ORCHID 



4400 



ORDEAL AND COMBAT 



ORCHID, awr'kid, a plant embracing 9 

 species of wonderfully complex flowers. The 

 hothouse specimens of the group are among; tin- 

 most rare and expensive of rut flowers, valued 

 for their color, form or fragrance. To this 

 family of over 6,000 species belong not only 

 the gorgeous specimens seen in conservatories 

 and florists' shops, but also those delicate. 

 dainty wild flowers of cool, damp woods and 

 bogs of America the white, yellow and pur- 

 ple lady's-slippers, the exquisite calopogons, 

 the magenta-pink arethusae, the rare ealypsos, 

 and the fragrant pink moccasin flowers, which, 

 as expressed by Sarah F. Davis in Summer 

 Song, 



"With their coy and dainty graces, 

 Lure us to their hiding places. 



From brown seeds as small as tiniest grains 

 of dust spring many striking forms of orchids. 

 One bears blossoms which look like butterflies; 

 another looks like an elephant moth. An or- 

 chid found by early Spaniards was held in 



THREE OF THE ORCHIDS 

 reverence because it suggested to them the 

 Holy Dove which descended at the baptism of 

 Christ. 



Orchids of tropical countries are air plants. 

 They attach themselves to the bark of trees 

 and send roots into the air, from which they 

 receive their nourishment. Orchids of temper- 

 ate regions grow from bulbs in the ground. 

 Cultivated species of the greenhouses are 

 chiefly from tropical America; India and Aus- 

 tralia. Lovers of orchids have made wonderful 

 collections of rare specimens brought from 

 out-of-the-way corners of the globe, and many 

 of these rare growths are very expensive. 



All orchid blossoms are of extremely irregular 

 shape, and are constructed for fertilization by 

 insects. There are three sepals and three 

 petals, all beautifully colored. One petal is 

 always developed in a remarkable manner, and 

 is called the lip. In some species it is a long, 



narrow strip; in others, a broad fringed sur- 

 face, and in still others, a pouch or sac. This 

 -pecially marked to guide visiting insects 

 to the nectar within. Before the honey can 

 be reached, however, the insect must brush 

 against pollen masses and either rub the pollen- 

 dust against a sticky pistil before leaving, or 

 carry with it a bundle or two of pollen to be 

 left on the pistil of the next orchid blossom it 

 visits. Each species has a contrivance for fer- 

 tilization especially adapted in size and shape 

 to one kind o/ insect, and the various devices 

 are a never-ending source of wonder. 



One species of orchid furnishes the vanilla 

 of commerce. The tubers of other kinds are 

 dried for the nutritive starch they contain and 

 appear on the market as salep, which is used 

 medicinally. M.S. 



Consult Curtis's Orchids for Everyone; Bugg's 

 Orchids. 



Related Subjects. The reader is referred to 



the following articles in these volumes: 



Air Plants Holy Spirit Plant 



Cross-Fertilization Vanilla 



ORDEAL AND COMBAT, TRIAL BY. In a 

 primitive stage of culture it is assumed that 

 supernatural power will intervene to protect 

 the innocent and punish the guilty. This belief 

 survives into higher stages of culture and is 

 found in the jurisprudence of the Middle Ages. 

 In England the trial by "Judgment of God," 

 known as the Ordeal, was a recognized mode 

 of procedure. As late as the reign of King 

 John (1199-1216) bishops and clergy were di- 

 rected to use the ordeal by "iron, water and 

 fire," which was always surrounded by all the 

 solemnities the Church could employ. The 

 ordeal by fire was performed by taking in the 

 hand a piece of red-hot iron from one to three 

 pounds in weight. If the suspected person was 

 unharmed, he was declared innocent; if injured, 

 he was deemed guilty. In another form the 

 accused walked barefoot and blindfold over 

 nine red-hot plowshares. 



Strange as it may seem, official records of 

 such trials in the thirteenth century show the 

 acquittals and the convictions were about equal, 

 the acquittals being due, it may be assumed, 

 to some fraud in the arrangements for the or- 

 deal. In the ordeal by water, the accused 

 plunged his bare arm to the elbow in boiling 

 water, his innocence being established if he 

 escaped unharmed. Another method was to 

 bind the prisoner securely and throw him into 

 deep water. If he sank, he was declared inno- 

 cent. This was, however, a comparatively safe 



