Optically active, Optically inactive (Chem. Physics), terms used of certain isomeric substances which, while identical with each other in other respects, differ in this, viz., that they do or do not produce right-handed or left-handed circular polarization of light. See optical activity.
Optically positive, Optically negative. See under Refraction.
... the science of mechanism! how variegated its progeny, how simple, yet how compound! I am propelled to the consideration of this subject by having optically perceived that ingenious nautical instrument, which has just now flown along like a mammoth, that monster of the deep! You ask me how are steamboats propagated? in other words, how is such an infinite and ... — Stories of Comedy • Various
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