776 N T N Y and rates to be applied for the maintenance of separate schools, under their own special school-board ; but their teachers must hold the same Government certificates as others. The system includes provision for enforcing attendance of all children of school age, and, at the option of the trustees, making education free of all charge. The report of the minister of education for 1882 shows that there were in all 10-i collegiate institutes and high schools, 5013 public schools, and 193 Roman Catholic separate schools. The system thus thoroughly organized has be come a model for the other provinces of the Dominion, with the exception of Quebec, where the Roman Catholic Church has the control of the public schools, and a sepa rate school-system is allowed for the Protestant minority. Upper Canada College, founded at Toronto on the model of the great public schools of England, was en dowed with public lands, from which it IIOAV derives an annual income of $15,000 in addition to its fees. The University of Toronto and University College are endowed with lands from the proceeds of which an annual income of upwards of $67,000 is derived. The university pre scribes the requirements in all examinations, appoints ex aminers, and confers degrees in the faculties of law, medi cine, and arts. University College gives instruction in the departments of arts and science ; but denominational and other colleges are admitted to affiliation, and their students can proceed to degrees in the university. University powers are also exercised by Victoria College, Cobourg, under the control of the Methodist Church ; Queen s Col lege, Kingston, under the control of the Presbyterian Church ; and Trinity College, Toronto, and the Western University, London, both under the control of the Church of England. Administration. Like the other provinces of Canada, Ontario is under a lieutenant-governor, appointed for a term of four years by the governor-general in council ; the executive council numbers 6 ministers responsible to the local legislature or house of assembly, which consists of 88 members. The province is represented by 24 senators in the Dominion Senate, and by 92 members in the House of Commons. In addition to the counties and repre sentative towns there are four provisional districts : Algoma, Muskoka, Parry Sound, and Manitoulin. History. Lakes Ontario and Nipissing Avere visited by Cham- plain in 1615, and Lake Superior by traders in 1660. Perrot took possession of the district round Lake Huron in 1671. La Salle founded Niagara in 1679, and in the same year the lakes Avere explored to Lake Michigan. A fort Avas built at Toronto in 1749. Forming originally part of French Canada, Ontario, then consist ing of a few forts and trading ports, Avas conceded Avith that pro vince to Britain. Having previously formed part of the province of Quebec, it Avas, under the name of Upper Canada, formed in 1791 into a distinct province, the first parliament being held at Niagara, 17th November 1792. During the Avar Avith the United States in 1812-15 the province Avas the seat of several conflicts. Political dissent preA^ailed in it from 1820 until, in 1837, it culminated in re bellion. In 1867 Upper Canada, under the name of Ontario, Avas made the chief province of the Dominion of Canada. (D. W. ) ONTENIENTE, an old town of Spain, in the province of Valencia, stands on an elevation on the right bank of the Clariano or Onteniente, a sub-tributary of the Jucar, about 1 1 miles south-south-west from Jativa. It has three churches, a good town-hall, and a palace of the dukes of Almodovar. Linen and Avoollen cloth, paper, brandy, and earthenware are manufactured ; and there is also some trade in the cereals, wine, and oil produced in the neigh bouring district, which is very fertile. In 1877 the ayun- tamiento had a population of 11,727. ONTOLOGY. See METAPHYSIC. ONYX, a variety of agate consisting of layers of varie gated chalcedony, arranged in parallel bands. The colours of the successive strata vary in different stones, but in the typical onyx they are black and AA r hite. If one of the layers consists of the broAA r n chalcedony known as " sard " or the red variety called "carnelian," the resulting stone is termed a " sardonyx." It was probably this kind of stone that originally suggested the name "onyx" (from 6Vi>, a nail), since the contrast between its layers remotely resembles that betAveen the flesh-coloured part of the finger-nail and the Avhite lunula at its root. It was the practice of certain Greek writers to restrict the word 6Vi> to the mineral in its natural condition, and to designate it, when Avorked into ornamental forms, by the diminutive 6vviov. When an onyx presents a thin layer of whitish chalcedony spread over a black ground, the upper stratum often exhibits a bluish tinge, and collectors at the present day term such a stone a nicolo, evidently a corruption of the Italian diminu tive onicolo, or "little onyx." India has for ages yielded the finest onyxes, and hence jeAvellers are in the habit of applying the expression " Ori ental onyx" to any stone distinguished by beauty of natural colour and by regularity of its layers. The true Indian stones are found as pebbles, associated with moss -agate, jasper, and other silicious minerals in river -gravels, the materials of which have been derived originally from the agate-nodules of trap-rocks, such as those Avhich occur on an enormous scale in the Deccan. As far back as the first cen tury the author of the Periplus of the Red Sea mentions the onyx among the products of Plythanse, a locality which may probably be identified with Paithon on the Godavari, whence agates are obtained even at the present day. He further states that the onyxes Avere taken doAA-n to Bary- gaza, the modern Broach, AA here a great trade in agates is still carried on. It appears that the lapidaries of Broach and of Cambay are noAv supplied with raw stones chiefly from Ratanpur, in the territory of the rajah of Rajpipla, Avhere the gravels are systematically Avorked for the sake of their agates, jasper, onyx, and other silicious stones. See Ball s Economic Geology of India, 1881, p. 503. The principal European locality for onyx is the neighbour hood of Oberstein on the Nahe, a river Avhich floAvs into the Rhine at Bingen. Near Idar, about two miles from Ober stein, is a trap-hill called the Galgenberg, vhich for cen turies AA r as largely Avorked by means of tunnels driven into the hillside, in order to extract the nodules of agate AA hich are embedded in the melaphyre forming the rock. When these nodules are broken open they occasionally yield a banded chalcedony which serves admirably for onyxes. The quarries have, however, been abandoned for many years in consequence of the discovery of larger and finer nodules in Uruguay, principally among the gravels of the Tarquarie and the Rio Pardo. These agates are still sent over in large quantities to Oberstein, where the cutting and polish ing of such silicious stones form almost the sole industry of the locality. Coming from South America, they are commonly known in trade as "Brazilian agates"; and it is from these agates that most of our onyx is noAv obtained. It is but rarely that the South- American agates present in their natural condition sufficient diversity of colour to constitute a good onyx, but for many years it has been the practice of the German agate-Avorkers to colour these stones artificially. By this means an agate of dull colour may be rapidly converted into a deep-tinted onyx, the success ive layers becoming sharply defined and vividly coloured during the process of staining. How this dyeing is effected has been described in the article AGATE, vol. i. p. 277. The onyx is largely employed for ring-stones, brooches, beads, and other ornamental objects; but its chief use is as a material for camei and intagli. By taking advantage of the different tints of the strata in this stone, a skilful artist is enabled to produce effects of a very pleasing character. Among the finest examples of ancient stone-
