ORNE 50 ORRIS ROOT of the United States Census, and car- ried on many important researches in chemical subjects, and was a member of many important American and for- eign chemistry societies. He wrote "Laboratory Manual of Organic Chem- istry" in 1894. ORNE, a department of France, formed out of the old provinces of Nor- mandy, Alen?on, and Perche; separated from the English Channel on the W. by La Manche and on the N. by Calvados; area, 2,371 square miles; pop. about 300,- 000. A range of wooded hills, nowhere rising above 1,370 feet, extends across the S. of the department from E. to W., separating the streams that flow N. to the English Channel from those that go S. to the Seine and Loire. Though the soil is fertile, agriculture is not in an advanced state. Apple and pear trees abound, and more than 22,000,000 gal- lons of cider are made every year. Cat- tle and horses of the purest Norman breed are reared. There are cotton and hemp spinning, and cotton and linen weaving, dyeing, bleaching, and manu- facture of gloves, iron, glass, etc. Fish- ing and bee keeping are carried on. Capital, Alengon. ORNITHOLOGY, in natural science, the methodical study, and consequent knowledge of birds, with all that relates to them. It embraces caliology (which treats of nests), oology, pterylology, and ornithotomy. Its earliest literature dates from Aristotle (384-322 B. c), and every succeeding age has added its quota. ORNITHORHYNCHUS, commonly called duckbill or watermole, in zoology, the sole genus of the family. Premax- illa and the mandible expanded anterior- ly, and supporting a horny beak; teeth supplied functionally by horny struc- tures; legs short, fitted for swimming; feet webbed, each with five well develop- ed toes, armed with large claws, and be- yond which, in the forefeet, the interdigi- tal membrane is extended. Tongue not extensile; tail rather short, broad, and depressed; eyes very small; fur close and soft, A single species, 0. paradoxus, 0. anatinus, inhabits Australia and Tas- mania. It is aquatic, and feeds on wa- ter insects, small mollusca, and worms. The ornithorhynchus, though mammal- ian in its general structure, is oviparous, laying two eggs at a time. These are about % inches in the longer, and % inches in the shorter diameter. ^ ORONTES, the ancient name of a river in Syria, now called Nahr-el-Asi. It rises in the highest part of Coele-Syria, near Baalbek, flows N. between the mountains of Libanus, as far as the city of Antioch, and then W. to the Mediter- ranean Sea, through a total course of 147 miles. ORPEN, MAJOR SIR WILLIAM, British painter. He was born in Ire- land in 1878, and was educated at the Dublin Metropolitan School of Art and Slade School. He won much prominence as a portrait painter, and in 1918 had a great exhibition of his war pictures, many of which he presented to the gov- ernment. His painting representing the international delegates at Versailles in 1919 was completed in 1920. ORPHAN ASYLUM, or ORPHAN- AGE, an establishment in which orphans are provided for and educated. In all well regulated states the duty of taking care of destitute orphans was recogniz- ed at an early age, and it appears that the cities of Thebes, Athens, and Rome had establishments in which orphaned, deserted, and illegitimate children were supported and educated at the public ex- pense. In the Middle Ages such asy- lums were numerous and generally un- der the direction of the clergy. In re- cent times public orphanages have been substituted or supplemented by the farm- ing out system, that is, the children are brought up in private families willing to undertake their charge. Orphan asy- lums, as conducted in the United States, are supported as private institutions, as- sisted by legislative appropriation. They are fostered also by the religious de- nominations. ORPHEUS, in Greek mythology, a cel- ebrated mythic bard, said to have been a son of Apollo or (Eagrus, King of Thrace, and the Muse Calliope. To- gether with his brother Linus he was regarded as having introduced the arts of civilized life among wild and untu- tored hordes. ORPIMENT, in mineralogy, an or- thorhombic mineral occurring sometimes in crystals, mostly as cleavable masses, earthy, or as incrustations. Composi- tion: Sulphur, 39.0; arsenic, 61.0 = 100. Found in metalliferous veins with real- gar at many localities. ORRERY, in astronomy, a planetary machine to illustrate and explain the motions of the heavenly bodies. ORRIS ROOT, in botany, the rhizome of Iris ftorentina and /. germanica, sometimes called violet-scented orris root. Orris-root starch, the starch or flour of the root of 7. florentina, used in the
