in such a flame, which is almost colorless, burns with bright scintillations, and platinum can be boiled by means of the flame. The principal use of the oxyhydrogen flame has been for fusing metals, although recently similar results have been obtained by the electric furnace. See Drummond Light.
OX′YTO′CICS (from Gk. ὀξυτόκιον, oxytokion, medicine to facilitate quick delivery, from ὀξύς, oxys, sharp, quick, acid + τόκος, tokos, birth). Remedies which increase uterine contractions. The chief drugs of this class are ergot (q.v.) and quinine (q.v.). Ergot is the most widely known and used oxytocic, and was formerly employed to hasten labor, but it is now known that this practice is extremely dangerous, as it causes a tetanic instead of an intermittent contraction of the wall of the uterus and may lead to its rupture, an accident often fatal. It should never be given until the uterus has been emptied. In this way it is frequently given after labor, to cause contraction of the uterus and so prevent hemorrhage.
OX′YUR′IS (Neo-Lat., from Gk. ὀξύς, oxys, sharp, quick, acid + ὀυρά, oura, tail). A nematode worm belonging to the Ascaridæ, characterized by a fusiform shape and a rounded oval aperture. The variety vermicularis is the thread-worm or maw-worm found in the sigmoid flexure and in the rectum of human beings. In horses this worm is called the bot. The male is ⅛ inch, the female nearly ½ inch in length. See Anthelmintic.
OYER, ō′yer (A.F., to hear). A term employed in common-law pleading to signify a demand by one party to an action, to hear read, or to have produced for inspection, a document to which the other party refers in his pleadings. Originally where a party based his claim or defense upon a deed, letters testamentary, or letters of administration, he was obliged to ‘make profert’ of the instrument, that is, allege that he produced it in court, whereupon the other party might ‘crave oyer,’ that is, demand to hear it read, in order that he might avail himself of its contents in his pleadings if he deemed it advisable. At a later date, instead of having it actually read in open court and spreading it upon the records, the party making profert was required to give the opposite party a true copy of the instrument.
In England and most of the United States the practice of requiring a pleader to make profert has been abolished, and with it the practice of demanding oyer, and instead a party referring to an instrument in a pleading is required to annex a true copy thereto. If it becomes necessary for a party to inspect a document in the hands of the other, he obtains an order to that effect from the court. See Evidence.
OYER AND TER′MINER (AF., to hear and to determine). In English law, a commission under the King's great seal appointing certain judges to hear and determine criminal causes in and for designated circuits. This commission was very ancient in its origin, it having first been employed some time after the reign of Edward III., the exact date not being certain. Before the Judicature Act (q.v.), the commissioners, as the judges so appointed were called, constituted the Court of Oyer and Terminer. The above act vested in the High Court of Justice all the powers formerly exercised by the Court of Oyer and Terminer, but its jurisdiction of criminal offenses is still dependent upon such a commission. A special commission is sometimes issued, authorizing the judges to try certain designated criminal cases out of the regular term.
The highest court of criminal jurisdiction in the State of New York was formerly known as the Court of Oyer and Terminer, but it derived its jurisdiction from the statutes creating it and not from a commission as was the case in England. It has been merged in the Supreme Court by the Constitution.
OYEZ, ō′yez (AF., OF., hear ye). An introductory word sometimes employed by court officers or criers in announcing the opening of court. It was introduced into England by the Normans, together with their other legal expressions and forms. The English translation ‘hear ye’ is still employed by most court criers in the United States.
OYO, ō′yō. The capital of the African State of Yoruba, now included in British Nigeria, situated about 90 miles northeast of Abeokuta (Map: Africa, E 4). It has an estimated population of 60,000, and its inhabitants are said to be intelligent and skillful in the crafts.
OYSTER (OF. oistre, ouistre, huistre, Fr. huitre, from Lat. ostrea, ostreum, from Gk. ὄστρέον, oyster; connected with ὄστέον osteon, Lat. os, bone). A sessile bivalve mollusk of the family Ostreidæ, especially any of the numerous species, extinct and extant, of the genus Ostrea. The shells are irregular and unequal; the fixed left valve generally spacious, strongly convex without and excavated within; right valve generally plane or concave externally, always less convex than its fellow: both shells beaked; ligamental area elongate or triangular; hinge toothless; adductor impression single and shell subnacreous.
| ANATOMY OF OSTREA VIRGINICA. |
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h, Hinge; l, ligament; d, pg, and s |
The oyster of the eastern coast of the United States is Ostrea Virginica, a valuable species of protean characters, formerly much subdivided by systematists and almost impossible to diagnose. The shells are lateral and hinged anteriorly, an elastic pad (ligament) causing them normally to gap. Closely applied to their inner faces and extensible beyond their margins are two thin folds (mantle) of the body-wall, which secrete the
