NOSSA NOTATION. 



NOSSA. See Northern Mythology. 



NOSTRADAMUS; a celebrated empiric of the 

 Rixteenth century, born in December, 1503, at St 

 Remy, in Provence. After studying at Avignon and 

 Montpellier, he practised medicine at Agen, Mar- 

 seilles, Lyons, and Aix. He pretended to foretell 

 future events, and published a volume of obscure 

 metrical rhapsodies in 1555, under the title of 

 Prophetical Centuries. Henry II. and Catharine 

 de' Medici yielded implicit credence to his preten- 

 sions, and loaded him with favours; Charles IX. 

 himself came in person to Salon, for the purpose of 

 visiting him, and appointed him his first physician. 

 He died July 2, 1566. There is an English transla- 

 tion of his book in one folio volume. 



NOTABLES (les notables) signifies, literally, the 

 most important men in a state. In France, where 

 alone this expression was usual, it signified the 

 deputies of the states who were appointed and con- 

 voked by the king. In the early history of that 

 country, mention is several times made of the nota- 

 bles ; but the first assembly of any importance was 

 in 1558. From 1626 KO such assembly was again 

 called, till, in 1786, the minister and controller- 

 general Calonne conceived the idea of summoning 

 the notables for the purpose of effecting several 

 arrangements, which he considered necessary; and 

 there were accordingly assembled, by an ordonnance 

 dated December 29, 1786, seven princes of the blood, 

 nine dukes and peers of France, eight field-marshals, 

 twenty-two noblemen, eight counsellors of state, four 

 masters of requests (maitres des requetes), eleven 

 archbishops, thirty-seven chief justices, twelve depu- 

 ties of the pays-d'etats, the civil lieutenant, and 

 twenty-five magistrates of the different cities of the 

 kingdom, making in all 144 persons. After this 

 assembly had continued its sessions from February 

 22, to May 25, 1787, it separated, and the following 

 results of their labours were published: 1. The 

 provincial assemblies were established according 

 to a plan proposed by the notables ; 2. the council 

 of finance was organized as they wished, and was to 

 publish annual reports of the receipts and expendi- 

 tures, and also of the pardons and pensions ; 3. the 

 abolition of the corvtes ; 4. the abolition of the tolls 

 and other obstacles to a free passage through the 

 interior ; 5. the abolition of the salt tax, which was 

 to take place by degrees, as the revenue was im- 

 proved by retrenchments, &c.; 6. freedom of the 

 com trade, and of the internal trade in general ; 7. 

 careful improvertient in all departments, and a yearly 

 retrenchment of at least four millions; 8. retrench- 

 ment in the household of the queen and princes ; 9. 

 a yearly loan of fifty million livres ; 10. a yearly tax 

 of fifty millions upon such articles as would render it 

 least burdensome to the people ; 11. the provincial 

 assemblies were not to consent to the imposition of 

 any new tax till the retrenchment should amount to 

 forty millions. This assembly forms an epoch in the 

 modern history of France. A second meeting of the 

 notables was called in November, 1788, to consult 

 on the manner of assembling the states-general. 



NOTARY (Latin notarius, from nota, mark) ori- 

 ginally denoted, with the Romans, those slaves or 

 freedmen who acted as stenographers (making use of 

 certain abbreviations, signs, notes), particularly in the 

 meetings of the senate. In later times, the notarii 

 were the secretaries of public authorities. From the 

 Romans the name passed over to the nations of 

 Western Europe ; and in modern times a notary is 

 a witness, appointed as such by government, whose 

 testimony is in some cases useful, to give credibility 

 to instruments ; in other cases is required by 

 law, to give them full validity, as, for instance, in 

 protests of bills of exchange, &c. In England, 



the importance of notaries is comparatively small; 

 in Germany, the emperor, while the empire existed, 

 appointed the notarius publicus sanctac Ceesareee 

 majestatis; and, as the administration of each 

 country belonging to the empire strove to limit, as 

 much as possible, the influence of the emperor, the 

 importance of the imperial notaries was small. When 

 the empire was dissolved, every government, of 

 course, appointed its own notaries, which formerly 

 was a privilege of the emperor or his vicars. In 

 France, the importance of the notary was, and still 

 is, greater than any where else. It was so before 

 the revolution ; and he has retained his importance 

 in the new administration of justice. He is not only 

 a public witness for every one who wishes his testi- 

 mony, but he is also the great witness of govern- 

 ment, or the political society. He makes all" con- 

 tracts, mortgages, and other deeds and conveyances, 

 where the property in question amounts to more than 

 150 francs. The instruments of a notary have full 

 authority, and no testimony against them is permitted. 

 The notary keeps a strict register of all his legal acts, 

 and, for the preservation of the same, is responsible 

 to the public. A party to a contract finds the original 

 of his instrument with him, in case he has lost his 

 copy. The notaries also perform an important part 

 in the division of inheritances, make the inventories, 

 direct the business, and make a report of what has 

 been done. The notaries in the district of a court 

 of the first instance form a body, which chooses a 

 board (chambre des notaires), consisting of from one 

 to nine members (in Paris of nineteen), a president, 

 a syndic, a reporter, a secretary, and a treasurer. 

 This board manages the affairs of the body, and ad- 

 justs also all disputes of third persons with notaries 

 respecting their official business and fees. See Dic- 

 tionnaire du Notnriat (Paris, from 1822 to 1824, 4 

 vols.). 



In England, a notary public is a person who publicly 

 attests deeds, or writings, to make them authentic 

 in another country ; but he principally acts in busi- 

 ness relating to commerce ; makes protests of bills 

 of exchange which are not accepted or not paid ; 

 attests the statements of masters of ships, in regard 

 to the damage which their vessels have suffered, &c. 



NOTATION, in arithmetic, is the method of ex- 

 pressing, by means of certain signs, any proposed 

 number or quantity. In the modern analysis, notation 

 implies a method of representing any operation be- 

 longing to this science ; and the judicious and inge- 

 nious selection of proper symbols forms not the least 

 important part of it. The success of a great mathe- 

 matical operation depends much upon this point, and 

 the science itself has sometimes made a new advance 

 by the invention of new and more manageable sym- 

 bols. In the common scale of notation, every num- 

 ber is expressed by the ten characters 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 

 6, 7, 8, 9, 0, the nine first of which represent different 

 numbers of units, and denote various values, accord- 

 ing to the place which they occupy, and according to 

 the following scheme: 



a 2 



<X5 O 



. 3 



H 3 



H? o 



j= 



so that, beginning at the right, a character standing 

 in the first place signifies units ; in the second, tens ; 



