop. (1910) 9,639; (1920) 12,575. OX, the castrated male of Bos taunts when arrived at maturity; also the popu- lar name for the genus Bos. It has been known from remote antiquity, and in the East possessed, and in India still possesses, a sacred character. They have been broadly divided into two groups — the humped, with B. Indicus, and the straight-backed, with B. taiirus as a type. The domestic oxen consist of a number of different breeds. OXALIC ACID, in chemistry, CO.HO CO.HO 2H.0, a dibasic acid existing ready formed in plants, and produced by the simple oxida- tion of glycollic alcohol, or by acting on starch, sugar, or cellulose, with nitric acid, or fusion with caustic alkali. It is formed commercially by fusing sawdust with a mixture of soda and potash to 204°, decomposing the oxalate with lime, and the lime salt with sulphuric acid, and afterward recrystallizing. The so- lution has a strong acid reaction, and is highly poisonous. The antidote is chalk or magnesia. OXAIilDACE^, the oxalid or wood- sorrel family, an order of plants, alli- ance Geraniales. They are herbs, under- shrubs, or trees, generally distributed throughout both the hot and the tem- perate regions of the globe ; the shrubby species, however, are almost confine-^l to the tropics. They are chiefly remark- able for their acid juice, containing bin- oxalate of potash. The order contains six genera and 325 species. OXALIS, in botany, wood-sorrel; the typical genus of the Oxalidese or Oxali- dacese. Known species, 220; chiefly from South Africa and South America. O. acetosella is the common wood-sorrel. The leaves are all radical and trifoliate; handsome white flowers, with purplish veins. Found in woods and other shady places, and in nooks on mountain sides. O. corniciilata is the yellow prominent wood-sorrel. O. stricta, possibly onlv a sub-species of the last. The stalks of O. crenata, a Columbian species, are very acid, and make good preserve. O. escn- lenta, O. deppei, O. crassicaulis, and O. tetraphylla have eatable tubers. O. sensitiva, O. stricta, and O. biophytum have sensitive leaves. Those of O. sen- sitiva are tonic and slightly stimulating. OXALURIA, a morbid condition of the system, in which one of the most prominent sjrmptoms is the persistent oc- currence of crystals of oxalate of lime in the urine. Persons who secrete this foi-m of urine are usually dyspeptic, hypochondriacal, and liable to attacks of boils, cutaneous eruptions, and neural- gia. OXENFORD, JOHN, an English dra- matist and critic; born in Camborwell, England, in 1812, and was originally educated for the bar, but early turned to^ a life of letters, made himself familiar with French, German, and Spanish liter- ature and translated Goethe's "Autobi- ography," and Eckermann's "Conversa- tions with Goethe." For his last 30 years he was dramatic critic for the "Times." His "Illustrated Book of French Songs" (1855) showed a dexter- ous mastery of the lighter forms of verse. He wrote many plays, among them the "Dice of Death," the "Reigning Favorite," the "Two Orphans," as well as the libretto for "The Lily of Killar- ney," and one farce at least, "Twice Killed," that became widely popular. He died in London, Feb. 21, 1877. OXENHAM, HENRY NUTCOMBE, an English theologian; born in Harrow, England, Nov. 15, 1829; and educated at Balliol College, Oxford, taking a classi- cal second class in 1850. He took orders in 1854, and held vai-ious curacies, but entered the Roman Catholic Church ia 1857, and was successively professor at
