Page:EB1911 - Volume 19.djvu/991

 OBOK, a seaport on the north shore of the Gulf of Tajura, N.E. Africa, acquired by France in 1862. It gave its name to the colony of Obok, now merged in the French Somali coast protectorate (see : French). The port is separated from the open sea by coral reefs, but is only partially sheltered from the winds. This led to the practical abandonment of the town by the French, who in 1896 transferred to Jibuti, on the opposite shore of the Gulf of Tajura, the seat of government of the colony. Obok is connected with Aden and Jibuti by submarine cables. Population about 500.

OBRA, a river of Germany, in the Prussian province of Posen, a left-bank tributary of the Warthe. It rises near Obra, N.W. from Koschmin, and forms in its course marshes, lakes and the so-called Great Obrabruch (fen). The latter, 50 m. long and about 5 m. broad, is a deep depression in the undulating country of south-west Posen. The river is here dammed in and canalized and affords excellent water transit for the agricultural produce of the district.

O’BRIEN, WILLIAM SMITH (1803–1864), Irish revolutionary politician, son of Sir Edward O’Brien, a descendant of Brian Boroimhe (d. 1014), king of Ireland (see ), was born in Co. Clare on the 17th of October 1803, and received his education at Harrow and at Cambridge. He took the additional name of Smith on inheriting his maternal grandfather’s estates in Limerick. He entered parliament in 1828 as member for Ennis, and from 1835 to 1848 represented the county of Limerick. Although he spoke in 1828 in favour of Catholic emancipation, he for many years continued to differ on other points from the general policy of O’Connell. But he opposed the Irish Arms Act of 1843, and became an active member of the Repeal Association. Though he was destitute of oratorical gifts, his arraignment of the English government of Ireland secured him enthusiastic attachment as a popular leader. In July 1846 the “Young Ireland” party, with Smith O’Brien and Gavan Duffy at their head, left the Repeal Association, and in the beginning of 1847 established the Irish Confederation. In May 1848 he was tried at Dublin for sedition, but the jury disagreed. In the following July he established a war directory, and attempted to make a rising among the peasantry of Ballingarry, but although he was at first joined by a large following the movement wanted cohesion, and the vacillating crowd dispersed as soon as news reached them of the approach of the dragoons. O’Brien was arrested at Thurles, tried and sentenced to death. The sentence was, however, commuted to transportation to Tasmania for life. In February 1854 he received his liberty on condition of never revisiting the United Kingdom; and in May 1856 he obtained a full pardon, and returned to Ireland. In 1856 he published Principles of Government, or Meditations in Exile. He died at Bangor, north Wales, on the 18th of June, 1864. He had five sons and two daughters. His eldest brother, Lucius, became 13th Baron Inchiquin in 1855, as heir male to the 3rd marquis of Thomond, at whose death in 1855 the marquisate of Thomond and the earldom of Inchiquin became extinct. (See .)

OBSCENITY (from the adjective “obscene,” Lat. obscenus, evil-looking, filthy). By English law it is an indictable misdemeanour to show an obscene exhibition or to publish any obscene matter, whether it be in writing or by pictures, effigy or otherwise. The precise meaning of “obscene” is, however, decidedly ambiguous. It has been defined as “something offensive to modesty or decency, or expressing or suggesting unchaste or lustful ideas or being impure, indecent or lewd.” But the test of criminality as accepted in England and Canada is whether the exhibition or matter complained of tends to deprave and corrupt those whose minds are open to immoral influences and who are likely to visit the exhibition, or to see the matter published. If the exhibition or publication is calculated to have this effect, the motive of the publisher or exhibitor is immaterial. Even in the case of judicial proceedings, newspapers are not privileged to publish evidence which falls within the definition. In dealing with writings alleged to be obscene, the court and jury have to consider the effect of the whole work and not merely the particular extract challenged as improper; and in practice it is difficult to induce juries to convict the publishers of well-known and old-established works of real literary quality on the ground that they contain passages offensive to modern notions of propriety. In the case of exhibitions of sculpture and pictures some difficulty is found in drawing the line between representations of the nude and works which fall within the definition above stated—a difficulty raised in a somewhat acute form before the London County Council in 1907 by theatrical representations of “living statuary.”

Besides the remedy by indictment there are statutory provisions for punishing as vagabonds persons Who expose to public view in public streets or adjacent premises obscene prints, pictures or other indecent exhibitions. These are supplemented by similar provisions, applicable to the metropolis and to county towns, and (by a statute of 1889) for suppressing certain kinds of indecent advertisements. By an act of 1857 powers are given for searching premises on which obscene books, &c., are kept for sale, distribution, &c., and for ordering. their destruction, and the post office authorities have power to seize postal packets containing such matter and to prosecute the sender. In 1906 the London publisher of a weekly comic paper was punished for inserting advertisements inviting readers to acquire by post from abroad matter of this kind.

The use of obscene or indecent language in public places is punishable as a misdemeanour at common law, but it is usually dealt with summarily, under the Metropolitan Police Act 1839, or the Town Police Clauses Act 1847, or under local by-laws.

OBSEQUENS, JULIUS, a Latin writer of uncertain date, generally placed about the middle of the 4th century He is the author of a small extant work De prodigiis, taken from an epitome of Livy, and giving an account of the prodigies and portents that occurred in Rome between 249–12

OBSEQUIES (Med. Lat. obsequiae, formed after class. Lat. exsequiae), a term for funeral rites and ceremonies, especially such as are carried out with great ceremony. The Lat. obsequium (from obsequi, to follow close after) produced the obsolete English “obsequy,” in the sense of ready complaisant service, especially of an inferior to a superior, still found in the adjective “obsequious.”

 OBSERVATORY. Up to a comparatively recent date an “observatory” was a place exclusively devoted to the taking of astronomical observations, although frequently a rough account of the weather was kept. When the progress of terrestrial magnetism and meteorology began to make regular observations necessary, the duty of taking these was often thrown on astronomical observatories, although in some cases separate institutions were created for the purpose. In this article the astronomical observatories will be chiefly considered.

Up to about 300 it can scarcely be said that an observatory existed anywhere, as the crude observations of the heavens then taken were only made by individuals and at intervals, employing the simplest possible apparatus. Thus, according to Strabo,