osmious

[Eng. osmi(c); -ous.] [OSMIC.] osmious-sulphite, s. Chem.: OSSO3. A dull blue-black powder, obtained by mixing an aqueous solution of osmic acid with sulphurous acid, and evaporating to dryne . It is insoluble in water, but di olves in hydrochloric acid, with an indigo-blue color. öş-mi-rid-I-ŭm, s. [English osm(ium), and iridium.] [IRIDOSMINE.] IMG:content-0393.png:[blocks in formation] Chem.: A greenish-yellow e ential oil, extracted from Osmitopsis asteriscoïdes , an aromatic plant from Cape Town. It has a pungent odor, burning taste, and is tonic and antispasmodic. Specific gravity is 0-931; it boils at 176°. õş-mi-ŭm, s. [ Gr.osmē =an odor.] Chem.: A tetrad metallic element, discovered by Tennant in 1804. Symbol Os, atomic weight 199-2. Occurs combined with iridium, forming the native alloy osmiridium, in platinum ore. To obtain the metal, osmium tetroxide is digested with hydrochloric acid and metallic mercury, in a well-closed ve el, at 140°, the osmium being reduced and an amalgam formed. On distilling the amalgam in an atmosphere of hydrogen gas, the mercury and calomel pa over, leaving metallic osmium as a black powder. Its properties vary according to the mode of preparation. In the pulverulent state it is black, destitute of metallic luster, and has a density of 7. By pa ing the vapor of the tetroxide, mixed with hydrogen, through a gla tube heated to redne , the metal is deposited as a compact metallic ring, density 10. When heated to the melting-point of rhodium, it acquires a density of 21.4. It is the most infusible of all metals. In the finely divided state it is highly combustible, continuing to burn, when set on fire, till it is all volatilized. Osmium 2941 õş-mund (2), 8. [OSMUNDA.] osmand-royal, s. Bot .: A book-name for Osmunda regal is . ós-mun-da, s . [According to Hooker and Arnott, Osmunder , one of the names of the god Thor.] Botany: Fern-royal, Osmund-royal, or Flowering-fern; the typical genus of Osmundeæ. Six are known. One, Osmun da regal is , the Common Osmund-royal, or Flowering-fern, is the noblest of our domestic ferns; the fronds are bipinnate, fertile at the top. One was found by Mr. Stewart Murray eleven and a half feet high. It is frequent in boggy places and the wet mora es of woods in Osmunda Regalis. the west of Scotland and the south of Ireland. Found also in England, continental Europe, Asia, and Canada. The powdered stem has been used succe fully in rickets, the dose being three drachms. ( Sir J. Hooker , .) Sometimes this fern has been called Bog-onion. "Fair ferns and flowers, and chiefly that tall fern So stately, of the Queen Osmunda named." Words worth: On the Naming of Places , No. 4. töş-mun-dā-çě-æ, s. pl. [Mod. Lat. osmund(a); Lat. fem. pl. adj. suff. -aceœ.] Bot .: An old order of Filicales with two tribes, Osmundese and Aneimiee. ( Lindley : Nat. Sys., ed. 2d, 1836.) Coextensive with the modern tribe Osmundeæ (q. v.).