1859) forms part of the territory long in
dispute between Great Britain and the United States. It was occupied
jointly from 1818 to 1846, when a compromise fixed the present boundary
of British Columbia.

ORELLI, CONRAD VON, theologian, born at Zurich; professor at Basel;
has written commentaries on Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, and the minor
prophets; _b_. 1846.

ORELLI, JOHANN KASPAR VON, a Swiss scholar, born at Zurich, where he
was professor of Classical Philology; edited editions of the classics,
particularly Horace, Tacitus, and Cicero, highly esteemed for the
scholarship they show and the critical judgment (1787-1849).

ORESTES, the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, and brother of
Electra and Iphigenia, who killed his mother to avenge the murder by her
of his father and went mad afterwards, but was acquitted by the Areopagus
and became king of Argos and Lacedaemon; his friendship for Pylades, who
married his sister Electra, has passed into a proverb; the tragic story
is a favourite theme of the Greek tragedians.

ORFILA, M. J. BONAVENTURE, French chemist and physician, born in
Minorca; mainly distinguished for his works on toxicology (1787-1853).

ORGANISM, a structure instinct with life, and possessed of organs
that discharge functions subordinate and ministrative to the life of the
whole.

ORGANON, a term adopted by Bacon to denote a system of rules for the
regulation of scientific inquiry.

ORGIES, festivals among the Greeks and Orientals generally connected
with the worship of nature divinities, in particular DEMETER (q. v.),
DIONYSOS (q. v.), and the Cabiri, celebrated with mystic
rites and much licentious behaviour.

ORIFLAMME (i. e. flame of gold), the ancient banner of the kings
of France, borne before them as they marched to war; it was a red flag
mounted on a gilded staff, was originally the banner of the abbey of St.
Denis, and first assumed as the royal standard by Louis VI. as he marched
at the head of his army against the Emperor Henry V. in 1124, but one
hears no more of it after the battle of Agincourt in 1415, much as it was
at one time regarded as the banner of the very Lord of Hosts.

ORIGEN, one of the most eminent of the Fathers of the Church, born
at Alexandria it is presumed, the son of a Christian who suffered
martyrdom under Severus, whom he honoured and ever reverenced for his
faith in Christ; studied the Greek philosophers that he might familiarise
himself wi