653 



OERSTED, ANDERS SANDOE. 



OGGIONE, MARCO DA. 



651 



with the poet Oehlenfchlager, whose sister was married to his younger 

 brother, and although devoted to experimental science he took a deep 

 interest in the progress and development of Danish literature. He 

 was a constant writer for the newspapers and magazines. Acting 

 upon the deep conviction that science should be the handmaid of 

 religion, he did all that lay in his power to make the popular mind 

 of his country acquainted with the facts of natural science. He wrote 

 a lyrical and didactic poem called ' The Balloon,' which was translated 

 into German. He was also one of the most popular lecturers of his 

 day. He not only lectured in the university to young students and 

 senior students, but out of the university to citizens and classes of 

 ladies. A variety of Oersted's papers and lectures of a popular kind 

 have been translated into the English language by the Misses 

 Horner, under the title of ' The Soul in Nature, with Supplementary 

 Contributions.' (London, Bohn.) 



On the 9th of November 1850 a jubilee was held in honour of the 

 fiftieth anniversary of his services at the University of Copenhagen. 

 On this occasion people of all ranks and opinions assembled round 

 the noble old philosopher. The King of Denmark presented him on 

 the occasion with a country residence at Frederiksberg, near Copen- 

 hagen. He lectured through the winter, but the following March be 

 took a severe cold, which terminated in inflammation of the lungs, of 

 which he died on the 9th of March 1851. A biographical sketch of 

 Oersted, to which we are indebted for some of the materials of this 

 notice, was published by P. L. Moller, a translation of which is 

 published with the English translation mentioned above. 



OERSTKD, ANDERS SANDOE, an eminent Danish statesman 

 and legal writer, whose reputation has been much tarnished by recent 

 events, was born at Rudkjubing in the island of Langeland, on the 

 21st of December 1778. His time was constantly passed in company 

 with his elder brother Hans Christian Oersted, and till they were near 

 to man's estate, they bad a common purse. When sent to study at 

 the University of Copenhagen, both brothers made the acquaintance 

 of Adam Oehlenschlager the poet [OEHLEXSCULAGER], then an actor at 

 the theatre, and Anders Oersted afterwards in 1802 married Oehlen- 

 schlager's sister Sophia. Anders, who adopted jurisprudence as a 

 profession, became very eminent in it, and was editor of three suc- 

 cessive legal periodicals, the 'Juridiskt Archiv' (30 vols. 1804-11), 

 the 'Nyt Juridiskt Archiv' (30 vols. 1812-20), and the 'Juridhk 

 Tidsekrift' (16 -vole. 1820-30), as well as another of a more scientific 

 character, the 'Eunomia' (4 vols. 1816-22). He also wrote in Danish 

 a ' Systematic Development of the idea of Theft' (1809), a 'Handbook 

 of Danish and Norwegian Jurisprudence' (3 vols. 1821), and several 

 other works of reputation on law, and several on philosophy, in which 

 he was first a disciple of Kant and afterwards of Hegel He was 

 appointed to various responsible offices, and in 1825 to a high and 

 important legal situation, which involved the drawing up of all 

 the important ordinances, which, under an absolute government as 

 that of Denmark then was, formed the body of the laws. In 1831 he 

 had an important share in framing the constitutions for the different 

 provincial states, which were then granted by King Frederick VI. to 

 mppeue the growing discontent of his subjects, who saw Norway, since 

 it had been disunited from Denmark, prospering under a free consti- 

 tution. Oersted was appointed as high commissioner to represent the 

 king at the assembly of the states in both the main land and the 

 ielands, and was for some years very popular in that position ; but as 

 ideas of freedom began to prevail, it was found that he was unwilling 

 to make further concessions of the privileges of the crown, and ho 

 began to be looked upon as an enemy to popular rights. In 1841 he 

 was appointed to a place in the Danish cabinet, which in 1848 he 

 resigned. On the 21st of April 1853 the present king, Frederick VII., 

 recalled him to offic as minister of the interior, of public worship, 

 and of public instruction, and as prime minister of the kingdom. It 

 was then soon found that the suspicions of his disaffection to constitu- 

 tional progress waa well founded, and that he purposed to carry 

 reactionary measures with a high hand. By the treaty of London, 

 signed on the 8th of May 1852, Denmark and the Duchies were to be 

 preserved as one state, but not to be governed by one legislative body, 

 a condition which necessarily implied some alteration in the constitu- 

 tion obtained by Denmark in 1849. On the 4th of October 1853 the 

 Oersted cabinet submitted a proposition to the Diet of an alteration 

 in tiie constitution of Denmark Proper, which waa almost unanimously 

 rejected (on the 2 1th of February 1854), as of a reactionary character. 

 Oersted now advanced a pretension that the king could grant new 

 constitutions to Sleswig and Holstein without consulting the existing 

 Diet at all, and a great constitutional struggle began. The two 

 chambers, the Landthing and the Folkthing, voted an address to the 

 king (13th of March 1854), urging him to dismiss the Oersted ministry ; 

 the king received the presidents of the chambers, asked them to 

 dinner, and promised to comply with their wishes. But time went on ; 

 Oersted still continued at the head of the government, and soo-^began 

 to issue his new constitutions according to the principle which the 

 chambers had repudiated. The chambers voted a different constitution, 

 which the cabinet refused to accept. Public indignation ran high, but 

 waa kept with some difficulty in tlie constitutional track. The cabinet 

 dissolved the Folkthing on the 20th of October 1854, but the only effect 

 was to see the patriotic members returned to their seats. Before the Diet 

 met, the king accepted an invitation from Sir Morten Peto to a banquet 



on the occasion of opening the Flensburg and Husum railway, and his 

 reception was so cold that he foresaw the measures he was engaged in 

 would lead to no good end. On the 3rd of December, before the 

 meeting of the Diet, he gave way, and the Oersted ministry was at an 

 end. In March 1855 the Diet decreed the impeachment of Oersted 

 and his colleagues, and a commission was named to try them, composed 

 of eight members of the Supreme Tribunal (Hoveste Ret), and eight 

 members selected by the Landthing, or Upper House of the Diet. 

 After numerous legal delays the verdict was returned on the 26th of 

 Febiuary 1856. The eight members selected by the Landthing had 

 found the prisoners guilty, the eight members of the Supreme Tribunal 

 had voted for their acquittal ; and as by the laws of Denmark, where 

 the votes are equal the decision must be in favour of the accused, the 

 whole of the prisoners were set at liberty. 



Oersted is now engaged in continuing an account of his own career, 

 'Fragments of the History of my Life and Times' (' Af mit Livs og 

 min Tids Historic'), which he commenced it 1851, and dropped during 

 his ministry. The last part that has appeared is the commencement 

 of the fourth volume, published in 1856, and the work, though less 

 of an attractive than an instructive character, contains important 

 materials for the modern history of Denmark. 



* OERSTED, ANDERS SANDOE, the nephew of the preceding, 

 and named after him, is the sou of a merchant at Rudkjbbing, and was 

 born there on the 21st of June 1816. He has travelled in the West 

 Indies and South America, and published several valuable works on 

 natural history, in particular one on the Annelids of Greenland. In 

 the ' Journal of the Geographical Society of London ' for 1850 appears 

 a paper by him, on a ' Survey made for a Canal through the river 

 Sapea to the port of Salinos or Bolenos in Costa Rica.' 



OETINGER, FRIEDRICH CHRISTOPH, was born on the 6th of 

 May 17U2, at Goppingen in Wurtcmberg, and studied successively at 

 the universities of Tubingen, Jena, and Leipzig. Having acted awhile 

 as tutor in Tubingen, and assisted Count Zinzendorf in his project 

 for translating the Scriptures, he was appointed reader in theology iu 

 the University of Halle. This post he resigned however in order to 

 travel, and especially to consult some of the eminent theologians of 

 Holland. Returning to Wiirtemberg, he waa, in 1738, appointed 

 pastor at Hirschau. He had now fully adopted the v-iews of the 

 Pietists, whose sentiments were then obtaining the adhesion of many 

 of the most learned and pious men in Germany, while they found very 

 general acceptance among persons of a devotional temperament, with 

 whom Oetinger's purity of life, earnestness of manner, extensive 

 theological acquirements, and perhaps his mysticism of style, all com- 

 bined to give him great influence, so that ho soon came to be regarded 

 as the Pietist leader in that part of Germany. Oetinger was an 

 earnest student of the writings of Jacob Bbhme ; and he became an 

 ardent disciple of Emmanuel Swedenborg, some of whose works he 

 translated into German. His teaching of these mystic doctrines having 

 called forth however some remonstrances from his ecclesiastical 

 superiors, he announced his resolve not to publish any more of his 

 writings, but he continued to furnish such of his followers as applied 

 for spiritual advice with his written instructions. He was nominated 

 in 1752 to the superinteudenca of the churches in the district of 

 Weinsberg, and afterwards of that of Herrenberg, and subsequently 

 bishop of Murrhard. He died on the 10th of February 1782. 



During his life Oetiuger was regarded with respect approaching to 

 reverence by his co-religionists as a philosopher as well as a theologian, 

 and he is still held iu high estimation. He sought to elucidate the 

 Christian system by the speculations of Bohmo and Swedenborg, and 

 ho was fond of comparing and contrasting the received systems of 

 secular philosophy with Christian philosophy, as so explained. His 

 views were stated in various commentaries or dissertations on the 

 books of Job, the Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Ezekiel, and in treatises 

 entitled the ' Age of Gold,' ' Ancient Philosophy," &c. He also wrote 

 some devotional works. His autobiography was published by J. Hain- 

 berger, 8vo, Stuttgard, 1845, 'Des Wiirtenibergischen Pralateu Friedr. 

 Cph. Oetiugers Selbstbiographie,' with a preface by G. H. von Schubert ; 

 see also Auberh'n's ' Die Theosophie Friedr. Cph. Oetinger's nach ihreii 

 Grundziigen; Beitrag zur Dogmengeschichte und zur Philosophie," 8vo, 

 Tubingen, 1847. 



OGGIO'NE, or UGGIO'NE, MARCO DA, was a Milanese painter 

 and a distinguished scholar of Leonardo da Vinci at Milan about 1490 ; 

 lie was born therefore about 1470, at, as his name imports, Oggioue, in 

 the Milanese. He painted in oil and in fresco, and is on the whole ouo 

 of the best of the Milanese painters. His frescoes of the church della 

 Pace at Milan, which are much praised by Lanzi, are now in the Brera 

 at Milan ; they were removed from the wall by Barezzi. Oggioue is 

 however now chiefly known for his copy of the 'Last Supper' of Leo- 

 nardo da Vinci, now in the Academy of Arts in London. This copy ia 

 painted in oil, and was executed about 1510 for the Refectory of the 

 Certo.-a di Pavia ; and as it was copied when the original was in a 

 perfect state, the now almost total decay of the latter renders it very 

 valuable. The opinions regarding its merits are various. Giuseppe 

 Boss! does not wholly approve of it ; but as the original has been 

 virtually decayed since 17:26, when it was first restored, all subsequent 

 judgments of the merits of the copy with respect to the original must 

 be received with due reservation, as they are certainly the result of 

 individual fancies of what the original might have been, rather than 



