ORL ;; 



gateway, to he let down in case of attack. 



2. A machine composed of several 



musket barrels united, by means of which 

 several explosions are made at once to 

 defend breaches. 



OR'ICHALCH, ] Lat. orichalcum, moun- 



ORICHAL'CUM. j tain brass ; o$o; and 

 %X*of ; or gold-brass, aurichdlciim. The 

 brass of the ancients. 



OR'IEL, ) Old Fr. oriol, a sort of recess 



OR'IOL. / or small apartment. The oriel 

 window is a projecting angular window, 

 commonly of a triagonal or pentagonal 

 form, and divided by mullions and tran- 

 soms into different bays and compart- 

 ments. 



OR'ITLAMB, FT. oriflamme. An ancient 

 royal standard of France. 



ORIG'ANOM. The Marjoram : a genus of 

 plants. Didynamia G-ymnospermia. Name 

 etuyotvov, from egsj, a mountain, and 

 <yaroy, joy. The British type, the O. vtd- 

 garis, is a perennial plant, but some of the 

 exotic species are permanent. 



OR'IGENISTS. Followers of Origen of 

 Alexandria, a celebrated Christian father, 

 who held that the souls of men have a 

 pre-existing state ; that they are holy 

 intelligences, and sin before they are 

 united to the body ; and that Christ will 

 be crucified hereafter for the salvation of 

 devils, &c., &c. 



ORIG'IN AL, Lat. originalis. In laic, where 

 the parts of an indenture are interchange- 

 ably executed between the parties, that 

 part executed by the grantor is called the 

 original, the others, counterparts. In the 

 fine arts, a work not copied, but the ar- 

 tist's own : a copy of hft own work is a 

 duplicate. In theology, original sin is the 

 corruption of nature derived to us from 

 our first parents. 



ORIL'LON. In fortification, a small round- 

 ing of earth, lined with a wall, raised on 

 the shoulders of such bastions as have 

 casemates to cover the cannon in the re- 

 tired flank. 



ORI'ON, fletaav. In astronomy, one of 

 the most extensive and brightest constel- 

 lations of the southern hemisphere : men- 

 tioned in the Book of Job, and in other 

 parts of the Bible. "When it comes to the 

 meridian, there is then above the horizon 

 the most splendid view of the celestial 

 bodies which the starry firmament affords 

 to the eye of the beholder, and this is 

 visible to the whole inhabited world, 

 because the equinoctial passes nearly 

 through the middle of the constellation. 

 Orion contains 78 stars, of which two are 

 of the first magnitude, four of the second, 

 and four of the third. 



ORLE, J Fr. ourlet, Ital. orlo, a hem. 



OR'LET, j 1. In architecture, a fillet or 

 band under the ovolo of the capital : by 

 ome applied also to the plinth of the base 



4 ORP 



of a column or pedestal. 2. In heraldry, 



an ordinary in the form of a fillet round 

 the shield. 



OR'LOP, Dut. overloop, a running over. 

 A platform of planks, laid over the beams 

 in the hold of a ship of war, whereon the 

 cables are usually coiled. It contains also 

 the sail-rooms, the purser's, surgeon's, 

 boatswain's, and carpenter's cabins, and 

 the several officers' stove-rooms. In three- 

 decked ships, the second and lowest decks 

 are sometimes called orlops. 



ORNiTHicH'NiTEs.from '{;?, a bird, and 

 Biyu, to touch. The name given by geo- 

 logists to certain footmarks of birds, ob- 

 served in the rocks of different formations. 

 The most remarkable are perhaps those 

 of the new red sand-stone of the valley of 

 Connecticut, described by Prof. Hitch- 

 cock, in the American Journal of Arts and 

 Sciences. 



ORNITH'OLITE, from o^ti;, a bird, and 

 A/0a? , stone. A fossil bird. The name is 

 also given to stones of various colours, 

 bearing the figure of birds. 



ORNITHOL'OGY, from $?, a bird, and 

 hoyof, discourse. The department of na- 

 tural history which treats of birds ; de- 

 scribes their structure, teaches their eco- 

 nomy, and arranges them in classes, 

 orders, genera, and species. 



ORNITH'OMANCY, from Sftis and ua.t- 

 ruat, prophecy. Divination by birds. 



ORNITHORHYNCUS. The duck-bill. A 

 mammiferous animal peculiar to New 

 Holland, and thus generically named by 

 Blumenbach; from o<>vis, a bird, and 

 pt>y%?. a beak, in allusion to the form of 

 the muzzle, which presents the closest 

 external resemblance to the hill of a duck 

 or spoonbill. Cuvier places it in the order 

 Edentata, and division Monotremata. It is 

 aquatic, inhabiting the rivers and marshes 

 in the neighbourhood of Port Jackson. 



OROG'RAPHY, from ogor, a mountain, 

 and y^ot^fi, description. Description of 

 mountains, as to their heights, sce- 

 nery, &c. 



OROI/OGY, from 030;, a mountain, and 

 Xoj>6s, discourse. Description of moun- 

 tains as to their structure, geological re- 

 lations, &c. 



OROMAS'DES. In Persian mythology, the 

 principle of good. 



OR'PHEUS, 11. A fish, the ogtpo; of Pliny, 



ORPHUS. ) caught in the Archipelago. 

 It is a broad flat tish, said to weigh some- 

 times 201bs. 2. A mythological per- 

 sonage, a son of the Thracian river 

 /Tiagrus and the muse Calliope. The Or- 

 phean mysteries, the mysteries of which 

 Orpheus was the founder. 



OR'PIMENT. Yellow sulphuret of arse- 

 nic : the golden pigment (auripigmentvm') 



