5682 



which stimuli produce jerky, ex- 

 aggerated movements, and the 

 muscles are usually less wasted. 

 See Apoplexy ; Brain ; Dissemin- 

 ated Sclerosis ; Ganglion ; General 

 Paralysis of the Insane ; Hysteria; 

 Infantile Paralysis ; Locomotor 

 Ataxia ; Myelitis ; Meningitis ; 

 Motor Nerves ; Neuralgia ; Neuras- 

 thenia; Neuritis; Neurosis; Paraly- 

 sis; Paraplegia; Spinal Cord. 



N6ry. Village of France, in the 

 dept. of Oise. It is 10 m. S. of 

 Compiegne, and was notable for a 

 British stand on Sept. 1, 1914. See 

 Compiegne-Ne"ry, Battle of ; Mons. 



Nesbit, EDITH (1858-1924). 

 British author. Born in London 

 and educated in France and Ger- 

 many, she published Lays and 

 Legends, 1886, and made a repu- 

 tation as a poet and as a writer 

 of tales for children. Among her 

 many publications are A Pomander 

 of Verse, 1895 ; Songs of Love 

 and Empire, 1897 ; The Book of 

 Dragons, 1900; The Would-Be- 

 Goods, 1901 ; Five Children and 

 It, 1902 ; The Magic City, 1910 ; 

 Ballads and Lyrics, 1910 ; Garden 

 Poems, 1914. In 1879 she married 

 Hubert, Bland (185(5- 1914). She 

 died May 4, 1924. 



Nesle. Town of France, in the 

 dept. of Somme. It is on the river 

 Ingon, 29 m. E.S.E. of Amiens, 

 and 8 m. W. of Ham. It possesses 

 a 13th century church. Captured 

 by the Germans early in the Great 

 War, it was recovered by the 

 French on March 18, 1917, during 

 their pursuit of the Germans to the 

 Hindenburg line. Abandoned by 

 the Allies in March, 1918, it was 

 recovered by the French on Aug. 

 28, 1918. Before the Great War the 

 town had a population of about 

 2,600. Pron. Nail. 



Ness. Topographical term for 

 a cape. It occurs in place-names 

 on the E. and S. coasts of Great 

 Britain, e.g. Sheerness, Buchan 

 Ness, Dungeness. Like naze, it 

 is akin to nose. 



Ness. River of Scotland, in the 

 co. of Inverness. It comprises the 

 7 m. waterway from Loch Ness to 

 Moray Firth, and is noted for its 

 salmon-fishing. Parallel with it is 

 the N. section of the Caledonian 

 Canal. See Inverness. 



Ness, LOCH. Lake in Inver- 

 ness-shire, Scotland. It forms a 

 part of the Caledonian Canal, and 

 lies in the valley of Glenmore 

 between steep wooded scarps, re- 

 ceiving the waters of the Oich, 

 Morriston, Foyers, Tarff, and other 

 rivers, while its surplus waters 

 are carried to the Moray Firth 

 by the Ness river. Length m, 

 m., average breadth about 1 m., 

 greatest depth 754 ft. See Fort 

 Augustus. 



Nesselrode, CHARLES ROBERT, 

 COUNT (1780-1862). Russian diplo- 

 matist. Born at Lisbon, Dec. 14, 

 1780, he was 

 the son of the 

 Russian minis- 

 ter there. Edu- 

 cated partly in 

 Berlin, he 

 spent some 

 time in the 

 navy and then 

 in the army, 

 before entering 

 the diplomatic 

 service. He 

 gained experi- 

 ence of unrivalled value, and also 

 the friendship of Talleyrand and 

 Metternich during the European 

 negotiations, of which Napoleon 

 was the central figure, between 

 1807 and 1811. He accompanied 

 the Russian army that invaded 

 France in 1814, and shared in 

 the negotiations of 1814-15, in- 

 cluding the congress of Vienna. 

 He was the chief instrument of 

 the tsar Alexander I in pressing 

 forward in the policy of the Holy 

 Alliance, being then minister for 

 foreign affairs, a position he re- 

 tained until 1856. Although Alex- 



ander's successor, Nicholas I, did 

 not always act upon his advice, 

 Nesselrode was the most influential 

 of Russian statesmen from 1816- 

 55. He died March 23, 1862. His 

 letters and papers were edited by 

 A. de Nesselrode, 1904. 



Nessler's Reagent. Alkaline 

 solution of mercury and potas- 

 sium iodide, employed as a test 

 for ammonia, with traces of which 

 it gives a yellow colour, and with 

 larger quantities a brown preci- 

 pitate. On account of the delicacy 

 of the test it is adopted for de- 

 tecting ammoniacal impurities in 

 drinking water. 



Nessus. In Greek mythology, 

 one of the Centaurs. Having at- 

 tempted to carry off Deianeira, the 

 wife of Hercules, the latter shot 

 him with a poisoned arrow. Nessus, 

 when dying, gave Deianeira his 

 infected cloak, declaring that it 

 would win back the love of her 

 husband, should he prove un- 

 faithful. The jealous wife sent 

 Hercules the cloak, which he put 

 on, and died in fearful agony. See 

 Centaur ; Deianeira ; Hercules. 



Nest. Shelter constructed by 

 an animal for the purpose of rear- 

 ing its young. The nest-making 



Nest. Various forms of nests built by common British birds. 1. Coot, 

 floating on water. 2. Redstart, hole in wall or tree. 3. Willow warbler, on 

 the ground among bracken. 4. Wild duck, under bushes or hedges. 5. 

 Nightingale, built of dead oak leaves on grass, at the base of bushes. 6. Reed 

 bunting, in small trees growing in swampy ground 



