NUTRIA 



NY ASS A 



1796 the Dutch, being tlie possessors of the lianda 

 Isles, jealously prevented the nutmeg from being 

 transplanted ; luit during the Itritish ix-emiation 

 plant* uere sent to Penang, India, the West Indies, 

 Brazil, Keunion, where they are now successfully 



Nutmeg ( Myrittita frafjran* ) : 



a. fruit bunting open ; 6, the ume with one valve removed, 

 bowing the wed ; c, irction of teed ; d, teed with the teaU 

 removed ( Bently it Trimen ). 



cultivated. Nutmegs are very liable to the attack 

 of a beetle, which is very destructive, and it is a 

 common practice to give them a coating of lime 

 before shipping them to Humpr to kill the vitality 

 of the germ. The nutmeg yields by expression a 

 peculiar yellow fat, called oil of mace, because 

 from its colour and flavour it was generally sup- 

 posed to be derived from mace ; and liy distillation 

 is obtained an almost colourless e-.-ential oil which 

 has very fully the flavour of the nutmeg. Nut- 

 megs are chiefly used as a spice, but medicinally 

 they are stimulant and carminative. They possess 

 narcotic properties, and in large doses produce 

 stupefaction and delirium. Great Britain imports 

 from 300,000 to 700,000 Ih. annually, besides mace 

 to the extent of 60,000 to 80,000 ll>. The culture 

 of nutmeg is somewhat peculiar. The plantations 

 are always made from seed, and the plants do not 

 produce flowers till they are eight or nine years 

 old. The sexes being on different trees, when the 

 plants are two years <>ld the greater number compos- 

 ing a plantation are headed down and grafted with 

 scions taken from the female tree, a few only being 

 grafted with scions of the male to ensure fecunda- 

 tion. Other species of Myristica besides those 

 already named yield nutmegs sometimes used, but of 

 very inferior quality. The fruits of several species 

 of Lauracea also resemble nutmegs in their aromatic 

 and other properties, as the cotyledons of Nectandra 

 puchiiry, the Pichurim Itcans of commerce, and the 

 fruit of Acrodiclidittm cttinara, a tree of Guiana, 

 the Camara or Ackawai nutmeg. The clove 

 nutmegs of Madagascar are the fruit of Agnl.hu- 

 ji/<</r/iiiii aramaticum, and the Brazilian nutmegs 

 it ' 'ryptoftiryn tnosrhtilti. All these belong to the 

 order Laurace.T. The Calabash Nutmeg is the 

 fruit of Monodora myriiticii, of the natural order 

 Anonaceae. 



Nutria. See COYPU, FURS. 



Nutrition. See the articles on BLOOD, CIR- 

 CULATION, Di KT, DIGESTION. 



Mil* Vonilra is the name given to the seed of 

 Stryehnot tt'ux Vomica. The seeds are imported 

 from the East Indies, and are flatfish and circular, 

 about an inch in diameter, umhilicatcd and slightly 

 convex on one side, externally of an ash-gray 

 colour, thickly covered with snort satiny hairs, 

 internally translucent, tough and homy, taste in- 

 tensely Utter, inodorous. The tree is a native 

 of Coromantlel, Ceylon, and other parts of the 



East Indies. It is a tree of moderate size, with 

 ronndUh-oblong, stalked, smooth leaves, am! ter- 

 minal corytnlm. The fruit is a globular berry, 

 nliout as large as a small orange, one-celled, with 

 it brittle shell, and several seeds lodged in a white 

 gelatinous pulp. The bark is sometimes known ;is 

 Falte Angostura litirk, having U-en confounded 

 with Angostura Bark, wliieli is non poisonous, and 

 simply ha? the action of a bitter. The seeds con- 

 tain (in addition to inert matters, such as gum, 



Nux Vomica (Stryehnot Jfux Vomica) Branch with 



Flowers : 

 a, fruit ; 6, section of fruit (Bently & Trimen). 



starch, woodv fibre, &c.) two alkaloids closely 

 related to each other, which act as powerful poisons 

 on i lie animal frame, and speedily occasion violent 

 tetanic convulsions and death. These alkaloids 

 are named Strychnine and lirucin, and e\i-t in 

 the seeds in combination with lactic and strychnic 

 (or igasuric) acids. For a method of obtaining 

 .strychnine from the seeds, see the British 1'hur- 

 macopaeia ; and for the poisons, see BRUCIN and 

 STRYCHNINE. 



Y> ;im-Y> :iin*. See NIAM-NIAM. 



V>JlllJl'. "" Arab trading station on the 

 Upper Congo or Lualalm, at the edge of the 

 Manyema country, in 4 20' S. Int. From that 

 point Stanley commenced the descent of the Lualaba 

 in 1876. 



X>aii7.a. See ALBERT NYANZA, VICTORIA 

 NYAKZA, MUTA NZIOK. 



\yassn, or NVANJA, the southernmost of the 

 Mnubtorutl groat lakes of East Africa, is situated 

 altout 200 miles SE. of Tanganyika and 400 inland 

 from t lie east coast. It lies at an altitude of 1570 

 feet, is very deep in the middle, shelving rapidly 

 from the shores, which are rocky and high. Long 

 and narrow, it measures 350 miles from north to 

 south and an average of 40 from east to west. 

 The river Shir emerges at its southern extremity, 

 and goes south to the Zamliesi. The waters of the 

 lake are sweet and aliound in edible fish. Although 

 the Portuguese had knowledge of the existence of 

 the lake under the name of Maravi early in the 

 17th century, Livingstone was the first to fix in 

 1850 its exact situation and to navigate it. 



NYASSALAND, a name applied to the regions 

 immediately south, west, ana north-west of Lake 

 Nyassa, but without conveying any precise limita- 

 tion of boundaries, practically means the region in 

 which the African Lakes Company of Glasgow has 

 carried on its operations since its foundation in 



