Opium
Opium. The Drug Known In Commerce As Opium Is Derived From The Immature Fruits Of Papaver Somniferum (fig. I), Family Papaveraceae, By Slightly Incising The Fruits And Collecting And Drying The Exuded Milky Juice. There Are Several Forms Of The Plant In Cultivation For Yielding Opium. The Truly Wild Plant ...
Oporto
Oporto, The Second City Of Portugal, About 3 M. From The Mouth Of The Douro, In 41° 8' N. And 8° 37' W. Pop. (1930) 232,280. The Part Of The City South Of The Douro Is Known As Villa Nova De Gaia. Oporto Is The See Of A Bishop. It ...
Opossum
Opossum, The Name Of Sev Eral American Marsupials, Also Applied In Australia To The Phal Angers (q.v.). True Opossums Are Found Almost Throughout America (see Marsupialia). They Form The Family Didelphyidae,. Dis Tinguished By The Opposable First Hind-toe And By The Dentition. They Are Small, Nocturnal Animals, With Long Noses, ...
Oppian
Oppian (gr. 'orrtavos), The Name Of The Authors Of Two (or Three) Didactic Poems In Greek Hexameters, Formerly Identi Fied, But Now Generally Regarded As Two Different Persons. (i) Oppian Of Corycus (or Anabarzus) In Cilicia, Who Flourished In The Reign Of Marcus Aurelius (emperor A.d. 161-180). Accord Ing To ...
Optics
Optics. The Study Of Optics Is Usually Divided Into Three Parts: Physical Optics, Physiological Optics And Geometrical Optics. Physical Optics Is Primarily Concerned With The Nature And Prop Erties Of Light Itself And Is Treated Under Light. Physiological Optics Deals With The Mechanism Of Vision, And Is Treated Under Vision. ...
Optics 820
Optics 820 Which Depends Only On The Object Point (x, Y, Z). There Is Thus No Aberration In The Image Of This Point. Moreover The Aggregate Of These Object Points Forms A Surface. For E Satisfies A Homo Geneous Relation Of The Form 0(e, A, 13,7)=o, To Which We Can ...
Optimum Population
Optimum Population. The Origin Of This Term Is Not Clear. Since The World War It Has Come Into Common Use To Indicate A Conception Of The Relation Between Population And The Produce Of Industry To Which Prof. Edwin Cannan First Gave Clear Expression. The Optimum Theory Of Population Which Is ...
Options
Options. Option Dealing Is Practised Much More Exten Sively On The Continent Of Europe Than In Great Britain Or America, But A Fair Amount Of Business Of This Description Is Carried Out Daily On The London And American Stock Exchanges. Option Dealing Is A Complicated Matter, And On This Account ...
Optophone
Optophone, An Instrument Invented By E. E. Fournier D'albe In 1914 Which Enables The Blind To Read Ordinary Letter Press Such As Printed Books Or Newspapers. The Invention Thus Places Within Reach Of The Blind The Entire Range Of World Litera Ture, While Previously Their Only Means Of Reading—by Raised ...
Oracle
Oracle, A Special Place Where A Deity Is Supposed To Give A Response, By The Mouth Of An Inspired Priest, To The Enquiries Of His Votaries, Or The Actual Response. (lat. Oraculurn, From Orare, To Speak ; The Corresponding Greek Word Isgavrelov Or Xpnarhptov.) (see Divination, Magic, Omens.) The Whole ...
Oran
Oran, A City Of Algeria, Capital Of The Department And Mili Tary Division Of The Same Name. It Stands At The Head Of The Gulf Of Oran, On The Mediterranean, In 44' N., 41' W. The City Is 261 M. By Rail W.s.w. Of Algiers, 220 M. E. Of Gibraltar ...
Orange
Orange, A Town Of France, 18 M. N. Of Avignon On The P.l.m. Railway. Pop. (1931) 7,11o. Orange (arausio), Capital Of The Cavari, Was In 105 B.c. The Scene Of The Defeat Of A Roman Army By The Cimbri And Teutones. It Became After Caesar An Important Roman Colony. Its ...
Orange
Orange. The Plant That Produces The Familiar Fruit Of Commerce Is Closely Allied To The Citron, Lemon And Lime; All The Cultivated Forms Of The Genus Citrus (family Rutaceae) Are Nearly Related. The Numerous Kinds Of Orange Chiefly Differing In The External Shape, Size And Flavour Of The Fruit May ...
Orange Free State
Orange Free State, An Inland Province Of The Union Of South Africa. It Is Divided From Natal By The Drakenberg, From Basutoland By The Caledon River, From The Transvaal By The Vaal River And From The Cape Of Good Hope By The Orange River, And In The West By A ...
Orange_2
Orange, The Longest River Of South Africa, Almost Travers Ing The Continent From Ocean To Ocean. It Rises In Basutoland, Less Than 200 M. From The Indian Ocean, And Flows West, With Wide Sweeps South And North, To The Atlantic. It Drains, With Its Tribu Taries, An Area Estimated At ...
Orangemen
Orangemen. The Orange Society Was Formed In Co. Armagh After A Battle Between Protestants And Roman Catholics At The Diamond. It Was At First Purely Local And Defensive. It Soon Spread From Armagh To Other Parts Of Ulster. Iii The 19th Century Large Numbers Of Ulstermen Emigrated To The United ...
Oratorio
Oratorio, The Name Given To A Form Of Religious Music With Chorus, Solo Voices And Orchestra, Independent Of, Or At Least Separable From The Liturgy, And On A Larger Scale Than The Cantata (q.v.). Its History Is Involved In That Of Opera (see Aria And Opera), But Its Antecedents Are ...
Orbit
Orbit, In Astronomy, Is The Path Of A Heavenly Body Revolv Ing Around An Attracting Centre (from Lat. Orbita, A Track, Orbis, A Wheel) ; In Particular, It Denotes The Path Of A Planet Or Comet Around The Sun, Or Of A Satellite Around Its Controlling Planet. Swept Out By ...
Orcagna
Orcagna (c. 5308–c. 1368), Italian Painter, Sculptor, Worker In Mosaic And Architect, Whose Full Name Was Andrea Di Clone, Called Arcagnuolo, Was The Son Of A Florentine Gold Smith, Maestro Cione, Said To Have Been One Of The Principal Artists Who 'worked On The Magnificent Silver Frontal Of The High ...
Orchestra
Orchestra. In Ancient Greece The Opxj7arpa Was The Space Between The Auditorium And The Proscenium Or Stage, In Which Were Stationed The Chorus And The Instrumentalists. In Its Modern Acceptation The Word Means Either That Portion Of A The Atre Or Concert-hall Provided For The Accommodation Of The Instru Mentalists ...
Orchids
Orchids, The Name Given To Members Of The Orchid Family (orchidaceae), One Of The Most Numerous And Interesting Groups Of Flowering Plants, Usually With Beautiful And Often With Exceed Ingly Handsome And Highly Fragrant Flowers. Orchids Are Found In Moist Climates Very Widely Throughout The World, Except In The Polar ...
Orchomenus
Orchomenus (on Coins And Inscriptions, Erchomenos), The Name Borne By Two Cities Of Ancient Greece. I. A Boeotian City, Between The Cephissus River And Its Tribu Tary, The Melas, On A Long, Narrow Hill Projecting South From Mt. Acontium, On Every Side Admirably Situated To Be The Stronghold Of An ...
Ordeal
Ordeal, A Term Of Varying Meaning But Bearing The Special Sense Of The Mediaeval Lat. Dei Iudicium, A Miraculous Decision As To The Truth Of An Accusation Or Claim. The Ordeal In Principle, And Often In The Very Forms Used, Belongs To Ancient Culture. Some Ordeals, Which Possibly Represent Early ...
Order In Council
Order In Council, In Great Britain, An Order Issued By The Sovereign On The Advice Of The Privy Council, Or More Usually On The Advice Of A Few Selected Members Thereof. It Is The Modern Equivalent Of The Mediaeval Ordinance And Of The Proclamation So Frequently Used By The Tudor ...
Order Of Oddfellows
Oddfellows, Order Of, A Secret Benevolent And Social Society And Subsequently A Friendly Benefit Society Also, Having Mystic Signs Of Recognition, Initiatory Rites And Ceremonies, And Various Grades Of Dignity And Honour. Great Antiquity Has Been Claimed For The Order Of Oddfellows, But The Members Them Selves Now Generally Admit ...
Orderic Vitalis
Orderic Vitalis (1075–c. 1142), The Chronicler, Was The Son Of A French Priest, Odeler Of Orleans, Who Had Entered The Service Of Roger Montgomery, Earl Of Shrewsbury, And Had Re Ceived From His Patron A Chapel In That City. Orderic Was Sent At The Age Of Five To Learn His ...
Ordinary
Ordinary, In Canon Law, The Name Commonly Employed To Designate A Superior Ecclesiastic Exercising "ordinary" Jurisdic Tion (iurisdictionem Ordinariam), I.e., In Accordance With The Nor Mal Organization Of The Church. It Is Usually Applied To The Bishop Of A Diocese And To Those Who Exercise Jurisdiction In The Name Of ...
Ordnance
Ordnance, A General Term For Great Guns For Military And Naval Purposes, As Opposed To "small Arms" And Their Equip Ment ; Hence The Term Also Includes Miscellaneous Stores Under The Control Of The Ordnance Department As Organized. In England The Master-general Of The Ordnance, From Henry Viii.'s Time, Was ...
Ordovician System
Ordovician System, In Geology A Term Introduced By Lapworth In 1879 To Include Those Rocks—well Developed In The Welsh Region Formerly Inhabited By The Ordovices,—which Had Been Classed By Murchison As Lower Silurian And By Sedgwick As Upper Cambrian (see Silurian). In The Early Part Of Last Century All The ...
Ore Deposits
Ore Deposits. The Word "ore" Is Defined In The Oxford Dictionary As "a Native Mineral Containing A Precious Or Useful Metal In Such Quantities And In Such Chemical Combination As To Make Its Extraction Profitable," And This Is The Sense In Which It Is Used In Commerce And By Miners, ...
Ore Dressing
Ore Dressing Is An Important Process In The Field Of Mining (q.v.). It May Be Defined As Mechanical Concentration Whereby Valuable Minerals In An Ore Are Separated From Worthless Impurities Or Gangue And Is Distinguished From Metallurgy Which Employs Chemical Methods For Recovering Metals And Metallic Compounds From Rich Ores ...
Oregon
Oregon, Popularly Known As The "beaver State," Is One Of The North-western States Of The United States Of America, Lying On The Pacific Slope Between 42° And 46° 18' N. Lat., And 33' And 124° 32' W. Longitude. It Is Bounded On The North By Wash Ington, From Which It ...
Orel Or Orlov
Orel Or Orlov, A Province Of The Russian S.f.s.r., Sur Rounded By Those Of Bryansk, Kaluga, Tula, Tambov, Voronezh And Kursk. Area 29,973 Square Kilometres. Pop. (1926) 1,883,423. The Province Is Much Smaller Than The Pre-1917 Province Of The Same Name, Bryansk Being Now A Separate Province. Orel Forms Part ...
Orenburg
Orenburg, A Province Of The Russian S.f.s.r., Consisting Mainly Of The Former Orenburg And Orsk Districts Of The Much Larger Pre-1914 Province Of The Same Name. Area 57,201 Sq. Km. Pop. (1926) 674,199. It Is A Narrow Strip Lying Between Bash Kiria On The North And Kazakstan On The South, ...
Orestes
Orestes, In Greek Legend, Son Of Agamemnon And Cly Taemestra. According To The Homeric Story He Was Absent From Mycenae When His Father Returned From The Trojan War And Was Murdered By Aegisthus. Eight Years Later He Returned From Athens And Revenged His Father's Death By Slaying His Mother And ...
Organ
Organ, In Music, The Name Given To The Well-known Wind Instrument (from Gr. 6p-yavoy, Lat. Organum, Instrument). The Earliest Authentic Records Of The Organ Do Not Extend Beyond The Second Century B.c., But The Evolution Of The Instrument From The Syrinx (q.v.) Or Pan-pipe Goes Back To A Remote Period. ...
Organo Metallic Compounds
Organo-metallic Compounds Are Chemical Substances Containing A Metal Or Metalloid In Direct Association With One Or More Hydrocarbon Radicals. These Compounds Never Arise By Natural Processes In The Vegetable And Animal Kingdoms, Being Produced Synthetically By The Art Of The Chemist. They Have Played An Important Part In The Development ...
Oriental Cookery
Oriental Cookery Is Characterized By The Use Of Many Condiments, Often Making The Food Very "hot," And By The Use Of Very Sweet Dishes. In General, The Orient Prefers Main Dishes In Which Many Food Materials Have Been Combined Into One Appetizing Whole, And This Means Cutting Into Small Pieces. ...
Or Der Nibelunge Not
Nibelungenlied, Or Der Nibelunge Not, A Mediaeval German Heroic Epic. The Story On Which It Is Based Belongs To The General Stock Of Teutonic Saga, And Was Very Widespread Under Various Forms, Some Of Which Are Preserved. Thus It Is Touched Upon In Beowulf, And Fragments Of It Form The ...
Or Premysl Ottakar Ii
Ottakar Ii., Or Premysl Ottakar Ii. (c. 1230-1278), King Of Bohemia, Was Son Of King Wenceslaus I. ; His Maternal Grandfather Was The German King, Philip, Duke Of Swabia. In His Father's Lifetime He Ruled Moravia, And In 1251 Secured His Election As Duke Of Austria, Where He Strengthened His ...