The Nuttall Encyclopaedia Part 331

OMAGH (4), on the Strule, 34 m. S. of Londonderry; is the county town of Tyrone; though a very ancient town it has been rebuilt since 1743, when it was destroyed by fire; it is the head-quarters of the NW.

military district.

OMAHA (102), chief city of Nebraska, on the W. bank of the Missouri, 20 m. above the confluence of the Platte; is connected by a bridge with Council Bluffs on the opposite sh.o.r.e; it has many fine buildings, including colleges and schools; its silver-smelting works are the largest in the world; it ranks third in the pork-packing industry, and has besides manufactures of linseed oil, boilers, and safes; an important railway centre, it lies midway between the termini of the Union Pacific Railroad; near it are the military head-quarters of the Platte department.

OMAN, a territory of Arabia, lying along the sh.o.r.es of the Persian Gulf and the Arabian Sea, round the south-eastern n.o.b of the peninsula; has some stretches of very fertile country where there happens to be water for irrigation, but the coast is very hot and not healthy. The region is subject to the Sultan of Muscat, who is in turn a pensioner of the Anglo-Indian Government.

OMAR, the successor of Abu-Bekr, and the second Caliph from 634 to 644; was at first a persecutor of the Faithful, but underwent in 615 a sudden conversion like Said, with a like result; was vizier of Abu-Bekr before he succeeded him; swept and subdued Syria, Persia, and Egypt with the sword in the name of Allah, but is accused of having burned the rich library of Alexandria on the plea that it contained books hostile to the faith of Islam; he was an austere man, and was a.s.sa.s.sinated by a Persian slave whose wrongs he refused to redress.

OMAR KHAYYaM, astronomer-poet of Persia, born at Naishapur, in Khora.s.san; lived in the later half of the 11th century, and died in the first quarter of the 12th; wrote a collection of poems which breathe an Epicurean spirit, and while they occupy themselves with serious problems of life, do so with careless sportiveness, intent he on the enjoyment of the sensuous pleasures of life, like an easy-going Epicurean. The great problems of destiny don't trouble the author, they are no concern of his, and the burden of his songs a.s.suredly is, as his translator says, "If not 'let us eat, let us drink, for to-morrow we die.'"

OMAR PASHA, general in the Turkish army, was born an Austrian, his proper name Michael Lattas, and educated at the military school of Thurn; guilty of a breach of discipline, he ran away to Bosnia, turned Mohammedan, and henceforth threw in his lot with the Turks; he became writing-master to the Ottoman heir, Abdul-Medjid, and on the succession of the latter in 1839 was made a colonel; he was military governor of Lebanon in 1842, won distinction in suppressing rebellions in Albania, Bosnia, and Kurdistan, but his chief services were rendered in the Russian War; he successfully defended Kalafat in 1853, entered Bucharest in 1854, and defeated 40,000 Russians next year at Eupatoria in the Crimea; his capture of Cetinje, Montenegro, in 1862 was a difficult feat (1806-1871).

O'MEARA, BARRY EDWARD, a surgeon, born in Ireland, who accompanied Napoleon to St. Helena, and became his physician, having been surgeon on board the _Bellerophon_ when the emperor surrendered himself; is remembered as the author of "A Voice from St. Helena; or, Napoleon in Exile," a book which from its charges against Sir Hudson Lowe created no small sensation on its appearance (1786-1836).

OMMIADES, an Arab dynasty of 14 caliphs which reigned at Damascus from 661 to 720; dethroned by the Aba.s.sides, they were under Abder-Rahman I. welcomed in Spain, and they established themselves in Cordova, where they ruled from 756 to 1031.

OMNIPRESENCE, an attribute of the Divine Being as all-present in every section of s.p.a.ce and moment of time throughout the universe.

OMPHALe, a queen of Lydia, to whom Hercules was sold for three years for murdering Iphitus, and who so won his affection that he married her, and was content to spin her wool for her and wear the garments of a woman while she donned and wore his lion's skin.

OMSK (32), capital of Western Siberia, on the Om, at its confluence with the Irtish, 1800 m. E. of Moscow; is within the area of Russian colonisation, and has a military academy, Greek and Roman Catholic cathedrals, and large cattle trade; a number of its inhabitants are political exiles from Europe.

ONEGA, LAKE, in the NW. of Russia, next to Ladoga the largest in Europe, nearly three times the size of Norfolks.h.i.+re, being 140 m. long and 59 broad; has an irregular sh.o.r.e, deeply indented in the W., many inflowing rivers, but is drained only by the Swir; ice-bound for four months, there is busy traffic the rest of the year; navigation is promoted by ca.n.a.ls, but hindered by many reefs; fish abound in the waters.

ONOMATOPOEIA, formations of words resembling in sound that of the things denoted by them.

ONTARIO (2,114), third largest, most populous, richest, and most important province of Canada, lies N. of the great lakes between Quebec and Manitoba, and is thrice the size of Great Britain; the surface is mostly undulating; there are many small lakes, the chief rivers flow eastward to join the Ottawa; agriculture is the chief industry, enormous crops of wheat, maize, and other cereals are raised; stock-rearing and dairy-farming are important; the climate is subject to less extremes than that of Quebec, but the winter is still severe; there are rich mineral deposits, especially of iron, copper, lead, and silver, petroleum and salt; manufactures of agricultural implements, hardware, textiles, and leather are carried on; Toronto (181) is the largest town, Ottawa (44) is the capital of the Dominion, Hamilton (49) an important railway centre; the prosperity of the province is largely promoted by the magnificent waterways, lakes, rivers, and ca.n.a.ls with which it is furnished. Founded by loyalists from the United States after the Declaration of Independence, the province was const.i.tuted in 1791 as Upper Canada, united to Quebec or Lower Canada in 1840, it received its present name on the federation of Canada in 1867; education in it is free and well conducted; there are many colleges and universities; munic.i.p.al and provincial government is enlightened and well organised; the prevalent religious faith is Protestant.

ONTARIO, LAKE, in area almost equal to Wales, is the smallest and easternmost of the five great lakes of the St. Lawrence Basin, North America; it lies between the province of Ontario, Canada, and New York State; receives the Niagara River in the SW., several streams on both sides, and issues in the St. Lawrence in the NE.; on its sh.o.r.es stand Hamilton, Toronto, and Kingston on the N., and Oswego on the S.; ca.n.a.ls connect it with Lake Erie and the Hudson River, and it is a busy and always open highway of commerce.

ONTOLOGY, another name for METAPHYSICS (q. v.) or the science of pure being, being at its living source in spirit or G.o.d, or Nature viewed as divine, especially as the ground of the spiritual in man and giving substantive being to him.

ONYX, a variety of agate or chalcedony, in which occur even layers of white and black or white and brown, sharply defined in good specimens; they come from India, and are highly valued for cameo-cutting.

OOSTERZEE, JAN JAKOB VAN, a theologian of the Dutch Church, born at Rotterdam; became professor at Utrecht, wrote several theological and exegetical works on evangelical lines (1817-1882).

OPAL, a variety of quartz, of which the finest kind, precious opal, is translucent, with blue or yellow tint, and when polished with a convex surface shows an admirable play of colours; it is found chiefly at Cerwenitza, Austria.

OPEN SECRET, THE, the secret that lies open to all, but is seen into and understood by only few, applied especially to the mystery of the life, the spiritual life, which is the possession of all.

OPEN, SESAMe, the magic formula the p.r.o.nunciation of which opened the robbers' stronghold in the "Arabian Nights."

OPERA, a drama set to music and acted and sung to the accompaniment of a full orchestra, of which there are several kinds according as they are grave, comic, or romantic.

OPERA BOUFFE, an opera in an extravagant burlesque style, with characters, music, and other accompaniments to match; is the creation of OFFENBACH (q. v.), his more distinguished successors in the production of which have been Lecocq, Herve, and Strauss.

OPHELIA, the daughter of Polonius in "Hamlet" and in love with the lord, but whose heart, from the succession of shocks it receives, is shattered and broken.

OPHICLEIDE, a keyed bra.s.s wind instrument of recent invention, of great compa.s.s and power, and of which there are two kinds in use.

OPHIR, a region in the East of uncertain situation, frequently referred to in Scripture as a region from which gold and precious stones were imported.

OPHITES, a sect of Gnostics who regarded the serpent as a benefactor of the race in having persuaded Eve to eat of the tree of the _knowledge_ of good and evil in disregard, or rather in defiance, of the warning of the G.o.d of the Jews.

OPIE, JOHN, English artist, born near Truro, Cornwall; began to learn his father's trade of carpenter, but turning to art went with Dr.

Wolcott to London in 1780; for a year he had phenomenal success as a portrait-painter; on the wane of his popularity he turned to scriptural and historical painting and to ill.u.s.tration; after being a.s.sociate for a year he was elected Academician in 1787; besides some lectures on art, he wrote a Life of Reynolds and other works (1761-1807).

OPINICUS, a fabulous winged creature with the head of a griffin, the body of a lion, and the tail of a camel; a heraldic symbol.

OPITZ, MARTIN VON, a German poet, born in Silesia; was much patronised by the princes of Germany; was crowned with laurel, and enn.o.bled by Ferdinand II.; his poetry was agreeable to cla.s.sic models, but at the expense of soul, though, to his credit it must be said, the German language and German poetry owe him a deep debt (1597-1639).

OPORTO (140), at the mouth of the Douro, 200 m. N. of Lisbon, the chief manufacturing city of Portugal, and second in commercial importance; is the head-quarters of the trade in port wine; the industries include cloth, silk, hat, and porcelain manufacture, tobacco, metal-casting, and tanning; besides wine it exports cattle, fruit, cork, and copper. There are many old churches, schools, a library, and two picture-galleries.

OPPORTUNIST, name given to a politician whose policy it is to take advantage of, or be guided by, circ.u.mstances.