OAKLEY 503 OATH ing region. The city has industries in flour, pottery, brass goods, leather, can- ning and fruit-packing, shipbuilding, metallurgical works, cordage and jute, and smelting. The assessed valuation exceeds $250,000,000. Pop. (1910) 150,- 174; (1920) 216,361. OAKLEY, VIOLET, American painter and designer; born in New York, 1874. Studied at Art Students' League, Penn. Academy of Fine Arts, and in Paris under Aman Jean, Collin, and Lazar. First important work was painting 13 panels, illustrating "Founding of the State of Spiritual Liberty," for the Gov- ernor's reception room, State Capitol, Harrisburg, Pa. Decorated the churches All Souls and All Saints, New York, the Pennsylvania Academy, and many private residences. Awarded gold medal St. Louis Exposition, 1904. Medal of Honor Panama-Pacific Exposition, 1915. OAK PARK, a village of Illinois, in Cook CO., 9 miles W. of Chicago. It is situ- ated on the Chicago and Northwestern railroad. It is a residential suburb of Chi- cago and contains the Scoville Institute and several other important public build- ings. Pop. (1910) 19,444; (1920) 39,858. OASES, fertile spots in a desert, due to the presence of wells or of under- ground water supplies. The best known and most historicaDy famous are those of the Libyan Desert and the Sahara; they occur also in the deserts of Arabia and Persia, and in the Gobi. The French have created many oases in the Algerian deserts by sinking Artesian Wells (q. v.). The chief vegetation of the African oases is palms — especially date and doom palms ; with barley, rice, and millet, when the fertile area is large enough to admit of settled occupation. In the Libyan Desert are the oases of Siwa (where was the temple of Jupiter Ammon) ; in the N., Farafa, Bahriya, and Khargeh (the oasis tyiagna, 120 miles W. of Thebes). In the western Sahara, Tuat, 1,000 miles S. W. of Tripoli, is the best known; in the eastern Sahara are Fezzan, Gadames, Bilma and Air or Asben. See Desert. OAT, or OATS (Avena), a genus of edible grasses cultivated extensively in all temperate climates, and though princi- pally grown as food for horses largely used as human food. There are about 60 species, the principal of which are A. saUva (the common oat), A. nuda (naked oat, pileorn, or peelcorn), A. orientalis (Tartarian or Hungarian oat), A. brevis (short oat), A. strigosa (bristle-pointed oat), A. chinensis (Chinese oat), etc. The weight per bushel varies from 32 lbs. (U. S.) to 40 lbs, (Europe) ; the meal is about half the weight of the oats. The wild oat {A. fatua) is supposed to be the original of all the species, but its native country is unknown. In the calendar year 1918 the oat crop of the United States aggregated 1,538,359,000 bushels. See Oatmeal. OATES, TITTJS, an English impostor; son of a ribbon weaver; born in Oakham, England, in 1649. He took orders in the Church of England, and held benefices in Kent and Sussex; became afterward chaplain in the navy and was discharged for misconduct; turned Roman Catholic, and resided for some time at the Jesuit College of Valladolid and St. Omar, but was finally, in 1678, dismissed for re- peated misdemeanors. He returned to England and concocted the story of the famous Popish Plot. In the public ex- citement created by the story several eminent Catholics were executed, while Titus Oates was lodged handsomely in Whitehall, with a pension of $4,500 from Parliament. After the execution of Strafford, there was a revulsion of public opinion. He was convicted of perjui'y, sentenced to be pilloried five times a year, whipped from Aid gate to Newgate, and imprisoned for life. On the accession of William and Mary he was freed, enjoy- ing an ill-deserved pension of $1,500 a year. He died in London, England, July 12, 1705. OATH, a solemn affirmation or declara- tion made with an appeal to God for the truth of what is affirmed. By the ap- peal to the Supreme Being, the person making oath is understood to invoke His vengeance if that which is affirmed or de- clared is false; or, in case of a promissory oath, if the promise or obligation is will- fully broken. Oaths are of two kinds: (1) Assertory oaths, or those oaths by which the truth of a statement is af- firmed; as an oath sworn to the truth of an affidavit; (2) promissory oaths, or those oaths by which something is prom- ised, or an obligation is assumed; as, the oaths of witnesses; the oath of allegiance, by which the person taking the oath promises allegiance to the gov- ernment. Modern legislation has also provided particular forms of oaths, hav- ing permitted affirmations to be made by persons who have conscientious objec- tions to take an oath. Witnesses are allowed to swear to the truth of their evidence in any way which is binding on their consciences. Also a careless and blasphemous use of the name of the Divine Being, or of anything divine or sacred, either by way of appeal or im-
