O R N 
OEO 
320 
gu'av projection. 2. Pica*, bill compressed 
convex; with feet formed for perching or 
climbing. 3. Anseres, bill covered with 
skin, broad at the tip ; some with and some 
without teeth. 4. Grailuc, bill roundish, tongue 
fleshy ; some with three some with four toes. 
5. Gallin;e, bill convex, upper mandible 
arched. 6. Passeres, bill conic, sharp-pointed. 
ORN 1 1110PLS, bird’s foot, a genus of 
the diadelphia decandria class of plants, with 
a papilionaceous Power: its fruit is an ob- 
long jointed pod, of a cylindrical figure, and 
containing in each joint a single roundish 
seed ; add to this, that several of these pods 
usually grow together. There are five 
species. 
The leaves of this plant are said to be 
good for a hernia, and for breaking and 
expelling the stone of the kidneys or bladder. 
OR NITHORIIYN C ! 1 US PARADOX- 
US, from New South Wales, a singular qua- 
druped, which has not yet been properly 
classed in the Linnsean system. The most 
remarkable eircumstauce’iu this curious ani- 
mal, is the great similarity of its head with 
tiiat of a duck, which, however, is still more 
striking in its internal structure. From the 
external form of the scull of this animal, one 
might be more easily led to conclude that it 
belonged to such an' aquatic bird, • than to a 
creature of the mammalia tribe. Both the 
jaws are as broad and low as in a duck, 
and the calvaria has no traces of a suture, 
as is generally the case in full-grown birds. 
There is likewise a singularity in the cavity 
of the scull, of which nothing like it is 
known in any quadruped animal of the mam- 
malia, though there exists something ana- 
logous in the class of birds, namely, a con- 
siderable bony falx, which is situated along 
the middle of the os frontis, and the ossa 
bregmatis. This processus is in general 
scarcely to be seen in the mammalia, even 
in those that have a bony tentorium cere- 
helli. The mandible of this animal is very 
singular, consisting of a beak, the under part 
of which has its margin indented as in ducks, 
and of the, proper instrument for chewing 
that is situated behind, within the cheeks. 
This has no teeth, nor even the traces of 
alveoli, but only two broad processes of a 
peculiar formation on each side, whose un- 
dulated superficies lit one another. Dr. 
Shaw says of the specimen he examined, 
that it had no teeth, “ dentium nulla sunt 
vestigia,” But sir Joseph Banks informs us, 
that Mr, Home has found, in a specimen 
that belongs to the Society of Natural His- 
tory at Newcastle, on each side of the jaws, 
two small and flat molar teeth. The’ fore 
part of this anomalous mandible, or the. beak, 
is covered and bordered with a coriaceous 
skin, in yrhich three parts are to be distin- 
guished : 1. The proper integument of the 
beak (integumentum rostri), 2. The labiated 
margins of it (murgines iabiales), 3. A cu- 
rious edge of the skin of the beak (limbus 
tf adversaries). Into these three parts of 
that membrane numerous nerves are distri- 
buted, of which those in the upper part of 
the beak arise from the second branch .of the 
fifth pair, viz, hi the limbus trausversarius ; 
chat which penetrates through the foramen 
infraorbitale, in the margo labiulis ; that 
which comes forth behind the ossa inter- 
maxillaria, and to the integumentum rostri, 
three branches, which run out between the 
oss:f intermaxillaria. From this quantity of 
nerves, with which the integument ot the 
beak is provided, no doubt is left of this part 
being intended as the organ of feeling, a sense 
which, besides men and the quadrumanes, 
very few mammalia enjoy, that is to say, 
few animals possess the faculty of distin- 
guishing the form of external objects and 
their qualities by organs destined for that 
purpose ; a property that is different from 
the common feeling, bv which every animal 
is able to perceive the temperature and 
presence of sensible objects, but without 
being informed by the touch of them, of 
their peculiar qualities. Thus, for instance, 
the skin in the wings of a but, and its ear, 
serve probably as organs of common feeling, 
by means of which they are enabled to flut- 
ter, after being blinded, without flying 
against any thing. The whiskers (vibrissae) 
of many animals seem likewise to serve for 
the purpose of informing them of the pre- 
sence of sensible bodies, on which account 
Dr. Darwin compares them with the antenna: 
of insects ; but they are not able to inform 
themselves of the properties of those objects. 
It is true that the snout of a mole has been 
considered by Derham, and the snout and 
tongue of many other animals likewise by 
Burton, as organs of touching ; but this seems 
only to be their secondary use. The same 
may be said of the elephant’s trunk, which 
Burton also conceives to be an organ of 
touching, although from its manner of liv- 
ing, the necessity of such an organ of touch- 
ing does not appear. The ornithorhynchus, 
however, is an animal which, from the si- 
milarity of its abode, and the manner of 
searching for food, agrees much with the 
duck, on which account it has been equally 
provided by nature with an organ for touch- 
ing, viz. with the integument of the beak, 
richly endowed with nerves. This instance 
of analogy in the structure of a singular or- 
gan of sense in two species of animals from 
classes quite different, is highly instructive 
for comparative physiology, and on this ac- 
count the ornithorhynchus belongs to one of 
the most remarkable phenomena of zoology, 
and may in general be looked upon as one 
of the most interesting discoveries with which 
that part of natural history has been enrich- 
ed during the last century. See Plate Nat. 
Hist, fig, 303. 
OROBANCHE, broom-rape, a genus of 
the didynamia augiospertnia class of plants, 
ranking under the 40lh order, nersonatax 
The corolla is monopetalous and ringent ; 
and its fruit an oblong capsule formed of 
two valves, and containing a great many 
minute seeds ; the calyx is bifid. There is a 
glandule under the base of the germen, 
There are fourteen species. 
O HQ BUS, bitter vetch, a genus of the 
decandria order, in the diadelphia class of 
plants ; and in the natural method ranking 
under the 32d order, papilionaceae, The 
style is linear; the calyx obtuse at the 
base, with the upper segments deeper and 
shorter than the rest. There are 16 species. 
AH of them have fibrated roots, which are per- 
ennial, but are annual in stalk, rising early in 
spring and decaying in autumn. They are 
very hardy plants, and prosper in any com- 
mon soil of a garden. Most of the sorts are 
t> 
OR R 
very floriferous, and the flowers conspicuous 
ami ornamental for adorning the flower-com- 
partments. The Scotch Highlanders have a 
great esteem for the tubercles of the roots 
of the tuberosus, or species sometimes called 
wood-pea. They dry and chevy them in ge- 
neral to give a better relish to their liquor ; 
they also affirm that they are good against 
most disorders of the breast, and that by 
the use of them they are enabled to resist 
hunger and thirst for a long time. In Bread- 
altjane and Ross -shire, they sometimes 
bruise and steep them in water, and make 
an agreeable fermented liquor with them. 
They have a sweet taste, something like the 
roots of liquorice ; and, when boiled, we are 
told, they are nutritious and well flavoured ; 
and in tunes of scarcity have served as a 
substitute for bread. 
ORONTIUM, a genus of the monogynia 
order, in the hexandria class of plants ; and 
in the natural method ranking under the 
second order, piperita:. The spadix is cy- 
lindrical, covered with florets ; the corolla 
hexapetaluus and naked ; there i? no style ; 
the follicles are monospermous. There are 
two species, marsh plants of Canada and 
Japan, 
ORPHAN : in the city of London there 
is a court of .record established for the care 
and government of orphans. 
ORPi M ENT. See Arsen ;c. 
ORRERY, a curious machine for repre- 
senting the motions and appearances of the 
heavenly bodies. We shall in this place 
merely shew the_ theory of the wheels, leav- 
ing a more particular description for the ar- 
ticle Planetarium. We must first com- 
pare and find out the proportion which the 
periodical times, or revolutions, of the pri- 
mary planets, bear to that of the earth ; and 
they are such as are expressed in the table 
below j where the first column is the time of 
the earth’s period in days and decimal parts; 
the second, that of the planets ; the third 
and fourth are numbers in the same proper* 
tion to each other : as 
364.25 : 88 $ : : 83 : 20, for Merc. 
365.25 ; 224,7 $ : : 52 : 32, for Venus. 
365,25 : 686,9 S : i 40 : 75, for Mars. 
36 5.25 : 4332,5 If. : : 7 : S3, for Jupiter. 
305.25 : 10759.3 I? : : 5 : 1 48, for Saturn. 
If we now suppose a spindle or arbor with 
six wheels fixed upon it in an horizontal po- 
sition, having the number of teeth in each 
corresponding to the numbers in the third 
column, viz. the wheei AM (see Plate 
Observatory, fig. 6.) of 83 teeth, BL 
of 52, CK of 50 (for the earth), DI of 40, 
Ell of 7, and FG of 5 ; and another set of 
wheels moving freely about an arbor, having 
the number of teeth in the fourth column, 
viz. AN of 20, BO of 32, CP of 50 (for the 
earth), DQ ol 75, ER of 83, and FS of 148 ; 
then, it those two arbors of fixed and move- 
able wheels are made of the size, and fixed 
at the distance from each other, as here re- 
presented in tire scheme, the teeth of the 
former will take those of the latter, and turn 
them very freely, when the machine is in 
motion. 
These arbors, with their wheels, are to be 
placed in a box of an adequate size, in a per- 
pendicular position: the arbor of fixed 
wheels to move in pivots at the top and bot- 
tom of the box ; and the arbor of moveable 
wheels to move in pivots at the top and 
