Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/593

ODENSE ODESCALOHI 579 pie degrees, and are officered by a chief patri- arch, high priest, senior warden, scribe, trea- surer, and junior warden. All past chief patri- archs in good standing are members of grand encampments. The grand encampment meets annually, and is officered by a grand patriarch, grand high priest, grand senior warden, grand scribe, grand treasurer, and grand junior warden, elected annually. The grand lodge and grand encampment derive their revenues from charter fees and percentage on lodge or encampment revenues, or a per capita tax. The grand lodge of the United States, the supreme head of the order there and in Can- ada, is composed of representatives elected bi- ennially by state and provincial grand lodges and grand encampments. Its elective officers are a grand sire, deputy grand sire, grand sec- retary, and grand treasurer, elected biennial- ly. Its seat of government is at Baltimore. On Dec. 31, 1873, it had 414,815 lodge mem- bers and 80,131 encampment members. The aggregate relief for 1873 was $1,490,274 72, and the total revenue of subordinates $4,434,- 001 08. Its revenue is derived from a direct tax of $75 for each representative, and the profit on the manufacture and sale of books and supplies. Since 1843 the order in Amer- ica has had no connection with that in Great Britain. There are organizations of odd fel- lows in Germany, Switzerland, Australia, South America, and the Hawaiian islands, working un- der charters received from the American order. ODEIVSE, a seaport and next to Copenhagen the most important town of Denmark, capital of the island of Funen, on a small river which falls into a bay of the same name about a mile from the town, 86 m. W. S. W. of Copen- hagen; pop. in 1871, 16,470. It is a prosper- ous trading town, and one of the oldest places in Denmark. It is the seat of the governor and of a Lutheran bishop, and has a royal cas- tle, a large hospital, and an agricultural and literary society. Its cathedral, founded in 1086 and completed in 1301, contains the tombs of several Danish kings. The town has distilleries, founderies, and woollen mills. It is said to have been founded by Odin. ODEJVWALD, a mountain region of Germany, in southern Hesse and the adjoining parts of Baden and Bavaria, between the river Neckar, which separates it from the Black Forest, and the Main, which separates it from the Spessart. It includes the sources of various small tribu- taries of the Ehine, Neckar, and Main. The beautiful region known as the Bergstrasse, or mountain road, in which are the towns of Ben- sheim, Darmstadt, and Langen, extends along its W. border ; and in various parts of the dis- trict there are many interesting ruins of the Roman period. The highest mountain of the Odenwald is the Hardberg, which rises to the height of about 2,000 ft. ODEOJT (Gr. udelov, from (?#, song), a kind of public building used by the ancient Greeks for musical contests, and occasionally for other purposes. In its general plan it resembled the theatre, and sometimes it served as a place of rehearsal for the choruses. Hence it was smaller than the theatre, and was roofed over. The earliest was that called the Skias in Sparta, built by the Samian architect Theodorus about 650 B. C. There was also an ancient one at Athens, in the S. E. part of the city, near the Ilissus. A much larger and finer one was erected by Pericles at the base of the S. E. part of the acropolis, and in the immediate vicinity of the great theatre. It was burned at the capture of the city by Sulla, and restored by Ariobarzanes II., king of Cappadocia. Athens contained two other odeons, one of which has sometimes been confounded wiih the Pnyx; the other, a magnificent building, capable of containing 8,000 persons, was erect- ed by Herodes Atticus below the S. W. part of the acropolis, where its ruins are still visible. Many other cities of Greece and its colonies also had buildings of this class. The first odeon in Borne was built by Domitian. ODER (anc. Viadrus), a river of Germany, rising in Moravia, 14 m. E. N. E. of Olmiitz, about 2,100 ft. above the level of the sea. It flows N. E. through Austrian Silesia, then through Prussian Silesia and Brandenburg in a tortuous but generally N. W. course to near lat. 53 N., where it changes its direction to N. N. E. and flows through Pomerania and the Grosses Haff into the Baltic. Its whole course is about 550 m., and it is navigable for about 400 m. to Breslau for vessels of 50 tons, and for smaller craft to Batibor, about 100 m. fur- ther. The chief tributaries from the right are the Malapane, Bartsch, and Warthe, and from the left the Oppa, Silesian Neisse, "Weistritz, Katzbach, Bober, and Bohemian Neisse. The chief towns on its banks are Ratibor, Kosel, Oppeln, Brieg, Breslau, Glogau, Frankfort, Kustrin, and Stettin. ODESCALCHI, a noble Italian family, originally from Como. MAEO' ANTONIO, born in Como about 1620, was a cousin of Pope Innocent XI. (Benedetto Odescalchi). He entered the priest- hood, and after his cousin's promotion to a cardinalate went to Rome to reside ; but he re- fused all honors and preferments, and devoted himself to works of charity. In 1656 he turned his house into a hospital, and received there the poor and the destitute of all nations. He subsequently bought some adjacent houses, and enlarged his hospital, until it contained 1,000 beds. At his death in 1670 he bequeathed all his property to it, and Innocent XI. not long afterward enlarged it to the capacity of 3,000 beds. It is now known as the hospital of St. Gall. TOMMASO, a kinsman of the preceding, died in 1692. He was appointed almoner of Innocent XI., and determined to erect an asy- lum for children. He began with 38, and through the liberality of the pope the number was soon increased to 70. In 1686 he laid in the Trastevere the foundation of a large hospi- tal, which he named San Michele, to be occu-