OBIT-OBLIGATION. efficacy of one of our commonest sea-weeds, sea-versary; and although the name obit was primitively wrack (Fucus vesiculosus), in this affection has applied only to the first, it has come to be used of lately been strongly advocated. It is prescribed in them all indiscriminately. the form of an extract, and its value is probably dependent on the iodine contained in it. A very interesting Letter on Corpulence, recently (1863) published by Mr Banting, in which he records the effect of diet in his own case after all medicinal treatment had failed, is well worthy of the attention of those who are suffering from the affection of which this article treats. The following are the leading points in his case. He is 66 years of age, about 5 feet 5 inches in stature (and therefore, according to Dr Hutchinson's calculations, ought to weigh about 142 lbs.); and in August 1862 weighed 202 lbs. Few men,' he observes, 'have led a more active life. Who a OBJECT, in the language of Metaphysics, is that of which any thinking being or Subject can become cognizant. This subject itself, however, is capable of transmutation into an Object, for one may think about his thinking faculty. To constitute a metaphysical object, actual existence is not necessary; it is enough that it is conceived by the subject. Nevertheless, it is customary to employ the term objective as synonymous with real, so that a thing is said to be objectively' considered when regarded in itself, and according to its nature and properties, and to be 'subjectively' considered, when it is presented in its relation to us, or as it shapes itself in our apprehension. Scepticism denies the so that my corpulence and subsequent obesity possibility of objective knowledge; i. e., it denies that were not through neglect of necessary bodily we can ever become certain that our cognition of an activity, nor from excessive eating, drinking, or object corresponds with the actual nature of that self-indulgence of any kind, except that I partook of object. The verbal antithesis of objective and subthe simple aliments of bread, milk, butter, beer, jective representation is also largely employed in sugar, and potatoes, more freely than my aged the fine arts, but even here, though the terms may nature required.. I could not stoop to tie my be convenient, the difference expressed by them is shoe, nor attend to the little offices humanity only one of degree, and not of kind. requires without considerable pain and difficulty; I poem or a novel, for example, obtrudes the pecuhave been compelled to go down stairs slowly back-liar genius of the author at the expense of a clear wards, to save the jar of increased weight upon the and distinct representation of the incident and ankle and knee joints, and been obliged to puff and character appropriate to itself, we say it is a subblow with every slight exertion' (pp. 10 and 14). jective work; when, on the contrary, the personality By the advice of a medical friend, he adopted of the author retires into the background, or disthe following plan of diet: For breakfast I take appears altogether, we call it objective. The poems four or five ounces of beef, mutton, kidneys, broiled of Shelley and Byron; the novels of Jean Paul fish, bacon, or cold meat of any kind except Richter, Bulwer Lytton, and Victor Hugo; and the pork; a large cup of tea (without milk or sugar), paintings of the Pre-Raphaelites, belong essentially a little biscuit, or one ounce of dry toast. For to the former class; the dramas of Shakspeare, the dinner, five or six ounces of any fish except novels of Scott, and the poems of Goethe, to the salmon, any meat except pork, any vegetable latter. except potato, one ounce of dry toast, fruit out of a pudding, any kind of poultry or game, and two or three glasses of good claret, sherry, or Madeira: champagne, port, and beer forbidden. For tea, two or three ounces of fruit, a rusk or two, and a cup of tea without milk or sugar. For supper, three or four ounces of meat or fish, similar to dinner, with a glass or two of claret (p. 18). I breakfast between eight and nine o'clock, dine between one and two; take my slight tea meal between five and six; and sup at nine' (p. 40). Under this treatment he lost in little more than a year (between the 26th of August 1862 and the 12th of September 1863) 46 lbs. of his bodily weight, while his girth round the waist was reduced 12 inches. He reports himself as restored to health, as able to walk up and down stairs like other men; to stoop with ease and freedom; and safely to leave off knee-bandages, which he had necessarily worn for twenty years past. He has made his own case widely known by the circulation of his pamphlet (which has now reached a third edition); and numerous reports sent with thanks by strangers as well as friends,' shew that (to use his own words) the system is a great success; and that it is so we do not doubt, for it is based on sound physiological principles. O'BIT (Lat. obitus, a 'going down,' 'death'), literally means the decease of an individual. But as a certain ecclesiastical service was fixed to be celebrated on the day of death (in die obitus), the name came to be applied to the service itself. Obit therefore signifies, in old church language, the service performed for the departed. It consisted, in the Roman Church, of those portions of the Officium Defunctorum which are called Matins and Lauds, followed by a Mass of the Dead, chanted, or occasionally read. Similar services are held on the day of the funeral, and on the 30th day, and the anni OBJECT-GLASS, the glass in a Telescope (q. v.) or Microscope (q. v.), which is placed at the end of the tube nearest the object, and first receives the rays of light reflected from it. The O'BLATES (Lat. oblatus, oblata, 'offered up'), the name of a class of religious bodies in the Roman Catholic Church, which differ from the religious orders strictly so called, in not being bound by the solemn vows of the religious profession. The institute of oblates was one of the many reforms introduced in the diocese of Milan by St Charles Borromeo, towards the close of the 16th century. members consisted of secular priests who lived in community, and were merely bound by a promise to the bishop to devote themselves to any service which he should consider desirable for the interest of religion. St Charles made use of their services chiefly in the wild and inaccessible Alpine districts of his diocese. This institute still exists, and has been recently introduced into England. Still more modern are the 'Oblates of the blessed Virgin Mary,' a body of French origin, which arose in the present century, and has been very widely extended; and whose chief object is to assist the parochial clergy, by holding missions for the religious instruction of the people in any district to which they may be invited. This body also has been established in England and in Ireland. Other similar institutes might be enumerated, but the constitution of all is nearly the same. There is also a female institute of oblates, which was established in Rome, about 1440, by St Francisca of Rome, and which consists of ladies associated for charitable and religious objects, and living in community, but bound only by promise, and not by vow. OBLIGA'TION is a term used in Scotch Law to denote the binding effect of any legal contract, and OBLIGATO-OBSERVANTISTS. is often used synonymously with contract or promise. in the political proceedings of any party. He died in An obligation is said to be pure when it may be 1864. instantly demanded (called in England an absolute contract). An obligation is conditional when it depends, for its legal effect, on some event which may or may not happen. Obligations are also divided into verbal and written. OBLIGA'TO, in Music. When a musical composition is constructed in more than one part, any part is said to be obligato which is not merely employed to strengthen the others, but is necessary to the melodic perfection of the whole. An accompaniment is said to be obligato which does not consist of mere chords, but has its own melody. O'BOE. See HAUTBOY. O'BOLUS (Gr. obolos or obelos, a spit), the smallest of the four common Greek coins and weights, was originally, as is generally supposed, a small piece of iron or copper, similar in form to the head of a spit, or spear head, whence its name. In this form it was used as a coin, and a handful of 'oboli' was equivalent to a Drachma (q. v.). It was subsequently coined of silver, and in the ordinary round form, but still retained its original name; its value, both as a coin and a weight, was now fixed as the th part of a drachma, so that in the Attic system it was equivalent to 1d. and 15 Troy grains respectively; while the Æginetan obolus was worth 24d. as a coin, and 253 Troy grains as a weight. Multiples and submultiples of this coin were also used, and pieces of the value of 5, 4, 3, 2, 14 oboli, and of and of an obolus respectively, are to be found in collections of coins. O'BRIEN, WILLIAM SMITH, born in 1803, was the second son of the late Sir Edward O'Brien, Bart. of Dromoland, in the county of Clare, Ireland, and brother of the present Lord Inchiquin; that ancient barony having recently passed to the Dromoland O'Briens on the failure of the elder branch. W. S. O. was educated at Harrow School, whence he passed to Trinity College, Cambridge. He entered parliament for the borough of Ennis in 1826, and was a warm supporter of Catholic emancipation. In 1835, he was returned on advanced liberal principles for the county of Limerick, and for several years strongly advocated the claims of Ireland to a strictly equal justice with England, in legislative as well as executive measures. Professing his inability to effect this in the united legislature, and having embroiled himself with the Speaker by refusing to serve or committees (for which refusal he was committed to prison in the House by the Speaker's order), he withdrew from attendance in parliament in 1841, and joined actively with Daniel O'Connell (q. v.) in the agitation for a repeal of the legislative union between England and Ireland. In the progress of that agitation, a division having arisen on the question of moral as against physical force between O'Connell and the party known as 'Young Ireland,' O. sided with the latter; and when the political crisis of 1848 eventuated in a recourse to arms, he took part in an attempt at rebellion in the south of Ireland, which in a few days came to an almost ludicrous conclusion. He was in consequence arrested, and having been convicted, was sentenced to death. The sentence, however, was commuted to transportation for life; and after the restoration of tranquillity in the public mind in Ireland, he, in common with the other political exiles, was permitted to return to his native country. After that date (1856) he spent much of his time in foreign travel; and although he wrote more than once in terms of strong disapproval of the existing state of things, he abstained from all active share OBSCENE PRINTS, BOOKS, or PICTURES, exhibited in public render the person so doing liable to be indicted for a misdemeanour. Persons exposing them in streets, roads, or public places, are also liable to be punished as rogues and vagabonds with hard labour. An important change in the law was effected by Lord Campbell's Act (20 and 21 Vict. c. 83), which was passed to suppress the traffic in obscene books, pictures, prints, and other articles. Any two justices of the peace, or any police magistrate, upon complaint made before him on oath that such books, &c., are kept in any house, shop, room, or other place, for the purpose of sale, or distribution, or exhibition for gain or on hire, and that such things have been sold, &c., may authorise a constable to enter in the daytime, and, if necessary, use force by breaking open doors, or otherwise to search for and seize such books, &c., and carry them before the magistrate or justices, who may, after giving due notice to the occupier of the house, and being satisfied as to the nature and object of keeping the articles, cause them to be destroyed. OBSCURA'NTISTS, the name given, originally in derision, to a party who are supposed to look with dislike and apprehension on the progress of knowledge, and to regard its general diffusion among men, taken as they are ordinarily found, as prejudicial to their religious welfare, and possibly injurious to their material interests. Of those who avow such a doctrine, and have written to explain and defend it, it is only just to say that they profess earnestly to desire the progress of all true knowledge as a thing good in itself; but they regard the attempt to diffuse it among men, indiscriminately, as perilous, and often hurtful, by producing presumption and discontent. They profess but to reduce to practice the motto— A little learning is a dangerous thing. It cannot be doubted, however, that there are fanatics of ignorance as well as fanatics of science. OBSERVANTISTS, or OBSERVANT FRANCISCANS. Under the head FRANCISCANS (q. v.) has been detailed the earlier history of the controversies in that order on the interpretation of the original rule and practice established by St Francis for the brethren, and of the separate organisation of the two parties at the time of Leo X. The advocates of the primitive rigour were called Observantes, or Strictioris Observantia, but both bodies were still reputed subject, although each free to practise its own rule in its own separate houses, to the general administrator of the order, who, as the rigorists were by far the more numerous, was a member of that school. By degrees, a second reform arose among a party in the order, whose zeal the rigour of the O. was insufficient to satisfy, and Clement VII. permitted two Spanish friars, Stephen Molena and Martin Guzman, to carry out in Spain these views in a distinct branch of the order, who take the name of Reformati, or Reformed. This body has in later times been incorporated with the O. under one head. Before the French Revolution, they are said to have numbered above 70,000, distributed over more than 3000 convents. Since that time, their number has, of course, been much diminished; but they still are a very numerous and widespread body, as well in Europe as in the New World, and in the missionary districts of the East. In Ireland and England, and for a considerable time in Scotland, they maintained themselves throughout all the rigour of the penal OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT-OBSERVATORY. OBSERVATION AND EXPERIMENT are the one of times. Several communities are still found in the his observations at Rhodes, and Ptolemy at Alextwo first-named kingdoms. andria, the latter astronomer possessing the greatest collection of astronomical instruments then in use; so we are led to conclude, that among the ancients it was not the custom to erect houses exclusively adapted for astronomical observations. The case observatories in all parts of their empire, the chief was very different with the Arabs, who erected of which were those of Cairo, two in number; the Bagdad observatory; the celebrated Meraghah, superintended by Nazir-ed-din; and last, and greatest of all, that of Samarkand, erected by the celebrated Ulugh Beg (q. v.). Observatories are also found in various parts of China. observatory are the Transit Instrument (q. v.), the The principal instruments in general use in an Mural Circle (see CIRCLE, MURAL), the Equatorial The alti(V.), and the Sidereal Clock (q. v.). tude and azimuth instrument, or altazimuth (see ALTITUDE), is sometimes added, and the combined in a single instrument called the tran leading features of modern science, as contrasted with the philosophy of the ancients. They are indispensable as the bases of all human knowledge, and no true philosophy has ever made progress without them, either consciously or unconsciously exercised. Thus, by Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle, no less than by Archimedes and the ancient astronomers, observation and experiment are extensively though not prominently or always obviously employed; and it was by losing this clue to the spirit of their masters' teaching, that the later disciples in these schools of philosophy missed the path of real progress in the advancement of knowledge. It was in the latter half of the 16th c. that the minds of philosophers were first consciously awakened to the importance of observation and experiment, as opposed to authority and abstract reasoning. This result was first occasioned by the discoveries and controversies of Galileo in Florence; and to the same end were contributed the simultaneous efforts of a number of philosophers whose minds were turned in the same direction-Tycho Brahe in Holland, Kepler in Germany, William Gilbert in England, who were shortly afterwards followed by a crowd of kindred spirits. The powerful mind of Francis Bacon lent itself to describe the newly-awakened spirit of scientific investigation, and though he ignored or affected to despise the results achieved by the great philosophers just mentioned, he learned from them enough to lay the foundation of a philosophy of inductive science, which, if we look at the course of scientific progress since his day, seems to have been almost prophetic. The difference between observation and experiment may be said to consist in this, that by observation we note and record the phenomena of nature as they are presented to us in her ordinary course; whereas by experiment we note phenomena presented under circumstances artificially arranged for the purpose. Experiment is thus the more powerful engine for discovery, since one judiciously conducted experiment may provide the data which could only result from a long course of observations. OBSERVATORY, an institution supplied with instruments for accurately observing and recording the position of the heavenly bodies, and superintended by an astronomer, with usually one or more assistants. The objects to which the work of an observatory is directed are, 1st, The ascertain ment of elements necessary to the science of theoretical and physical astronomy; 2d, The accurate measurement and publication of time. A third object, namely, the observation of meteorological phenomena, though not a necessary part of the work of an observatory, is often combined with the above. It often happens that the purpose for which a particular observatory is instituted has especial reference to one of the above objects, and in most observatories the character of the instruments possessed is more especially fitted for some classes of observations than for others. Since, therefore, almost every civilised country possesses one or more observatories of excellent character, the time of the observers in each is often better employed in carrying out those classes of observations for which they have special opportunities, than by attempting observations of more various kinds. Thus, almost every observatory has some distinctive feature of its own. The ancients have made no mention of observatories, though we are told that Hipparchus made transit instrument and mural circle are sometimes sit circle. For meteorological observations, the principal instruments are the barometer, the thermometer, the rain-gauge, and the anemometer (q. v.), force and direction of the wind. or instrument for measuring and registering the We proceed to notice some of the principal existing observatories, more particularly those belonging to Britain. The principal observatory in England is the of the Astronomer-Royal (now Mr Airy), with a Royal Observatory of Greenwich, under the direction staff at present of six assistants and six computers, with other supernumerary computers occasionally volume yearly of observations in a reduced form, employed. The publications consist of a large prepared under the superintendence of the astronomer-royal, the initials of the particular observer The most being given with each observation. important instrument in this observatory is the great transit circle, erected in the year 1850, and brought into use at the beginning of 1851. It was constructed by Messrs Ransomes and May as of the telescope is nearly 12 feet, the clear aperengineers, and Mr Simms as optician. The length ture of the object-glass 8 inches, and the length of axis between the pivots 6 feet. For determining the error of collimation there are two horizontal telescopes, of about 5 feet focal length, and 4 inches aperture, one north, and the other south of the instrument. There is a chronographic apparatus, which registers the transits through a galvanic contact, made by the hand of the observer, on a paper stretched over a drum in connection with the sidereal clock. A massive altitude and azimuth instrument, erected in 1847, was constructed under the direction of the astronomer-royal, on peculiar principles of solidity and strength, for the purpose of making extra-meridional observations of the moon, which are effected by it with an accuracy equal to those made on the meridian. There are three telescopes in use, with equatorial mounting. The great equatorial was constructed by Messrs Ransomes and Sons as engineers, and Mr Simms as instrument-maker and optician. The object-glass by Messrs Merz and Son of Munich has a clear aperture of about 121 inches, and a focal length of 16 feet 6 inches. The observatory at Greenwich was the first to employ galvanic signals on an extensive scale in the transmission of time. By this means, since the year 1852, a time-ball has been dropped on the dome of the Observatory, and also at the office of the Electric Telegraph Company in London, at precisely one o'clock. By means of the telegraph-wires, also, the longitude of the other principal observatories OBSERVATORY—OBSIDIAN. throughout the kingdom has been accurately necessary information to mariners, chronometer determined. The observatory of Cambridge had its building completed in 1824, and its first director was Professor Woodhouse. It is now (1874) under the direction of Mr Adams, well known in connection with the discovery of the planet Neptune. The observatory was at first furnished only with a 10-feet transit instrument by Dollond. To this was added, in 1832, an 8-feet mural circle by Troughton and Simms, and a 5-feet equatorial by Jones. The Northumberland Telescope, so called from its donor the Duke of Northumberland, was erected under the direction of Mr Airy in 1838. This fine telescope, which is equatorially mounted, is of nearly 20 feet focal length, and has an object-glass with a clear aperture of 11 inches. It has been actively employed in observations of the planets and planetoids. The observatory has also been furnished with a transit circle, on the principle of the Greenwich instrument (1854). It was while in the Cambridge Observatory that Mr Airy first introduced the principle which he has since actively followed up, and which has been extensively imitated, of thoroughly reducing every observation before its publication. The Radcliffe Observatory at Oxford was erected about the year 1774. In July 1861 was purchased for this observatory Mr Carrington's transit circle, formerly used by him at Red Hill. It possesses a fine heliometer, erected in 1850 by the Messrs Repsold of Hamburg, the object-glass by Messrs Merz of Munich, of 10 feet focal length, and 7 inches aperture. The Royal Observatory of Edinburgh is situated on the Calton Hill there. It had its origin in a private astronomical institution; but it has been transferred to the crown, on condition of the latter taking upon itself the sole charge of defraying the expenses of the establishment, and of providing for its adequate and perpetual maintenance. It has recently taken a distinguished place as a timekeeping observatory, and by means of its meantime clock, fitted with a pendulum on the principle of Mr Jones's recent invention (see ELECTRIC CLOCK), time-guns are fired from Edinburgh Castle, at Newcastle, and in Glasgow precisely at one o'clock. The present astronomer is Mr Piazzi Smyth, who has taken an active part in the introduction of these useful measures. Among the observatories in the British dominions, that at the Cape of Good Hope, founded in 1821, in pursuance of an order in council made in 1820 at the instigation of the then existing Board of Longitude, holds a distinguished place, both with regard to the excellence of its instruments and the importance of the observations which have been there made by several of its directors. Among foreign observatories, those of most note are the observatory of Paris, commenced under the directorship of the celebrated Dominique Cassini; the observatory of Berlin, of recent date, but fitted with excellent instruments; the observatories of Göttingen and Königsberg; those of Dorpat and Pulkowa, in Russia; and those of Milan, Florence, &c., in Italy. Of observatories especially devoted to particular and practical objects, the observatory of Liverpool, as conducted under its present able director, Mr Hartnup, deserves especial mention. This observatory was established in 1844 by the corporation of Liverpool, in order to obtain, with all practicable accuracy, the longitude of Liverpool, and then to obtain and preserve the Greenwich time for the benefit of the port of Liverpool, by rating and testing chronometers, and by giving the makers, and professional raters of chronometers. On the 8th January 1858, the observatory was transferred by an act of parliament to the Mersey Docks and Harbour Board. The principal instruments possessed by the observatory for the carrying out of the main object-namely, that of obtaining and preserving correct time-are an excellent transit instrument of about four feet focal length, a sidereal clock, and a mean-time clock. Besides these means of obtaining accurate time, there is now in use an admirable arrangement for testing the rates of chronometers at various temperatures, in which branch of practical horology, as well as in the adaptation of electricity to the publication of time through the contrivance patented by Mr R. L. Jones of Chester, this observatory has taken the lead of all other establishments (see ELECTRIO CLOCK, HOROLOGY, WATCH). When it is remembered that each error of 4" in a chronometer corresponds to a geographical mile of longitude upon the equator, the importance of extreme accuracy in these rating observations cannot be overestimated. The Liverpool observatory is also provided with excellent meteorological instruments, especially a self-registering barometer on a new construction by Mr King of Liverpool, and an anemometer, which registers the force and direction of the wind. The record kept by all these instruments consists of tracings on a paper, by which the registered phenomena during any twenty-four hours are seen at a glance. The observatory also possesses a good equatorial, which has been extensively used for determining with accuracy the positions of the small members of the solar system revolving between Mars and Jupiter-a class of observations to which the instrument is peculiarly adapted, and which are important towards supplying data for increasing the accuracy of navigation. There are eighteen observatories in the United States, though at many of them no real astronomical work is done. Systematic astronomical observations are made at the U.S. Naval Obs., the Cambridge and Dearborn, those of Hamilton Coll. and Ann Arbor. The only systematic magnetical observations are made at Washington by the United States Coast Survey. The following is a list of the usually recognised observatories in America: Dartmouth Coll., Hanover, N. H.; Cambridge, Cambridge, Mass.; Yale Coll., N. Haven, Conn.; Vassar Coll., Poughkeepsie, N. Y.; Dudley Obs., Albany, N. Y.; Litchfield Obs. of Hamilton Coll., Clinton, Ň. Y.; Alfred Obs., Alfred Centre, N. Y.; Halstead Obs., Princeton, N. J.; Philadelphia High School, Philada., Pa.; Lafayette Coll., Easton, Pa.; Lehigh Univ., Bethlehem, Pa.; Alleghany Obs., Alleghany, Pa.; U. States Naval Obs., Washington, D. C.; Cincinnati Obs., Cincinnati, O.; Hudson Obs., Hudson, O.; Univ. of Michigan, Ann Arbor, Mich.; Dearborn Obs., Chicago, Ill.; and Univ. of California, San Francisco, Cal. OBSIDIAN, a mineral accurately described by Pliny under the name which it still bears. It is a true kind of native glass, composed of silica (from 70 to 80 per cent.), alumina, lime, soda, potash, and oxide of iron. It is hard and brittle, with remarkably vitreous lustre, and perfectly conchoidal fracture, the edges of the fractures very sharp and cutting like glass. It varies from semitransparency to translucency only on the edges. It is often black, or very dark gray; sometimes green, red, brown, striped, or spotted; and sometimes chatoyant or avanturine. It occurs in volcanic situations, and often in close connection with pumice, in roundish compact pieces, in grains, and in fibres. It is capable of being polished, but is apt to break in the process. It is made into boxes, buttons, eardrops, and other ornamental articles; and before OBVERSE-OCCASIONALISM. the uses of the metals were well known, it was they were arrested as favourers of heresy, and employed, in different parts of the world, for making imprisoned in Avignon. But while their trial was arrow and spear heads, knives, &c. It is found proceeding, Michael de Cesena and O., knowing in Iceland, the Lipari Isles, Vesuvius, Sardinia, Hungary, Spain, Teneriffe, Mexico, South America, Madagascar, Siberia, &c. Black O. was used by the ancients for making mirrors, and for this purpose was brought to Rome from Ethiopia. It was used for the same purpose in Peru and Mexico. Mirrors of Black O. are indeed still employed by artists. Chatoyant or Avanturine O. is very beautiful when cut and polished, and ornaments made of it are sold at a comparatively high price. O'BVERSE, or FACE, the side of a coin or medal which contains the principal device or inscription, the other side being in contradistinction called the Reverse. See NUMISMATICS. what little mercy or justice they had to expect OCCAM, WILLIAM OF, surnamed Doctor Singularis et Invincibilis, a famous schoolman, was born in England, at the village of Ockam, in the county of Surrey, about the year 1270. We do not possess any precise or satisfactory knowledge of his early life. He is said to have been educated at Merton College, Oxford, and to have held several benefices in his native country, but soon after resigned them on entering the Franciscan order. Early in the 14th c., it is supposed he proceeded to Paris, where he attended the lectures of Duns Scotus, of whose philosophy he was afterwards the most formidable opponent. Here he soon became prominent by the boldness of his ecclesiastical views. Philippe, le Bel, king of France, having forbidden Pope Boniface VIII. to levy contributions in his dominions, the latter, by way of retaliation, excommunicated him. O. rushed to the defence of the monarch, and in his Disputatio inter Clericum et Militem, super Potestate Prælatis Ecclesiæ atque Principibus Terrarum Commissa, denies that the popes have any authority in temporal affairs, and boldly declares that all who favoured such a OCCA'SIONALISM, or the doctrine of Occa doctrine ought to be expelled from the church as SIONAL CAUSES (see CAUSE), is the name given to heretics. Meanwhile, from being a listener, he had the philosophical system devised by Descartes and become a lecturer in philosophy. The system which his school, for the purpose of explaining the action he advocated-for he was not properly its originator of mind upon matter, or, to speak more correctly, -is known by the name of Nominalism (q. v.), but the combined, or at least the synchronous action it had never before received so rigorously logical of both. It is a palpable fact that certain actions and rational a treatment; hence his epithet of or modifications of the body are accompanied by Invincibilis. The work in which his views are set corresponding acts of mind, and vice versa. This forth is entitled Expositio Aurea, et admodum fact, although it presents no difficulty to the popular utilis super totam Artem Veterem. It contains a conception, according to which each is supposed to series of commentaries upon the Isagoge of Porphyry, act directly upon the other-body upon mind, and and on the Categories and Interpretation of Aristotle, mind upon body-has long furnished to philosophers with a special treatise headed Tractatus Communi- a subject of much speculation. But on the other tatum Porphyrii, and a theological opusculum on hand, it is difficult to conceive the possibility of Predestination. It is intended as a demolition of any direct mutual interaction of substances so the moderns-i. e., the scholastics-and shews that dissimilar, or rather so disparate. And more than in their method they have completely departed one system has been devised for the explanation of from the principles and methods of the great the problem, as to the relations which subsist Stagyrite, for whom, like every sound and solid between the mind and the body, in reference to thinker, he shew's the deepest respect and admira- those operations, which are clearly attributable tion. About 1320 or 1321, he again plunged into to them both. According to Descartes and the ecclesiastical controversy. A certain Narbonese Occasionalists, the action of the mind is not, and priest, having affirmed that Jesus Christ and his cannot be the cause of the corresponding action of apostles held everything in common, and that every the body. But they hold that whenever any ecclesiastical possession is a modern abuse, was action of the mind takes place, God directly propounced upon by the inquisitors, and defended by duces, in connection with it, and by reason of a certain Berenger Talon, a Franciscan monk of it, a corresponding action of the body; and in Perpignan. But Berenger's defence of apostolical like manner conversely, they explain the coincident poverty was naturally enough very disagreeable to or synchronous actions of the body and the mind. the pope, John XXII., who therefore condemned It was in opposition to this view that Leibnitz, it. Berenger was, however, vigorously supported believing the Cartesian system to be open to by his order, and among others by Michael de nearly equal difficulties with that of the direct Cesena, the general-superior, Bonagratia of Bergamo, action, devised his system of Pre-established and William of Occam, who attacked the pope with Harmony. See LEIBNITZ His real objection to great vehemence and trenchant logic. Shortly after the Occasionalist hypothesis is, that it supposed a |