1866.] 223 



IChase. 



judiciary justice, and do us, the people, justice; we, who, as well as 

 they, bear the odium of the just impeachment of public ingratitude 

 and injustice. 



Could we now and forever redeem our Commonwealth from this 

 impeachment, the too early death of Oswald Thompson, so hard for 

 him, so cruel to his family and friends, will not have been in vain. 

 His life was spent in administering justice ; it was sacrificed by his 

 devotion to the duty of pronouncing and executing justice ; and it is 

 most fitting, since the great sacrifice has been endured, that his death 

 should achieve a yet further great and enduring justice. 



Oswald Thompson lived and died in the Christian faith, worship- 

 ping in the Presbyterian Church. He believed in his own immortal 

 being, and all who loved him, alike happy in their faith, have the 

 consolation of a confident assurance of reunion with him in a happier 

 existence. His was that highest philo.sophy, whose beneficent fruits 

 prove it both good and truthful ; whose faith has power to disarm 

 death of terror, and make it a triumphant entrance into endless hap- 

 piness ; the philosophy given to the world by Him who " brought life 

 and immortality to light through the Gospel." 



Mr. Chase referred to some interesting views upon subjects 

 involving the relations of cosmical and molecular forces, in 

 Mr. Ferrell's paper, " On an Annual Variation in the Daily 

 Mean Level of the Ocean, and its Cause" (Proc. Amer. 

 Acad. A. & S. vol. vii, pp. 31-36), and in Prof. F. Guthrie's 

 " Speculation concerning the Relation between the Axial 

 Rotation of the Earth, and the Resistance, Elasticity, and 

 Weight of Solar ^ther" (Phil. Mag. [4] 31, 210-213). 



Mr. Chase also presented a summary of his observations 

 on the comparative visibility of Arago's, Babinet's, and 

 Brewster's neutral points. 



In my communication of January 5th, I stated that when Brewster's 

 neutral point is- above the horizon, I had frequently determined its 

 position with great ease. My experience was so diflPerent from those 

 of Brewster and Babinet, that I commenced on the 6th of March 

 a series of comparative observations upon the three neutral points. 

 The month which has just ended appears to warrant the following 

 conclusions for stations in Philadelphia and its vicinity. The 1st, 

 2d, and 6th seem to be confirmed by observations elsewhere, while 



