OBS 
Abriz in Arabic, or Perfian, fignifies fine gold without mix- 
ture, which the Greeks an all obrizum 
OBSANG, in Geography, a town of Germany, in the 
principality of Culmbach; 9 miles N.W. of Bayreuth. 
OBSCURA, Camera. See oo Obfeura. 
Oxsscura Clara. See CLAIR-OBSCURE 
OBSCURE, a that is or that only re- 
ceives and returns a little li 
Opsscurz is alfo ufed, in a ‘figurative fenfe, ig a thing 
that is not clear, expr rele: and intelligible ; e does 
not fully apprehend ; or that may be cored et "ai vers 
fenfes. 
‘Oxscure Notion, or Idea. See Notion, or Iza. 
OsscurE, Clair. See CLAIR-OBSCURE. 
OBSCURITY, that which denominates a thing ob- 
fcure 
Obfeurty is a mur that may either be in the perception, 
or tne ion. 
Obfeurity i in the perception arifes vont —— that we do 
ey are, find them; but as 
we judge them to be before we [cow ‘ed fo that our 
anes panes our praca and is mate the rule or 
ur concep reas nature and reafon 
aired, chat things fhonld - judged of according as they 
are known; at they are to be known, not as they are 
in themfeles ‘ut only in fuch manner as God was pleafed to 
have them 
Obfcurity in nn didtion may arife, firft, from the ey 
of the fente of words ; fecondly, from the figure 
ments of rhetoric; thirdly, from the novelty or ay a ear 
TION, Ossecrario, in aerial a oe 
by which the ste implores the affiftance of God, or 
This figure Cicero makes admirable ufe of, for K. Deiotarus, 
to Calar. ‘Per dexteram te iftam oro, quam regi Deio- 
taro hofpes hofpiti porrexifti: iftam, inquam, dexteram non 
tam in bellis & in ria quam in promiffis & fide firmio; 
rem.”? Thus Virgil 
a Quod te per coeli jucundum lumen, & aura 
er genitorem oro, per {pem furgentis Tuli, 
Eripe me his, invicte, heed ? amr 
‘Trius, and wrote 
man Mien fach ce a narrate ivy, ars very 
uently borrows. Notwithitanding its trifling 
The 
formed at the burials of eminent sa ea 
The word is derived from the Latin “tbguioe, obedience 3 
thefe obfequies being the ie silat we can render to the 
deceafed. See Buriat a UNE 
OBSERVANCE Literally denotes the be of obferving, 
or gomplying with, a rule, law, or ce 
e ‘obfervance is a alfe ere for a rule, fta- 
tute, or ordnance to be o 
BSERV ANCE, Objervantia, | is s parila a in 
a monaftic fenfe, of a community of religious, are 
OBS 
bound to the perpetual obfervation of the fame rule. Is 
which fenfe the word coincides with congregation or order. 
The Cordeliers denominated themfelves, Religious of! ‘a 
a the great, and the lefer obfervance. See 
RS. 
“Thole Francifcans are called Brethren of the Obfervance, 
ie religionfly obferve the primitive laws and infitution of 
their founder, in come to Conventuals ; which fee. See 
alfo Friars Obferva 
Among the ae a there are monks of the fri ob- 
fh. 
fervance, who eat nothing bu 
OBSERVANTINES, lab Cordeliers of the ob- 
fervance. In Spain there are barefooted Obfervantines. 
OBSERVATION, in the Sea Pee the taking of 
the fun’s, or any ftar’s, meridian altitude, in order thereby to 
find the latitude 
For the method - ne an obfervation, fee Lati- 
TUDE a oe 
es. It is generally de- 
fined, * a building i e for toners: reGted on an 
eminence, and covered with a terrace, for making aftrono- 
n 
mical obfervations.’’ But this defcription, though it may 
apply to ancient obfervatories, does not agree with modern 
practice, where firmnefs of foundation, and a convenient 
difpofition of inftruments, are confidered of more import- 
ance than any particular form of ftru€ture, or eminence of 
fituation 
Fixed obfervatories are thofe where inftruments are fixed 
in the meridian, by whic h the aid of aftronomical 
sara each ot her. 
ca regular t 
are ‘iometinies performed, m 
where there are no infroments fixed in the meridian 
i ntially depends on the determinations 
eftablifhments 7 ave been c con- 
c 
number has been greatly increafed of late years; a circum- 
ftance which, while it marks the progrefs of {cience, does 
honour to the age in which we live. 
Befides the important advantages of improving nautical 
aftronomy, obfervatories are, in themfelves, objeéts of the 
higheft intereft to every {cientific and aan mind. Here 
the inventions and difcoveries of the greateft men in all 
ages are united, and applied to the aon oa and ufeful 
purpofes. Here theory is reduced to practice, and {cience 
illuftrated by art; er, in the words of the poet, (applied to 
an obfervatory;) 
‘© Here truths fublime and facred fcience charm, 
reative arts new gion ly, 
2 
In fhort, an te ory may be eri as pags the 
moft f fublime difplay of the — ot God 
“Tmpreffed 
