Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/924

* OLIER. 790 OLIPHANT. zealous colleagues transformed the neighborhood. Having built a new church, he established his seminary in connection with it. In 1G52, being in very poor health, he resigned his parochial charge and devoted himself altogether for the neit live years to the upbuilding of the seminary and of the growing community of associates. He also founded seminaries at ilontrcal and several other places, as well as schools and institutions for the care of the poor and infirm. He died April 2, Ui57. By far the best Life of him is that of Faillon (3 vols., Paris, 1873) ; an excel- lent English one, based upon it, is by ifealy Tlioni])son (T.nndon, 1885). OLIGARCHY (Gk. bliyapxta, oVirjarchla, from 6>.i;of, olir/os, few, little + up,f«i', archein, to rule). A form of government in which the supreme power is vested in a small class of persons. (See Aristocr.CT. ) It is a term applied by Greek political writers to that per- version of an aristocracy in which the rule of the dominant part of the community ceases to be the e.xponent of the general interests of the State, owing to the cessation of those substantial grounds of preeminence in which an aristocracy originated. The governing power in these eircum- .stanccs becomes a faction, whose efforts are chielly devoted to their own aggrandizement and the extension of their power and privileges. OLIGOCENE EPOCH (from Gk. (5X<Vf, olUjoK, few, little + Kaivog, kainos, new). A subdivision of the Tertiary epoch, preceding the Miocene epoch. The term is seldom used in the United States for the reason that rocks of this iige attain only limited development. The Wliite River formation of Colorado comprising fresh- water strata is referred to this epoch, and there arc smaller areas of contemporaneous l)€ds in North Dakota and in the Northwest Territory of Canada. Oligocene strata cover wide areas in Central and Southern Europe. See Teb- TI.VRV Sy.stem. OLIGOCHiETA, ul'i-g6-ke'tii (Neo-Lat., from Gk. d.li'jof, oligos, few, little -- X'"''>< chaitv, mane). A suborder of cha'topod annelids, of which the common earthworm (q.v.) is a good example. The head is not well marked, and there are no tentacles or eyes. The locomotive appendages are in the form of simple bristles at- tached in rows to the sides and ventral surface of the body; there are no branchite or parapodia. All are hermaphrodite, and the young pass through no metamorphosis. The species are most- ly fresh-water or terrestrial. OLIGOCLASE (from Gk. tiXiyoi, oligos, few, liltle + KA'inir, llfisis. fracture), A mineral sodium-calcium-aluminum silicate, intermediate between albite an<l anorthite, and belonging to the feldspar group. Us crystalline form is of the trielinic .sy.stem, its color is generally white, though .sometimes shaded with gray, green, or red tints, and it has a vitreous lustre. It occurs in the older rocks such ns granite, and also in various eruptive rocks, such as andesite; it is found in Sweden, Finland, Germany, Switzer- land, and in the Tnited States at various locali- ties in New Hampshire, Connecticut, New York, Pennsylvania, and North Carolina, Certain va- rieties of this mineral, especially those of a red- dish color, show internal firelikc reflections that are due to finely disseminated crj-stals of iron oxide, and when polished form the gems known as sun sloncs. OLINDA, 6-lex'da. A town in the State of Pcrnumbuco, Brazil, situated on the coast 4'/^ miles north of Pernambuco, with which it is con- nected by a street railway (ilap: Brazil, L 5). It was founded in 153,3, being the first settlement and for a long time the nu)st important conmicr- cial city of Northern Brazil. It was the capital of the Province of Pernambuco, and of the Dutch colony established there in the seventeenth cen- tury. The Dutch burned the town and made the neighboring Kccife (now Pernambuco) the capital. Olinda long remained a favorite place of residence of wealthy Pernambucaiis, lint it has now fallen into decay. Population, about 8000. OLIPHANT, oll-fant, Laurence (1829-88). An English author and traveler, son of Sir Anthony Oliphant. He was born at Cape Town in 1829. Laurence Oliphant passed his early boylio<id in England, but in 1841 he went to Ceylon, where his father was Chief .Justice; trav- eled with his parents in Europe (1846-47); re- turned to Ce3lon as private secretary to his fa- ther: practiced as criminal lawyer; went on a hunting excursion in Nepal ; returned to Eng- land, and was called to the Englisli and the Scotch bar. lie was in Russia and the Crimea (1852); in Canada and the United .States as secretary to Lord Elgin, Governor-General of Canada (1853-54); at .Sebastopol, and served under Omar Pasha at the battle of liigour (1855) ; at New Orleans, engaged in a filibuster- ing expedition (1850) ; in Cliina and .Japan with Lord Elgin (1857-59); with Gariliahli in Italy (18(i0) ; envoy to the British legation in .Japan, where he was dangerously wounded by assassins (1801); and afterwards he traveled in Egypt, Poland, and Palestine. He was elected to Parlia- ment in 18(i5, liut two years later he resigned to join the brotherhood founded by T. L. Harris (q.v.) at Broctoif in western New York. He married in 1872, and his wife and mother joined the community. For years the Oliphants were the spiritual slaves of Harris; but they finally came to distrust him. After breaking with him, 01i|iliant settled for a time at Haifa in the Bay of Acre, where he devised schemes for restor- ing the .Jews to the Holy Land. He died at Twickenham, near London, December 23, 1888. Oliphant served as special correspondent for the Times on various occasions and was a brilliant journalist. His many published books are most- ly accounts of his travels, .iiiong them are: A Journcij to Kluilmaiidu (1852); The Russian Shores of the Block Hea (1853); and Enrl of Elgin's Mission to China and Japrin (1859). His strange erratic character is boldly iU>^playcd iu Episodes in a- Life of Adrcniure (1887) : his re- ligious opinions in .S'.i/»i/'>k'h»io/(I (ISSti) ; f<(icn- li/ic Ilrligiiin (1888); and his novel Mnssollam (1880). What he might have been may be seen in his novel I'iccadillg (lihicku-ood's Magazine, 18(15), one of the most brilliant satires on English life ever written. With less success ho worked the same vein in Allioia I'rio (1883). Consult the Memoir of Laurence Oliphant and His Wife, Alier Oliphant, by Margaret Olipliant (Edin- bur<:h. 1891). OLIPHANT, Mrs. Margaret (born Wilson) (IS2S-!I7). Ail English novelist and miscella- neous writer, born in Wallyford, near .Mussel-