M4 



NOBLE 



NODIER 



sometimes granted to reinstate persons in this posi- 

 tion. In Norway titular hereditary nubility wan 

 abolished in IS-JI ; in Sweden it still survives. 

 li i~ in Cermaiiy still iniiH)rliint for iiiany pur- 

 poses to poaaem eight or sixteen iiuaiteringH 

 !<. to be able to show purity of blood fur four or 

 _-i-nentions, tin- father and mother, the two 

 grandmothers, the four great grandmothers, and 

 also, in cane of tin- -i\i.-i-n qMUtwtBgk, the i-i^ht 

 ' great grand mothers, having nil IKHMI entitled 

 it armour. Among the higher grades of the 

 peerage in England a considerable number tuny 

 M pointed out who do not possess this complete 

 nobility. 



See the works of My, HulUm, Stubh, nd Herbert 

 Sponoer ; Sir H. Niool' Hutaric l'erraiie ( 1825 ; new 

 ed. bv Courthope, 186(i); Fn-cmiui's f!i>mparatitr Politic* 

 <ix;:t); lio the Pevnge* of Del.rclt ( since 102); Burke 

 (tince 1828), and J. Foster ( since 1880). 



>ol)l v , a gold coin lir-t minted 1>y Kilwiird III., 

 and so called from its lieing of noble metal : on the 

 one side wan a ship, in allusion to Edward's victory 

 at Sluys. The original value was half a mark, or 

 6. 8d." A later issue (Edward IV.) liore a rose on 

 the name side as the ship, and were called rose- 

 mth/cji and ryals. Silver having depreciated, the 

 value of the noble rose to 10s. ( much greater pur- 

 chasing value than now), and a new coin of the 

 old value was issued, called the Anyel (q.v.). 



Xorera, in episcopal city of South Italy, 8 

 miles NW. of Salerno. Pop. 12,522. 



X or t Ultra (lit., 'night-light'), a phosphorescent 

 marine Infusorian, extremely abundant round British 

 and other coasts, one of the chief causes of the 

 ' phosphorescence ' of the waves. It is a spherical 

 animallarge for an Infusorian (,',, in. in dia- 

 nn-ter) and moves by means of a long stout lash 

 or flagellum, beside which there is a second, very 

 much smaller, lying in the ' mouth ' region. Its 

 substance is remarkably spongy, and the phosphor- 

 escence is said by Allman to have its seat just 

 underneath the rind. See INFUSORIA, PHOS- 

 PHORESCENCE. 



Xortiirn. See BREVIARY. 



Xortltrne ('ni^ht-piece'), a dreamy musical 

 piece, generally for the iiiano, especially associated 

 with the names of Field (q.v.), its inventor, and 

 Chopin. Set; Music, p. 3J8. 



Nodal Lines. See HARMOXICS, SOUND. 



Xoddy (Aniins), a genus of birds of the family 

 Larida-, differing from terns in having the bill 

 slightly angular, thus exhibiting an approach to 



Noddy ( Annul itoliilus). 



gnlK and the tail not forked, but somewhat wedge- 

 shaped. Altogether seven s|iecies an- enumerated, 

 widely dintribnted throughout the tropics and in 

 mperate zone*. One species (A. stolidm) 



has l*en recorde<l as found off Wexfonl and in 

 Dublin Itny, but no s|H-iiiiens other than the two 

 obtained there have lieen taken in the HrilWi l>li^ 

 or on tin- Continent. It is a familiar bird in 

 tin- Atlantic ami I'arific Oceans, not mifrei|in-iitly 

 alighting on vexscls and sutlering itself to lie taken 

 by the hand : mid so ut it- Un-eding-places also, 

 where, not accustomed to tin- \i-ii- ni man, it 

 scarcely geta out of the wav, and tin- female sit- nn 

 disturued on the nest, rfence it ruiiiiiinnly r-barrs 

 with the IxMiby the reputation of unusual stu|>idity. 

 It is about 15 or 10 inches long, from the tip of 

 the bill to the end of the tail, the general colour 

 l>eing a brownish black. The f<M>d consistx chiefly 

 of small fish and molluscs. Particular islands 

 seem to l>e n|cially selectetl as the breeding-places 

 of noddies, among them In-inj; the liahannis, many 

 of the Keys of the West Indies, the Laecadives. si 

 Helena, Ascension, anil many islands of Polynesia 

 and Australia. Their nests, which are built on 

 shelves of rocks or patches of sand or on trees, are 

 sometimes very closely placed together. Each nest 

 generally contains only one egg, which is about 

 two inches long and of a buff colour, sparsely 

 speckled with reddish brown. The eggs are very 

 good to eat, and in some places are collected in 

 large nuniliers. The other species of noddy are 

 distinguished by their smaller size and slightly 

 different colour. 



Xodes, in Astronomy, are the two points in 

 which the orbit of a planet intersects the plane of 

 the ecliptic, the one through which the planet 

 pa>scs from the south to the north side of the 

 ecliptic lieing called the ascending node (SI), and 

 the other the descendiny node (ft). As all the 

 bodies of the solar system, whether planets or 

 comets, move in orbits variously inclined to tin- 

 ecliptic, the orbit of each jiossesses two nixies, and 

 a straight line drawn joining these two (mints is 

 called the line of nodes of each body. It is scarcely 

 necessary to add that as the earth moves in the 

 plane of the ecliptic she has no nodes. The places 

 of the nodes are not fixed points on the plane of 

 the ecliptic, but are in a constant state of tluctua- 

 tion, sometimes iidritnciii'i (eastward), and at oilier 

 times receding (moving westward). This motion 

 is produced by the mutual attractions of the 

 planets, which tend to draw each of them out of 

 tin- plane of ito orbit; and it depends ii]>on the 

 relative positions of the planets with resii-i to 

 another planet whether that planet's nodes shall 

 advance or recede. On the whole, however, tin- 

 majority of possible 'relative positions,' or run- 

 Jiyiniitinim, as they arc called, is in favour of a 

 retrograde motion ; and we find by observation 

 that in an average of many revolutions round the 

 sun a constant n'tro;,'radatiim of the node takes 

 place. The determination of this retro^radutiim 

 in the case of the planets is a most complicated 

 problem, as the separate action of each on the 

 others has to lx; taken into account. The revolu- 

 tions of the planetary nodes are accomplished very 

 slowly, never amounting to as much ns a single 

 degree in a century. The nodes of the lunar orbit 

 retrograde with much greater speed under the dis- 

 t uiliing inllucnce of the HUH. It isowin^ to tin- f.-u-t 

 that they complete a revolution in nearly eighteen 

 Julian yearn and eleven days that series of 

 i-.-!ip-i-s regularly recur in that jM-riod. Si-e 

 I'.i-i.nv-i.s, ORBIT, PnTUBBATIOlMlMd Herschel's 

 Outlines of Astronomy. 



XodoH, in Botany. See STKM. 



Nodlcr, CHAHI.KS, a considerable French writer, 

 was born at Besancon, 29t,h April 17H(i (Sninto- 

 Benve), in 17S1 (\\'eiss). or even I78S (Qoermrd), 

 the son of a revolutionist lawyer. He lived a chifty 

 life at Paris, Besancon, Dole, Laibach, and last 



