610 



ominiA 



ol'imiAI.Mosrol'K 



the horn, a cup mouthpiece, ami usually eleven 

 hole* stopped by keys like tin- nM Kent bugle. It 

 ho.- tin- iistnil harmonic !-< MAI: 

 MuSH'S) open notes llf all brass 



instrument*, it* fundamental, 

 never used, being an octave lower. 

 Ity ineaiiH of ii.s keys it ban a 

 range, including all tin- semi- 

 tone*, nf lit tie over three octaves, 

 and its music is written in the 





Ophicleide. 



ham clef. Alto and double bass 

 OfUtUUm have nl. so IK-I-II made, 

 but not much used. It is much 

 to he regretted that an instrument 

 of such a characteristically rich 

 tone, and capable of intonation 

 so accurate as the ophicleide, 

 should be allowed to tall com- 

 pletely out of use, it being almost 

 superseded by the simpler three- 

 valved instruments of the Sax- 

 horn (q.v. ) type. 



Opliidia. See SERPENTS. 

 OpIiioKlossea', a sub-order 

 of Filices or Ferns (q.v.), consist- 

 ing of a few rather elegant little plants with an 

 erect or pendulous stem, which ha- a cavity in- 

 stead of pith, leaves with netted veins, ant) the 

 spore-cases (t/icctr) col- 

 lected into a spike formed 

 at the edges of an altered 

 leaf, 2-valved, and with- 

 out any trace of an elastic 

 ring. They are found in 

 warm and temperate coun- 

 tries, but abound most of 

 all in the islands of tropi- 

 cal Asia. Several sp<vir- 

 are European, and two are 

 I'.iitish, the Boti-yr/iiinn 

 lnria, or Moon wort 

 (q.v.), and the Common 

 Adder's-tongue ( Onhin;i>ii.i- 

 tum vulyaliiiii ), which was 

 at one time supposed to 

 possess magical virtues, 

 and was also used as a 

 vulnerary, although it 

 -'in- to possess only a 

 mucilaginous quality on 

 account of which some of 

 tin 1 other s|M'cii>s have been 

 employed m broths. It is 

 a very common plant in 

 l-'.ii'jhiii'l. its abundance in 

 some places much injuring 

 pastures. 



* i e 



OPIr. a region, fre- 



qnently mentioneil in tin- 

 Old Testament, from which 



the ships of Solomon, fitted out in the harlxmr* of 

 K.lom, brought gold, precious stones, sandal wood, 

 &c. Tin- voyage occupied three years. Where 

 Ophir was situated has been a 'much-disputed 

 question. Arias Montanus (ixed on Peru, Kaleigli 

 on the Molucca*, and Calmnt on Anm-nia. I'rnli 

 a'Oy, however, (|>hir was either on the east coast 

 of Africa alKMit Sofiila, or in Arabia, or in India, 

 but in which of tin- three countries is doubtful. 

 Milton (following Purchas), Huet, Bruce ('the 

 Abyssinian '), the historian Robertson, Quatremere, 



Adtler a-tongue 



m rWjwUum). 



* 



. &c. are in favour of Africa; Michaelis, 

 Niebuhr (the traveller), Gosellin, Vinrent, \\incr, 

 Film, KnoM, ForMcr, Crawford, Kaliscli, mid 

 -ill-ton (Smith's !>!. ,,J' the liible), of Arabia; 

 Vitringa, Lossen, Hitter, Bertbeuu, Kwald, and 

 Max Miiller, of India. Josephus, however, it 

 should In- said, placed ( Iphir in the ]>e]>insnla of 

 Malacca, and his opinion has been adopted by 

 Teiiuent and Von Bacr. For a complete discus-ion 

 of the point, see Kilter's Krillumlr (vol. xiv. ), 

 eighty |iages of which are devoted to Ophir. 

 Aei-onliny to Hitter, who accepts Laxsen's view, 

 Ophir was situated at the month of the Indus. 



Ophites (<!r. nfiliitiii, from oji/iit, 'a serpent'), 

 a class of Cnostirs, who, while they shared the 

 general belief in dualism, the conflict of matter 

 and spirit, the emanations, and the I>einiur^u-, 

 were cli.stin^ui.shed 1>\ fjivinjr a prominent plan- in 

 their systems to the serpent. Some of their divi- 

 sions were the Sethiuni. the Nn:i-eni i Heb. 



'serpent' ) in Phrygia, and the Peratjr, who honoured 

 the serpent which tempted Eve, as having intro- 

 duced knowledge and revolt against the bomi 

 of the Archon. We owe our knowledge of them 

 mainly to Irena-us, Clement, Origen, and Hip- 

 po]\ ins : the last also contains an account of 

 two other Ophite systems, that of the Sethiang 

 and of .Insiinii-. Already in his day tin- sect was 

 fast dying out, although Theodoret mentions 

 serpent- worship as still existing in the 5th century. 

 See GNOSTICS, nd the books named there ; also Lipsius 

 in the Ztittckr. fiir Wtntntchaftl. T/ieol. ( 1863) ; Gruber, 

 Hi, Ophiten (1864); and the Kabbi Dr Adulph Honig'a 

 monograph. Die Ophiten ( 1889). 



Opllitic Structure, name given by petrolo- 

 jriMs to a structure seen in various crystalline 

 igneous rocks, in which large plates of a pyroxene 

 are penetrated and divided, as it were, into small 

 portions, by crystals of felspar. The separated 



IMirtions of the pyroxene, however, are in ci ystal- 

 ine continuity, since they all possess the same 

 optic orientation. 



Opliiurohlca. See BRITTLE-STARS. 



Ophthalmia (derived from the Greek word 

 OpMaaimo*, 'the eye') was originally and still is 

 sometimes used to denote inflammation of the eye 

 gtnmillt/ : hut it is at the present time usually 

 restricted to inflammations of the conjunctiva or 

 mucous coat of the eye (eoiuunctivitit) ; and to two 

 other di-e.-i.-c-. /t/ffi/iiii'itix limit tarsi or ojilitlinlmia 

 tarsi, and si/in/int/iclic inflammation or ophthalmia 



I sec under K.VK). 



Ophthalmoscope, an instrument by which 

 the interior of the eye can lie examined. It was first 

 invented in 1847 by Charles Bahhage (q.v.) ; but, as 

 unfortunately the ophthalmic surgeon to whom he 

 showed it did not recognise its importance, he laid 

 it a-ide without making it generally known : and 

 its principle hail to be rediscovered by Professor 

 Helmholu, to whom lielongs the credit of bringing 

 it Ix-forc the medical and scientific world in is.'.l. 

 The value of the instrument depends on the circum- 

 stance that by illuminating and examining an 

 e\ e in the same direction its deeper parts can lie 

 rendered visible. All forms of ophthalmoscope 

 are adaptations of this principle. The form now 

 generally in use resembles more that of Babhage 

 than that of llelmholt/. It consists of a concave 

 mirror of about 10 inches focus, 1 to 3 inches in 

 diameter, with a small hole in the centre, and cer- 

 tain lenses to use with it, the most important of 

 them a separate convex lens of 2J inches focus, and 

 H to 4 inches in diameter. Examination is facili- 

 tated by dilating the pupil of the olerved eye with 

 atropine; and for a complete examination* this is 

 often indis|>ensable. The person whose eye is to 

 be examined is seated in a darkened room, with a 



