in natural history, a sort of variegated marble, of a dusky-green ground, sprinkled with spots of a lighter green, otherwise called serpentine. See the article Marble.

church-history, Christian heretics, so called both from the veneration they had for the serpent that tempted Eve, and the worship they paid to a real serpent: they pretended that the serpent was Jesus Christ, and that he taught men the knowledge of good and evil. They distinguished between Jesus and Christ: Jesus, they said, was born of the Virgin, but Christ came down from heaven to be united with him; Jesus was crucified, but Christ had left him to return to heaven. They distinguished the God of the Jews, whom they termed Sadducees, from the supreme God: to the former they ascribed the body, to the latter the soul of men. They had a live serpent, which they kept in a kind of cage; at certain times they opened the cage-door, and called the serpent: the animal came out, and, mounting upon the table, twined itself about some loaves of bread; this bread they broke and distributed it to the company, who all killed the serpent: this they called their Eucharist.

OPHIR, a country mentioned in scripture, from which Solomon had great quantities of gold brought home in ships which he sent out for that purpose; but where to fix its situation is the great difficulty, authors running into various opinions on that head. Some have gone to the West, others to the East Indies, and the eastern coasts of Africa, in search of it. The generality place Ophir in the East Indies: but where there is the question; many taking it for Taprobana, now supposed to be Ceylon; others for Pegu, or for Sumatra; or for the Aurea Chersonesus, now Malacca: unless Aurea Chersonesus be, as many think, an appellative common to all countries producing gold. Kircher takes the term Ophir to be of Egyptian original, and to denote a great part of India: and, to obviate difficulties, perhaps it is best to take Ophir for India at large, without confining it to any particular country, not excluding even China and the Japanese islands.