Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/850

OCCANEECHI. 722 OCCUPANCY. Tutelo, and one or two other broken tribes. Con- sult Mooney, (<iotiaii Tribes of the East. OCCASIONALISM (from occasional, ML. occat:i(jiiiili!i. rtliitiii;.' to occasion, from Lat. oc- casio. opportunity, cause, occasion, from occidcre, to fall, perish, set. from 06, before, toward + cadcrc, to fall, 8kt. sad, to fall). The name given to the philosophical system devised by the school of Descartes (q.v.) for the purpose of explaining the interrelation between mind and matter. It is a palpable fact that certain actions or modifications of the body are preceded, ac- companied, or followed by correspondiii;; acts of mind, and vice versa. This fact, although it presents no difficulty to the popular conception, according,' to which each is supposed to act di- rectly upon the other — body upon mind, and mind ujion body — has long furnished to phi- losophers a subject of nnu'h speculation becauso, accepting the erroneo>is iirincijjlc that cau-^e and effect must be similar, they could not conceive the possibility of any direct mutual interaction of substances so dissimilar as mind and body. And more than one system has been devised for the explanation of the problem. According to the oecasionalists, the action of the mind is not. and cannot be. the cause of the corresponding action of the body. But they hold that whenever any action of the mind takes place, (iod directly pro- duces, in connection with it and by reason of it, a corresponding action of the body, and converse- ly. This simply pushed the dilliculty a step further back. If mind cannot act upon matter, then Ood. conceived as mind, cannot act upon matter; but, conceived as other than mind, can- not act upon mind. See GEruNcx, the leading occasionalist ; Preest.IiBLISHED Hae.moxy. OCCLEVE, ok'klev, Thomas. An early Eng- lisli pnct and man of law. See Hoccleve, Thomas. OCCLUSION (from T.at. occiudcrc, to shut up, from ob, before, toward 4- clauderc, to shut ; probably connected with OHG. sliozaii. Ger. schliessen, to close, provincial Eng. clot, bolt, and with Gk. K?.aiin', hiairin, to close). A special case of absorption (q.v.). The word is used to express the fact that gases are absorbed by solids. Sometimes it is a true solution, a-^ in the ease of hydrogen and ]ialhidium, carlmii dioxide, cast iron, etc.; other times it is a condensation on the surface or within the pores, as in the case of charcoal and ammonia or o.xygen. OCCOM, ok'om, or OCCUM, Sam (p) son (c.172.3-02) . An American Indian preacher and missionary. He was born at Mohegan, Conn., and was converted during the religious revivals of 17.Sn-40. He acquired some ability to read. and. desiring to serve as missionary to bis tribe, at the age of nineteen entered an Indian school kept by Rev. Eleazar Wheelock of Lebanon. After four years' study he opene<l a school at Xew London, but later went to Montaiik. L. I., and taught among the Indians for ten years. He became a member of the Suffolk Prc-bytery in 17.')!). In 17ii.">-f;n he went to England with the Rev. Xathaiiiel Whitaker to raise funds for Moor's Indian charity school, ami while there preached in many parts of Kncland. and secured nearly £10.000. The school this reenforced was Fuhsp- quently transferred to Xew Hampshire and be- cnme the nucleus of Dartmouth College. The latter part of his life was occupied mainly with missiouaiy work among the Indians of central New York. He died at Xew Stockbridge, X. Y. For his account of the ilontauk Indians, consult the Massacltiisctts Historical Sm-icti/'s Collec- tions, first series, vol. x. He published a hymn- book (1774). The hymn "Awaked by Sinai's awful xnmd" is attributed to him. OCCULTATION (Lat. occultatio, conceal- ment, from occiiltarc, to conceal, from occultre, to coer, from ob, before, toward + ealere, connected with celurc, to hide). A term used in astronomy. When the moon, in the course of her orbital motion around the earth, passes between us and a star or planet, the latter is said to be occulted. The phenomenon is thus quite analo- gous to eclipses. Observations of the exact in- stant when occultations occur were formerly xised to determine the longitudes of places on the eartli. But this is now done more accurately by telegraphing time signals, and the princi])al use of modern occulta! ion observations is to deter- mine the angular diameter of the moon. This is done by observing the exact times when certain stars disapjjear behind the moon, and also the exact moments when the same stars reappear again. From these ol>scrved data, we can de- termine the moon's angular diameter by a process of calculation. See EcLll'.SE. OCCULTISM (from occult, from Lat. occtil- tus, hidden, ]i.]i. of ocriilrrr, to conceal). An 'occult' properly of matter is. in mediaeval phraseolog-. a pro|ierty that requires to be made manifest by e]icrinicntation : and occult science is simply experimental science. The term has undergone a curious transfornuition of meaning. As such science was the occupation of the few, and was not seldom suspect to the reigning the- ology, the word 'occult' gradually assumed the significance that it now possesses, of something magical or uncanny or supernormal. See Magic; Sl'lKITl ALISM : TlIEOSOPlIY. OCCUPANCY (from Lat. occiipare, to occu- py, from ob, before, toward -|- caperc, to take). A mode of ac<piiring title to property by taking jiossession of an una]ipropriated corporeal thing with the intention of becoming its owner. This mode of acquiring ]iro]ierty came into the com- mon law from the Koman civil law, which con- sidered occupancy a mode of acqiiring juoperty bebiuging to no one, but subject to appropriation by the first comer. The finder of unclaimed lost goods has a title to them by occupancy. So has the captor of beasts of a wild nature so long as he keeps ])ossession of them, but there can be no cipmplete property in them till they are do- mesticated: and if thc.v make their escape, with no intention of coming back, the ownership of the original owner ceases, and their next captor acquires a title in them by occupancy. But if they be once domesticated the title by occupation becomes indefeasible. The owner of property by accession acquires his title bv occupancy, and so does the owner of goods obtained by confusion ; it being bi'ld that where a per-on with fraudulent intent mix<s liis property indistinguishably with that of another, the latter is not c(uu|)elleil to distinguish his property from that of the former, but is entitled to the ownership of the whole. (See .AcrE.ssiON: Confi'sion-.) Blaekstone re- fers the title to literary property to the head of occupancy, and here also belongs the title to trade