NICOSIA 



5738 



NIEDERWALD 



circumference, but the Venetians 

 reduced it to 3 m. and fortified it, 

 demolishing temples, palaces, and 

 beautiful monuments. In 1570 it 

 was besieged and taken by the 

 Turks. Pop. 16,000. See Cyprus. 

 Nicosia. City of Sicily, in the 

 prov. of Catania. Built among the 

 heights of Monte San Giovanni, 

 at an alt. of 2,840 ft., 42 m. W.N.W. 

 of Catania and 21 m. by road from 

 the rly. station for Leonforte, it 

 has a fine Norman cathedral and 

 other churches. Sulphur springs 

 are in the vicinity, and salt is 

 mined. The inhabitants speak a 

 Lombard dialect. Destroyed by 

 the Saracens, it was rebuilt by the 

 Normans. Pop. 16,000. 



Nicot, JEAN (1530-1600). French 

 diplomat and philologist. Born at 

 Nimes, the son of a notary, he 

 became a law- 

 yer in Paris 

 in 1554. Fa- 

 v o u r e d by 

 Henry II, he 

 was ambassa- 

 dor to Lisbon 

 in 1559, and 

 there became 

 acquainted 

 with the pro- , Jean Nicot, 

 perties of the French *Pomatiit 

 plant later known as tobacco, and 

 called in his honour nicotiana, 

 which he introduced to Catherine 

 de' Medici. Recalled in 1561, he 

 spent his later years in philological 

 work. He died in Paris, May 5, 

 1600. See Nicotine. 



Nicotera, GIOVANNI, BARON 

 (1828-94). Italian statesman. 

 Born Sept. 9, 1828, at Sambiase, 

 Calabria, he 

 joined the 

 Young Italy 

 party and took 

 part in the 

 struggles of 

 1848-49. Ar- 

 rested by the 

 Neapolitan po- 

 lice in 1857 and 

 sentenced t o 

 penal servi- 

 tude for life, 



he was released on the conquest of 

 the Sicilies by Garibaldi. He was 

 minister of the interior, 1876-77 and 

 1891-92, and died June 13, 1894. 



Nicotiana. Genus of herbaceous 

 plants, of which the most im- 

 portant are the tobacco plants. 

 See Nicot, Jean ; Tobacco. 



Nicotine. Liquid alkaloid oc- 

 curring in the leaves of Nicotiana 

 tabacum, the tobacco plant. Colour- 

 less, with a strong, stupefying, 

 irritating odour, it is soluble in 

 water, alcohol, and ether, and turns 

 brown on exposure to the air. 

 Tobacco contains from 2 to 8 p.c. 

 of the liquid. Pure nicotine is one 



Baron Nicotera, 

 Italian statesman 



Nicosia, Cyprus. Old Gothic cathedral of S. Sophia, 

 now used as a Mahomedan mosque 



of the most deadly poisons known, 

 rapidly causing death by paralys- 

 ing the cardiac and respiratory 

 centres in the brain. Nicotine, 

 being destroyed by burning, is not 

 present in the smoke of tobacco, 

 the toxic action of which is due to 

 carbon monoxide and other sub- 

 stances. Fatal poisoning by nico- 

 . tine may, however, occur from its 

 presence in a decoction made from 

 tobacco. See Tobacco. 



Nicoya, GULF OF. Inlet of the 

 Pacific Ocean on the W. coast of 

 Costa Rica, Central America. Pro- 

 tected W. by the peninsula of 

 Nicoya, it penetrates inland about 

 50 m., its breadth varying between 

 20 m. and 30 m. The coasts are 

 mountainous and picturesque. On 

 the E. shore is Punta Arenas, the 

 Pacific port of Costa Rica. The 

 village of Nicoya is about 80 m. 

 N.W. of San Jose. 



Niotheroy. City of Brazil. The 

 capital of the state of Rio de 

 Janeiro, it is on the N. shore of the 

 bay of Rio de Janeiro. In one of 



Niederwald, Germany. Colossal statue 



of Germania, erected, 1877-83, in 



the Niederwald to commemorate the 



founding of the German empire 



B^ its suburbs is a 

 , popular soa- 

 bathing station, 

 Icaratry. Flannel, 

 felt, soap, spirits, 

 and tobacco are 

 m anufactured. 

 Pop. 35,000. 



Nictitating 

 Membrane o R 

 THIRD EYELID. 

 Thin membrane at 

 the side of the 

 eye, which can be 

 drawn rapidly 

 across the cornea to 

 clean the surface 

 of the eye. It is 

 best developed in 

 the birds, but may also be observed 

 in the reptiles and in some batrach- 

 ians. In mammals generally it is 

 but slightly developed, and it is 

 rudimentary in man. See Eye. 



Nidd. River of Yorkshire ( W.R. ), 

 England. It rises on Great Whem- 

 sicle, and flows E., S.E., and N.E. 

 through Nidderdale, past Pateley 

 Bridge, Ripley, and Knaresborough 

 to the Ouse, 8 m. above York. 



Niddry OR NIDDRIE. Village of 

 Midlothian. It is 3 m. from Edin- 

 burgh, with a station on the N.B. 

 Rly., and is a coal-mining centre. 

 Another place of this name is a 

 village in Linlithgowshire, known 

 for its castle, now in ruins. 



Niebuhr, BARTHOLD GEORG 

 (1776-1831). German historian. 

 Born at Copenhagen, Aug. 27, 

 1776, and educated at Kiel, Lon- 

 don, and Edinburgh, he entered the 

 Danish state service in 1800, and 

 the Prussian civil service in 1806. 

 After his appointment as historio- 

 grapher at Berlin University in 

 1810, a series of lectures which he 

 delivered on Roman history re- 

 vealed him as a highly philosophic 

 and original historian. In 1816 he 

 became Prussian ambassador to 

 the pope, and while in Rome dis- 

 covered valuable historical MSS. 

 Resigning in 1823, he settled at 

 Bonn, and died there Jan. 2, 1831. 

 In his Roman history, 1811-32, 

 Niebuhr was 

 the pioneer of 

 a new method ; 

 he broke with 

 the view that 

 had long held 

 the field that 

 the traditional 

 account was 

 correct, and 

 that , all that B. G. Niebuhr, 

 was needed was German historian 

 an artistically composed narrative- 

 See Life and Letters of N., Eng- 

 trans. 1852. Pron. Neeboor. 



Niederwald. Mt. ridge of 

 Germany. It forms the W. end of 

 the Taunus at the upper end of the 



