Oxon

see Oxoniis

n. Oxon, Oxfordshire, county in south central England

n. Oxfordshire, Oxon, county in south central England

θᾰλασσό-κλυστος, ον,

A dashed by the sea, Sch.Barocc.S.Aj. 696 ( = 704 ed. T.Johnson, Oxon. 1705).

θρηνῴδ-ημα, ατος, τό,

A dirge, lament, Sch.S.El.92 (ed. T. Johnson, Oxon. 1705).

μωρίων, ωνος, ὁ,

A fool, or pr. n. Μωρίων, Arc.17 cod. Oxon. (Cf. Lat. morio.)

SUBJECT AREA: Chemical technology, Weapons and armour

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His family came from Germany and he was the son of a music master. He first became interested in science at the age of 14, when visiting his mineralogist uncle in Hamburg, and studied chemistry at the Royal Polytechnic Institution in London. In 1845 he became one of the twenty-six founding students, under A.W.von Hofmann, of the Royal College of Chemistry. Such was his aptitude for the subject that within two years he became von Hermann's assistant and demonstrator. In 1851 Abel was appointed Lecturer in Chemistry, succeeding Michael Faraday, at the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, and it was while there that he wrote his Handbook of Chemistry, which was co-authored by his assistant, Charles Bloxam.

Abel's four years at the Royal Military Academy served to foster his interest in explosives, but it was during his thirty-four years, beginning in 1854, as Ordnance Chemist at the Royal Arsenal and at Woolwich that he consolidated and developed his reputation as one of the international leaders in his field. In 1860 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society, but it was his studies during the 1870s into the chemical changes that occur during explosions, and which were the subject of numerous papers, that formed the backbone of his work. It was he who established the means of storing gun-cotton without the danger of spontaneous explosion, but he also developed devices (the Abel Open Test and Close Test) for measuring the flashpoint of petroleum. He also became interested in metal alloys, carrying out much useful work on their composition. A further avenue of research occurred in 1881 when he was appointed a member of the Royal Commission set up to investigate safety in mines after the explosion that year in the Sealham Colliery. His resultant study on dangerous dusts did much to further understanding on the use of explosives underground and to improve the safety record of the coal-mining industry. The achievement for which he is most remembered, however, came in 1889, when, in conjunction with Sir James Dewar, he invented cordite. This stable explosive, made of wood fibre, nitric acid and glycerine, had the vital advantage of being a "smokeless powder", which meant that, unlike the traditional ammunition propellant, gunpowder ("black powder"), the firer's position was not given away when the weapon was discharged. Although much of the preliminary work had been done by the Frenchman Paul Vieille, it was Abel who perfected it, with the result that cordite quickly became the British Army's standard explosive.

Abel married, and was widowed, twice. He had no children, but died heaped in both scientific honours and those from a grateful country.

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SUBJECT AREA: Electricity

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Crookes entered the Royal College of Chemistry at the age of 15, and from 1850 to 1854 held the appointment of Assistant at the college. In 1854 he became Superintendent of the Meteorological Department at the Radcliffe Observatory in Oxford. He moved to a post at the College of Science in Chester the following year. Soon after this he inherited a large fortune and set up his own private laboratory in London. There he studied the nature of electrical discharges in gases at low pressure and discovered the dark space (later named after him) that surrounds the negative electrode, or cathode. He also established that the rays produced in the process (subsequently shown by J.J.Thompson to be a stream of electrons) not only travelled in straight lines, but were also capable of producing heat and/or light upon impact with suitable anode materials. Using a variety of new methods to investigate these "cathode" rays, he applied them to the spectral analysis of compounds of selenium and, as a result, in 1861 he discovered the element thallium, finally establishing its atomic weight in 1873. Following his discovery of thallium, he became involved in two main lines of research: the properties of rarified gases, and the investigation of the elements of the "rare earths". It was also during these experiments that he discovered the principle of the Crookes radiometer, a device in which light is converted into rotational motion and which used to be found frequently in the shop windows of English opticians. Also among the fruits of this work were the Crookes tubes and the development of spectacle lenses with differential ranges of radiational absorption. In the 1870s he became interested in spiritualism and acquired a reputation for his studies of psychic phenomena, but at the turn of the century he returned to traditional scientific investigations. In 1892 he wrote about the possibility of wireless telegraphy. His work in the field of radioactivity led to the invention of the spinthariscope, an early type of detector of alpha particles. In 1900 he undertook investigations into uranium which led to the study of scintillation, an important tool in the study of radioactivity.

While the theoretical basis of his work has not stood the test of time, his material discoveries, observations and investigations of new facts formed a basis on which others such as J.J. Thomson were to develop subatomic theory. His later involvement in the investigation of spiritualism led to much criticism, but could be justified on the basis of a belief in the duty to investigate all phenomena.

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KF / MG

χρόνος, ου, ὁ (Hom.+)

① an indefinite period of time during which some activity or event takes place, time, period of time πολὺς χρόνος a long time (PGiss 4, 11; PStras 41, 39; ApcSed 13:5; Jos., C. Ap. 1, 278 Just., D. 7, 1) Mt 25:19; J 5:6 (πολὺν ἤδη χ. as Jos., Ant. 8, 342; 19, 28). πλείων χρ. a longer time (Diod S 1, 4, 3; Dio Chrys. 78 [29], 15; SIG 421, 38; 548, 11; PPetr II, 9, 2, 3; Jos., Ant. 9, 228) Ac 18:20. ἱκανὸς χρόνος considerable time, a long time (ἱκανός 3b) Lk 8:27; Ac 8:11; 14:3; 27:9; Qua 2. μικρὸς χρ. (Is 54:7) J 7:33; 12:35; Rv 6:11; 20:3; IEph 5:1. ὀλίγος (Aristot., Phys. 218b, 15; SIG 709, 11; PPetr II, 40a, 14; Just., D. 2, 6; Ath. 7, 3) Ac 14:28; 2 Cl 19:3; Hs 7:6; AcPl Ha 9, 26 (restored after Aa I 112, 14). πόσος; Mk 9:21 (ApcMos 31; Just., D. 32, 4). τοσοῦτος (Lucian, Dial. Deor. 1, 1; ParJer 5:18; Jos., Bell. 2, 413) J 14:9 (τοσούτῳ χρόνῳ as Epict. 3, 23, 16); Hb 4:7. ὅσος Mk 2:19; Ro 7:1; 1 Cor 7:39; Gal 4:1; cp. Hs 6, 4, 1 (ὅσος 1b). ὁ πᾶς χρόνος the whole time, all the time (Appian, Bell. Civ. 2, 132 §553; Jos., Ant. 3, 201; Just., D. 4, 5) Ac 20:18; AcPlCor 2:4; cp. Ac 1:21. ἐν παντὶ χρόνῳ at every time D 14:3. χρόνον τινά for a time, for a while (Arrian, Anab. Alex. 6, 6, 5; Synes., Prov. 2, 3 p. 121d) 1 Cor 16:7; Hs 7:2. τῷ χρόνῳ in time (Herodas 4, 33 χρόνῳ) 9, 26, 4. στιγμὴ χρόνου (s. στιγμή) Lk 4:5. τὸ πλήρωμα τοῦ χρόνου (πλήρωμα 5) Gal 4:4 (cp. Pind., Fgm. 134 Bowra=147 Schr. foll. by BSnell ἐν χρόνῳ δʼ ἔγεντʼ Ἀπόλλων). Certain special verbs are used w. χρόνος: διαγενέσθαι Ac 27:9 (s. διαγίνομαι), διατρίβειν (q.v.) Ac 14:3, 28, πληρωθῆναι 7:23; 1 Cl 25:2; Hs 6, 5, 2 (πληρόω 2). χρόνον ἐπέχω (q.v. 3) Ac 19:22; ἔχω (q.v. 7b) J 5:6; ποιέω (q.v. 5c) Ac 15:33; 18:23; βιόω (q.v.) 1 Pt 4:2.—Pl. χρόνοι of a rather long period of time composed of several shorter ones (Diod S 1, 5, 1; 5, 9, 4; Ael. Aristid. 46 p. 312 D.; UPZ 42, 45 [162 B.C.]; JosAs 13:12; SibOr 3, 649; AcPlCor 2:10; Just. A I, 13, 3 al.; Tat. 1, 1; Iren. 1, 15, 4 [Harv. I 153, 1]; Hippol. Ref. 9, 10, 11; Did., Gen. 24, 9) χρόνοι αἰώνιοι (αἰώνιος 1) Ro 16:25; 2 Ti 1:9; Tit 1:2. ἀρχαῖοι χρ. Pol 1:2. χρόνοι ἱκανοί (ἱκανός 3b) Lk 8:27 v.l.; 20:9; 23:8. πολλοὶ χρόνοι (πολύς 2aαב Yet χρόνοι could somet. = years: Diod S 4, 13, 3 ἐκ πολλῶν χρόνων=over a period of many years; 33, 5a μετὰ δέ τινας χρόνους=after a few years; Ps.-Callisth. 2, 33 ed. CMüller of the age of a child ἦν χρόνων ὡσεὶ δώδεκα; Mitt-Wilck. I/2, 129, 14 [346 A.D.]; Lex. Vindob. p. 19, 104 ἀφήλικες ἄνδρες μέχρι τῶν κε´ χρόνων; Philip of Side: Anecdota Gr. Oxon. ed. JCramer IV 1837 p. 246 ἑκατὸν ἔτη … καὶ μετὰ ἄλλους ἑκατὸν χρόνους; Cyrill. Scyth. 45, 5; 108, 8 and oft. Frequently in later Byzantine writers, e.g. Constantin. Porphyr. ed. GMoravcsik ’49 p. 332 [index]) Lk 8:29; 1 Cl 42:5; 44:3. (οἱ) χρ. τῆς ἀγνοίας Ac 17:30. ἀποκαταστάσεως πάντων 3:21. οἱ νῦν χρ. 2 Cl 19:4. οἱ πρότεροι χρ. Hs 9, 20, 4. οἱ καθʼ ἡμᾶς χρ. (Proclus In Pla., Tim. 40cd ἐν τοῖς κατʼ αὐτὸν χρόνοις [FBoll, Sternglaube und Sterndeutung ’66, 95]) MPol 16:2. εἰς τοὺς ἡμετέρους χρόνους Qua 2. ἐπʼ ἐσχάτου τῶν χρ. 1 Pt 1:20. χρόνοι w. καιροί (the same juxtaposition: Demosth., Ep. 2, 3; Straton of Lamps. [300 B.C.], Fgm. 10 Wehrli ’50; PLond I, 42, 23 p. 30 [168 B.C.]; PCairMasp 159, 36; 167, 45. Cp. Ael. Aristid. 46 p. 291 and 290 D.; Ath. 22, 4. On the difference betw. the two Demosth., Ep. 5, 6) Ac 1:7; 1 Th 5:1; GMary 463, 1 (s. καιρός, end).—Both sing. and pl. are very oft. governed by prepositions: by ἄχρι (q.v. 1aα); διά w. the gen. (διά A 2), w. the acc. (διά B 2a); ἐκ (MPol 22:3; s. ἐκ 5a); ἐν (Menand., Peric. 546 S. [=296 Kö.] ἐν τούτῳ τῷ χρόνῳ; CPR 13, 2; 23, 23; Jer 38:1) Ac 1:6; IEph 5:1; ἐπί w. dat. (ἐπί 18b) 2 Cl 19:4, w. acc. (ἐπί 18c); κατά w. acc. (κατά B 2); μετά w. acc. (μετά B 2); πρό (πρό 2).

② a point of time consisting of an occasion for some event or activity, time, occasion ὁ χρόνος τῆς ἐπαγγελίας the time for the fulfillment of the promise Ac 7:17; τῆς παροικίας 1 Pt 1:17; τῆς πίστεως B 4:9; D 16:2; τῆς ἀπάτης καὶ τρυφῆς Hs 6, 5, 1; cp. 6, 4, 4. ὁ χρ. τοῦ φαινομένου ἀστέρος the time when the star appeared Mt 2:7. ἐπλήσθη ὁ χρ. τοῦ τεκεῖν αὐτήν Lk 1:57 (πίμπλημι 1bβ.—Ps.-Callisth. 1, 12 τελεσθέντος τοῦ χρόνου τοῦ τεκεῖν). Cp. also Mt 2:16; Lk 18:4; Ac 1:6; 13:18, Hb 5:12; 11:32; 1 Pt 4:3; Jd 18; Dg 9:1, 6; Hs 5, 5, 3.

③ a period during which someth. is delayed, respite, delay (Aeschyl., Pers. 692; Menand., Dyscolus 186; Diod S 10, 4, 3; Lucian, Syr. D. 20; Vi. Aesopi I c. 21 p. 278, 3 χρόνον ᾔτησε; Wsd 12:20; Jos., Bell. 4, 188 ἂν ἡμεῖς χρόνον δῶμεν, Vi. 370) ἔδωκα αὐτῇ χρόνον ἵνα μετανοήσῃ Rv 2:21 (Diod S 17, 9, 2 διδοὺς μετανοίας χρόνον). χρόνος οὐκέτι ἔσται there should be no more delay 10:6 (cp. 9:20; Goodsp., Probs. 200f).—For the history of the word s. KDietecrich, RhM n.s. 59, 1904, 233ff.—GDelling, D. Zeitverständnis des NTs ’40; OCullmann, Christus u. d. Zeit ’46, Engl. transl. Christ and Time, FFilson ’50, 3d ed. ’64, esp. 49f; 51–55; JWilch, Time and Event (OT) ’69.—B. 954. Schmidt, Syn. II 54–72. DELG. M-M. DNP II 1174f. ENDT. TW. Sv. Cp. αἰών.