893 



NATRON. 



NAVIGATION. 



804 



NATRON. Trona. A commercial name formerly used to desig- 

 nate a native sesquicarbonate of soda obtained from Egypt. 

 NATURAL, a musical character, thus formed 



the use of which is, to make a sharpened note a semitone lower, and a 

 flattened note a semitone higher ; or, in other words, it brings into the 

 scale of the natural key of c any note which had been made sharp or 

 flat. But it must be observed, that the power of this character does 

 uot extend beyond the bar on which it appears, except whore a lasting 

 change of key is intended, in which case each natural placed at the 

 clef removes a corresponding sharp or flat permanently, or until such 

 sharp or flat shall be restored in like manner. 



NATURAL PHILOSOPHY. [PHTSICS 1 



NATURALISATION, from the Latin Naturalii, natural. " If an 

 alien be naturalised," says Coke ( Co. Lit., 129, a), " he shall be to all 

 intents as a natural subject, and shall inherit as if he had been bom 

 within the king's legiance." [ALLEGIANCE.] This rule, however, is 

 subject to som<! limitations. [ALIEN.] 



Formerly there could be no naturalisation except by Act of 

 Parliament ; but a simple and inexpensive method of obtaining similar 

 advantages to those possessed by naturalised subjects has been pro- 

 vided by the statute 7 & 8 Viet. c. 66. This Act enables any alien 

 who has come to reside in the United Kingdom with a view of settling, 

 to present a memorial to the secretary of state, containing a statement 

 of his age, profession, trade, or other occupation ; the length of time 

 he has resided in this country, and the ground on which he seeks to 

 obtain any of the rights of a British subject; and praying for a certi- 

 ficate, which must be granted before further steps can be taken. The 

 certificate granted by the secretary of state recites such parts of the 

 memorial as, after due investigation, are found to be true and material, 

 and professes to confer upon the applicant the rights and privileges of 

 a British subject, except the capacity of being a member of the Privy 

 Council, or a member of the Houses of Parliament, and except the 

 rights and capacities (if any) specially excepted in and by such certi- 

 ficate. This document must be enrolled in the Court of Chancery, 

 and within sixty days after its date the memorialist must take and 

 subscribe an oath of allegiance. It is considered to confer on the alien 

 a temporary character only as a subject ; that i, the alien cannot, on 

 returning to hU own country, there claim the protection of the British 

 flag as if he were a natural-born subject. The course of proceeding to 

 be adopted by aliens wishing to become naturalised is left, so far as 

 details are concerned, to the Secretary of State, and the fees are fixed 

 by the Lo: ds of the Treasury. 



The number of foreigners naturalised previous to the passing of 7 & 8 

 Viet. c. 66, did not on an average exceed seven or eight a-year, and the 

 number who applied for letters of denization did not exceed twenty-five 

 annually. It may be added that that statute naturalises de facto any 

 alien woman who marries a British subject, in consequence of which, 

 the notorious Mrs. Manning, when indicted with her husband for 

 murder, was held not entitled to a jury de mcdtetate lingua!, 



NATURE, LAW OF. [LAW.] 



NAUMA'CHIA, the representation of a sea-fight among the Romans, 

 whijh was sometimes performed in the Circus Maximus or amphi- 

 theatre, water being introduced sufficient to float ships, but more fre- 

 quently in places made especially for the purpose, which were called 

 Nanmachiic. Julius Cicsar appears to have been the first who gave a 

 representation of a sea-fight on an extensive scale. He dug a lake in 

 the Campus Martins for the purpose, which however was tilled np in 

 his lifetime (Dion Cass., xl. 23 ; Suet., ' Jul.,' c. 39, with Casaubon's 

 note, and c. 43). Augustus also dug a lake near the Tiber for the same 

 purpose, which was afterwards turned into a park or plantation 

 (' nenui ; ' Suet., ' Oct.,' 43 ; Tacit., ' Ann.,' xii. 56). Another lake was 

 dug in the Campus Martins by Caligula (Dion Cass., lix. 10); but 

 Claudius exhibited a naumachia on the lake Fucinus, now Celano. 

 (Suet., -Claud.,' 21; Dion, Ix. 33; Tae., 'Ann.,' xii. 56.) The old 

 naumachia (retut nuumarhia), in which Titus is said by Suetonius 

 (' Tit.,' 7) to have exhibited a sea-fight, has occasioned some dispute 

 among the learned ; some understanding it to be the Circus Maximus, 

 and others the lake dug by order of Augustus (Ernesti on Suet. ' Till.,' 

 72). Domitian appears to hare been the first who erected a building 

 of *bne around these artificial lakes (Suet., ' Dom.,' 4, 5). Previous to 

 his time the spectators appear to have oat upon wooden benches, which 

 might be easily made to rise gradually above one another with the 

 earth which had been dug out of the artificial Like. In later times the 

 naumAchia; were usually surrounded with buildings like the amphi- 

 theatre or i i 



The ships which were engaged in these sea-fights were divided into 

 two parties, which were called respectively by the names of different 

 maritime nations, ON the Tyrian and Egyptian fleets (Suet., ' Jul.,' 39), 

 tho Sicilian and Khodian iSiiet.. ' Claud.,' 21), &c. The combatants, 

 who were called Naumachiarii (Suet , ' Claud.,' 21), were usually cup 

 tires or criminate, who fought to death, unless saved by the clemency 

 of the emperor. Tlic*e sca-liglita are Haiti to have been exhibited on 

 mich a scale of magnificence and splendour as almost to surpa-s our 

 belief. In the naumachia exhibited by Nero there were sea-monsters 

 wirnming about in tho artiliei.d Inkv (Suet., ' Nem,' I -'), and (.'1 n 



caused a Triton, made of silver, to be placed in the middle of the lake 

 Fucinus, who was made, by machinery, to give the signal for attack 

 with a trumpet. (Suet., ' Claud.,' 21.) In Domitian's uaimiaohia the 

 n ii..',cr of ships engaged was almost equal to two real fleets (pani: 

 ju tie classes, Suet., ' Dom.,' 4) ; and in the sea-fight on the lake Fucinus, 

 there are said to have been no fewer than a hundred ships, and 19,000 

 combatants (Tae., ' Ami.,' xii. 56.) 



NAVAL ARCHITECTURE. [Snip.] 



NAVE. [CHURCH.] 



NAVIGATION. The history of the compass is the history of the 

 rise and progress of navigation. Under that head (CoiiPASa) we have 

 already shown the developments which in course of time enabled the 

 mariner to abandon the tediousness of a coasting voyage, when desiroua 

 of reaching a distant port, and to avail himself boldly of such aids as 

 the resources of the period afforded for ascertaining his position by 

 celestial observation and the use of chart*. 



Certain it is that navigation was practised as an art, by the sailors of 

 the East, previous to the voyage of Vasco de Uama round the Cape of 

 Good Hope, during the loth century. 



The publication of Napier's tables of logarithms, in 1614, may fairly 

 be considered as the origin of the present system by which ships 

 are navigated to distant parts, although at that period and long 

 afterwards, the want of better instruments was a great detriment to 

 the seaman whose facilities for computation far exceeded in amount 

 tho--e for observing the celestial bodies : for although Hadley s quad- 

 rant was described in the 'Philosophical Transactions,' so early as 1731, 

 some years elapsed before its use became general among those who 

 from habit had been content with the cross-staff or the lore-btaff. 

 Indeed it was not until the close of the last century that the crosa- 

 statf fell into disuse. 



It is somewhat singular that this order of things has been reversed 

 in so pre-eminently maritime a country as Great Britain ; for at the 

 present time the perfection of instruments has contributed more 

 especially towards increased accuracy by observation, wtoile it is to bo 

 regretted that computation has been allowed to retrograde. 



Before entering upon any details as to the art itseii, it will be well 

 to glance at those who are called upon to practise navigation. Under 

 the heading GRI-AT CIRCLE, or TASGEXT SAILING, we have already 

 adverted to certain unsatisfactory circumstances connected with the 

 present state of nautical education as affecting the real question 

 and interests of navigation. Possessing the finest merchant service 

 in the world we are absolutely deficient in that essential educa- 

 tional groundwork, which can alone constitute in any individual the 

 complete navigator. The Board of Trade perceiving the msumcieucy 

 of the general education of those who, necessarily leave school at an 

 early age to join the sea service, wisely instituted a system ot examina- 

 tion for sea officers, and the merchant has already learnt to appreciate 

 ;ng competency in ship-masters who, stimulated by the desire of 

 honourable public mention, have obtained extra certificates. But it is 

 to be lamented that deeply rooted impediments exist iu the path of 

 progress which it would be wed to remove. Thtse'are never so apparent 

 as when we attempt to compare the Eng.ish system of education with 

 any foreign one. If we seek a standard for comparison we have it in 

 the corresponding classes of men who occupy the same relative mari- 

 time position as those of our own country. 



To say that navigation is the art of moving a ship from one part of 

 the ocean to another, is the usual prefatory definition ; but so various 

 are the methods by which such changes are effected that these are, as a 

 whole, justly considered as an art. For instance ; it is easy to convey 

 a vessel from a port or place to a not far distant headland, or along a 

 coast several points of which lie within sight of the usual track of the 

 vessel. To do this is the mere work of a sailor or one accustomed to 

 the management of the masts and sails, &c., so as to be able to steer in 

 the right direction. Of such nature was the work of our earliest navi- 

 gators, before the compass came into general use. But even in these 

 short passages it will sometimes occur that heavy gales drive the 

 mariner beyond the limits of his knowledge of the locality as depend- 

 ing upon sight of land, and throw him upon some extra resources, such 

 as he can obtain by loose speculations founded on the appearance of the 

 heavenly bodies, or by the use of the lead-line. A very large portion 

 of master mariners are of this class ; they plod their way about our 

 coasts, ignorant of any scientific means whatever of navigation. Others, 

 again, traverse the English Channel, the Irish Sea, the North Sea, &c., 

 and have so far consulted system as to have acquired the rough know- 

 ledge of a quadrant and the method of taking by it a meridian altitude 

 for the latitude : with this, and the occasional use of the lead-line, 

 together with some such slight initiation into plane sailing as can be 

 gathered from an ordinary epitome, this very large class 'of navi- 

 gators perform their voyages not only with celerity but certainly with 

 marvellous safety and regularity. Simple, however, as the nautical 

 operations of these may appear to the mere landsman, a vast amount 

 "t valuable local knowledge is treasured in their memories. Nor is 

 this local knowledge to bo mistaken lor the mere ability to recognise 

 points of land, or glimpses of the coast or lighthouses, &c. ; but it is 

 the deep study of the ocean bed which constitutes maiuly the highest 

 attainment of the so called over-sea pilot. This together with an 

 acquaintmee with the peculiarity of the tides, so variable in tli^ir 

 courses along the coast line, and a knowledge of thuir periodical ebb- 



