Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/782

Rh 724 D E D E from the Manchester Unity in 1819, and the grand lodge of Maryland and the United States was constituted 22d February 1821. At first the progress of the order was slow, but, as may be supposed from the social characteristics and proclivities of the Americans, as soon as it had gained a firm hold its principles spread with great rapidity, and it now rivals in membership and influence the Manchester Unity, from which it severed its connexion in 1842. In 1843 it issued a dispensation for opening the Prince of Wales Lodge No. 1 at Montreal, Canada. The American society, including Canada and the United States, has its headquarters at Baltimore. In 1882 the membership was said to be 500,000, the income 6,000,000 dollars, and the annual sum disbursed for the relief of members of the order 2,000,000 dollars. Organizations, connected either with the United States or England, have been founded in Germany, Switzerland, Gibraltar and Malta, Australia, New Zealand, the Fiji Islands, the Hawaiian Islands, South Africa, South America, the West Indies, and Barbados. The rules of the different societies, various song-books, and a number of minor books on Oddfellowship have been published, but the most complete and trustworthy account of the institution is that in The Complete Manual of Oddfellowship, its History, Prin ciples, Ceremonies, and Symbolism, privately printed, 1879. ODENATHUS, or OD.ENATHUS ( 08&amp;lt;uva0os, runs), prince of Palmyra. See PALMYRA and PERSIA. ODENSE, a city of Denmark, the chief town of the province of the same name, forming the northern part of the island of Fiinen (Fyen), lies about 4 miles from Odense Fjord on the Odense Aa, the main portion on the north side of the stream and the modern Albani quarter on the south side. It is a station on the railway route between Copenhagen and western Denmark, and a ship canal 10 feet deep constructed in 1796-1804 affords direct communication with the sea. St Canute s Church, formerly connected with the great Benedictine monastery of the same name, is one of the largest and finest edifices of its kind in Denmark. It is constructed of brick in a pure Gothic style. Originally dating from 1081-93, it was rebuilt in the 13th century, and has been restored since 1864. Under the altar lies Canute, the patron saint of Denmark, who intended to dispute with William of Nor mandy the possession of England, but was slain in an insurrection at Odense in 1086 ; Kings John and Christ ian II. are also buried within the Avails. Our Lady s Church, built in the 13th century and restored in 1851-52 and again in 1864, contains a fine carved altar-piece by Glaus Berg of Liibeck. Odense castle was erected by Frederick IV., who died there in 1730. The provincial infirmary (1862), the new post-office, the Franciscan hospital, presented to Fiinen in 1539 by King Christian III., Frederick VII. s foundation (1862), the episcopal library (25,000 volumes), and Karen Brahe s library may also be mentioned. As an industrial town Odense has made great progress since the middle of the century ; besides a large number of breweries and distilleries, it contains glove-fac tories, match works, mineral-water works, tobacco-factories, chemical works, &c. The population was 5782 in 1801, 11,122 in 1850, 16,970 in 1870, and 20,804 in 1880. Odeuse, or Odinsey, originally Odinsoe, i.e., Odin s sanctuary, is one of the oldest, as it has long been one of the most import ant, cities of Scandinavia. St Canute s shrine was a great resort of pilgrims throughout the Middle Ages. In the 16th century the town was the meeting-place of several parliaments, and down to 1805 it was the seat of the provincial assembly of Fiinen. It was the first place in Denmark to introduce gas-light (in the close of 1853). Hans Andersen was born in Odense, and Kingo, the Danish hymn- writer, was bishop of the diocese. Paludan-Miiller, a native of the neighbouring town of Kjerteminde, was educated in the Odense cathedral school. ODER (Latin, Viadrus ; Slavonic, Vjodr), one of the principal rivers of Germany, rises on the Odergebirge in the Moravian tableland, in 49 43 N. lat. and 17 35 E. long., at a height of 1950 feet above the sea, and 14 miles to the east of Olmiitz. It is 550 miles long from its source to its mouth in the Baltic Sea, and drains an area of about 50,000 square miles. The first 45 miles of its course lie within Moravia ; for the next 1 5 it forms the frontier be tween Prussian and Austrian Silesia ; while the remaining 490 miles belong to Prussia, where it traverses the provinces of Silesia, Brandenburg, and Pomerania. It flows at first towards the south-east, but on quitting Austria turns to wards the north-west, maintaining this direction as far as Frank fort, beyond which its general course is nearly due north. As far as the frontier the Oder flows through a well-defined valley, but, after passing through the gap between the Moravian mountains and the Carpathians and entering the Silesian plain, its valley is wide and shallow and its banks generally low. In its lower course it is divided into numer ous branches, forming a large quantity of islands. The main channel follows the left side of the valley and finally expands into the Pommersche or Stettiner Haff, which is connected with the sea by three arms, the Peene, the Swine, and the Dievenow, forming the islands of Usedom and Wollin. The Swine, in the middle, is the main channel for navigation. The chief tributaries of the Oder on the left bank are the Oppa, Glatz Neisse, Katzbach, Bober, and Lausitz Neisse ; on the right bank the Malapane, Bartsch, Faule Obra, and Warthe. Of these the only one of im portance for navigation is the Warthe, which through the Netze is brought into communication with the Vistula. The Oder is also connected by canals with the Havel and the Spree. The most important towns on its banks are Ratibor, Oppeln, Brieg, Breslau, Glogau, Frankfort, Ciistrin, and Stettin, with the seaport of Swinemiinde at its mouth. Glogau and Ciistrin are strongly fortified, and Swinemiinde is also defended by a few forts. The navigation of the Oder is rendered somewhat difficult by the rapid fall of its upper course, amounting above Brieg to 2 feet per mile, and by the enormous quantities of debris brought into it by its numerous mountain tributaries. The German authorities, how ever, have been unwearied in their efforts to improve the channel, and have now succeeded in securing a minimum depth of 3 feet at low water throughout almost the whole of the Prussian part of the river. Their most important undertaking was the diversion of the river into a new and straight channel in the Oderbruch below Frank fort, by which an extensive detour was cut off and a large tract of swampy country brought under cultivation. The Oder at present begins to be navigable for barges at Ratibor, where it is about 100 feet wide, but the navigable channel will probably soon extend up wards to Oderberg. Sea-going vessels cannot go beyond Stettin. A second Oder-Spree canal, leaving the Oder opposite the mouth of the Warthe and joining the Spree near Berlin, has been determined on ; and a canal connecting the Oder and the Danube has also been planned. The traffic on the Oder, which is steadily increasing, is mainly concerned with agricultural produce and timber. Some idea of its extent may be gathered from the fact that 280 river- steamers and 2800 other vessels passed through the Oderbruch (up and down) in 1881 with cargoes amounting in all to 166,500 tons. The river is here about 750 feet wide and 8 feet deep. The fishing is important, particularly in the neighbourhood of Stettin. Those interested in river navigation or engineering may be referred to the following works : Becker, Zur Kenntniss der Oder und ihres Flachengebiets (1868) ; &quot; Die Deutscheii Wasserstrassen &quot; in the Statistik des Devtschen Belches for 1874 ; Haase, Regulation der deutschen Hauptstriime (Breslau, 1880). ODESSA, one of the most important seaports of Russia, ranks in the empire by its population (225,000) and foreign trade after St Petersburg, Moscow, and Warsaw. It is situated in 46 28 N. lat. and 30 44 E. long., on the southern shore of a semicircular bay, at the north-western angle of the Black Sea, and is 933 miles distant from Moscow and 403 miles from Kieff. Odessa is the proper seaport for the basins of two great rivers of Russia, the Dnieper, with its tributary the Bug, and the Dniester ; the entrances to the mouths of both these offering many difficulties for navigation, trade has from the remotest antiquity selected this spot, which is situated half-way between the estuaries, while the flat ground of the neighbouring steppe allows