NAKCOTINE. 



NATIONAL DEBT. 



ID cue of over-dose or accidental poisoning, the following observa- 

 tions may be useful The stomach being rendered insensible to the 

 irritation of emetics, these are generally useless, and much valuable 

 time U lost by administering them. Where better means cannot be 

 bad, anlphate of sine (white vitriol) dissolved in water, or a table- 

 spoonful of flour of mustard diffused through a pint of warm water, 

 may be given, accompanied with pressure on the pit of the stomach, 

 and at the same time tickling th throat with a feather. Neither 

 ipecacuan nor tartar emetic ahould be used ; the Utter U particularly 

 unfit. [BCLLAIMIXXA.] The stomach-pump is the surest means of 

 emptying the atomach, and should be used as soon as possible. If the 

 brain appear much oppressed, the countenance flushed, and the pulse 

 full, moderate blood-letting will be serviceable, especially if artificial 

 respiration be subsequently employed. When the water brought up 

 by the stomach-pump is clear and devoid of any smell of the poison, 

 which will prove that all the hurtful material has been evacuated, thru, 

 and not till iAr, vinegar may be given to the patient, who should also 

 be kept moving about, and not suffered, if possible, to sink into a state 

 of slumber. Coffee is a very useful beverage, and still more a drink 

 made by boiling twelve ounces of vinegar, and pouring it immediately 

 on three ounces of roasted and ground coffee, or by boiling the coffee 

 in the vinegar, straining it, then adding half an ounce of sugar, and 

 giving it in small quantities to the patieut every quarter or halt" hour. 

 This can be prepared while the stomach-pump is being used, and is 

 one of the most efficacious means of counteracting the narcotic prin- 

 ciple. Vinegar given while any of the poisonous substance is in the 

 stomach only increases its deleterious property. [ANTIDOTES.] See 

 Pereira's ' Materia Hedica,' for the mode of action of the dilfcrent 

 narcotic substances, L, p. 200 ; and Christison ' On Poisons.' The 

 vapours of several fluids, such as sulphuric sothcr, chloroform, amy- 

 line, Ac., have been used to produce insensibility, particularly during 

 surgical operations. These have been already treated of under 



AXJESTIIF i 



NARCOTIXK. [OPIL-M, ALKALOIDS OF.] 



XASAMo'XKS (Ksurafuii'H), a barbarous and nomadic people in 

 Libya, who dwelt on the coasts of the Greater Syrtis. According to 

 Strabo they were bounded on the west by the 1'nylli, and extended 

 westward as far as the Philwnian Altars, which were at the southern 

 extremity of the Greater Syrtis (xvii.. p. 836, 838, Casaub.). Herodotus 

 places them farther to the west, and states that they occupied the 

 country of the Psylli (iv. 173). On the east they extended beyond the 

 Syrtiis and were bounded by the Aiiachime, a small tribe, who dwelt to 

 the west of the Cyrenaica (Herod., ii. 32 ; iv. 172). Inland they had 

 dominion as far as the oasis of Augila, in the great desert of Barca, 

 which is 180 miles south-east of Barca, and is -at the present day one of 

 the resting-places of the caravans which trade between Cairo and 

 Fexzan. [AuurLA, in GEOO. Drv.J The Nasamones were accustomed 

 to leave their cattle on the coast in the summer season, and go to 

 Augila to gather dates (Herod., iv. 172). Pliny (v. 5) also places the 

 Nasamones on the Syrtis, and says that they were anciently called 

 llessmooes by the Greeks, because they were situated between two 

 quicksands duvet (S^uos) ; meaning perhaps the two Syrtes, which 

 however is not the case. All these may have been true at various 

 times, for they were a numerous and wandering race, pressed on one 

 side by the Greeks of Cyrene, and on another by the Carthaginians. 

 Their territory, at the time of its greatest extent, must have extended 

 for 400 miles from east to west along the Mediterranean, inland as 

 far as Psylli and Augila. 



The Nasamones are described by Herodotus (iv. 172, 190) as a 

 numerous nomadic people, who were cattle breeders, who had a com- 

 munity of wives, were accustomed to swear by the tombs of the 

 bravest and justest of their ancestors, and pledged their faith by 

 drinking out of the hands of one another, or by licking dust out of one 

 another s hands, if they had no water ; they are described by Lucan 

 (' Phars.,' ix. 404) an 1 Q. Curtius (iv. 7) as a barbarous tribe, who lived 

 by the [hinder of the vessel* shipwrecked on their coast Bruce, who 

 wss shipwrecked on this coast, found that the present inhabitants 

 followed the same practice. (Rennell's Geography of Herodotus.') 



The Nasamoues were driven into the interior of the country l>y the 

 Romans in the time of I lomitian. (Dionys. ' Perieg.,' ed Hudson, iv. 

 308; Kuwbii, 'Chron.,' 01. ocxvi. ; Joseph., ' Bell. JudY ii. 16, 4.) 

 Ptolemy places them as far inland as Augila. 



Herudotus gives (ii. 82) an interesting account of an exploring 

 expedition, undertaken by five young men of this country, who crossed 

 toe great Libyan desert, and, after traversing extensive marshes, came 

 to a large river flowing from west to east, with crocodiles in it, which 

 he considered to be the Nile, but which many commentators have 

 opposed to be the Niger. [NtoiR.] 



N A8CKXT STATE. \\ hen an elementary or compound substance 

 is liberated from some chemical combination in which it had previously 

 listed ; the <!> mrnt or substance so liberated is, at the moment when 

 it to set free, said to be in the nateent Mate. In this condition it is, as 

 a general role, capable of exerting far more energetic affinities than it 

 exhibit* when brought into contact with other bodies after it has been 

 set at liberty. Thus acetic acid may remain in a vessel filled with 

 oxygen lor centuries without undergoing any change, but if the acid be 

 brought into contact with oxygen at the moment when the latter is 

 libernte>] at the positive ]le of a voltaic decomposition cell, it is 



instantly oxidised and converted into carbonic acid and methyl. In 

 like manner free chlorine gas has no action upon gold, but it instantly 

 attacks the metal when in the nascent state, that is when it is liberated, 

 in contact with gold, from any of its compounds. Such an exaltation 

 of chemical affinity at the moment of separation is not peculiar to 

 gases, it is also noticed in the case of liquids and even solids. The 

 cause of this phenomenon is involved in considerable obscurity ; we are 

 however indebted to Professor Brodie for the only philosophical 

 explanation of it which has been attempted, and to this the reader u 

 referred (' Philosophical Transactions for 1850,' p. 759). 



NASIKKANS. (XA/AHKNW.] 



NAT!' >N U. ASsr.Ml'.I.V, the name by which the States General 

 (fitats Gcneraux) of Franco had been sometimes known, and 

 was fully adopted under Louis XVI., when the three estates were 

 united. Among the earliest acts of the National Assembly were tl . 

 lication of the ' Declaration of the Rights of the Man and the < 

 a piece of absurd and incongruous declamation ; and tin- 

 of a new constitution. In September, 1701, this was presented to the 

 king for his sanction, which was accorded, and the assembly dissolved 

 'itself on the 30th of the same month. The first National Assembly is 

 frequently termed ' 1' Assemble' constituante,' from its having framed 

 the constitution. The constitution lasted about twelve mouths, and 

 was succeeded by the Republic. 



NATIONAL DKBT. The National Debt consists of money 

 borrowed from individuals, under the authority of the legislature or 

 the government, and the security for which is all tl >f the 



country. The money so raised is not to be paiil on unwind, but only 

 the interest thereon, but, from its being transferable, this occasions no 

 inconvenience to the individual, because he can raise moin-y l>y tlu> 

 sale of the amount of his holding, according to the estini.' 

 his security, and the value of money at the time he feels a necessity 

 for it. 



The national debt, we may observe, consists principally in most 

 countries, as well as our own, of money raised as above stated, and this 

 is called the Funded Debt; but in Great Britain there is also an 

 Unfunded Debt, which consists of money raised by grunting annuitit s 

 for life or term of years, and by Exchequer Bills, which are n-i. 

 from time to time. [EXCHEQUER BILLS.] 



The richer a country becomes the greater is the security, and a 

 loan is consequently acquired on easier terms. By this process of 

 borrowing, a country whose credit is unimpeached i, when in imme- 

 diate want of money, enabled to raise the sum required without over- 

 loading the springs of its natural industry. A man who has more 

 money than he can advantageously employ in manufactures or com- 

 merce, or persons who have no facilities or faculties for so empl. ;. MI.: 

 it. will be glad to accept 4 or 5 per cent, for funds that cannot be 

 employed more profitably ; while those who are able to make 10 per 

 cent, by the addition of their own exertions, will not invest their funds 

 in a government loan. The raising of money by loan, thus furnishes a 

 means of securely employing sums that might possibly ot) 

 remain unproductive, produce a glut of money, or be employ 

 unprofitable speculation. It is a power, however, that requires to be 

 prudently used ; for if loans are too frequently called for 

 have the same effect as exorbitant taxes in crippling the general fund 

 for the employment of industry, besides imposing a heavy load on 

 posterity in the shape of interest. But we shall enter no farther on 

 the interminable questions of the advantages and disadvantages of a 

 National Debt, as it has been adopted by almost every civilised c< 

 but proceed to describe its use and progress amongst ourselves. 



The contracting of the National Debt cannot be said to have begun 

 before 1691. The kings of England had indeed been accustomi 

 a remote date to borrow money upon emergencies, but on such 

 occasions the revenues of the crown were pawned for the amount, 

 which was seldom beyond what could by that means be repaid in .1 

 few years. The earliest instance of this borrowing which w<- h.u.- on 

 record was in the reign of Richard I., when money was wanted to 

 defray the expense of his crusade to the Holy Land. Loan 

 made upon Exchequer tallies by the Jews ; and the Jews got what 

 they could in the shape of usury. Loans were also raised upon deben- 

 ture and privy neal ; and sometimes the capitalist would not lend unless 

 he bad the security of the king's jewels. There was a perpetual struggle 

 between borrower and lender between force and fraud. In three or 

 four centuries loans to the crown ceased to be so much a jwrsonal 

 affair, and the Parliament stepped in to give additional M-.-UI iiy and 

 confidence to lenders. But every such loan was of temporary <lu 

 even when public securities bearing interest became negotiable in 

 In 172, when 1,328.000?.. of revenue was pledged for the imin 

 payment of loans to the goldsmiths or bankers, whose ail 

 chiefly made by funds intrusted to their toping, duties. II.. 

 somewhat straitened by an expensive Dutch war ami a few witty 

 mistresses, shut up the Exchequer, issuing a proclamation announcing 

 that the 1,828,000/. should be paid in a year. There was universal 

 panic and much private ruin. Tli principal was never redeemed ; but 

 the king charged his hereditary revenue with payment of interes- 

 this sum, which interest was duly paid to 1884. I. a, insti- 



tuted by the creditors against the crown when this interest was 

 stopped. At length an Act of Parliament was passed in 1609, 

 l>y which, after the year 1 705, the creditors were to receive interest 



