a species of cactus; see CACTUS. The fruit of the opuntia is remarkable for colouring the juices of living animals, though it appears not to be poisonous or even hurtful to the body. In a letter from Charlestown in South Carolina, which was published in the 5th volume of the Philosophical Transactions, the author writes thus:—“As you desired, I tried the effects of the prickly pear in clearing the urine. A few days after your letter, I went down to one of the islands, and gathered some of the fruit, and... and gave four of the pears to a child of three years of age, and six pears to one of five. The next morning I examined the urine of both, and it appeared of a very lively red colour, as if tart-wine had been mixed with water. I gave likewise six pears to a negro-wench, who was suckling an infant, and strictly forbade her to put the child to her breast for six or eight hours; and then taking some of her milk in a teacup, and setting it by for some hours, the cream had a reddish lustre, though it was very faint." From the same letter we learn, that the prickly pear grows in great abundance about Carolina; and also that the cochineal insects are found upon it, though no attempt, that we know of, has hitherto been made to cure them for use as the Spaniards do.

the French word for gold, by which this metal is expressed in heraldry. In engraving it is denoted by small points all over the field or bearing. It may be supposed to signify of itself, generosity, splendor, or fidelity; according to G. Leigh, if it is compounded with

| Gal. | Courage. | | Azu. | Truth. | | Vor. | Joy. | | Pur. | Charity. | | Suh. | Constancy. |

in antiquity, was a term equivalent to an ounce; but it has been much debated among our antiquaries, whether the ora, the mention of which so often occurs, was a coin, or only money of account. Dr Hikes observes, that the mode of reckoning money by marks and oras was never known in England till after the Danish settlements; and by examining the old numismatic estimates among the principal Gothic states upon the Baltic, it appears, that the ora and solidus were synonymous terms, and that the ora was the eighth part of the mark. From several of the Danish laws, it likewise appears, that the Danish ora, derived by corruption from aurea, was the same as the Frank solidus of twelve pence. As a weight the ora was regarded as the uncia or unit, by which the Danish mark was divided; and in Doomsday-book the ora is used for the ounce, or the twelfth part of the numismatic Saxon pound, and the fifteenth of the commercial: as a coin, it was an aureus, or the Frank solidus of twelve pence. And from the accidental coincidence of the Frank aureus with the eighth part of their mark, the Danes probably took occasion to give it the new name of ora.

There was another ora mentioned in the rolls of the 27th of Henry III. the value of which was fifteen pence; and this was probably derived from the half mancus of the Saxons. Such, in all appearance, was the original of these two oras; as there were no aurei of that period, to which these two denominations of money of fifteen and twelve pence can possibly be ascribed. It is observed farther, that the name ora distinguishes the gold coins in several parts of Europe to this day. The Portuguese moedone is nothing else but moedas d'oro, from the Latin moneta de auro; the French Louis d'or come from the same use of the word, and owe their appellation to the ora. See Clarke on Coins.

ORACH. See ATRIFLEX.