398 



NARCOTINE 



NARWHAL 



Xnrrollne (CaHtiNO,) is one of the organic 

 bases or alkaloids OMUlfag in opium, in which it 

 usually exists in t)u> pr.-poi iii,n of li or 8 per cent. 

 It is nearly insoluble in water, but dissolves 

 sparingly in alcohol, readily in chloroform and 

 ether. Narcotine poaaewe* very slight alkaline pro- 

 perties; its salts do not readily cr\stalli>e, and 

 are even more bitter than those of morphia, 

 although the substance itself is almost taste- 

 less. When first discovered (in 1803) it was 

 supposed to lie the stimulant principle of opium ; 

 but in reality it possesses very little activity. 

 Its sulphate has been used in India as a sub- 

 stitute for quinine. Narcotine yields a great 

 variety of compounds by decomposition, perhaps 

 the most interesting being vanillin, the flavouring 

 principle of vanilla. 

 Nnrd. Bee SPIKENARD. 



\nrdoo (MnrsHea macropus), a plant of the 

 order Marsilen* (see RlllzocAKPS), the only plant 

 of that order which is used in any way by man. 

 It is found in Australia, and affords important 

 supplies of food to the natives of some regions ; 



it has also been 

 of great use to 

 some exploring 

 parties. It 

 grows in places 

 occasionally 

 covered with 

 water ; vegetat- 

 ing whilst mois- 

 ture abounds, 

 and then ex- 

 hibiting abund- 

 ance of green 

 clover-like foli- 

 age, the leaves 

 consistingof four 

 leaflets at the 

 top of a stalk 

 some inches in 

 length. When 

 the water dries 

 up, the remains 

 of the plants are 

 often covered 

 with dried mud. 

 It is then that the spore-cases are gathered for 

 food. They are oval, flattened, about an eighth of 

 an inch in "length, hard and horny, and requiring 

 considerable force to pound them when dry, but 

 becoming soft and mucilaginous when moistened. 

 The spore-cases, pounded with their contents, are 

 made into cakes like flour. 



\arintl. a town in the presidency of Bombay, 

 29 miles SI-'., of Ahmadabad by rail. It does a 

 great trade in tobacco and ghee, and has a govern- 

 ment experimental farm. Pop. about 30,000. 

 Narragansett Bay. See RHODE ISLAND. 

 XnrgeSt ft statesman and general, and almost 

 the last stay of the old Roman empire in Italy, 

 was born in Persian Armenia about 475 A.D., and 

 lieinij a eunuch was probably sold as a slave in 

 rhilil hood. From some menial office in the imperial 

 household at Constantinople he rose to the post of 

 keeper of the privy-purse to the Emperor Justinian. 

 In 538 he was sent to Italy in command of a body 

 of troops, professedly to act in concert with. 

 Belisarius (q.v. ), but in reality, it is believed, 

 with a secret commission to observe and to control 

 that general. After some successes Narses, having 

 disputes with Belisarius, assumed an independent 

 authority ; but his separate command was unfor- 

 tunate, and he was recalled to Constantinople in 

 639. After some years, however, Belisarius was 

 recalled, and Names was appointed to the chief 



N 



Nardoo (Martilea macropui). 



command in Italy. His conduct of that expedition 

 extorted the admiration even of his enemies. Not 

 having the command of a sullicient number of 

 transports, he marched his army along the whole 

 circuit of the shore of the Adriatic, and, while the 

 riii-my's fleet were still in posMwsion of the sea, was 

 enabled to encounter them at Tiiginn 1 (in the 

 Apennines), where, after a desperate engagement, 

 the Ostrogoths were totally defeated, ami their 

 king, Totila, slain. Narses took possession of 

 Rome, and, after a series of successes both in 

 Southern and Northern Italy, complete!) extin- 

 guished the Gothic power in that peninsula. 

 Justinian appointed Narses prefect of Italy in .V.l. 

 He fixed his court at Ravenna, and continued till 

 the death of Justinian to administer the aflairs of 

 Italy with vigour and ability. But he was charged 

 with avarice ; ami his exactions pressed so heavily 

 on the exhausted resources of the population that 

 on the death of Justinian the Romans complained 

 to Justin of the exactions of Narses. and that 

 emperor deprived him in 567 of his otlice. He is 

 accused of thereafter intriguing with Allxiin, king 

 of the Lombards, for a new invasion of Italy ; ana 

 he died at Rome about 573. See GOTHS, JUS- 

 TINIAN ; and Hodgkin's Italy and her Invaders. 



IN a rlh i' \. See BASILICA. 



\arva. a Russian town 101 miles WSW. of St 

 Petersburg, on the Narova, 10 miles from its mouth 

 in the Gulf of Finland. The navigation of the 

 Narova is impeded by a waterfall near Narva, 14 

 feet high, which is taken advantage of for driving 

 cotton-mills, sawmills, &c. Pop. 8600. Charles 

 XII. (q.v.) won a great victory here in 1700. 



Xsirvsu'/.. RAMON MARIA, general and states- 

 man, was born at Loja, in Andalusia, 5th August 

 1800, and when very young served in the war of 

 liberation against tlie French. In 1822, when a 

 reactionary party took up arms to destroy the work 

 of the revolution, Narvaez ranged himself on the 

 side of the liberals. The invasion of Spain by a 

 French army in 1823 forced him to retire from 

 active life until the death of Ferdinand VII. in 

 1832. In 1834 he maintained a hot struggle against 

 the Carlists of the Basque Provinces, and in 1836 

 completely muted the Carlist leader, Gomez, near 

 Arcos. He now became immensely popular, and 

 was regarded as the rival of Espartero. In 1838 

 he cleared the district of La Mancha of brigands, 

 and was appointed in 1840 captain -general of old 

 Castile. He took part in the insurrection against 

 Espartero that brake out at Seville in 1840, but, 

 that having failed, he was compelled to flee to 

 France, where he was shortly after joined by Queen 

 Christina (see MARIA CHRISTINA), and commenced 

 those plot* against the government of Espartero 

 which in 1843 effected its overthrow. In 1X44 he 

 was appointed president of council, and created 

 Duke of Valencia, His ministry was thoroughly 

 reactionary, but was overthrown in 1846. After a 

 brief exile as special ambassador at the French 

 court, he returned to power from 1847 to 1851, in 

 1856-57, and again in 1804 and in 1866; and, 

 despite the effort* of O'Donnell and Prim, he 

 retained power till his death, 23d April 1868. 



Xnrwlinl (Monodon), a genus of Cetacea, 

 belonging to the Odontocetes or toothed whales 

 (see WHALE) ; it is characterised by the presence 

 in the adult male of a long tusk, and by the early 

 disappearance of the other teeth, ana by other 

 structural points of less importance. The tusks 

 represent canine teeth, and there are sometimes 

 a pair of them present, lying side by side in the 

 upper jaw ; there is such a specimen in the Cam- 

 bridge Museum. When there is only one tusk, 

 it is the left; rarely the female has a tusk, so 

 rarely, however, that there are only three instance! 



