ORRERY, EARL OP. 



O'SH/OJGHNESSY, SIR WILLIAM, K.C.B., F.R.S. 531 



boundaries of Pluto's realm. He broke the condition, and she 

 vanished from bis sight. 



His death is differently related. The most common account is that 

 he wag torn in pieces by the Thracian women at a Bacchic festival, 

 in revenge for the contempt which he had shown towards them 

 through his sorrow for the loss of Eurydice. (Apoll., i. 3; Virg., 

 ' Oeorg.,' iv. 454.) His limbs were scattered over the plain, but his 

 head was thrown upon the river llebrus, which bore it down into the 

 sea as far as Lesbos, where it was buried. The Muses gathered up 

 the pieces of his body and buried them at Libethra, where the 

 nightingale was said to sing over his grave more sweetly than in 

 any other part of Greece. His lyre was placed by Jupiter among 

 the stars. 



The poets and fabulists have attributed to Orpheus many great 

 improvements in the condition of the human race. Nearly all the 

 ancient writers state that he introduced into Greece the doctriues of 

 religion and the worship of the gods. The foundation of mysteries is 

 ascribed to him. (Aristoph., 'lianae,' v. 1030; Eurip., 'Rhesus,' v. 

 945 ; Plato, 'Protag.,' p. 216.) Herod, (ii. 81) speaks of Orphic and 

 Bacchic mysteries : these mysteries seem to have been different from 

 those of Eleusis. Some writers say that the Orphic mysteries were 

 introduced from Egypt into Greece ; others think that they sprung 

 up in Thrace, aud that they preceded the worship of Dionyeius, which 

 wai of foreign origin, and that the destruction of Orpheus by the 

 Bacchanals represents the victory of the new over the old religion. 

 The foundation of social institutions and the commencement of civi- 

 lisation is ascribed to Orpheus. (Horat, 'De Art. Poet.,' v. 391.) 

 Aristophanes says that he taught men to abstain from murder. 

 ('Rana;, 1 v. 1030.) He is said to have been the author of many fables. 

 A passage in an epigram, to which however no authority can be 

 attached, ascribes to him the discovery of letters. (Fabric., ' Bib. 

 Gncc.,' i. p. 173.) The discovery of many things in medicine is 

 ascribed to Orpheus (Plin., xxv. 2) ; and the recal of Eurydice from 

 the lower world is sometimes explained as referring to his skill in 

 this art. He was said to have been a soothsayer and enchanter. In 

 Lesbos there was a famous oracle of Orpheus. The most remarkable 

 of the legends concerning him are those which relate to his skill in 

 music. The fable that by the tones of his lyre he drew around him 

 wild beasts, trees, and stones, is very old. When, according to a 

 later story, he descended into the infernal regions to recover Eury- 

 dice, his music enchanted the world of shadows and suspended the 

 torments of the damned. A share in the invention of the lyre is 

 attributed to hitu : he received it from Apollo with seven strings, and 

 added to it two more. According to Plutarch, he was the first who 

 accompanied the lyre with tinging. The fable that after his death his 

 lyre floated to Lesbos is a poetical mode of representing the skill of 

 the natives of that island in lyric poetry. He is said to have embodied 

 bis religious and philosophical opinions in poems, but the works 

 ascribeil to him are without doubt spurious. 



KRY, EAKL OF. [BOYLK, CHAKLES.] 



ORSAY, COUNT I/. [BLESSINGTOS, COUNTESS OF.] 



ORSI'NI, an old and illustrious family of Southern Italy, which has 

 had among its members several popes, many cardinals, and other dis- 

 tinguished individuals. Oreo Orsini, of Petigliauo near the hike of 

 BoUena, is mentioned as senator of Rome iu the years 1190-1200. 

 His son Giovanni Orsini Gaetani, which last was his mother's family 

 name, left two sons : 1, Napoleone Orsini, Count of Tagliacozzo in the 

 kingdom of Naples; and 2, Matteo, styled 'the Great,' senator of 

 Home, and lord of Anagui, Marino, Galera, and other fiefs in the 

 Campagna of Rome, Matteo left several sen?, one of whom Giovanni 

 Gaetaui, became pope under the name of NICHOLAS III. A branch of 

 the family entered the service of the Anjou kings of Naples, obtained 

 high honours at that court, and the titles of counts of Nola and dukes 

 of Gravina. The Orsini who remained in the Papal States were often 

 at variance with the powerful family of C'olonna [COLONNA ] during 

 the middle ages. The castle of Bracciauo, on the lake of that name, 

 was the chief residence of the Orsini. In January 1505, Francis 

 Oreini, duke of Gravina, and Paolo Orsini, were treacherously seized 

 nd strangled at Sinegaglia by C'esare Borgia, whilst the Cardinal 

 Orsini was poisoned at Rome by order of Cesare's father, Pope 

 Alexander VI. By degrees the various branches of the Orsini became 

 extinct, and their estates passed into other hands, with the exception 

 of the Neapolitan branch of the princes of Orsini-Gravina, which still 

 continues. The palace Orsini at Rome, a vast building, stands on the 

 ruins of the Theatre of Marcellus. The family palace at Naples, 

 belonging to the princes of Orsiui-Gravina, a one of the finest private 

 buildings in that capital. (Imhoff, Gcnealogici ; Moreri; Almanack 

 de Qotha,) 



ORSI'NI, FULV10, said to have been an illegitimate member of 

 the noble family of that name, was born at Rome about 1530, and 

 became canon of St. John of Lateran. He was well versed in classical 

 literature, both Greek and Roman, and collected a valuable library 

 of manuscripts, winch he bequeathed to the Vatican library. He was 

 intimate with the cardinals Alexander and Edward Farncse, and was 

 considered one of the first scholars of his age. Ho died at Rome, 

 about the year 1COO. He wrote several learned works : 1, ' Famili;e 

 Romanic qua; reperiuntur in antiquis Numi-matilms, ab Urbe C'oudita 

 ad tempora Divi Augusti, cum adjuncts Autonii Augustini Episcopi 



BIOO. D1V. VOL. IV. 



Ilerdensis,' fol. Paris, 16C3 ; 2, 'Virgilius collatione Scriptorum 

 Grsecorum illustratus,' iu which he points out the numerous passages 

 in which Virgil has imitated or borrowed from the Greek poets ; a 

 very interesting commentary ; 3, 'Selecta de Legatiouibus ex Poly bio 

 et Fragmenta ex Historiis qua) non extant Diouysii Halicarnassei, 

 Diodori Siculi, Appiani Alexandrini, Dionis Casaii, &c.,' 4to, Antwerp, 

 15S2, in Greek, with Latin notes, 4to ; ' Carmina Novum illustriuin 

 Foeminarum Grsecarum,' 8vo, Antwerp, 1568, and other minor 

 publications. 



ORTE'LIUS, ABRAHAM, born at Antwerp in 1527, of a family 

 originally from Augsburg, studied philology and mathematics, and 

 became, the first geographer of his age. After travelling through 

 England, Germany, France, and Italy, he published his great work, 

 ' Theatrum Orbis Terne,' being a description of the globe, or universal 

 geography. He was soon after appointed geographer to Philip II. of 

 Spain. His other works are 1, ' Deorum Dearumque Capita ex 

 veteribus Numismatibus ; ' 2, ' Aurei Sxculi Imago, sive Germauorum 

 Veterum Mores, Vita, Ritus, et Relis;io ; ' 3, ' Itinerarium per uon- 

 uullas Gallue Belgica) Partes.' Ortellius was acquainted with most 

 of the learned men of his age, and was particularly intimate with 

 Justus Lipsius, who wrote his epitaph. He died in 1598. (Sweert, 

 Vita Ortdlii; Valere Andre", BiUiotheca, Belgica.) 



OSAIBIA, or more properly Ibn Abi Os'aibia, the name commonly 

 given to an eminent Arabic physician, who is called by Nicoll and 

 Pusey (' Catal. Cod. Manuscr. Orient. Biblioth. Bodl.'), Movaffekeddiu 

 Abulabbas Ahmed Ben Alcasem Ben Khalifa Ben Junes Ibn Abileasem 

 Alsaadi Alkhazragi. It may indeed, as few Arabic names have been 

 more corrupted, be useful to mention that it is sometimes spelled 

 Abi, Abou, or Abu Osaiba, Osaibah, Ossaiba, Ossaibea, Osbaia, 

 Osbeia, Obaida, Obbaia, Obseibea, &c. He was born A.II. 600 (A.D. 

 1203), and was (as his name implies) of the family of Al-Chazraj, 

 of the tribe of Al-Azd. (Pococke, ' Spec. Hist. Arab.,' p. 42, ed. Oxon., 

 1806.) He informs us himself, in the fourteenth chapter of his work, 

 that he was the pupil of the celebrated Al-Beithar. He studied 

 medicine at Cairo iu the lazzaretto founded by Saladiu, and was 

 appointed chief physician to the Emir Ezzaddin, at Sarchad hi Syria, 

 A.U. 635 (A.D. 1238). He died A.H. 668 (A.D. 1269). He is tho 

 author of a well-known work entitled ' Oiun al-auba ii thabacat al- 

 athebba' (' Fontcs Relationum de Classibus Medicorum '), containing 

 a biographical history of medicine. It is divided into fifteen chapters, 

 of which the first treats of the origin of medicine ; the second, of the 

 earliest discoverers in each branch of the profession ; the third of the 

 Greek physicians of the family of ^Esculapius ( Asklibious) ; the fourth, 

 of the physicians of the school of Hippocrates (Bokrath) ; the fifth, of 

 Galen (Gialinous) and his contemporaries; the sixth, of the Christian 

 physicians who flourished at Alexandria before the time of Mohammed ; 

 the seventh, of Arabian physicians in the time of Mohammed; the 

 eighth, of Syrian physicians under the Abassides ; the ninth, of the 

 translators of the Greek physicians into Arabic ; the tenth, of the 

 physicians of Irak and Mesopotamia ; the eleventh of tho Persian 

 physicians ; the twelfth, of the Indian; the thirteenth, of the Moorish 

 and Spanish; the fourteenth of the Egyptian; and the fifteenth, of 

 the Syrian. Freind, in his 'History of Physic,' speaks slightingly of 

 this work, but he was acquainted with only a very small portion 

 of it, and was unable to read it in the original language. Reiske, on 

 the contrary ('Opusc. Med. ex Mom'm. Arab, et libra.,' 8vo, Halcc, 

 1776), praises it very highly, and gives a tolerably complete analysis of 

 its contents, from which it appears that a great many curious and 

 interesting medical anecdotes and much information relating to the 

 ancient method of practice are to bo found in it. It exists at present 

 only in manuscript in several libraries of Europe, viz. at Paris, Oxford, 

 and Leyden ; but different small portions of it have been published. 

 The life of Bachtishua, translated into Latin by Salomo Negri, is 

 inserted by Freind in his ' History of Physic ; ' that of Adallatif was 

 published at Oxford, 1808, 4to, Arab, and Lat., ed. J. Mousley; and 

 a small extract, containing the diploma of a doctor of theology, is to 

 be found in Adlir's ' Collect. Nova Numor. Cuficor.,' 4to, Hufu., 1792, 

 p. 118. There is in the Bodleian at Oxford a manuscript Latin trans- 

 lation by Gagnier of the first five chapters. A manuscript Latin 

 translation of the whole work by Reiske was left by him at his death, 

 in 1774, to Bernard (probably the same physician who edited several 

 Greek medical treatises). 



(See Nicoll and Pusey, loco tit. ; De Rossi, Dizion. Star, degu Autori 

 Arabi; and Reiske, loco cil.) 



O'SHAUGHNESSY, SIR WILLIAM BROOKE, K.C.B., F.R.S., 

 &c., is a son of the late Daniel O'Shaughnessy, of the city of 

 Limerick; his mother's name was Boswell. He is thus the repre- 

 sentative of an ancient Irish family originally settled in the county of 

 Clare : he is nephew of the late Very Rev. Dr. 0'Shaughness.y, Dean 

 of Ennis, and grand-nephew of the Right Rev. Dr. O'Shaugbnessy, 

 formerly Roman Catholic bishop of Killaloe. He was born at Lime- 

 rick in 1809, and received his early education at the University of 

 Edinburgh, where he graduated M.D. At the age of twenty-one ho 

 entered tho service of the Hon. East India Company as assistant- 

 surgeon, and in 1833 was appointed by the governor-general to civil 

 employment. He was for some time physician to the late Sir C. T. 

 (afterwards Lord) Metcalfe, while he held the command at Agra. 

 He was afterwards appointed professor of chemistry in the Medical 



2 Q 



