ORRIS-ROOT 



ORTHOCLASE-PORPHYRY 649 



beginning of the 19th centuries, though now re- 

 garded us a mere toy. Made by Rowley in 1715 at 

 the expense of Charies Boyle (q.v.), Earl of .Orrery, 

 it "'as a combination of the old Planetarium of the 

 16th century with other machines which showed 

 the motions of the earth, moon, and planetary 

 satellites. Though the construction of a machine 

 which would exhibit accurately the motions, dis- 

 tances, and magnitudes of the planets is impossible, 

 yet an orrery is in some degree useful as giving a 

 general notion of the way in which the planetary 

 motions are performed. As it was a favourite 

 machine at one time, a description of it may not 

 be uninteresting. A number of iron tubes equal 

 in number to the planets, and of different dimen- 

 sions, are placed one within the other ; their 

 lengths being arranged so that the innermost tul>e 

 projects at both ends beyond the one next to it, 

 that one similarly' projects beyond the third, and 

 w) on. At one end of each tube a rod is fixed at 

 right angles, and a ball or lamp attached to its 

 end ; the lengths of the rods being proportional (or 

 at least supposed to be so) to the radii of the 

 planetary orbits. The other ends of the tubes 

 form the axes of toothed wheels, which are con- 

 nected, either directly or by means of combinations 

 of toothed wheels, with a winch. The several com- 

 binations of wheels are so adjusted_that the velocity 

 of revolution of the rods is proportional to the 

 times of revolution of the planets. On turning 

 the winch the whole apparatus is set in motion, 

 and the balls or lamps (representing the planets) 

 revolve round the centre, which i.s a fixed lamp 

 ( representing the sun ), at different distances, and 

 with varying velocities. 



Orris-root (probably a corruption of Iris 

 Root ), the root-stock (rhizome)ni certain species of 

 Iria (q.v.), natives of the south of Europe, belong- 

 ing to the division of the genus having bearded 

 flowers, sword-shaped leaves, and scapes taller than 

 the leaves viz. /. flurentina, a speciex with white 

 flowers ; /. palHdii, which has pale flowers ; and 

 /. yermanicn, which has deep purple flowers. The 

 flowers of all these species are fragrant. /. ger- 

 ' extends farther north than the other species, 

 and in root is sometimes said to l>e more acrid. 

 Orris-root was formerly used in many medicinal 

 preparations as a stimulant, but is now almost 

 entirely disused. It is sometimes chewed to sweeten 

 an oll'i-nsive breath. Its chief use is in perfumery. 

 It has a pleasant smell of violets, which it acquires 

 in drying. Hair and tooth jmwders, and oils, are 

 often scented with it. A tincture of it also is used 

 as a scent, and is often sold as Essence of Violets. 



Orsay. See D'ORSAY. 



Orsiiii. FEMCE, conspirator, was born in Decem- 

 ber 1819, at Meldola, in the States of the Church, 

 and studied at Bologna. He belonged to a branch 

 of a noble family, long famous as supporters of the 

 Gnellic party, which produced famous scholars, 

 soldiers, and churchmen i including two popes, 

 Nicholas III. and Benedict XIII.). Felice, tlie son 

 of a conspirator, was early initiated into secret 

 societies, and in 1844 was sentenced at Rome to the 

 galleys for life. The amnesty of Pius IX. (1846) 

 restored him to lilwrty, but he was soon again im- 

 prisoned for participation in political (dots. When 

 the revolution of 1848 broke out Orsini was electee! 

 a deputy to the Roman Constituent Assembly, and, 

 invested with extraordinary powers, was sent to 

 Ancona and Ascoli to suppress brigandage. He 

 signalised himself by the violence with which he 

 executed his commission. He ajso took part in the 

 defence of Rome and Venice : agitated in Genoa and 

 the duchy of Modena ; and in 1853 was shipped 

 by the Sardinian government to England, where 

 he formed close relations with Mazzini. Furnished 



with money by the leaders of the revolutionary 

 party, he appeared at Parma in 1854, and after- 

 wards at Milan, Trieste, Vienna, everywhere 

 agitating in the interest of insurrection ; until at 

 last he was arrested at Hermannstadt, and confined 

 in the fortress of Mantua. In 1856 he succeeded in 

 making his escape, and found refuge in England, 

 where he supported himself by public lecturing, 

 and wrote Austrian Dungeons in Italy (1856). 

 Towards the end of 1857 he repaired to Paris, with 

 the intention of assassinating Napoleon 111., whom 

 he reckoned the great obstacle to the progress of 

 revolution in Italy. His associates in this diabolical 

 design were persons named Pieri, Kudio, and 

 Gomez. They t<x>k up their station in a house 

 close by the Opera, and on the evening of the 14th 

 January 1858, just as tin- carriage containing the 

 emperor and empress was drawing up, they threw 

 three bombs under it. An explosion toot place, 

 and 10 persons were killed, 156 wounded, but 

 Napoleon and the empress remained unhurt. The 

 ;i>.-assins were arrested, tried, and sentenced ; 

 (>r>ini, Pieri, and Kudio, to capital punishment, 

 Gomez to penal servitude for life. Kudio's life 

 was spared at the intercession of the empress, but 

 Pieri and Orsini were guillotined on 13th March. 

 See Memoirs anil Adventures of Orsini, written, 

 by himself ( Eng. trans. Edin. 1857); his Letters 

 (2 vols. Milan, 1861); and a work by Montazio 

 (1862). 



Orsova, the name of two towns on the Danube 

 over against the Iron Gates. OLD ORSOVA, a 

 Hungarian place, is 478 miles by rail SE. of Vienna, 

 and is a station for the Danube steamers. Pop. 

 3381. NKW OHSOVA, on the Servian side, is a 

 fortified town held by Austria (since 1878), who 

 also were masters of it between 1716 and 1738; 

 the Turks held it loth before 1710 and after 1738. 

 In 1890-96 a costly canal and other works were 

 made for facilitating navigation at the rocky bend 

 called the Iron Gates (see DANUBE). 



Ortegal, CAPE, the north-west extremity of 

 Spain (q.v.), in Galicia. 



OrtellllS, the Latin form of the name of 

 ABRAHAM ORTELL, or ORTEL, who, born of Ger- 

 man parents in 1527 at Antwerp, where he also 

 died in 1598, published the earliest atlas under the 

 title Tlieatrtini Orbis Terrarum (1570); a critical 

 work on ancient geography, Syitoiiymia Geoyrujikica 

 (1578), re-issued, greatly improved, as Thesaurus 

 Geographicus (1596); and other geographical 

 works. He was also a frequent traveller to Eng- 

 land, Ireland (1577), and Italy, and the countries 

 between. 



OrtllCZ, a town in the French department of 

 Basses- Pyrenees, on the right bank of the Gave de 

 Pau, 41 miles by rail E. of Bayonne. The 'Tour 

 de Moncade ' ( 1240), the stately castle of the counts 

 of Foix (q.v.), which Froissart visited in 1388, was 

 reduced to a ruin by Richelieu. Near Orthez 

 Wellington gained a decisive victory over Soult, 

 27th February 1814. Pop. 4757. 



Ortlioceras, a largo genus of common fossil 

 Cephalopods. The shells are quite straight, but a 

 gradual series of forms lead on to the Nautilus 

 type. Some species of orthoceros were gigantic ; 

 tlms, 0. titan in its fossil state is said to have 

 weighed some tons. 



Ortlioelase-pornliyrv, a crystalline igneous 

 rock, of variable colour, out generally reddish. 

 It is fine-grained and compact in texture. The 

 ground-mass is felspathic, and micro- or crypto- 

 crystalline ; now and again it shows a little glassy 

 or devitrified matter. Scattered through this 

 ground-mass arc microscopic crystals of orthoclase, 

 and usually some hornblende and biotite in small 



