OSCOTT, a village in Staffordshire, 4 m.  N. of Birmingham, the site of the Roman Catholic College of St. Mary’s, which claims to be the centre of Catholicism in England; founded in 1752, it was housed in magnificent buildings in 1835, and became exclusively a training-school for the priesthood in 1889, though it originally had laymen among its students.

O’SHAUGHNESSY, ARTHUR, poet, born in London; held a post in the natural history department of the British Museum; wrote, among other works, three notable volumes of poems, “The Epic of Women,” “Lays of France,” and “Music and Moonlight” (1844-1881).

OSIANDER, ANDREAS, a German Reformer, born near Nueremberg, and attaching himself to Luther, became preacher there, and eventually professor of Theology at Koenigsberg; involved himself in a bitter controversy with Chemnitz on justification, ascribing it not to imputation, but the germination of divine grace in the heart, or the mystical union of the soul with God, a controversy which was kept up by his followers after his death (1498-1552).

OSIRIS, one of the principal gods of Egypt, the husband of Isis, who was his sister and the father of Horus, who avenged the wrongs he suffered at the hands of the Earth, his mother, in whose womb he was born and in whose womb he was buried; he was the god of all the earth-born, and subject to the like fate.

OSMANLIS, name given to the Ottomans, from that of their founder, Osman or Othman.

OSMOSE.  If two liquids be separated from each other only by a skin or parchment, each will percolate through the membrane and diffuse into the other; the process is known as osmose, and is constantly illustrated in the animal and vegetable world.

OSNABRUeCK (35), a town in Hanover, 70 m.  W. of Hanover, with a bishopric founded by Charlemagne, which was held by a brother of George I., and was secularised in 1803.

OSSA, a mountain in Thessaly, famous in Greek mythology.  See PELION.

OSSIAN, the heroic poet of the Gaels, the son of Fingal and the king of Morven, said to have lived in the 3rd century, the theme of whose verse concerns the exploits of Fingal and his family, the translation of which he brought home from fairyland, to which he had been transported when he was a boy, and from which he returned when he was old and blind; James Macpherson, who was no Gaelic scholar, professed to have translated the legend, as published by him in 1760-62-63.

OSTADE, ADRIAN and ISAAC, two Dutch painters, brothers, born at Haarlem; Adrian (1610-1685), and Isaac (1617-1654).

OSTEND (26), a favourite watering-place on the SW. coast of Belgium, 65 m. due W. of Antwerp; attracts 20,000 visitors every summer; it is an important seaport, having daily mail communication with Dover, and it manufactures linen and sail-cloth; fishing is the chief industry; it is famed for oysters, which are brought over from England and fattened for export.