ORNITHOPUS. Bird's foot. In bo tany, a genus of the class diadelphia, order decandria. Calyx tubular, with five nearly equal teeth; loment joined, cylindrical, curved. Five species, of which one is common to our own pastures; and was formerly supposed to afford in its leaves a good lithontriptic.

ORNITROPHE. In botany, a genus of the class octandria, order monogynia. Calyx four-parted; corol four-petalled; style cloven; germ double; berries two, one-seeded. Six species, natives of the East and West Indies. OROBANCHE. Broom rape. In botany, a genus of the class didynamia, order angiospermia. Calyx of two-lobed, lateral divisions; corol ringent; capsule one-celled, two-valved, many-seeded; a gland at the base of the germ beneath. Eighteen species, the greater number with a four-cleft, but several with a five-cleft corol. Scattered over Europe, Asia, and America; five common to the fields and woods of our own country.

OROBUS. Bitter-vetch. Heath-pea. In botany, a genus of the class diadelphia, order decandria. Style linear, cylindrical, downy on the upper side; calyx obtuse at the base, the upper segments shorter and deeper cut. Thirteen species; European plants; two indigenous to the woods of our own country.

The following are the cultivated species. 1. O. lathyroides. Upright bitter vetch. 2. O. luteus. Yellow bitter vetch. 3. O. vernus. Spring bitter vetch. 4. O. tuberosus. Tuberous bitter vetch. 5. O. nigrus. Black bitter vetch. 6. O. Pyrenaicus. Pyrenean bitter vetch. They are all hardy, flowering, ornamental plants, for the borders, clumps, and other parts of pleasure grounds; and are all easily propogable. The Highlanders of Scotland are particularly fond of O. tuberosus, or wood-pea, as it is frequently called. They dry and chew the fruit, or intermix it with their liquids, to give them a particular flavour: in some parts of Scotland it is used as a food, and steeped and fermented for a diet drink. It is also employed at times medicinally in pulmonary affections.

OROFIO (Balthasar), a Spanish Jew, born at Seville, and professor of metaphysics at Salamanca; but having studied medicine, he returned to his native place, where he practised with reputation, till being accused of judaism he was seized by the inquisition, and underwent horrible tortures. He had no sooner recovered his liberty than he proceeded to Toulouse, where he became professor of physic. He shortly after left that place, and went to Amsterdam, where he professed judaism.

ORONOKO, a river of Terra Firma, which issues from the small lake Ipava, in lat. 5 5 N. flows E. and S. E. to the lake Parima, from which it runs toward the W. but after receive ing the Guaviari, it bends N. then N.E. and E. till it enters the Atlantic by an extended delta of mouths opposite the isle of Trinidad; but the principal one is considerably to the S.E.

of that island, in lat. 8 30 N. In this singu lar winding course, estimated at 1400 miles, it receives many large rivers; and its chief estuary is so deep and impetuous as to stem the most powerful tides. See PARIMA.

ORONSA, a small fertile island of Scotland, one of the Hebrides, to the S. of Colonfa, from which it is separated by a narrow channel that is dry at low water. Here are the ruins of an abbey, with many sepulchral statues, and some curious ancient sculpture.

ORONTIUM. In botany, a genus of the class hexandria, order monogynia. Spadix cylindrical, covered with florets; corol sixpetalled, naked; styleless; follicles one-seeded. Two species; marsh plants of Japan and Canada.

OROPESA, a town of Spain, in Valencia, on a cape of its name, in the Mediterranean, 55 miles E.N.E. of Valencia. Lon. 0. 5 E. Lat. 40. 8 N.

O'RPHAN s. (oppavos.) A child who has lost father or mother, or both (Spenser). O'RPHAN. a. (orphelin, French.) Bereft of parents (Sidney). O'RPHANAGÉ. OʻRPHANISM. s. (from orphan.) State of an orphan.

ORPHA'NOTROPHY. s. Coppavos and Teo.) An hospital for orphans.

ORPHEUS, a son of Eager by the muse Calliope. Some suppose him to be son of Apollo, to render his birth more illustrious. He received a lyre from Apollo, or, according to some, from Mercury, upon which he played with such a masterly hand, that even the most rapid rivers ceased to flow, the savage beasts of the forest forgot their wildness, and the mountains came to listen to his song. Of all the nymphs who used to listen to his song, Eurydice was the only one who made a deep impression on the musician, and their nuptials were celebrated. Their happiness, however, was short; Aristæus became enamoured of Eurydice, and, as she fled from her pursuer, a serpent, lurking in the grass, bit her foot, and she died of the wound. Orpheus resolved to recover her or perish in the attempt. With his lyre in his hand, he entered the infernal regions, and gained admission to Pluto. The king of hell was charmed with his strains, the wheel of Ixion stopped, the stone of Sisyphus stood still, Tantalus forgot his thirst, and even the furies relented. Pluto and Proserpine were moved, and consented to restore him Eurydice, provided he forbore looking behind till he had come to the extremest, borders of hell. The conditions were accepted, and Orpheus was already in sight of the upper regions of the air when he forgot, and turned back to look at his long lost Eurydice. He saw her, but she instantly vanished from his eyes. He attempted to follow her, but he was refused admission. He then separated himself from the society of mankind, and the Thracian women, offended by his coldness to their amorous passion, having torn his body to pieces, threw his head into the Hebrus, which still

articulated the words Eurydice! Eurydice! as it was carried down the stream into the Egean sea. Orpheus was one of the Argonauts, of which celebrated expedition he wrote a poetical account, still extant. This, however, is doubted by Aristotle. Orpheus after death received divine honours, the muses gave an honourable burial to his remains, and his lyre became one of the constellations in the heavens.

Lucian writes thus concerning the death of Orpheus: "When the Thracian women killed Orpheus, it is said his head which they threw into the river swam a long time upon his harp, uttering mournful tones in honour of the said hero, and that the harp being touched by the winds answered the mournful song; and in this condition they arrived at the isle of Lesbos, where the people erected a funeral monument for him, in the place where Bacchus's temple now stands; but they hung up his harp in Apollo's temple, where the same was kept a long time till the son of Pittacus having heard say that it played of itself, and charmed woods and rocks, had a mind to have it for himself; and so bought it for a good sum of money of the sacristan: but not thinking he could play safely in the city, he went by night to the suburbs, where as he went about to touch it, it made such a dreadful noise, instead of the harmony he expected, that the dogs run thither and tore him in pieces, and so was attended with the same fate herein as Orpheus himself." There are some authors who say, that the Menades tore Orpheus in pieces, because he having sung the genealogy of all the gods, had said nothing of Bacchus, and the said god to be revenged on him caused his priestesses to kill him. Others say, this misfortune befel him by the resentment of Venus, to whom Calliope, Orpheus's mother, had refused to give Adonis any longer than for 6 months in the year; and that to revenge the same, she made all the women in love with Orpheus; and that every one of them being disposed to enjoy him, they had in that manner tore him in pieces.

Cicero says, that Aristotle thought there never was such a one as Orpheus, and that the poems which were attributed to him were the works of a Pythagorean philosopher. In the mean time, it is hard to doubt there was such a one, after so many testimonies of the ancients to the contrary, since Pausanias makes mention of Orpheus's tomb, and of the hymns he had composed, which, he says, came but little short of the elegancy and beauty of those of Homer; but that his wit was attended with more religion and piety than the others. Jus tin reports, that Orpheus, Homer, Solon, Pythagoras and Plato had travelled into Egypt, that they got there some knowledge of the scriptures, and that afterwards they retracted what they had before written concerning the superstitious worship of their false deities in favour the religion of the true God: Orph g to this father, in his verses concerning the unity of God,

as of him who had been, as it were, the father of that extravagant multiplicity of the heathen gods, With respect to the writings of Orpheus, he is mentioned by Pindar as author of the Argonautics, and Herodotus speaks of his Orphics, His hymns, says Pausanias, were very short, and but few in number; the Lycomides, an Athenian family, knew them by heart, and had an exclusive privilege of singing them, and those of their old poets, Musæus, Onomacritus, Pamphus, and Olen, at the celebration of the Eleusinian mysteries; that is, the priest hood was hereditary in this family.

Jamblicus tells us, that the poems under the name of Orpheus were written in the Doric dialect, but have since been transdialected, or modernised. It was the common opinion in antiquity that they were genuine; but even those who doubted of it gave them to the ear liest Pythagoreans, and some of them to Pythagoras himself, who has frequently been called the follower of Orpheus, and has been sup posed to have adopted many of his opinions,

Of the poems that are still subsisting under the name of Orpheus, which were collected and published at Nuremberg 1702, by Andr. Christ. Eschenbach, and which have been since reprinted at Leipsic 1764, under the title of Oppews Anova, several have been attributed to Onomacritus, an Athenian, who flourished under the Pysistratidæ, about 500 years before Christ. Their titles are, 1. The Argonautics, an epic poem. 2. Eighty-six hymns; which are so full of incantations and magical evocacation, that Daniel Heinsius has called them veram Satanæ liturgium, the true liturgy of the devil. Pausanias, who made no doubt that the hymns subsisting in his time were composed by Orpheus, tells us, that though less elegant, they had been preferred for religi ous purposes to those of Homer. 3. De lapidibus, a poem on precious stones. 4. Fragments, collected by Henry Stevens. Orpheus has been called the inventor, or at least the propagator, of many arts and doctrines among the Greeks. 1. The combination of letters, or the art of writing. 2. Music, the lyre, or cithara, of seven strings, adding three to that of Mercury. 3. Hexameter verse. 4. Mysteries and theology. 5. Medicine. 6. Magic and divination. 7. Astrology. Servius upon the sixth Eneid, p. 450, says, Orpheus first instituted the harmony of the spheres. 8. He is said likewise to have been the first who imagined a plurality of worlds, or that the moon and planets were inhabited.

ORPIMENT, in mineralogy, an arsenical ore of a particular kind. See ARSENICUM. ORPINE, in botany. See SEDUM. ORPINE (Lesser). See CRASSULA. ORPINE TREE. See TELLOPHIUM. ORR, a river of Scotland, in Kirkcudbrightshire, which issues from a small lake to the E. of New Galloway, and flows to Solway Frith, at Dalbeattie.

ORRERY, a curious machine for representing the motions or phases of the heavenly

bodies. The reason of its being called an orrery was this: Mr. Rowley, a mathema tical instrument-maker, having got one from Mr. George Graham, the original inventor, to be sent abroad with some of his own instruments, he copied it, and made the first for the earl of Orrery. Sir Richard Steel, who knew nothing of Mr. Graham's machine, thinking to do justice to the first encourager, as well as to the inventor, of such a curious instrument, called it an orrery, and gave Mr. Rowley the praise due to Mr. Graham.

The machine represented in pl. 106, is Row ley's orrery. The frame which contains the wheel work, &c. and regulates the whole machine, is made of ebony, and about four feet in diameter. Above the frame is a broad ring supported with 12 pillars, which represents the plane of the ecliptic having two circles of degrees, and between these the names and characters of the 12 signs. Near the outside is a circle of months and days, corresponding to the sun's place at noon each day throughout the year. Above the ecliptic stand some of the principal circles of the sphere, viz. No. 10, are the two colures, divided into degrees and half degrees; No. 11, is one-half of the equinoctial circle, making an angle of 234 degrees. The tropic of Cancer, and the arctic circle, are each fixed parallel at their proper distance from the equinoctial. On the northern half of the ecliptic is a brass semicircle, moveable upon two points fixed in ✅ and, representing the moveable horizon to be put to any degree of latitude upon the north part of the meridian, and the whole machine may be set to any latitude without disturbing any of the internal motions, by two strong hinges (No. 13.) fixed to the bottom-frame upon which the instrument moves, and a strong brass arch, having holes at every degree, through which a strong pin is put at every elevation. This arch and the two hinges support the whole machine when it is lifted up according to any latitude; and the arch at other times lies conveniently under the bottom-frame. When the machine is set to any latitude (which is easily done by two men, each taking hold of two handles conveniently fixed for the purpose,) set the moveable horizon to the same degree upon the meridian, and you may form an idea of the respective altitudes or depression of the planets both primary and secondary. The Sun (No. 1.) stands in the middle of the whole system upon a wire, making an angle with the ecliptic of about 82 degrees. Next the Sun is a small ball (2) representing Mercury. Next to Mercury is Venus (3), represented by a larger ball. The earth is represented (No. 4.) by an ivory ball, having some circles and a map sketched upon it. The wire which supports the earth makes an angle with the ecliptic of 66 degrees, the inclination of the earth's axis to the ecliptic. Near the bottom of the earth's axis is a dial plate (No. 9.), having an index pointing to the hours of the day as the earth turns round its axis. Round the earth is a ring sup

ported by two small pillars, representing the orbit of the moon; and the divisions upon it answer to the moon's latitude. The motion of this ring represents the motion of the moon's orbit according to that of the nodes. Within this ring is the moon (No. 5.), having a black cap or case, by which its motion represents the phases of the moon according to her age. Without the orbits of the earth and moon is Mars (No. 6.) The next in order to Mars is Jupiter and his four moons (No. 7.) Each of these moons is supported by a wire fixed in a socket which turns about the pillar supporting Jupiter. These satellites may be turned by the hand to any position, and yet when the machine is put into motion, they will all move in their proper times. The outermost of all is Saturn, his five moons, and his ring (No. 8.) These moons are supported and contrived similar to those of Jupiter. The machine is put into motion by turning a small winch (No. 14.); and the whole system is also moved by this winch, and by pulling out and pushing in a small cylindrical pin above the handle. When it is pushed in, all the planets, both primary and secondary, will move according to their respective periods by turning the handle. When it is drawn out, the motions of the satellites of Jupiter and Saturn will be stopped while all the rest move without interruption. There is also a brass lamp, having two convex glasses to be put in room of the sun; and also a smaller earth and moon, made somewhat in proportion to their distance from each other, which may be put on at pleasure. The lamp turns round at the same time with the earth, and the glasses of it cast a strong light upon her; and when the smaller earth and moon are placed on, it will be easy to show when either of them will be eclipsed. When this machine is intended to be used, the planets must be duly placed by means of the ephemeris; and you may place a small black patch or bit of wafer upon the middle of the Sun, Venus, Mars, and Jupiter. Put in the handle, and push in the pin which is above it. One turn of this handle answers to a revolution of the ball which represents the earth about its axis ; and consequently to 24 hours of time, as shown by the hour-index (9.), which is marked and placed at the foot of the wire on which the ball of the earth is fixed. Again, when the index has moved the space of ten hours, Jupiter makes one revolution round its axis, and so of the rest. By this means the revolutions of the planets, and their motions round their own axes, will be represented to the eye.

Considerable improvements in the construction of the orrery were made by Desaguliers, Ferguson, &c. The most complete orrery made by Desaguliers has been lately brought from the Tower of London, where it was almost lost amongst rubbish, and placed in a proper situation for use in the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich.

ORRICE. See IRIS.

ORSOVA, a town and fortress of Upper

Hungary, on the confines of Servia, subject to the Turks. The fortress was besieged by the Austrians in 1790, but without success. It stands on the N. side of the Danube, 60 miles S.E. of Temeswar, and 75 E. of Belgrade. Lon. 22. 40 E. Lat. 45. 16 N.

ORSZA, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of Witepsk, with a castle, seated on the Dnieper, 36 miles N. of Mohilef, and 52 S. by E. of Witepsk.

ORTA, a town of Italy, in the patrimony of St. Peter, seated near the Tiber, 10 miles E. of Viterbo.

ORTA, a town of Italy, in the Milanese, on a lake of the same name, 21 miles N.N.W. of Novara.

ORTEGAL, a cape and castle of Spain, on the N. coast of Galicia, 30 miles N.N.E. of Ferrol. Lon. 7 39 W. lat. 43 46 N.

ORTEGIA, in botany, a genus of the class triandria, order monogynia. Calyx five-leaved, corolless, capsule one-celled; seeds numerous. Two species, natives of Spain and Italy; trailing with small, axillary, green flowers.

ORTELIUS (Abraham), a celebrated geographer, born at Antwerp, in 1527, was well skilled in the languages and the mathematics, and acquired such reputation by his skill in geography, that he was surnamed the Ptolemy of his time. Justus Lipsius, and most of the great men of the 16th century, were Ortelius's friends. He resided at Oxford in the reign of Edward VI. and came a second time into England in 1577. His Theatrum Orbis was the completest work of the kind that had ever been published, and gained him a reputation equal to his immense labour in compiling it. He also wrote several other excellent geographi cal works; the principal of which are his Thesaurus, and his Synonyma Geographica. The world is likewise obliged to him for the Britannia, which he persuaded Camden to undertake. He died at Antwerp in 1598.

ORTHIA, a surname of Diana at Sparta. In her sacrifices it was usual for boys to be whipped. Vid. DIAMASTIGOSIS.

ORTHIAN. (Greek.) The epithet applied by the ancients to a dactylic nome, or song, said to be invented by the Phrygian Olympus. Herodotus tells us, that it was the Orthian nome that Arian sung when thrown into the

sca.

O'RTHODOXLY. ad. (from orthodox.) With soundness of opinion (Bacon).

ORTHODOXY. (formed from 0;0, right, and do, opinion, judgment.) A soundness of doctrine or belief, with regard to all the points and articles of faith.

According to the proper etymology of the word, orthodoxy denotes what every honest man believes his own opinions to be, in contradistinction to the opinions of others, which he rejects. In England it is vulgarly restricted to signify the opinions contained in the Thirtynine Articles; and in Scotland it is in like manner used to denote the doctrines contained in their confession of faith. It is, in general,

applied to the opinions that are maintained by those called Calvinists.

Orthodoxy is used in opposition to hete rodoxy, or heresy.

ORTHODROMICS., That part of navi gation which teaches the art of sailing in the arch of some great circle.

The word is Greek, qbodfopuxa, derived from 90s, rectus, straight, and poos, cursus, run or distance; q. d. the straight or shortest distance; and this can only be in the arch of a great circle.

O'RTHOGON. s. s. (op and you.) A rectangled figure (Peacham),

ORTHOGONAL. a. (from orthogon.)

Rectangular.

ORTHO'GRAPHER. 8. (opdas aud ype;w.) One who spells according to the rules of grammar (Shakspeare).

ORTHOGRAPHICAL. a. (from orthography.) 1. Rightly spelled. 2. Relating to the spelling (Addison). 3. Delineated according to the elevation.

ORTHOGRAPHICALLY. ad. Accord ing to the rules of spelling. 2. According to the elevation.

ORTHOGRAPHIC PROJECTION OF THE SPHERE, that wherein the eye is sup posed to be at an infinite distance; so called, because the perpendiculars from any point of the sphere will all fall in the common intersection of the sphere with the plane of the projection. See GEOGRAPHY, and PROJEC

TION.

ORTHOGRAPHY, that part of grammar which teaches the nature and affections of letters, and the just method of spelling or writing words, with all the proper and necessary letters, making one of the four greatest divisions or branches of grammar. See GRAMMAR.

ORTHOGRAPHY, in geometry, the art of drawing or delineating the fore right plan of any object, and of expressing the heights or elevations of each part. It is called orthography, for its determining things by perpendicular lines falling on the geometrical plane.

ORTHOGRAPHY, in architecture, the elevation of a building.

ORTHOGRAPHY, in perspective, is the fore right side of any plane, i. e. the side or plane that lies parallel to a straight line, that may be imagined to pass through the outward convex points of the eyes, continued to a convenient length.

ORTHOPNOEA. (orthopnoea, from jo, and on, breathing.) A very quick and labo rious breathing, during which the person obliged to be in an erect posture.

is

ORTHOTRICUM. In botany, a genus of the class cryptogamia, order musci: capsules ovate-oblong; fringe double; outer of sixteen teeth placed in pairs; inner of eight or sixteen filiform teeth, which are sometimes wanting; veil conic, mostly composed of erect hairs. Nine species; seven mosses common to our heaths and wilds; of which two have a simple, and the rest a double fringe.

ORTHRUS, or ORTHOS, a dog which belonging to Geryon. He had two heads, and was sprung from the union of Echidna and Typhon. He was destroyed by Hercules.

ORTIVE (ortivus.) In astronomy. Or. tive, or eastern amplitude, is an arch of the horizou intercepted between the point where a star rises, and the east point of the horizon, or point where the horizon and equator intersect. See AMPLITUDE.

ORTOLAN. in ornithology. See Eм

BERIZA.

ORTS. s. Refuse; things left or thrown away: obsolete (Jonson).

ORTON, a town in Westmoreland, with a market on Wednesday, 12 miles S.W. of Appleby, and 271 N.N.W. of London.

2. 40 W. Lat. 54. 28 N.

Lon.

ORTYGIA, a small island of Sicily, within the bay of Syracuse, which formed once one of the four quarters of that great city. It was in this island that the celebrated fountain of Arethusa arose.-2. An ancient name of the island of Delos. Some suppose that it received this name from Latona, who fled thither when changed into a quail (7) by Jupiter, to avoid the pursuits of Juno. Diana was called Ortygia, as being born there.

ORTZA, a town of Lithuania, in the palatinate of Witepsk, with a castle, seated at the confluence of the Oresa and Dnieper, 50 miles W. of Smolensko. Lon. 31.5 E. Lat. 54. 45 N. ORVIETO, a town of Italy, capital of a territory of the same name, in the patrimony of St. Peter, with a bishop's see and a magnificent palace. In this place is a deep well, into which mules descend, by one pair of stairs, to fetch up water, and ascend by another. It is seated on a craggy rock, near the confluence of the rivers Paglia and Chiuna, 20 miles N.W. of Viterbo, and 50 N. by W. of Rome. Lon.

12. 20 E. Lat. 42. 42 N.

ORUS, or HORUS, one of the gods of the Egyptians, son of Osiris and of Isis. He assisted his mother in avenging his father, who had been murdered by Typhon. Orus was skilled in medicine, he was acquainted with futurity, and he made the good and the happiness of his subjects the sole object of his government. He was the emblem of the sun among the Egyptians, and he was generally represented as an infant, swathed in variegated clothes. In one hand he holds a staff, which terminates in the head of a hawk, in the other a whip with two thougs.

ORWELL, a river in Suffolk, which runs S.E. by Ipswich, and uniting with the Stour forms the fine harbour of Harwich. Above Ipswich it is called the Gipping.

ORYCTOLOGY. (from pow, to dig, and hoyos, a treatise. The doctrine or science of fos

sils.

the last is so closely connected with the general history of vegetables and animals, from petrifactions, or other alterations of the various materials belonging to which kingdoms they usually origi nate, as to be more conveniently treated of under a separate inquiry: and hence two distinct names have been selected for the two sciences of native and adventitious fossils; and while the former has been called oryctognosy, the latter has been denominated oryctology. The first is distinctly and necessarily a branch of mineralogy, and has already been treated of as such under that article. The second we have reserved for the present place, and shall treat of it by itself. In doing this we shall have occasion to draw very largely upon Mr. Parkinson's very excellent work the Organic Remains of a former Wold, to which curious plates, which we have already intro

we are also indebted for several valuable and

duced, or shall have occasion to introduce, into this work, in elucidation of the subject before us; and we shall fill up the picture from M. Cuvier's very accurate and excellent papers, published chiefly in the different volumes of the Annales du Museum d'Histoire Naturelle.

It is curious to observe how different an impression the same natural appearances have made on the human mind in different stages of its imA phænomenon, which in one age provement.

has excited the greatest terror, has in another been

an object of calm and deliberate observation; and the things which have at one time led to the most extravagant fiction, have, at another, only served to define the boundaries of knowledge. The same comet which from the age of Julius Cæsar had three times spread terror and dismay through the nations of the earth, appeared a fourth time in the age of Newton, to instruct mankind, and to exemplify the universality of the laws which that great interpreter of nature had discovered. The same fossil remains which to St. Augustine or Father Kircher seemed to prove the former existence of giants of the human species, were found by Pallas of certain genera and species of quadrupeds which have now entirely disappeared.

and Cuvier to ascertain the nature and character

From a very early period, indeed, such bones have afforded a measure of the credulity, not of the vulgar only, but of the philosophers. Theophrastus, one of the ancients who had most devoted himself to the study of nature, believed, as Pliny tells us, that bones were a sort of mineral production that originated and grew in the earth. St. Augustine says, that he found on the sea-shore near Utica a fossil human tooth, which was a hundred times the size of the tooth of any person living; and Pliny tells us, that by an earthquake in Crete a part of a mountain was opened, which discovered a skeleton sixteen cubits, or twentyfour feet long, supposed to be that of Orion. Xenophanes, more than four hundred years before Christ, was led to the belief of the eternity of the universe, by discovering the remains of different marine animals imbedded in rocks, and under the surface of the earth. Herodotus ascertained the existence of fossil shells in the mountains of Egypt, and was thereby induced to conclude that the sea must have once covered those parts. In the py ramids of Egypt, mentioned by this author, and which had been built at so early a period that no satisfactory accounts could be derived from tradition respecting their erection the stones were

found to contain the remains of marine animals

and particularly of such as exist no longer in