KOLLKT, JEAN ANTOIXK. 



HONNU8. 



in Uii prmrtioa of enamelling ; and ha U Mid, at one time, to have 

 raptrintended the education of a son of M. Toitbout, who held the 

 pott of recorder. 



The AbW Nutlet applied bimaelf particularly, in conjunction with 

 II. Dubr, to the rabject of electricity ; and he soon became distin- 

 guished by the number as well aa the ingenuity of hi experiments 

 with relation to that icience, performing them in the laboratory of 

 M. Reomur, who generously permitted him to make use of bin valuable 

 apparatus. He was the finst who obeervcd Uiat pointed 1 o.iiea, when 

 electrified, gave out stream* of light, but did not exhibit in other 

 respects sueh powerful indications of electricity ai were shown by 

 blunt bodirs ; and he found that the smoke of burnt linen and wood, 

 and the t at our of water, wtre better conductors of electricity than 

 the smoke of gum-lnc, turpentine, or sulphur. He ascertained that an 

 excited tube lost none of its electricity by being placed in the focus of 

 a concave mirror when the sun's light wag concentrated in that point ; 

 that glut and other non-conductors were more strongly excited in 

 the air than in TRCUO ; and that oil of turpentine on a woollen cloth 

 was capable of producing the electric fluid in abundance : he observed 

 also the diffusion of the electric light in vacuo. Ue discovered that 

 electricity augments the natural evaporation of fluids, and that the effect 

 is the greatest when the fluids are contained in non-electric vessels. 



In repealing the experiments of M. Boze on the effects of electricity 

 in promoting the discharge of fluids through tabes, Nollet found that 

 no acceleration took plsoe when the bore of the tube exceeded /, inch 

 in diameter : be ascertained however that if the bore was very small 

 the electrified fluid divided into several atreams aud acquired consi- 

 derable velocity, presenting a brilliant appearance when the experiment 

 was performed in the dark. Ue electrified, during several day*, the 

 mould iu a garden pot, in which reeds had been sown, continuing the 

 operation time or four hours esoh day ; when it appeared to him that 

 tho plants grew faster and produced shoots earlier than the plants 

 obtained from tho like seed in a pot containing the same kind of mould, 

 but which was not electrified. Nollet electrified in the like manner 

 cats, pigeons, sparrows, &c. ; and he imagined that the animal* were 

 lighter than those of the same kind which were not >o treated : from 

 thence be concluded that electricity increases the insensible perspira- 

 tion of aniuialt. Accounts of thee experiments will be found in the 

 ' Philosophical Transactions ' for 1743; but it ought to be observed 

 that experiments relating to the effects of electricity on plants and 

 animals have, i-ince, been frequently repeated without verifying the 

 conclusions of the French philosopher ; and it may be added, that the 

 attempts which have been made to promote the growth of vegetables 

 by an apparatus for conveying to the ground the electric fluid in the 

 atmosphere, have signally failed. 



la 1731 the AbbtS Nollet, accompanied by his friend M. Dufay, 

 made a visit to England, when he was elected a Fellow of the Koyal 

 Society of London : he went from hence to Holland for the purpose of 

 convening with the philosophers of that country ; and, on his return 

 to Paris, be delivered a course of lectures on phytics, which was well 

 attended. In 1739 he was elected a member of the Academic des 

 Sciences : and. during the same year, he went to Turin, where be 

 repeated bis electrical ex]riuienU in presence of the Duke of Savoy. 

 In 1712 he went by imitation to Bordeaux, where he delivered a course 

 of lectures , and he subsequently delivered a course at Versailles in 

 presence of the dauphin of France, the son of Louis XV. 



NolK t tuade many experiments to ascertain, at various depths under 

 water, the intensity of sounds excited in the air; and he perceived 

 that the striking of a clock and the blowing of a hunter's horn were 

 heard distinctly, but very faintly, at two feet below the surface. He 

 was not fortunate however iu hit hypothesis concerning the nature of 

 the electric fluid : he imagined that this fluid has two motions, namely, 

 an arHux to the electric body and an efflux from it, aud he supposed 

 that, in consequence of tho former, all light bodies are attracted or 

 carried towards the electric; while, in consequence of the latter, 

 lh*y are repelled from it Hence ho considered that all bodies have 

 two different kinds of pores, one kind for receiving and the olln r f.-r 

 emitting the electric fluid. This hypothesis has never buvu admitted 

 1-y philosophers. 



In 1747 Signer Pivati, of Venice, published a pamphlet in which it 

 was hUUd, that a man who had suffered from a pain in his side had 

 by him Un currd on being electrified with a machine iu the glass 

 cylinder of which was contained some balsam of Peru ; aud that two 

 penooa ofgioat age liad been cured of the gout by the like means; 

 the benefit was supposed to have arisen from the effluvium of thu 

 balsam, which was stated to be so great that the bod and even the 

 whole apartment of one of the patlmU who had received it was 

 strongly perfumed with it. IWetsor Winkler of Leipzig also stated, 

 about the same time, that he bad performed niiniUr experiments with 

 equal success, by means of sulphur or cinnamon enclosed in tho globe 

 of the machine. These extraordinary reports in.luced the Abbe" Nollet 

 to make a journey to Italy for tho purpose of obtaining information 

 respecting the nature of the experiments ; and the result of bis inquiry 

 waa thit, though in oouie oasts the patients might find telief from 

 electricity, its effecU had been greatly exaggerated. All attempts iu 

 England to obtain result* corresponding to those which were said to 

 have been produced on the Continent entirely failed ; and the reports 

 of the pretended cures soon ceased to obtain credit. 



In 1756 the king of France founded a chair of experimental philo- 

 sophy at the college of Navarre, and ho appointed the AblxS Noll- 1 to 

 superintend it : the seal and ability with which he fulfilled the duties 

 of this post gave full satisfaction to the king, who conferred on him 

 the title of Master of Philosophy and Natural llittory to the Koyal 

 Family. Nollet was subsequently appointed Professor of Experimental 

 Philosophy to the School for Artillery, which then existed at La Fere, 

 and which was afterwards removed to Mcziorea. 



He died April 24, 1770, in the Louvre, where the king had assigned 

 to him a suite of apartments : the amiability of his character was equal 

 to his talents ; and it is said that he devoted nearly all the profits of 

 bis labours to the support of his parents while they lived. l!.-ides 

 being a Fellow of the Koyal Society of London aud a member of the 

 Academie des Sciences at Paris, he was a member of tho Inntitut of 

 'Bologna and of the Acaddmie of Erfurt. 



The Abbe" Nollet published at Paris, in 1743 and tho succeeding 

 years, a work entitled ' Lemons de Physique Experiinentale,' in vols. 

 1 2mo ; this is considered as the most methodical work on that subject 

 which hod till then appeared, and it was the first in which the disco- 

 veries of Newton respecting the phenomena of light were stated iu a 

 popular form. His second work is entitled, 'Kecherches stir les Causes 

 particulicres des Phdnomcnes electriques,' in 12mo, 1749; aud th 

 third, ' Essai sur 1'Electricito' des Corps,' 12mo, 1750. He also pub- 

 lished, in 1758, his 'Recueil de Lettres sur IVIectriciUV in 3 vols. 

 12mo; and a work by him entitled ' L'Art des Experiences,' was 

 published in 1770, also iu 3 vols. 12mo; this work contain* tho 

 elementary principles and the practice of the mechanical arts. 



(Bioyraphie I'nircrtcllc ; Philosophical Trantactiont for 1748.) 



NOMSZ, JAN, a Dutch poet, born at Amsterdam in 1738, acquired 

 some distinction by his epic or rather historical poem of ' William I., 

 or tho Foundation of the Freedom of the Netherlands,' iu twenty-four 

 books, 1779. This production contains passages of much forco and 

 beauty, but for what intercut it possesses as a whole it is indebted to 

 the materials themselves. As a dramatic writer, Nomaz showed greater 

 talent, especially in his tragedies ' Cora,' ' Zoroaster,' the ' Duchess of 

 CoraUi,' and ' Maria van Lalaiu.' This last-mentioned piece became 

 exceedingly popular, and retained possession of the stage for a long 

 while, tho part of the heroine being frequently performed by Madame 

 Wattier-Ziescnis (bom at Rotterdam April 13, 1702, died April 23, 

 1827), one of the most accomplished women aud one of the greatest 

 tragedians of her time, though a Siddons and a Talma were her 

 contemporaries. 



Besides some other original tragedies, Nomfz translated several from 

 the French ; among the rest, ' Racine's ' Athalie.' He also produced a 

 comedy which is mentioned with commendation by Von Kainpen. 

 His miscellaneous pieces and translations, among which that of La 

 Fontaine's 'Fables' ought not to be forgotten, display likewise much 

 talent, and charm by a certain happy ease and naturalness, and by 

 their merits of style and versification. Like Catnoens, he breathed 

 his last within the walls of an hospital, St Peter's Almshouso at 

 Amsterdam, where he died in 1803, at the age of sixty-five : the 

 poverty of his later years appears however to have been in some 

 measure occasioned by his own want of prudence. 



NO'NIUS MARCELLUS, a Roman grammarian, wai probably born 

 at Tibur, in tho 4th century, but nothing is known with certainty of 

 hi* life. He was the author of a small work entitled ' Compel - 

 Doctriua per Litteras ad Filiuui,' or, as it is entitled in some editions, 

 4 De Proprietate Sermonum,' which was written for the us- of his 

 son, and is chiefly valuable for tho quotations which it contains from 

 old Latin writers. This work has been edited by Mercier, Paris, 1014, 

 which edition was republished at Leipzig in 1826 ; but the beat edition 

 U that of Roth, 8vo, Bai.1, 1842. 



NONIUS. [NUNEZ FfiHNAii.l 



NUNNUS, on inhabitant of Panopolis in Egypt, lived at the begin- 

 ning of tho 5th century of tho Christian era. We have no particulars 

 rejecting his life, except that ho became a Christian when ho was 

 advanced in age. He was the author of two works in Greek, which 

 have come down to us, the ' Dionysiacs,' and a j*raphraee in verse of 

 the Gospel of St. John. The 'Dionysiacs' gives an account of the 

 adventure! of Dionysus frgm tho time of his birth to his return from 

 his expedition into India; and the early books also contain, by way of 

 introduction, the history of Europa and Cadmus, the battle of tho 

 giants, and numerous othtr mythological stories. This work, which 

 conxist* of thirty-eight books, aud is written in hexameter verso, has 

 been condemned by Daniel Heiiuius, Joseph Scaligor, and other critics, 

 for its inflated stylo, and has been pronounced to bo unworthy of 

 l>erusal ; but it must bo admitted that it contains passages of con- \ 

 siderable beauty, and supplies u with information on many mytho- 

 logical subjects which we should not be able to obtain elsewhere. It 

 appears probable that this work was written before Nonnus became a 

 Christian. The best edition of the 'Diouysioca' is that by (Jr.iufu, 

 2 vols. 8vo, Leip., 1819-26. D. Heinmus wrote a dissertation on this 

 author, which was published at Leyden, in 1010, with the text of the 

 'Dionysiacs,' Six books of thin poem, from the eighth to the thirteenth 

 inclusive, were published by Moser, with a preface by Cr. U/.<T, Heidi I., 

 1809. A French translation of the ' Dionyeiaca ' was published at 

 Paris in 1625. The ' Paraphrase of St. John, which is a poor perform- 

 ance, and hu been roughly treated by Ueiusius, iu his ' Aristarchus 



