NITROUS OXIDE NOAILLES. 



241 



iodine, and thus cause the formation of hydriodic 

 acid and iodide of nitrogen. The latter subsists in 

 the form of a dark powder, which is characterized, 

 like chloride of nitrogen, by its explosive property. 

 It detonates violently as soon as it is dried, and slight 

 pressure while it is moist produces a similar effect. 

 Heat and light are emitted during the explosion, and 

 iodine and nitrogen are set free. It consists of one 

 proportional of nitrogen to three of iodine. With 

 regard to the nature of nitrogen there has been, and 

 still exists, considerable diversity of opinion. Berze- 

 lius lias inferred, from speculations connected with 

 the doctrine of definite proportions, that it is a com- 

 pound of oxygen with an unknown base, to which he 

 has given the name of nitricum, and has fixed the 

 proportions at 44 - 32 of base, and 55'68 of oxygen ; 

 others, on the contrary, have affirmed, as a conse- 

 quence of this doctrine, that nitrogen can contain no 

 oxygen a proof of the little value to be attached to 

 such speculations. The strongest arguments for the 

 compound nature of nitrogen are derived from its 

 slight tendency to combination, and from its being 

 found abundantly in the organs of animals which feed 

 on substances that do not contain it. Its uses in the 

 economy of the globe are little understood. This is 

 likewise favourable to the idea that its real chemical 

 nature is as yet unknown, and leads to the hope of 

 its being decomposable. It would appear that the 

 nitrogen of the atmosphere and oxygen combine in 

 other proportions, than those in which they exist in 

 the air, under certain circumstances. Thus we find 

 that mild calcarious or alkaline matter favours the 

 formation of nitric acid in certain regions of the 

 earth ; and that they are essential to its production 

 in our artificial arrangements for forming nitre from 

 decomposing animal and vegetable substances. 



NITROUS OXIDE. See Nitrogen. 



NIVOSE. See Calendar. 



NIZAM DJEDID. See Ottoman Empire. 



NIZZA. See Nice. 



NOAH; the patriarch of whom we are told, in the 

 book of Genesis, that God chose him, for his piety, 

 to be the father of the new race of men which peo- 

 pled the earth after the deluge. Having been ad- 

 monished by God of the coming flood, he built a vessel 

 by the direction of Jehovah, into which he entered 

 with his family, and all kinds of animals. (See 

 Deluge.) After the waters had subsided from the 

 earth, the vessel which contained the progenitors of 

 all living creatures, rested on mount Ararat, in Ar- 

 menia, where Noah offered a thank-offering to God, 

 and was assured that the earth should never again 

 be destroyed by a flood. As a sign of this covenant 

 with Noah, God set the rainbow in the clouds. Per- 

 mission was now granted to the human race to eat 

 flesh, provided they did not eat it raw with the blood; 

 and murder was declared punishable by death. Noah 

 then began to cultivate the earth, and planted a vine- 

 yard, and, having made wine, became intoxicated. 

 While under the influence of the wine, his son Ham 

 ridiculed the exposure of his father, while his other 

 sons, Shem and Japheth, reverently covered him with 

 a garment. When the patriarch awoke, and was 

 aware of what had taken place, he gave his blessings 

 to the filial piety of the latter, and pronounced a curse 

 of servitude upon ths posterity of the former. Noah 

 died at the age of 950 years, 350 years after the flood. 



NOAILLES ; one of the oldest noble families in 

 France. Among the members of this family, which 

 has ever been invested with the first offices in the 

 kingdom, are, 



1. Antoine de Noailles, celebrated on account of 

 his embassies under Henry II. The abbe Vertot has 

 published an account of them. His brother, the bishop 

 of Aix, was also employed on several important and 



difficult diplomatic missions to England, Italy, and 

 even Constantinople. 



2. Anne Jules, duke of Noailles, born 1650, inher- 

 ited from his father the first company of the gardes- 

 du-corps, and, in the war of 1 689 97, commanded a 

 corps-d'-armee in Catalonia; in 1693 was made mar- 

 shal, and, in 1694, gained the battle of the Ter against 

 the Spaniards. He died in 1708. 



3. Louis Antoine de Noailles ; brother of the pre- 

 ceding, archbishop of Paris and cardinal . On account 

 of the aid which he afforded to Quesnel, he was per- 

 secuted by the Jesuits, and especially by Le Tellier, 

 the confessor of Louis XIV. They prevailed on the 

 pope to issue the bull Unigenitus (q. v.), which was 

 resisted by Noailles, as archbishop of Paris, till he 

 was finally compelled to yield, in his 78th year. He 

 died soon afterwards, in 1729. 



4. Adrian Maurice, duke of Noailles, son of the 

 above-mentioned Anne Jules, served with distinction 

 in Spain, in the Spanish war of succession, was cre- 

 ated grandee of Spain, of the first class, and, in 1698, 

 married Frangoise d'Aubigne, a niece of madame 

 de Maintenon. During the minority of Louis XV., 

 he was president of the council of finance, and mem- 

 ber of the council of regency, which he left, however, 

 in 1721, rather than concede the presidency to cardi- 

 nal Dubois. He was exiled by the influence of this 

 intriguing priest, after whose death he was recalled, 

 in 1723, when he was reinstated in his former offices. 

 In 1734, he served under Berwick in the campaign 

 on the Rhine, and at the siege of Philipsburg, and, 

 after the death of Berwick, received the marshal's 

 staff. In the following year he commanded the 

 French army in Italy. When the Austrian war of 

 succession broke out, after the death of the emperor, 

 Charles VI., Noailles received a command on the 

 Rhine. In 1743, by the unseasonable impetuosity of 

 his nephew, the count of Grammont, he lost the battle 

 of Dettingen, and, by this means, the fruits of the 

 wise measures by which he had brought the British 

 army to the verge of ruin. His age no longer per- 

 mitting him to fight at the head of armies, he entered 

 the ministry. With splendid talents, he united all 

 the faults of the courtiers of the times. His friend- 

 ship for marshal Saxe induced him, although an elder 

 marshal, to serve him as first aid in the battle of Fon- 

 tenoy. His two sons were, in 1775, made marshals 

 of France. After his death, the abbe Millot pub- 

 lished Memoires politiques et militaires pour servir a 

 I'Histoire de Louis XIV., et de Louis XV., composes 

 sur les Pieces originates recueilliesparAdrien Maurice 

 Due de Noailles, &c., which contains interesting in- 

 formation, not only respecting the history of the wars 

 of Louis XIV. and XV., but also respecting the his- 

 tory of Spain under Charles II. and Philip V. 



In later times, the following members of this fa- 

 mily have rendered themselves distinguished. 



Louis, viscount of Noailles, a general, and member 

 of the first national convention, in 1789. Chosen by 

 the nobility a deputy to the states-general, he pro- 

 posed to his chamber, June 13, to form a union with 

 the third estate. Montmorency, Rochefoucauld, La- 

 fayette, &c., voted in the affirmative, and, after long 

 debates, forty members of the chamber of nobles 

 united with the national assembly, June 25. August 

 4, Noailles was the first who exhorted the clergy and 

 nobility in the assembly to renounce their privileges, 

 as injurious to the common weal. After the dissolu- 

 tion of the constituent assembly he went into the 

 army, and, in 1792, commanded the chain of outposts 

 at Valenciennes. His birth subjected him to suspi- 

 cion : tie demanded his dismissal, and lived in retire- 

 ment in the country. Under the consular govern- 

 ment, he returned to the service, and gained distinc- 

 tion in St Domingo, as general of brigade, under 

 



