ORDER 



4401 



ORDOVICIAN PERIOD 



ordeal, since there were ropes attached with 

 which to pull him to safety if he sank. 



Trials by ordeal were naturally opposed by 

 the intelligent, and the decrees of Pope Inno- 

 cent III in 1215 and Honorius in 1222 sup- 

 pressed them in the Church. In England, the 

 Instructions of Henry III issued in 1219 forbade 

 them; and in Germany, the decree of Fred- 

 erick II suppressed them. Certain forms of 

 tri:il by ordeal still exist, notably among the 

 Hindus and some tribes in Africa. 



Trial by Combat. This form of trial, differ- 

 ing from an ordinary fight or duel in that di- 

 vine intervention on behalf of the righteous 

 was expected, became common in England after 

 the suppression of ordeals by Henry III. It 

 was not. legally abolished till 1818, though its 

 use had quietly ceased long before. The gen- 

 eral procedure was for the accused to combat 

 the accuser; if a dog trailed an offender by 

 scent he was considered the accuser and the 

 man was obliged to fight him. A lord could 

 appoint a retainer to fight in his place, and 

 women and priests were usually represented by 

 others. The story of Lohengrin hinges on the 

 custom of trial by combat. 



ORDER, a term used in botany and zoology 

 in the classification of plants and animals to 

 embrace genera (plural of genus) which resem- 

 ble each other in structure. It is a division 

 below the class but above family, although in 

 botany the terms order and family are often 

 interchangeable. The subject is discussed in 

 greater detail in the article CLASSIFICATION. 

 ORDERS, RELIGIOUS. See MONASTICISM; 



DOMINICANS; FRANCISCANS. 



ORDERS IN COUNCIL, decrees issued by 



the English Crown, so-called because they are 



proclaimed with the advice of the Privy Coun- 



cil. In January. 1807, after the promulgation 



Vapoleon's Berlin Decree, declaring the 



British Isles to be in a state of blockade, Eng- 



land retaliated with an Order in Council which 



forbade neutral vessels to trade from port to 



port within France or any country allied with 



Later in the same year a second Order in 



Council was issued extending this blockade. 



ml enforcement of these orders 



(1 in a large degree to bringing on 



War of 1812 (which sc< In 1914, after 



outbreak of the \V Nations, 1 



land issued an Order in Council declaim^ 



h Sea a war tone. In retaliation for this 



kade of German ports Germany carried on 



its extensive and disastrous submarine cam- 



ORDINANCE, awr'dinans, OF 1787, an or- 

 dinance or statute adopted by Congress, July 13, 

 1787, which was one of the most important leg- 

 islative acts in American history. It provided 

 a plan for the government of the territory 

 which was ceded to the United States by New 

 York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia, 

 and comprised the country northwest of the 

 Ohio River, known as the Northwest Territory. 

 A governor, secretary and three judges, ap- 

 pointed by Congress, were the first officials, and 

 to them was given authority to apply to their 

 Territory any law then in force in any of the 

 thirteen states. The territory was from time to 

 time to be divided; when any division should 

 have a population of 60,000 it might become 

 a state, if certain conditions imposed in the 

 Ordinance were compiled with. Not more 

 than five nor fewer than three states might be 

 formed; the latter number were eventually or- 

 ganized Ohio, Indiana, Illinois, Michigan and 

 Wisconsin. The Ordinance forever forbade 

 slavery in that region, gave freedom of worship 

 to all, and provided for schools, in a clause 

 which has become famous in the educational 

 history of the United States: 



Religion, morality and knowledge being neces- 

 sary to good government and the happiness of 

 mankind, schools and the means of education shall 

 forever be encouraged. 



For the story of the development of the re- 

 gion affected, see NORTHWEST TERRITORY. 



ORDNANCE, awrd'nans. See CANNON; AR- 

 TILLERY. 



ORDOVICIAN, awrdoh vish'an, PERIOD, a 

 division of the Paleozoic Era of geologic time, 

 extending from the Cambrian Period to the 

 Silurian. Formerly it was known as the Lower 

 Silurian. During the period nearly all of North 

 America was under the sea; however, the great 

 inland sea covering the region of the prairies 

 and great plains was shallow. Most of the 

 rocks of the period were formed by the deposit 

 of sediment which afterwards hardened into 

 rock. Some of these remain in their original 

 form, but others have been greatly changed. 

 To illustrate, the extensive deposits of marble 

 in the Green Mountains were originally Ordo- 

 vician limestone, which was later changed to 

 marble by heat. Trenton limestone, Saint 

 Peter's sandstone and magneaian limestone 

 were among the rocks formed. Extensive de- 

 poeita of petroleum and natural gaa come from 

 Ordovician rocks, and the lead and line f< 

 in I.)\\M. Illinois and Wisconsin were depot 

 during the period. 



sra 



