18, of course, impossible to define. Grand opera is the name given to that kind which is confined to music and song. The recitativo is an essential part of this. By operetta is understood a short musical drama of a light character. The Italians have a kind of musical dramas called intermezzo. (See Interlude.) The French vaudeville (q. v.) belongs to this species of compositions, but not the German melodrama, in which music, indeed, is introduced either by itself or in connexion with the dialogue, but no singing takes place. -Origin of the Italian Opera.-About the year 1594, three young noblemen of Florence, who were attached to each other by a similarity of tastes and pursuits, and a love of poetry and music, conceived the idea of reviving the chanted declamation of the Greek tragedy: they procured the poet Rinuccini to write a drama on the story of Daphne, which was set to music by Peri, the most celebrated musician of the age, assisted by count Giacomo Corsi, who, though only an amateur, was also, for the period, a good musician: the piece, like the Mask of Comus, was privately represented, and in the palace of Corsi. The interlocutors, or singers, were the author and his friends; and the orchestra of his first opera consisted but of four instruments, viz. a harpsichord, a harp, a viol di gamba, and lute. There was no attempt at airs; and the recitative if such it could be called-was merely a kind of measured intonation, which would appear to us insufferably languid and monotonous; yet it caused, at the time, an extraordinary sensation, and was frequently repeated. Four years afterwards, the first public opera, entitled Euridice, written by the same poet, and set by the same musician, was represented at the theatre of Florence, in honor of the marriage of Mary de' Medici with Henry the Fourth of France. On this occasion, the introduction of Anacreontic stanzas, set to music, and a chorus at the end of each act, were the first imperfect indications of the airs and choruses of the modern opera. Monteverde, a Milanese musician, improved the recitative, by giving it more flow and expression; he set the opera of Ariadne, by Rinuccini, for the court of Mantua; and in the opera of Glasone, set by Cavili and Cicoguini, for the Venetians (1649), occur the first airs connected in sentiment and spirit with the dialogue. According to another story of the origin of the opera, John Sulpitius, about 1486, exhibited little dramas, accomuanied with music, in the market-place a

Rome, and also before the pope and some cardinals. The commencement of the opcra seria at Rome reminds us of the wagon of Thespis and his lees-besmeared company of strollers. The first performance of this kind, consisting of scenes in recitative and airs, was exhibited in a cart during the carnival of 1606, by the musi cian Quagliata and four or five of his friends. The first regular serious opera performed at Naples was in 1615: it was entitled Amor non ha Legge. During the next half century, the opera not only did not improve, but it degenerated: it became in Italy what it was in France during the last century—a grand spectacle addressed to the eye, in which the poetry and music were the last things considered, while the scenery, mechanical illusions, and pantomime, were on the most splendid scale. As Goldoni said long afterwards of the grand opera at Paris, C'était le paradis des yeux et l'enfer des oreilles.The first opera buffa is said to have been represented at Venice in 1624, where also the first stage for operas was erected (in 1637). In 1646, the opera was transplanted to France by cardinal Mazarin. (See France, division Dramatic Poetry, and Art.) In Germany, carnival plays, in which the performance consisted of singing, existed even in the times of Hans Sachs (died 1567). Opitz and others imitated the Italian pieces; but the first German original opera is said to have been Adam and Eve, played in 1678, in Hamburg. Some consider The Devil let loose the first comic opera in Germany.. In Sweden, the first Swedish original opera was performed in 1774. The Italian opera was introduced into England in the seventeenth century. Handel effected a revolution there, which, however, did_not exert a permanent influence on the English opera. The Italian opera did not penetrate into Spain until the second half of the eighteenth century. The Italians draw the line between the opera seria and opera buffa much more distinctly than the Germans, so that the Italian opera seria appears almost insipid to a German; the buffa, on the contrary, is quite grotesque and quite national, and produces a lively effect when played by Italians. Among the most distinguished Italian writers of operas are Apostolo Zeno, and particularly Metastasio, who, in the eighteenth century, carried the Italian opera to so great a height. Among the writers of comic operas we must mention Goldoni. Among their composers, Sacchini, Piccini, Jomelli, Cimarosa, Salieri, Paisiello, Zingarelli,

Martini, Rossini, Generali, &c., are distinguished. (See Arteaga's History of the Italian Opera.) Among the French writers of operas are Quinault, La Fontaine, La Motte, Marmontel, Favart, Sedaine, Etienne, Jouy, Scribe. Théaulon. Among the French composers are Grétry, Monsigny, Rousseau, Dalayrac, Isouard, Boyeldieu, Catel, Méhul, and the nationalized Spontini and Cherubini. Among the English writers of operas are Addison, Gay, Fielding, Kenrick, &c. The English have no distinguished composers of operas. The German opera, as it now exists, originated from the operetta, chiefly culti vated in the latter half of the eighteenth century by Weisse and Hiller. The pieces which are sung became longer and longer, so that at last they took the form of the opera seria; and when the finale, invented by the Italians, was introduced, general preference was given to that kind of opera. Spoken dialogue and song alternate

in it; but in recent times, the great German composers have changed the prose dialogue also into recitative. The romantic opera is a German production, and compounded of the Italian opera seria and opera buffa. Among the most perfect of the German romantic_operas are the Magic Flute, Don Juan, Der Freischütz, Oberon, &c. Some of the poets who have written for the German opera are Göthe, J. G. Jacobi, Herklots, Huber, Kotzebue, Schikaneder, Kind, Gehe, &c. Among the German composers are Gluck, Hasse, Mozart, Winter, Weigl, Reichardt, Kunzen, Vogler, Beethoven, C. M. v. Weber, Spohr, Kreutzer, &c.

OPERA GLASS, in optics; so called from its use in theatres, &c. It is sometimes called a diagonal perspective, from its construction. It consists of a tube about four inches long, in each side of which there is a hole exactly against the middle of a plane mirror, which reflects the rays falling upon it to the convex glass, through which they are refracted to the concave eye-glass, whence they emerge parallel to the eye at the hole in the tube. This instrument is not intended to magnify objects more than about two or three times. It is intended for viewing persons at a small distance, so that no one shall know who is observed; for the instrument points to a different object from that which is viewed; and as there is a hole on each side, it is impossible to know on which hand the object is situated which is looked at.

OPHIR; a country or city to which the Hebrews made voyages in the time of David and Solomon, bringing home gold,

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ivory, spices, peacocks, &c. Commentators are not agreed as to its situation, but it seems most probably to have been on the eastern coast of Africa, or in the East Indies.

OPHITES; a Gnostic sect, which rose in the second century, and held, in common with the Valentinians (see Gnostics),the doctrines of the two principles, of cons (q. v.), and of the theogony therewith connected. They were peculiar in the worship of a living serpent, which they considered as the emblem of the sensual principle in man and of prudence (sophia). The Ophites kissed the snake, in which they honored the tempter of Eve in paradise, on the same principle as the pagans worshipped evil deities. Hammer has explained the signification of this emblem, and its worship, in a different manner, in the Fundgruben des Orients (6th vol., No. 1).

OPHIUCHUS, or SERPENTARIUS, and SERPENS; one of the old constellations, which was anciently called Esculapius.

OPHTHALMIA (340aλμos, eye); an inflam mation of the mucous membrane, which covers the globe of the eye and of the correspondent surface of the eyelids. It is either acute or chronic. It differs very much in its exciting causes. Residence in damp or sandy countries, exposure to the sun, sudden changes of weather, are among the most usual causes. It may also be produced by the suppression of some of the usual discharges, and also by the scrofulous and venereal virus. Its characteristic marks are pain and redness. Of all diseases of the eye it is most fre quent.

OPIE, John, professor of painting at the royal academy, was born in 1761, in Cornwall. His father was a carpenter, and he was intended for the same occupation; but when very young, he manifested a taste for study, and a strong predilection for the arts of design. When about nineteen, he removed to London; but his pictures were not admitted into the exhibition at Somerset house till 1786. He afterwards became an academician. He published An Inquiry into the Cultivation of the Arts of Design in England, and deliv. ered lectures at the royal institution. In 1804, he succeeded Fuseli as professor of painting, and read four lectures on paining, which have been published. He died in 1807. He holds a respectable station among English painters.

OPITZ, or OPITIUS, a celebrated German poet of the seventeenth century, born at Bunzlau, in Silesia, in 1597 published

first a collection of Latin poems, entitled Strenarum Libellus, in 1616. The following year he became a teacher at the gymnasium of Benthem, on the Oder, and, besides poetical compositions, he published his Aristarchus, sive de Contemptu Lingua Teutonica (4to.). He then studied at Frankfort on the Oder, and, having afterwards visited many cities in Germany and Holland, he went, in 1621, to the court of the duke of Liegnitz; whence, in about a year, he removed, to become professor of philosophy and classical literature at the university of Weissenburg, then newly founded by Bethlen Gabor. The situation proving unpleasant, he soon returned to Bunzlau, and afterwards to Liegnitz. Becoming distinguished for his talents, he went to Vienna, where the emperor Ferdinand II bestowed on him the poetical crown, and afterwards gave him letters of nobility, when he assumed the title of von Boberfeld. He returned to Silesia, and became secretary to the burgrave of Dohna; but, on losing his patron by death, he entered anew into the service of the duke of Liegnitz. At length he was appointed secretary and historiographer to the king of Poland, and passed the last five years of his life at Dantzic, where he died Aug. 20, 1639. Among his works are a poem on mount Vesuvius, Silva, Epigrams, &c. Opitz was the creator of a new and more correct poetical style in Germany, founded on the model of the ancient classics, and of a form of versification accommodated to rules of prosody, and resting on the measure of syllables, and not their number. He was well acquainted with the ancients, and had stored his mind with useful knowledge, so that his poems, especially the larger ones, are rich in thought and invention. The lauguage is indebted to him for new connexions and forms, greater smoothness and correctness, expressiveness and euphony.

OPIUM; the inspissated juice of a species of poppy (papaver somniferum), a native, originally, of the East, but now naturalized throughout the greater part of Eu rope. The root of this plant is annual, giving out a stem from two to four feet high, which, as well as the leaves, is glaucous. The flowers are terminal, white or light gray, and three or four inches in diameter: in the wild plant they are provided with only four petals, but in the double varieties the petals are very numerous, and vary in color from white to red and to deer violet, with a hundred intervening shades The capsules contain a

prodigious number of seeds. It is found in most gardens as an ornamental plant, and is, besides, cultivated extensively in many parts of Europe, but only for the sake of the oil which is obtained from the seeds. It is from the East, from different parts of the Turkish empire, and from Hindoostan, that the opium of commerce is chiefly procured. The finest opium is obtained by making longitudinal incisions in the green capsules in the evening; the milky juice which flows out is suffered to remain till the following evening to acquire consistence, when it is removed, and the process repeated. When the seeds are the sole object, the time of sowing is in the autumn, and at the end of the following July or beginning of August, the crop is ready for harvesting: before cutting off the capsules, it is better to shake them on cloths spread for the purpose; or, if this precaution is not taken, they should be removed with great care, keeping them always in an upright position until they are placed in sacks; otherwise a portion of the seed will be lost: the capsules should then be exposed to the air to complete their desiccation, and the seed, after being separated, should be kept in a dry place. The oil has an agreeable taste, and, after olive-oil, is esteemed the best for culinary purposes. In Germany and the Netherlands, it is almost the only kind used. The seeds, after being roasted and prepared in various manners, were employed by the Romans in making several sorts of cakes and dainties; and this custom is still prevalent in some parts of the north of France. Opium is the most energetic of narcotics, and at the same time one of the most precious of all medicines, and is employed in the greatest variety of cases. It is invaluable in procuring relief from pain at all times, and is an efficient remedy in choleras, spasmodic affections, convulsions, tetanus, neuralgias, &c., &c. It is most commonly employed for the purpose of procuring sleep; but its habitual use is attended with similar, if not worse effects, than the abuse of ardent spirits. A full dose is intoxicating and exhilarating; but, if taken in large quantities, it produces dangerous and fatal effects. An emetic should be immediately resorted to in such cases. Laudanum is a liquid preparation of opium, made with alcohol, and is similar in its effects on the human system. Madden, in his travels in Turkey, &C. speaking of the opium eaters of Constantinople, whom he saw in a coffee-house frequented by them, says, "Their gestures were frightful; those who were completely

under the influence of the opium talked incoherently; their features were flushed; their eyes had an unnatural brilliancy, and the general expression of their countenances was horribly wild. The effect is usually produced in two hours, and lasts four or five. The dose varies from three grains to a drachm. The debility, both moral and physical, attendant on its excitement, is terrible; the appetite is soon destroyed, and every fibre in the body trembles; the nerves of the neck become affected, and the muscles get rigid: several I have seen in this place who had wry necks and contracted fingers, but still they cannot abandon the custom. They are miserable till the hour arrives for taking their daily dose." The opium of commerce is in masses of different sizes. It is somewhat hard, of a brown color, and a bitter, acrid and nauseous taste. Its odor is peculiar and characteristic. It softens with a gentle heat, and, when more heated in the air, it kindles, but does not burn readily. It contains acidulous meconate of morphia, extractive matter, mucilage, fecula, resin, fixed oil, caoutchouc, a vegeto-animal substance, debris of vegetable fibres, occasionally a little sand, and small white pebbles, together with the white crystalline salt of opium, now known under the name of narcotine. If we treat opium first with abundance of ether, a tincture of a deep yellow shade is obtained, from which there gradually falls a powder, insoluble in water, alcohol and ether, and, when distilled, it affords a considerable quantity of ammonia. The ethereous tincture, freed from this yellowish powder, yields, on evaporation, crystals impregnated with a viscid oil, among which small masses, of more consistence, are seen to float. These are caoutchouc, which may be separated from the oil by a fine tube. The oily liquid is to be decanted, in order to insulate the crystals, which are then treated with boiling alcohol. On cooling, this affords the narcotine, slightly impregnated with caoutchouc. From this a new solution frees them completely. Hence, by this process, are eliminated four different products: 1. a fixed oil; 2. caoutchouc; 3. a vegeto-animal substance; 4. narcotine. The opium, after being thus exhausted by ether, when dissolved in water, affords solutions equally acid as ordinary opium, and which comport themselves with magnesia or ammonia, as if no ether had been applied to it. (See Morphia.) It is obvious. therefore, that the two crystalline bodies, narcotine and morphia, exist in 34

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opium quite independent of each other. In the 8th and 9th volumes of the Journal of Science of the Royal Institution of Great Britain, and in the 1st volume of the Edinburgh Philosophical Journal, are two valuable papers on the manufacture of opium. According to Orfila, a dangerous dose of opium is rather aggravated than counteracted by vinegar. The proper remedy is a powerful emetic, such as sulphate of zinc, or sulphate of copper.

OPODELDOC; a solution of soap and alcohol, with the addition of camphor and volatile oils. It is used externally against rheumatic pains, sprains, bruises, and other like complaints.

OPORTO, OF PORTO, next to Lisbon the most considerable city of Portugal, in the province Entre Minho e Duero, lies in a narrow valley, on both sides of the Duero; lat. 41° 11' N.; lon. 8° 40′ W.; about 160 miles north of Lisbon. It contains 11 public squares, 90 churches, 17 monasteries, 14 hospitals, and 70,000 inhabitants. The city is distinguished for its cleanliness, and on the river there are fine quays. The harbor is excellent, and protected by a fortress: 1200 ships enter it yearly. The mouth of the river, however, is obstructed by rocks and quicksands. Oporto is the emporium for the export of Port wine, which receives its name from this city, but is chiefly produced in the province of Tras os Montes. The amount exported yearly varies from 50,000 to 70,000 pipes, of which the greatest part goes to Great Britain. (See Port.) The wine trade is principally in the hands of a company, chartered in 1756, which has also thirty brandy distilleries. There are about thirty British houses established in Oporto. Other articles of export are oil, sumach, linen and oranges. The imports are woollen, cotton and hardware manufactures, mainly from England; salt fish, hemp and flax; and, from the U. States, rice. The country seats in the environs, called quintas, are beautifully situated. The climate is cold for the latitude. Oporto derives its origin from the small place Cale, which lay on the other side of the river; the present site, being found more commodious for shipping, acquired the name of Portus Cale; whence the Portuguese O Porto (the Port); while the kingdom itself received the name of Portugal Oporto was occupied by the French in 1808, and it has suffered much in its com merce since the usurpation of don Migue. (q. v.), many of its citizens having fallen victims to the troubles which have agi

tated the country, or been forced to flee. (See Portugal.)

OPOSSUM (didelphis). These extraordinary animals belong to the marsupialia, or those quadrupeds the females of which are furnished with a pouch in the abdomen; they are peculiar to the American continent; and one, and the best known of them, is very common in the U. States: this is the D. Virginiana, the general color of which is whitish-gray; the whole hair Is of a wool-like softness; it is short on the face and body, but long on the legs. The tail is thick and black for upwards of three inches at base, and is covered with small scales. The opossum is seldom or never to be seen in the day time, being a nocturnal and timid animal, depending far more on his natural sagacity than on his strength for his safety. His motions on the ground are awkward and clumsy; but on the branches of a tree he moves with great celerity and ease, using his tail to assist his motions. This organ is prehensile, and enables the animal to suspend himself by a branch, either when in pursuit of food, or when he wishes to descend. His usual prey is birds, some of the smaller quadrupeds, eggs, &c., though he oftentimes commits great depredations in orchards; his favorite food of this kind, however, is the persimmon, on which he becomes very fut. The flesh is good, resembling in flavor that of a young pig. The wool, especially of those killed during the winter, is very long and fine, and might be advantageously employed in many manufactures. The places in which the opossum is usually found are thick woods, where they generally dwell in the hollow of decayed trees. They are usually hunted in the autumn, after the first frosts: as soon as they perceive the approach of danger, instead of taking to flight, they lie close to the branch on which they were clinging; when they are discovered, they are taken by shaking the branch violently; they then drop to the ground, and, if the hunter is unaccompanied by dogs, they steal slowly away, and, gathering themselves into as sinall a compass as possible, remain perfectly quiet, as if feigning death. After remaining thus till they think themselves secure, they steal off; if, however, any sudden nose be made, they again assume their death-like position, in which they will persevere even when taken up and handled. This well-known attribute of the opossum has become a proverb, and "He is playing 'possum," is applied, in some parts of the country, to any one

The

thought to be acting deceitfully. female has ten to fifteen young, who are, for a long time, nourished in the pouch, and to which they resort on the appearance of any danger. When they are too large to be thus carried, they cling to the mother by twisting the extremity of their tails round the base of hers. When taken young, they are readily tamed, but are mischievous pets. Wonderful medical virtues were formerly attributed to the tail of this animal, in a great variety of cases.

OPPIAN; a Greek poet, who lived under the emperor Caracalla, in the beginning of the third century. He was a native of Cilicia, and apparently of Grecian descent. He wrote poems distinguished for elegance and sublimity; but two only of his productions are now extant, his Halieuticon, or five books on fishing, and four books on hunting, entitled Cynageticon. Caracalla was so pleased with it, that he gave the author a piece of gold for every verse, whence the poem has been styled the "golden verses" of Oppian. He died in his thirtieth year (A. D. 213), and his countrymen erected statues in honor of him. The best edition of his works is that of Schneider (Strasburg, 1776, 8vo.; there is another by the same editor, 1813, 8vo.). His Halieutics have been translated into English, by Jones (Oxford, 1722, 8vo.).

OPPOSITION, in astronomy, is that aspect of any two heavenly bodies when they are diametrically opposite each other, or 180°, that is, a semicircle, apart. (See Aspect.)

OPPOSITION, as this word is understood in reference to the deliberative assemblies of free representative governments, is something not only wholly unknown to the ancients, but also of but recent origin. It is difficult to fix precisely the period when opposition, in the modern meaning of the word, began; but we shall probably not be far from the truth when we date the more regular opposition from the accession of the house of Hanover to the throne of England. There existed, indeed, before, opposing parties in England, and in other countries, but not a regular parliamentary opposition. Opposition is an indispensable ingredient of free representative governments: it is both a check and a stimulus, and it is a strong proof of the judicious organization of modern governments, in comparison to those of antiquity, that opposition has become more truly an essential part than a hostile element of government, and laughable as the expression, "his majesty's opposition," sounded, when used, some