Opuntia

Orang

the various forms of cards' for testing young woman of respectable family, vision, such as those containing different daughter of a citizen or a peasant, and sizes and kinds of letter types, signs, etc. pledged to a chaste and quiet life. In Other instruments seen in fully equipped earlier times only virgins, later, women examination rooms are: the sphygmoma- of advanced years, were selected for this nometer for testing blood pressure; the position. In the earliest period the oracle amblyoscope (specially useful in study- could be consulted only once a year, in ing ocular myology) for measuring the the spring; but after it had grown in distance of the eyes individually from the importance it gave replies usually on the center of the nose; the perimeter and the seventh day of each month. It was usual corneal microscope; the phorometer for for those who took the advice of the testing the power of the optical muscles, oracle to make rich presents to the god. and so on. By this means a vast amount of wealth

Opuntia (o-pun'shi-a), a genus of was amassed at Delphi. Among the Del

Or, resents gold. See Heraldry.

in heraldry, the tincture that rep

Besides the oracles of Jupiter and Apollo at Dodona and Delphi, that of Trophonius, in Boeotia, may be mentioned as having been held in high estimation. There were many other oracles in Greece. but of less repute. Among the other most noted oracles of antiquity were that of Jupiter Ammon in the desert of Libya, that of the Branchidæ in Ionia, of Pella, in Macedonia, of Sinope in Paphlagonia, of the head of Orpheus at Lesbos, etc.

plants of the Cactus order, phic priesthood there was without doubt having stems consisting of flat joints for centuries an honest belief that they broader above than below, but in process were in a position really to discover the of growth losing this appearance. Their will of Apollo, and best able to give the native country is South America. Many expected advice. And up to a certain point have handsome flowers, and some yield a they actually were able to do this. To pleasant sub-acid fruit. O. Tuna is cul- Delphi came news, information, experitivated in Mexico for the cochineal insect. ences of the most varied kind; and among See Indian-fig, Prickly-pear. the priesthood of the temple there was gradually developed a very definite tradition and a sure practice in utilizing Orach, Came of several plants of pose was to announce what was to happen ORACHE (or'ach), is the popu- this knowledge. Though the main purthe genus Atriplex, order Chenopodiaceæ. in certain circumstances, Delphi wielded A cultivated species (A. hortensis) is a decisive religious influence and took an known as garden or mountain spinach, active and important part in the imbeing used as a substitute for spinach. provement of morals. Oracle (ora-kl; Lat. oraculum, from orare, to pray), among the ancients, the reply of a deity or god, through an inspired priest, to some inquiry; also the place where a deity might be consulted; the holy of holies in the Jewish temple. By far the most important of the oracles of Greece, and for that matter of the ancient world, was that of Apollo at Delphi. Pytho, the ancient place of sacrifice belonging to the territory of Phocian Crissa, was situated near Delphi, on a plateau on the southern declivity of Parnassus, beneath two towering peaks, and close by a cavern from which stupefying vapors arose. It appears from the time of the Dorian migration in the possession of Apollo and connected with Apolline prophecy. A woman, who had been thrown into convulsions by the vapors, announced the oracles. She was named the Pythia and was prepared for her duty by previous ablutions in the fountain of Castalia, and being crowned with laurel, was seated upon a tripod similarly adorned, which was placed over the chasm whence the divine afflatus proceeded. Her inspired words, while thus situated, were interpreted by the priests. quadrumanous mammal, the The announcements of the oracle by those Pongo pygmæus, or Simia atyrus, one by whom it was consulted were originally of the anthropoid or man-like apes or made in verse, but they were subsequently monkeys. This animal seems to be congiven in prose. The Pythia was a robust fined to Borneo, Sumatra and Malacca.

It appears from the edicts of the emperors Theodosius, Gratian, and Valentinian, that oracles existed and were occasionally consulted till as late as A. D. 358.

Oran (ō-rän'), a seaport of Algeria, capital of province of same name. The town rises in the form of an amphitheater, has now largely a European character, and is strongly fortified. Chief exports: cereals, esparto and alfa grass, wine, olives, etc. Pop. 123,086, of whom nearly half are French.-The province, forming a long belt along the Mediterranean, has an area of 44.616 sq. miles and a population of 1,230.195.

Orang (ō-rang′), or ORANG-OUTANG, 2

the fingers and toes flattened. They Orange, Connecticut, 7 miles s. w. of

steady. At birth the head of the orang Orange, in Co., Massachusetts, on a town (township) of Frank

Orangemen

or GARIEP, a river in

Oratory

collegiate institutions for colored students. found in paying quantities, valuable coal Pop. (1920) 7290. mines exist, and the colony is said to Orangemen, the members of a secret abound in mineral wealth. Gold was first society founded in the discovered here in 1887. The Dutch Renorth of Ireland in 1795, to uphold the formed Church is the dominant religion, Protestant religion and political ascend- and a Dutch dialect the present language ency, and to oppose the Catholic religion of the colony. The capital is Bloemfonand influence and their secret societies. tein, a pretty, well-built city, containing The title of the association was adopted a population of 33,883. In 1909 it bein honor of William III of England, came a member of the Union of South prince of Orange. The head of the asso- Africa under its original name of Orange ciation is the Imperial Grand Lodge with Free State. its imperial grand-master; then there are Oratorio (or-a-to'ri-ō; Italian oratorio, grand lodges, grand county lodges, district a small chapel, the place and subordinate lodges, spread over Ire- where these compositions were first perland, Great Britain, United States, and formed), a sacred musical composition some of the British colonies, especially consisting of airs, recitatives, duets, trios, Canada. In 1835 the society was dis- quartettes, choruses, etc., with full orches solved in consequence of intrigues in the tral and sometimes organ accompaniment, army, but revived in 1845. Great demon- the subjects being generally taken from Its origin has been usually strations take place annually on the 1st Scripture. and 12th of July, the anniversaries of the ascribed to St. Filippo de Neri, who, in battles of the Boyne and Aughrim, and 1570, founded the congregation of the Orencounters of processions of the opposite atory in Rome, one of the objects of which parties are apt to be the cause of serious tive as possible. Its increasing popularity was to render religious services as attracdisturbances. The Loyal Orange Institu- induced poets of eminence to supply texts tion in the United States numbers for these works. From the rude begin150,000. nings of oratorio, which might be held Orange River, South Africa, form- sentazione di amina e di corpo, in 1600, to exist in Emilio del Cavaliere's Rappreing part of the north boundary of Cape the art progressed until it reached its high Colony, and falling after a total course of expression in the German Passion music, about 1300 miles into the Atlantic. It notably that written by J. S. Bach. In has its source in the Kathlamba or Dra- England Handel brought the oratorio into kensburg range. Its course is winding, popularity by the sheer excellence of his and it has no value as a navigable stream. productions, and he has been the The area of its basin is 325,000 sq. miles. inspiration to writers in this form Its chief tributary is the Vaal. of music to the present day. Among Orange River Colony, now known the most notable examples of oratorio as ORANGE are the Passion According to St. MatFREE STATE, Union of South Africa. It thew, by Bach; the Messiah and Israel in has Cape Province on S. and S. W., Egypt, by Handel; the Creation, by Bechuanaland on N. W., Transvaal on Haydn; the Mount of Olives, by BeethoN., Natal on E., Basutoland on S. E.; ven; the Last Judgment, by Spohr; Saint area about 50,000 square miles. Pop. Paul and Elijah, by Mendelssohn. Schu526,906, of whom 175.435 are whites. It bert left a remarkable fragment of an was founded in 1835-36 by Dutch settlers oratorio called Lazarus. Among the orafrom Cape Colony, annexed by Britain in torios by living composers may be men1848 in order to put a stop to the Boer tioned The Light of the World and The outrages upon natives; then in 1854 it Prodigal Son, by Sir Arthur Sullivan; was recognized as an independent state. The Rose of Sharon, by A. C. Mackenzie: In 1899 it joined the South African Re- The Deluge and Ruth, by F. H. Cowen. public in declaring war against Britain. The dramatic oratorio should be distinThe year following it was proclaimed a guished from its less secular form as exBritish colony by General Roberts. Lying emplified in the earlier German producabout 5000 feet above the sea-level, the tions. The 19th century tendency toward country, chiefly vast, undulating plains, dramatic cantata is shown in Dvorak's is cold in winter, with violent thunder- St. Ludmilla and Liszt's St. Elizabeth storms and long droughts in summer. It and Christus. PRIESTS OF THE, a religious

is, however, very healthy and favorable to Oratory, order founded in Rome by St. European constitutions. Pasturing is the

chief occupation, and wool, hides and Filippo de Neri in 1570, for the study of ostrich feathers the principal exports. theology, and for superintending the reDiamonds and other precious stones are ligious exercises of the devout, visiting

Orbiculina

the sick, etc. The members live in community, but are not bound by monastic Vows; they are at liberty to withdraw at any time, and pay a fixed sum towards the common expenses.

Orchidaceæ

Fruit cultivation is carried on most extensively on the continent of Europe and the United States, the apple and peach being very largely cultivated in some of the States, and yielding the finest Orbiculina (or-bi-ku-lē'na), a genus and most delicious fruit. Canada also of minute foraminifers, yields an abundance of fine apples. found alive in tropical seas, as also fos- Orchard-house, designed for the culglass-roofed shed sil in the tertiaries. They derive their name from their flattened globular shape. tivation of fruits to greater advantage Orbit (or'bit), in astronomy, the path than in the open air. The fruit trees of a planet or comet; the curve- in it are not allowed to attain any great line which a planet describes in its peri- size. They are planted in pots which odical revolution round its central body. have a large hole in the bottom, and The orbits of the planets are elliptical, through this the smaller roots pass to having the sun in one of the foci; and the take nourishment from a specially preplanets all move in these ellipses by this pared soil below. These roots are cut law, that a straight line drawn from the off after the fruit is gathered, and the center of the sun to the center of any trees then rest during the winter. one of them, termed the radius vector, al- Orchardson (orchard-sun), SIR WILways describes equal areas in equal times. Also the squares of the times of the planetary revolutions are as the cubes of their mean distances from the sun. The satellites also move in elliptical orbits, having their respective primaries in one of the foci. The elements of an orbit are those quantities by which its position and magnitude, for the time, are determined; such as the major axis and eccentricity, the longitude of the node, and inclination of the plane to the ecliptic, and the longitude of the perihelion. Or'cades. See Orkney Islands. Orcagna (or-kányà), ANDREA DI CI

LIAM QUILLER, painter, born in Edinburgh (1835-1910). He painted portraits and exhibited in the R. S. A. till 1863, when be removed to London. He became an associate of the Royal Academy in 1868, and full academician in 1879. He is among the first of British incident painters, a fine colorist, and most of his works are skilfully dramatic and picturesque. Among his more notable pictures are The Challenge, Christopher Sly, The Queen of the Swords, Napoleon on Board the Bellerophon, Un Mariage de Convenance, Salon of Mme. Recamier, The First Cloud and The Young Duke.

Orchella (or-kel'à), the name of sev

eral species of Roccella, a genus of lichens, originally brought from the Levant, and employed from very early times as a dye agent. Large quantities are gathered in the maritime rocks of the Canary and Cape Verde Islands. A purple and a red dye, known as orchil or archil, are prepared from them.

ONE, born about 1308; died about 1386; one of the greatest of the early Florentine artists after Giotto. Painting, sculpture, architecture and mosaic work were all within the sphere of his artistic genius; and his productions compare favorably with the best of a period so rich and distinguished in the art of Italy. As a painter he executed Orchestra (or'kes-tra), the space in

theaters between the seats occupied by the spectators and the stage, appropriated by the Greeks to the chorus and the musicians, by the Romans to the

to the musicians. The name is also used for the part of concert rooms assigned to the vocal and instrumental performers; and, lastly, is applied to the instrumental performers, collectively taken.

the beautiful frescoes in the church S. Maria Norella at Florence; the chapel San Michele and its magnificent tabernacle in the same city are grand memorials of his architectural and sculp- senators, and in our modern theaters tural talent. His style is remarkable for exquisite design, graceful pose, and delicate execution. Boccaccio has perpetuated his name in his Decamerone. Orchard (or'chard), an enclosure devoted to the culture of fruit trees, especially the apple, the pear, the plum, the peach and the cherry. The most suitable position for an orchard is a declivity lying well exposed to the sun and sheltered from the colder winds, but yet not too much shut in. The soil should vary according to the kind of fruit cultivated, and it is generally allowed to produce only grass besides the fruit trees.

A modern orchestra in the last sense consists of stringed, wind and percussion instruments, in varied proportions, according to the number of instrumentalists. The stringed instruments should greatly outnumber the wind instruments, and those latter the instruments of percussion.

Orchidaceae (or-ki-da'se-e), or OR

CHIDS, an extensive or

Orchidacea

(or'kil). See Archil.

Ordeal

der of endogens (nearly 2000 species be- Orchil ing known), consisting of herbaceous plants or shrubs, with fibrous or tuberous Orchis (or-kis), the typical genus of the order Orchidaceæ, compris

roots; a short stem or a pseudo-bulb; en

tire, often sheathing leaves; and showy ing hardy perennials with tuberous fleshy flowers, with a perianth of six segments roots, containing much starch; natives of in two rows, mostly colored, one, the low- Europe, temperate Asia, and a few of est, generally differing in form from the North America. O. spectabilis, a pretty rest, and often spiral. The essential

form of these flowers is determined by the presence of this six-segmented perianth, the three outer segments of which are a kind of calyx, the three inner forming a kind of corolla. By adhesion or abortion the parts of the perianth are sometimes reduced to five or three, and springing from its sides are the six stamens whose anthers contain pollen-grains. They are natives of all countries, but very cold and dry climates produce but few species; some of them grow in the ground, but a large number are epiphytes, growing upon trees; and it is above all in the great virgin forests of South America and of the East Indies that the orchids abound. The orchids attract much attention, and are cultivated with zeal little plant, is found in shady woods and on account of the beauty or curious among rocks. O. mascula yields salep. shapes of the flowers (which often as- See Orchidacea. sume the forms of reptiles, insects, and other denizens of the animal kingdom), or for their not unfrequently fragrant smells. The cultivation of orchids has of recent years become a sort of mania, large sums being often paid for new or rare varieties. The nutritive substance

Butterfly Orchid (Oncidium Papilio). called salep is prepared from the roots and tubers of several species; the fragrant vanilla is obtained from two species of a genus of that name. The figure gives an illustration of one interesting species; for others see Orchis and Vanilla.

The Salep Orchis (Orchis mascula).

Orcin, or ORCINE (or'sin; CHO2), a peculiar coloring matter obtained from orchella. When exposed to air charged with vapors of ammonia it assumes by degrees a fine violet color; when dissolved in ammonia it acquires a deep blood-red color.

Orcus (or'kus), a name among the Ro-
mans for Tartarus or the in-

fernal regions.
Ordeal (or'deal), an ancient form of
trial to determine guilt or inno-
cence, practiced by the rude nations of
Europe, in the East, and by the savage
tribes of Africa. In England there were
two principal kinds of ordeal, fire-ordeal
and water-ordeal; the former being con-
fined to persons of higher rank, the lat-
ter to the common people. Both might
be performed by deputy, but the princi-
pal was to answer for the success of the
trial. Fire-ordeal was performed either
by taking in the hand a piece of red-hot
iron, or by walking barefoot and blind-
fold over glowing coals or over nine red-
hot ploughshares laid lengthwise at un-
equal distances; and if the person es-
caped unhurt, he was adjudged innocent,
otherwise he was condemned as guilty.
Water-ordeal was performed either by
plunging the bare arm to the elbow in
boiling water, escape from injury being
considered proof of innocence; or by
casting the person suspected into a river
or pond, and if he floated without an
effort to swim it was an evidence of