OFFICIAL SECRETS 



5827 



O HIOOINS 



Official Secrets Act. British 

 law passed in 1889 It make* it an 

 offence for any public official to 

 communicate any information of an 

 official character. If he communi- 

 cates it to an agent of a foreign 

 country it is a felony. Otherwise 

 it is a misdemeanour. 



Offset. In printing, a method 

 of transferring an image or design 

 from the surface upon whk-li it is 

 impressed to a rubber cylinder, 

 this becoming the printing surface, 

 which in turn transfers tho 

 to the paper. An offset resembles 

 a set-off, which occurs when a 

 sheet of paper fails to pass into a 

 printing machine and the im- 

 pression cylinder receives the 

 image instead of the paper, and the 

 back of the next sheet, passing 

 through, then receives the image 

 from the cylinder. The difference 

 is that offset becomes the actual 

 mode of printing, instead of the 

 accidental set-off, and is carried 

 out by the introduction of an 

 intermediary or third cylinder. 



Decorations on tin boxes are 

 produced in this way, and the tin- 

 plate printing process was the 

 pioneer of the modern use of off- 

 set printing which is specially 

 adaptable for rough papers. The 

 unglazed side of the coloured 

 diagram facing page 4916 of 

 Harmsworth's Universal Encyclo- 

 ped ia was thus produced. Owing to 

 the hardness of the paper, treasury 

 notes and other paper script are so 

 printed. See Colour- Printing ; In- 

 taglio ; Lithography ; Photo-Litho- 

 graphy ; Printing ; Process. 



Ofterdingen, HEI.NRICH VON 

 (c. 1170-1260). German minne- 

 singer. Some writers have sug- 

 gested that Ofterdingen was the 

 author of the Nibelungenlied (q.v.). 

 Ogam OR OGHAM. System of 

 writing employed in early Britain 

 and Ireland. The name is con- 

 nected with Ogmius, the Gaulish 

 god of eloquence. The alphabet 

 comprised 21 characters, com- 

 posed of straight incised lines or 

 notches on one side of or across a 

 stem line. In stone inscriptions 

 this was usually one of the upright 

 edges, the characters being read 

 upwards : 



Illl Illll 



" 



hd t 



/////////////// y. I II in mi inn 



/ // /// //// Hill A I II III (HI Illll 

 m 9 "9 f (U r p a o u a t 



Perhaps invented at the end of 

 the Roman occupation one of the 

 oldest examples having come from 

 Silchester ogam - writing con- 

 tinued in use until the 10th cen- 

 tury. Of the 300 examples known, 



about 30 are from R. Scotland, 

 Orkney, Shetland, and Man, and an 

 equal number, mostly with Utin 

 legends as well, from Wales, Devon. 

 and Cornwall The remainder were 

 found in Ireland. Mostly stone 

 epitaphs, sometimes associated 

 with Christian symbol*, a few occur 

 on metal ornaments. The key to 

 their decipherment was furnished 

 by the 14th century MS Book of 

 Ballymote. See Epigraphy; In- 

 ftcriptions ; Ireland ; consult also 

 The Ogam Inscribed Momum-nt f 

 the Gaedhil in the British Islands, 

 it. R. Brash, 1879 ; Studies in Irish 

 Epigraphy, R. A. a Macalister. 

 1897-1907. 



Ogden. City of Utah, U.S.A., 

 the co. seat of Weber co. It stands 

 4,338 ft. in alt. at the junction of 

 the Ogden and Weber rivers, 38 m. 

 N. of Salt Lake City, and is served 

 by the Union Pacific and other 

 rlys. Ogden dates from 1848. and 

 became a city in 1 85 1 . Pop. 32,800. 

 Ogdensbnrg. City of New 

 York, U.S.A., m St. Lawrence co. 

 A port of entry, it stands on the St. 

 Lawrence river, at its junction 

 with the Oswegatchie, opposite 

 Prescott, Ontario. Its buildings in- 

 clude the U.S. government building, 

 the R.C. cathedral, and the state 

 hospital and armoury. A large 

 lake shipping trade is carried 

 on. Settled in 1749, Ogdensburg 

 was incorporated in 1817 and 

 became a city in 1868. Pop. 14,600. 

 Ogier the Dane. Hero of 

 medieval romance, belonging to 

 the Charlemagne cycle. Histori- 

 cally he represents the Frank 

 Autchar, who conducted the widow 

 of Charlemagne's brother, Carlo- 

 man, to Desiderius, king of the 

 Lombards, and joined him in his 

 war against Charlemagne. His 

 connexion with Denmark seems 

 due to a mistake, though as Holger 

 Danske he was adopted as a 

 Danish national hero. Ogier is the 

 subject of French and Italian ro- 

 mances, and of Spanish and Scandi- 

 navian tales. 



Ogive, OOOWB, OOOWAY, Ooo- 

 WAI, OB Oooco. River of French 

 Equatorial Africa. It falls into the 

 sea a few miles 8. of Cape Lopez, 

 and forms the principal coastal 

 river between the Niger and the 

 Congo. It is obstructed by 

 numerous rapids, but is navigable 

 as far as Njole, 160 m. from its 

 mouth. Its length is 700 m. 



Oglethorpe, JAMES EDWARD 

 ( 1696-1786). English soldier and 

 philanthropist Born Dec. 21, 

 1696, he served under Prince Eu- 

 gene, and entered parliament in 

 ITJi*. His attention having been 

 drawn to the sufferings of debtor 

 prisoners, he formed an association 

 for the establishment of a colony 



of releMed debtors, and in 1733 

 he settled Georgia, acting M gover 

 nor there for 13 vean. In 1745 



i,- 



was 



against the 

 Scottttb rebels, 

 but was court- 

 I, iitWbd M i 

 charge of Jaco 

 bite sympa- 

 thies, and 

 though acquit* 



He died July 1. 

 1785. See Georgia; consult also 

 Memoir of <J neral J. Oglethorpe. 

 R. Wright, 1867; A Paladin of 

 Philanthropy, A Austin Dobson, 



Oglio. River of Italy, an 

 affluent of the Pa It rises in the 

 Alps in the neighbourhood of 

 Mte. Adamello, and flows in iti 

 upper course through Val Cam- 

 onica to the Lago d'Iseo. Issuing 

 from the S. end of the lake, it 

 crosses the plain of Lombardy by 

 a curved course, receiving from 

 the left the Mella and Chiese, to 

 join the Po 10 m. 8.W. of Mantua. 

 Its total length is 130 m. 



Ogmore. Diat. of Glamorgan- 

 shire, Wales, part of the urban dist. 

 of Ogmore and Garw. It is 9 m.from 

 Bridgend, with a station on the 

 ' \V RJy., and is a coal-mining 

 centre. Ogmore-by-the-Sea is 3 m. 

 from Bridgend. Here are remains 

 of a castle dating from Norman 

 times. Ogmore is also the name 

 that is given to a small river. Pop 

 27,000. 



O'Grady, STANDISH (b. 1846)* 

 Irish author. Born Sept. 18, 1846, 

 he was educated at Tipperary 

 Grammar School and Trinity Col- 

 lege, Dublin. His literary work, 

 both as historian and as novelist, 

 marks the starting point of the 

 modern Irish literary revival. His 

 publications include The History 

 of Ireland, Heroic Period, 1878; 

 History of Ireland, Critical and 

 Philosophical, 1881 ; The Coming 

 of Cuculain, 1894 ; Chain of Gold, 

 1895; Ulrick the Ready. 1896; 

 and The Flight of the Eagle, 1897. 

 He also edited Pacata Hi hernia, 

 1896. 



Ogre. In folklore, a monstrous 

 giant who eats human flesh. The 

 word, which is French, is probably 

 derived from the Latin Orcus, god 

 of the infernal regions. 



Ogygia. In Greek mythology, 

 the island upon which Odysseus 

 spent eight years in dalliance with 

 the nymph Calypso, until the gods 

 sent Hermes to tell her to let him 

 go. See Calypso ; Odyssey. 



O'Higgins. Inland prov. of 

 Central Chile. Bounded N. by San- 

 tiago and S. by Colchagua, the E. 



