NETTLEUASH 



NEUCHATEL 



447 



value of nettles as food for swine is well known to 

 the peasantry of many countries ; the great nettle 

 is cultivated in Sweden for fodder of domestic 

 animals ; and nettles are also highly esteemed as 

 food for poultry, particularly for turkeys. The 

 seeds are extremely nutritious to poultry, and are 

 given to horses by jockeys, in order to make them 

 lively when they are to be offered for sale. The 

 stalks and leaves of nettles are employed in some 

 parts of England for the manufacture of a light 

 kind of beer, called Xettle Beer. The bast-fibre of 

 nettles is useful for textile purposes. Yarn and 

 cloth, both of the coarsest and finest descriptions, 

 can l>e made of it. The fibre of U. diuiea was used 

 by the ancient Egyptians, and is still used in Pied- 

 mont and other countries. When wanted for fibre 

 the plant is cut in the middle of summer, and 

 treated like hemp. Nettle-doth, or Grass-cloth, is 

 a beautiful fabric made from rhea fibre (see 

 IfcEHMERIA). The fibre of (J. cuiiiiahiiiii, a native 

 of the south of Siberia, central Asia, is much 

 used ; ami from that of U. whitlitvi both fine 

 lace and strong ropes can lie manufactured. 

 The fibre of C.japoaica is much used in Japan, 

 and that of U. argentea in the South Sea Islands; 

 that of ('. canadeimis is used in Canada ; and that 

 of U. hffi rii/ilm/lit, a widely-diflused Indian species, 

 descrilied by Roxburgh to l>e the most ferocious-look- 

 in;; plant he ever saw, is of very glossy silky appear- 

 ance, and is manufactured into cloth in A>~HIII. 

 Tlie seeds ami herbage of /'. MMtfWMeM are 

 used in Egypt as enimenagogue and aphrodisiac ; 

 and somewhat similar properties are ascribed to 

 ' '. I/mica. U. tuberosa produce* tubers, which are 

 nutritious, ami are eaten in India raw, tioiled, or 

 i Halted. Australia produces a magnificent tree- 

 nettle, U. giya*, abundant in some parts of New 

 South Wales, ordinarily from 23 to 50 feet high, 

 lnit sometimes 120 or 140 feet, with trunk of great 

 thickness, and very large green leaves, which 

 when young sting violently. The Dead-nestle 

 d|.v.) is quite a distinct plant; so is the Nettle- 



tl'-e I fj.V. ). 



.\'ttlerash, or URTICARIA (Lat. urtica, 'a 

 nettle'), is the term applied to a common form of 

 eruption on the skin. The eruption consists of 

 wheals, or little solid eminences of irregular out- 

 line, and either white or red, or most commonly 

 both red and white, there being a white centre 

 with a red margin. The rash is accompanied with 

 great heat, itching, and irritation, but is always 

 aggravated by scratching : the appearance on the 

 skin and the sensation being very much like the 

 appearance and feeling produced by the stinging of 

 nettles ; and hence the origin of its names. The 

 eruption is characterised by the extreme rapidity 

 witn which it appears and disappears; the whole 

 duration of the attack may be a few hours or even 

 less ; but it is extremely apt to recur at regular or 

 irregular intervals : it is very rare for the wheats 

 to persist more than a day. 



The disease may be either acnte or chronic. In 

 the acnte form feverishness may precede the rash 

 by a few hours, or may be altogether absent. The 

 disorder is often connected with some derangement 

 of the digestive organs, and may be traced to the 

 imperfect digestion of special articles of food, such 

 as oatmeal, the kernels of fruit, strawberries, 

 encumbers, mushrooms, and es|H-cially oysters, 

 mussels, and cralis, which are eaten with perfect 

 impunity by most |iersons. It may be brought 

 on also by local causes of irritation, and fre- 

 quently complicates other irritable diseases of 

 the skin. 



The chronic form is often very troublesome, and 

 frequently comes on periodically in the evening. 

 Cases are reported in which persons have been 

 afflicted for ten years continuously by this form of 



the disease. It is characterised by constant recur- 

 rence during long periods, not by persistence of a 

 single outbreak of the eruption. In the treatment 

 of the acute form local causes of irritation must 

 first be looked for and removed. Where it is 

 brought on by some article of diet relief is often 

 obtained by taking a teaspoonful of bicarbonate of 

 soda (baking soda); but it may be necessary to 

 administer emetics and purgatives, if vomiting and 

 diarrhu'a do not occur spontaneously. In the 

 chronic form the patient should, in the first place, 

 determine whether the rash is caused by any par- 

 ticular article of diet, and if this seems not to be 

 the case an attempt must be made to improve the 

 state of the digestive organs. A few grains of 

 rhubarb taken daily, just before breakfast and 

 before dinner, will' sometimes effect a cure. 

 Numerous other remedies have been recom- 

 mended ; perhaps the most generally useful is 

 a draught containing a scruple each of the car- 

 l)iiates of magnesia and scxla with five drops of 

 tincture of mix vomica. Although external appli- 

 cations are usually of little avail, dusting the 

 itching surface with Hour sometimes affords tem- 

 porary relief; and a still more useful application 

 is a lotion composed of a drarhm of the carbonate 

 of ammonia, a drachm of the acetate of lead, half 

 an ounce of laudanum, and eight ounces <>f rose- 

 water. 



Nettle-tree (Celtis), a genus of deciduous 

 trees of the natural order Llniace:r, with simple 

 and generally serrated leaves, considerably resem- 

 bling those or the Common Nettle, but not stinging. 

 The genus is distinguished chiefly by its fruit, 

 which is a fleshy, globose, or sub-globose 1-celled 

 drupe. The Common or Euro]>ean Nettle tree 

 ( ' '. iiniflralis) is a native of the south of Europe, 

 the west of Asia, and the north of Africa. It 

 grows to a height of 30 to 40 feet, and is a very 

 handsome tree, often planted along public walks 

 in the south of France and north of Italy. The 

 wood is very compact, very durable, and takes 

 a high polish. It was formerly much imported 

 into Britain for the use of coachmakers, and is 

 used in Italy by musical-instrument makers for 

 flutes and pipes. The flowers are inconspicuous, 

 axillary, and solitary ; the fruit black, resembling 

 a small wild cherry, not eatable till after the first 

 frosts, and then very sweet. The kernel yields a 

 useful fixed oil. The tree succeeds well in the 

 south of England. C. occidental}* is a native of 

 North America from Canada to Texas, and is 

 also called the Nettle-tree, Sugar Berry, Hack- 

 l>erry or Hagberry, and Hoop Ash. Its leaves 

 are much broader than those of C. avstralis, its 

 fruit very similar. It is a much larger tree, attain- 

 ing a height of 60 to 80 feet. There are several 

 varieties, which are sometimes but needlessly 

 classified as distinct species. The inner bark of 

 V. orientii/ix, consisting of reticulated fibres, forms 

 a kind of natural cloth, used by some tribes of 

 India. A number of other species are natives of 

 the warm parts of America and of Asia. 



Neil-Brandenburg, a town of Mecklenbnrg- 

 Strelit/., is situated on Lake Tollens, 20 miles 

 N \ hi. of Neu Streliu by rail. Pop. (1890) 9323. 



Neilblirg, an ancient town of Bavaria, pictur- 

 esquely situated on the right bank of the Danul>e, 

 29 miles NNE. of Augsburg. It has an old ducal 

 schloss in the Renaissance style. Pop. (1890) 7507. 



NenrllAtelt or NKIKCHATKI. (Ger. Neuenbnrg), 

 a canton in the west of Swit/.erland, between Lake 

 Neuchfitel and the French frontier. Neuchatel lies 

 in the midst of the Jura Mountains, four chains 

 of which, running from north-east to south-west, 

 traverse the canton, and are separated bv elevate'! 

 longitudinal valleys. The greater number of the 



