Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/632

 618 OLIVE OLIVES with bladder ; these packages are now rarely seen, but the finer kinds are imported in bot- tles of various styles ; commoner kinds come in jars and casks. The imports into the United States during the year ending June 30, 1873, were 340,037 gallons, valued at $445,774. In countries where it is produced olive oil is largely used as food, replacing butter, not only with bread, but in cooking, especially for fry- ing ; like other fixed oils, it is very nutritious, but it is not readily digested by weak stomachs. In this country, where it is frequently called sweet oil, its use as food is limited almost en- tirely to the dressing of salads. In medicine it is sometimes used as a mild laxative in doses of one to two fluid ounces ; in cases of poison- ing by corrosive substances, it is given with a view to its mechanical effect in shielding the stomach from their action ; but its chief med- ical use is in the preparation of liniments, ointments, and plasters. In the arts the oil is used as a lubricant, and the oleine separated by cold, as already described, makes the finest watch oil. The cheaper kinds were formerly somewhat used for burning, but have been superseded by the mineral oils. Much of the oil is consumed where it is produced in the manufacture of soap, it being the basis of the well known Castile, Marseilles, and Venetian soaps. (See SOAP.) A resinous exudation is sometimes found upon the tree, which has been called olive gum and Lecca gum, and was formerly used in medicine as a stimulant ; and the bark has been employed as a tonic. The American olive (0. Americana), also called devilwood on account of the difficulty of cut- ting and splitting it, is a small tree found from Virginia to Florida; it has a whitish bark, and entire very smooth, evergreen leaves, 3 to 6 in. long ; small, white, fragrant, polygamous flowers ; and a spherical black fruit twice the size of a pea, with an oily flesh. According to Michaux, the inner bark on exposure to the air turns instantly to a bright red, and the wood becomes reddish by exposure. Accord- ing to Decaisne and JSTaudin, the fruit of this is sometimes pickled. Olea fragrans of the greenhouse, placed by some in the genus os- manthus, is an evergreen shrub from China and Japan; it has oblong or oval, finely serrate, dark green leaves, and numerous clusters of small white flowers, which have the most ex- quisite and delicate fragrance. The flowers are said to be used by the Chinese to scent the finer kinds of tea. It is a favorite greenhouse plant, as it blooms when only about 6 in. high ; and in the southern states, where it is hardy, it makes a handsome bush 6 to 8 ft. high, and is a general favorite. Another related species is 0. ilicifolia (or osmanthus), the holly-leaved olive, from Japan ; it is a fine compact shrub, with dark green leaves like those of the holly ; a variety with white-edged leaves is exceeding- ly beautiful. These are hardy in England, but in the United States their northern limit is yet undetermined. OLIVER. I. Andrew, lieutenant governor of Massachusetts, born in Boston, March 28, 1706, died there, March 3, 1774. He graduated at Harvard college in 1724, and became a member of the general court, and afterward of the council. When the stamp act was passed by the English parliament, he accepted the office of distributor of stamps, and on Aug. 14, 1765, was hanged in effigy from the "liberty tree." He appeared the next day before the people under the liberty tree, and publicly resigned his office. He was .secretary of the province from 1756 to 1770, and in 1771 was appointed lieutenant governor. With Gov. Hutchinson, his brother-in-law, he promoted as much as was in his power the designs of the British ministry, as was proved by his letters, which were obtained by Franklin in England, and sent back to America in 1772. When there- fore the general court petitioned the king for the removal of Hutchinson, they included Oli- ver's name also. His son ANDEEW (1731-'99), a judge of Essex co., Mass., before the revolu- tion, was one of the founders of the American academy of arts and sciences. II. Peter, chief justice of Massachusetts, brother of the prece- ding, born March 26, 1713, died in Birming- ham, England, Oct. 13, 1791. He graduated at Harvard college in 1730, afterward filled sev- eral stations in Plymouth co., and on Sept. 14, 1756, was raised to the bench, although not a lawyer, and in 1771 made chief justice. In March, 1774, the house of representatives, vo- ting the judges of the superior court sufficient salaries from the colonial treasury, ordered them to refuse any gifts from the king. Four of them complied, but Oliver refusing, the house impeached him, and suspended him from his functions till the conclusion of his trial. He sided openly with the tories ; and when the British troops evacuated Boston, he went with them, and finally removed to England, where a pension was given him by the crown. He was an enthusiastic antiquary, transcribing with his own hand the manuscript history of William Hubbard, and carrying away with him when he left America records and papers which he had collected concerning the early settle- ment of Plymouth colony. He published, be- sides some pamphlets, a " Scriptural Lexicon " (Birmingham, 1784-'5; new ed. by the Rev. H. C. Cotton, Oxford, 1832). OLIVES, Mount of, or Mount Olivet (Arab. Jebel et- Tur), a mountain of Palestine celebrated in Biblical history. It is a few hundred yards E. of Jerusalem, separated from it by the valley of Jehoshaphat, through which flows the brook Kedron. It is a ridge rather than a single hill, having three summits. The centre, a little rounded top on which stands the village of Tur, is 2,643 ft. above the sea and 384 ft. above the valley ; and being higher than the most elevated part of Jerusalem, it is before one's eyes from nearly all the streets, and affords the most favorable view of the city. The sides are partly cultivated in terraces, streaked here