NIOBIUM 



her son Apollo and her daughter 

 Artemis to slay all the children of 

 Niobe with their arrows. Niobe 

 was changed into a stone ; in which 

 form she incessantly wept for her 

 lost children, streams of water 

 trickling down the stone. The 

 legend of Niobe has frequently been 

 treated in art. The group of Niobe 

 at Florence is a copy of one which 

 is attributed to Scopas or Praxi- 

 teles. See Magnesia. 



Niobium OR COLUMBIUM. One 

 of the metallic elements. Chemical 

 symbol Nb A rare element, it is 

 steel grey in colour, with fine 

 lustre, is not attacked at normal 

 temperature by either hydro- 

 chloric or nitric acid, or by any 

 mixture of the two, but dissolves 

 readily in concentrated sulphuric 

 acid. The separation of the metal 

 was actomplished in 1846. The 

 mineral columbite from which the 

 metal is obtained is found in the 

 U.S.A., Bavaria, Bohemia, and 

 near Falun in Sweden. The metal 

 occurs also associated with uranium 

 and yttria in other rare minerals in 

 Norway and Russia. The metal 

 forms several oxides, but has not 

 yet been put to any industrial use. 

 Niobrara.- River of the U.S.A. 

 Rising in the S.E. of Wyoming, it 

 flows E. through Nebraska, and 

 joins the Missouri on the right 

 bank at Niobrara. It is a rapid, 

 unnavigable river 450 m. long. 



Niort. City of France. It stands 

 on the left bank of the Sevre 

 Niortaise, 38 m. from La Rochelle, 

 in the dept. of Deux Sevres, of 

 which it is the capital. Its build- 

 ings include the beautiful church of 

 Notre Dame, built in the 16th 

 century. The churches of S. 

 Andrew and S. Hilary are modern. 

 The keep of the castle still stands, 

 and there is a fine modern town 

 hall, and a palais de justice. The 

 old town hall houses a museum, and 

 there is a botanical garden. The 

 industries include tanning and the 

 making of gloves and boots, while 

 there are many market gardens in 

 the vicinity. 

 Niort grew up 

 around a castle 

 built by the count 

 of Anjou, in the 

 12th century, and 

 until the river 

 silted up was a 

 flourishing port. 

 During the wars 

 of religion it was 



_ ,_..itre, and it was 



several times besieged ; in 1588 the 

 cathedral of S. Andrew was de- 

 stroyed. Pop. 23,000. 



Nipigon. Lake and river of 

 Ontario, Canada. About 30 m. N. 

 of Thunder Bay on Lake Superior, 

 it is 70 m. long and 40 m. broad ; 



5750 



Nioit aims 

 a Huguenot centre, 



Niobe weeping with her youngest 

 daughter. From a sculpture attri- 

 buted to Scopas or Praxiteles 



Uffizi Gallery. Florence 



area 1,730 sq. in. In it are about 

 1,000 island*, and the Ogoki flows 

 into it from the N. The river of the 

 same name passes from the lake 

 into Lake Superior, and is famed 

 for its trout. 



Nipissing. Lake of Ontario, 

 Canada. It lies N. of Lake Huron, 

 is 50 m. long and about 20 m. 

 broad ; area 330 sq. m. The 

 Sturgeon flows into it and the 

 French River, 55 m. long, carries its 

 waters to Lake Huron. It contains 

 many islands. The lake is intended 

 to form part of the Georgian Bay 

 canal. The part of Ontario around 

 it is known as the Nipissing dist. 



Nippon. 

 Vaiiant spel- 

 lingfor Nihon, 

 or Dai Nihon, 

 the Japanese 

 name for 

 Japan (q.v.). 



Nippon 

 Yusen Kai- 

 sha. Japan- 

 ese steamship company, also 

 known as The Japan Mail Steam- 

 ship Company, 

 Ltd. An amalga- 

 mation of two sub- 

 sidised steamship 

 companies, it was , ; 

 formed in 1885, 

 and carried on a * 

 trade between 

 Japan and Asiatic 

 ports. After the 

 Chinese War of 

 1894, when the 

 vessels were used 

 as troopships, the 

 service was ex- 

 tended to America, 

 Australia, and 

 Europe. The line 



Nippon Yusen 

 Kaisha flag, 

 white and red 



carries most of the Japanese traffic, 

 in 1921 running fortnightly services 

 from Japan to England, and from 

 Hong Kong and Japanese ports to 

 the W. coast of America, as well 

 as a monthly service from Japan 

 to Australia. 



Nippur. Sumerian city at 

 Nuffar on the Shatt-en-Nil, 20 m. 

 E.N.E. of Diwaniya, central Baby- 

 lonia. Its identification with 

 Calneh (Gen. 10), and that of 

 Ezekiel's river Chebar with the 

 Nil canal, are tentative. It was 

 examined by Layard 1851, and 

 excavations by Peters, Haynes, and 

 Hilprecht, 1889-1900. revealed a 

 continuous history from reed-huts 

 on neolithic marshes to palaces of 

 Parthian kings. A centre of re- 

 ligion and learning, its Enlil tem- 

 ple, restored intermittently from 

 Naramsin to Ashurbanipal, ulti- 

 mately became a Seleucian fortress 

 Its yield of clay tablets included 

 40,000 temple 'records and 730 

 business documents, which had 

 belonged to brokers and bankers 

 of the Persian kings of the 5th 

 century B.C. See Bel; Deluge 

 Ixjgends; Parthia. 



Nirvana (Skt., extinction). 

 Buddhistic term for the spiritual 

 state attained by one who has 

 conquered self and, by the exercise 

 of self-sacrifice, sympathy, loving 

 thought, and deeds of kindness, 

 extinguished desire. The attain- 

 ment of Nirvana implies the ex- 

 tinction of personality and the 

 union of the individual with the 

 infinite. See Karma. 



Nisan. First month in the 

 Jewish eccles. year and seventh in 

 the civil or secular. It corresponds 

 approximately to the Christian 

 month of April. The name Nisan 

 was adopted from the Babylonian 

 calendar after the Captivity (Neh. 

 ii, 1) and replaced the Jewish 

 name of A bib (q.v.). 



Nish. Town of Yugo-Slavia, in 

 Central Serbia, the ancient Nai'ssus, 

 and the chief city in Upper Moesia. 

 It is situated on the Nisava, is the 

 junction of the rly. from Belgrade, 



Nish, Central Serbia. Facade of the cathedral 



