Unicorn Plant

See Martynia.

Unitas Fratrum

See Moravians.

United Provinces

See Netherlands.

University Of Vermont

See Burlington.

Upolu

See Samoan Islands.

Upson

Upson, a W. county of Georgia, bounded S. W. by Flint river; area, 384 sq. m.; pop. in 1870, 9,430, of whom 4,565 were colored. The surface is hilly and the soil generally fertile. The Upson County railroad terminates at the county seat. The chief productions in 1870 were 26,594 bushels of wheat, 168,164 of Indian corn, 9,166 of oats, 17,186 of sweet potatoes, 22,695 lbs. of butter, 5,188 of wool, and 4,835 bales of cotton. There were 510 horses, 1,047 mules and asses, 1,238 milch cows, 2,641 other cattle, 1,193 sheep, and 7,558 swine; 2 manufactories of cotton goods, and 1 of cotton yarn. Capital, Thomaston.

Urania

Urania, one of the nine muses, daughter of Zeus by Mnemosyne. She was regarded as the muse of astronomy, and was usually represented with a little staff pointing at a celestial globe. Urania, " the celestial," was also an epithet of Aphrodite or Yenus, as the goddess of pure love, in distinction from Pandemos.

Uranus, Or Coelus (Gr. And Lat., Heaven)

Uranus, Or Coelus (Gr. And Lat., Heaven) in classical mythology, sometimes the son and sometimes the husband of Gaea or Terra. He preceded Saturn and Jupiter on the throne of heaven. By Gaea he was the father of Oceanus, Saturn, Tethys, Themis, Mnemosyne, the Cyclops, and others. He hated his children, and immediately after their birth confined them in Tartarus; but one of them, Saturn, at the instigation of Gaea, mutilated and dethroned him. From the drops of his blood sprang the Gigantes, and from the foam gathering around him in the sea, according to some accounts, Aphrodite or Venus.

Urbain Leblanc

Urbain Leblanc, a French veterinary surgeon, born near Bressuire, Nov. 26, 1796. He studied and taught at Alfort, and became in 1832 a surgeon to the prefecture of police in Paris, and in 1852 a member of the medical academy. He established an extensive farriery, and introduced various ingenious methods and instruments into the practice of his profession. He has published, with Trousseau, Anatomie chirurgicale des principaux animaux domestiqves (Paris, 1839), and with Follin, Traite de pathologie comparee (2 vols., 1855), besides other works.

Urchin Fish

See Sea Porcupine.

Urea

See Urine.

Urfa, Or Orfah

See Edessa, Mesopotamia.

Uric Acid

See Urine.

Urn

See Burial.

Ushant (Fr. Ouessant)

Ushant (Fr. Ouessant), the chief of seven islands known as Ues d'Ouessant, belonging to the department of Finistere, about 11 m. from the nearest coast of France, and 25 m. W. N. W. of Brest; extreme length nearly 5 m., breadth 3 m.; pop. about 2,400. The shores are bold and rocky, and the landing places few. The formation is mainly granitic, and the soil is fertile, with excellent meadows and pasture lands, and many horses and sheep are reared. The inhabitants are principally occupied in fishing. The lighthouse is in lat. 48° 28' N., lon. 5° 3' W. Off Ushant the British fleet under Sir Edward Hawke gained a victory over the French under Admiral Conflans on Nov. 20, 1759; and there was an indecisive action between the English under Admiral Keppel and the French under Count d'Orvilliers on July 27, 1778.