ORG 
term ; but parliament considering it an ob- 
ject of national importance, granted him 
the sum of 14,0001. on condition that he 
should allow a perfect model of the machi- 
nery to be taken, and deposited in the 
Tower of London for public inspection. 
Similar mills were, in consequence, set up 
in dilferent parts of the country ; but owing 
to the difficulties that were experienced in 
procuring raw silk of the proper size for 
organzine, the exportation of which from 
Italy was prohibited, and to the mills hav- 
ing subsequently found employment - for 
otiier purposes, the quantities worked into 
organzine, for many years, bore scarcely any 
proportion to the imports from Italy ; it 
has, however, been since revived and im- 
proved, in consequence of which it is now 
carried to a very considerable extent. 
The process which the silk undergoes to 
bring it into this state, consists of six diffe- 
rent operations : 1. The silk is wound from 
the skein upon bobbins, g. It is then sort- 
ed. 3. It is spun, or twisted, on a mill in 
tlie single thread. 4. Two threads thus 
spun are doubled, or drawn together through 
the lingers of a woman, who at the same 
time cleans them by taking out the slubs 
which may have been left in the silk by the 
negligence of the foreign reeler. 5. It is 
then thrown by a mill, that is, the two 
threads are twisted together either slack or 
hard, as the manufacture may require ; and 
it is wound at the same time in skeins upon 
a reel. 6. The skeins are sorted according 
to their different degrees of fineness, and 
then the process is complete. 
Organzine was for many years made only 
fwm Italian silk, but when considerable 
improvements were made in the culture of 
silk in India, it suggested the possibility of 
throwing some of the finer silks of Bengal 
into organzine. The experiments of indi- 
viduals were not very satisfactory, but in 
the beginning of 1794, the East India Com- 
pany took up the subject with the view of 
increasing the annual consumption of Ben- 
gal silk in this country ; and having it in 
their power to setect from their total im- 
port the silks most proper for this purpose, 
they have been enabled, at each subsequent 
sale, to put up from 80 to 100 bales of 
good Bengal organzine. It has been adopt- 
ed successively in several branches of the 
manufacture ; and in tlie year 1808, when 
the prohibition of exportation from Italy- 
produced a scarcity of the silks of that 
country, attempts were made to substitute 
Bengal organzine for all the purposes to 
ORt 
wliich Italian 'organzine was applied ; the 
result, however, appeared to be that, for 
some particular articles, Italian organzine 
possesses peculiar properties not to be found 
in any other kind of silk. 
ORGASM, a quick motion of the blood, 
whereby the muscles are made to move 
with great force. 
ORGUES, in the military art, are thick 
long pieces of wood pointed at one end, and 
shod with iron, clear one of another ; hang- 
ing each by a particular rope, or cord, over 
the gate way of a strong place, perpendicu- 
larly, to be let fall in case of an enemy. 
Their disposition is such, that they stop the 
passage of the gate, and are preferable to 
lierses or portcullises; because these may 
be either broke by a petard, or they may 
be stopped in their falling down ; but a 
petard is useless against an orgue, for if it 
break one or two of the pieces, they imme- 
diately fall down again, and fill up the va- 
cancy ; or if they stop one or two of the 
pieces from falling, it is no hindrance to 
the rest. 
ORIGANUM, in botany, marjoram, a 
genus of the Didynamia Gymnospermia 
class and order. Natural order of Verti- 
cillat®. Labiatae, Jussieu. Essential cha- 
racter : strobile four-cornered, spiked, col- 
lecting the calyxes. There are twelve spe- 
cies, with several varieties. 
ORILLON, in fortification, is a small 
rounding of earth faced with a wall ; raised 
on the shoulder of those bastions that have 
casemates, to cover the cannon in the re- 
tired flank, and prevent their being dis- 
mounted by the enemy. 
ORIOLUS, the oriole, in natural histo- 
ry, a genus of birds of the order Picae. Ge- 
neric character : bill conic, convex, very 
sharp and strait ; mandibles equally long ; 
nostrils small, and lodged in the base of the 
bill, and partly covered ; tongue divided 
and sharp-pointed. These birds are natives 
of America, are clamorous and voracious, 
appear in flocks, feed on fruits and grain, 
and frequently have pensile nests. Latham 
enumerates forty-five species ; Gmelin fifty. 
We shall notice only those which follow: 
O. persicus, or the black and yellow 
oriole. A variety of this species, somewhat 
larger than a blackbird, and an inhabitant 
of South America, is the bird rendered re- 
markable for building nests in the form of 
an alembic, and nearly eighteen inches 
long, of dry grass, hog’s bristles, and horse- 
hair, or, what is called in that country, old 
man’s beard, a substance very like the hair 
