282 



NUTMEG NYSTADT. 



feathers; tongue short, .cartilaginous, bony, ami 

 jagged at tip ; feet robust, hind-toe elongated ; wings 

 moderate ; tail rather short, having twelve feathers, 

 rounded at tip. The sexes are similar, and the young 

 differ but little from the adults. These birds are 

 found in all cold and temperate climates. They are 

 generally solitary, live in woods, climbing the trunks 

 iiiul branches of trees in pursuit of insects, which are 

 their principal food, though, when these are scarce, 

 they will eat nuts and fruit. It is from their ability 

 in cracking nuts that they have obtained their various 

 common names. 



NUTMEG. The use of this fruit for culinary 

 purposes is well known, and is now every where fami- 

 liar throughout the civilized world. With the East 

 Indians it is, besides, employed as a masticatory. It 

 does not, however, appear to have been very anciently 

 known, at least among Europeans ; for the Greeks 

 and Romans have left no account of it, and it is first 

 mentioned by the early Arabian writers. 



The tree (the myristica moschata of botanists) is a 

 native of the Molucca islands, and is remarkable for 

 the beauty of its foliage. It attains the height of 

 about thirty feet, and the branches are disposed four 

 or five together, almost in whorls, forming a rounded 

 and very dense summit. The leaves are alternate, 

 petiolate, smooth, oval-lanceolate, of a fine green 

 colour above, and paler beneath. The flowers are 

 dicecious, small, yellowish, and inconspicuous. The 

 fruit is a drupe, about as large as a peach, smooth 

 externally, and yellow when it arrives at maturity: 

 the outer envelop is fleshy, and opens at the summit 

 into two valves, disclosing the scarlet mace, which 

 forms the second envelop : the mace is a fleshy, 

 fibrous membrane, having a reticulated appearance, 

 which turns yellow with age, and becomes brittle 

 when dry : the third envelop is thin, hard, and 

 blackish-brown: the nut, or, more properly, kernel, 

 consists of a very firm, white, oily substance, pene- 

 trated with numerous irregular branching veins. The 

 tree constantly bears flowers and fruits of all ages, 

 and its leaves fall so insensibly that the loss is not 

 perceived. About nine months are required to bring 

 the fruit to maturity. Mace is very commonly em- 

 ployed as a culinary spice, and resembles the nutmeg 

 in taste and odour, but is more pungent and bitter. 



For a long time, the Dutch had the monopoly of 

 the commerce in nutmegs ; but, about the year 1770, 

 it was introduced into the Isle of France, and thence 

 passed into Surinam, the West Indies, and other parts 

 of tropical America. 



NUTRITION. See Aliment, Chyme, and Dys- 

 pepsia. 



NUX VOMICA (strychnos nux-vomica); an East 

 Indian tree of moderate size, belonging to the natural 

 family apocinea. All parts of the plant are bitter, 

 but not milky. The leaves are opposite and entire; 

 the corolla monopetalous and tubular, surrounding 

 five stamens and a single style. The fruit is globular, 

 about as large as an orange, and contains several 

 seeds. These seeds are circular, flat, with a promi- 

 nence in the middle on both sides, of a gray colour, 

 and covered with a woolly substance, but, internally, 

 hard and horny. They have been long known in 

 commerce under the name of vomic nuts, and it has 

 been pretended that they may be taken by men with 

 impunity, although an exceedingly violent poison to 

 other animals. Experience has not borne out this 

 assertion, and it is now generally rejected from the 

 muteria medico, as a deleterious drug. The seeds 

 are, however, employed in the distillation of ardent 

 spirits in many places, and are frequently used for 

 poisoning noxious animals. 



NY (Danish and Swedish for new) appears in 

 many geographical names, as Nyland (Newland). 



N YEVKE ; a department of France. See Depart- 

 ment. 



NYL-GHAU, (Antilnpc picta), in zoology ; an 

 animal brought from the East Indies, and described 

 for the first time by doctor Hunter. In size it seems 

 to be a mean between black cattle and deer, and in 

 its form there is a mixture of resemblance to both. 

 Its body, horns, and tail are not unlike those of a 

 bull, and the head, neck and legs are very like those 

 of a deer. The colour, in general, is ash or gray. 

 The height of the back is about four feet, and the 

 trunk, from the root of the neck to the pendulous 

 tail, is about the same length : the horns are seven 

 inches long, and of a triangular shape. It eats oats, 

 is fond of grass and hay, and still more so of wheat 

 bread. It is vicious and fierce in the rutting season, 

 but at other times tame and gentle. The female 

 differs much from the male, is shorter and smaller, 

 resembles the deer, and has no horns. The young 

 nyl-ghau is like a fawn. 



NYMPH, in natural history; another name for 

 the pupa chrysalis, or aurelia ; the second stole of 

 an insect passing into its perfect form. 



NYMPHS; youthful demi-goddesses of the Greeks. 

 Begotten by Oceanus, or by Jupiter and others, with 

 his daughters (Oceanides), they preserve and nourish 

 the woods, rivers, springs, and mountains. They are 

 therefore distinguished according to their offices, as 

 Leimoniades, for example, nymphs of the meadows; 

 Dryades, or Hamadryades, wood-nymphs ; Oreades, 

 or Orestiades, mountain-nymphs : these, dressed 

 lightly, as huntresses, were the companions of Diana: 

 there were also Naiades, who presided over fountains, 

 Potamides, over rivers, Limniades, over lakes, Ne 

 reides, over seas, Napasse, over vales, &c. They 

 were also named from the places where they dwelt 

 Dodonian, Corycian, Nyssean, DicUean, Nysiades, 

 &c., for example. They are all females, holding a 

 middle station between gods and mortals, and, with- 

 out being immortal, they yet live longer than is per- 

 mitted to man. The crow, says Hesiod, lives nine 

 times longer than a man, the stag four times longer 

 than the crow, the raven three times longer than the 

 stag, the phoenix nine times longer than the raven, and 

 the nymphs nine times longer than the last. At their 

 death, the substance which they have supplied with 

 nourishing moisture perishes also. This first notion 

 of nourishment, which is supposed in the very idea of 

 a nymph, seems to have given origin to the second 

 representation of them as nurses of young children 

 intrusted to their care. Thus they are said to have 

 educated Bacchus, ^Eneas, and even Jupiter. Their 

 occupations and diversions are hunting, dancing, and 

 female labours, to perform which, they sometimes as- 

 semble in grottoes. Like other spirits of the ele- 

 ments, they possess the power of divination. The 

 fountains of certain Naiades, moreover, possess the 

 gift of inspiration. The poets and artists of anti- 

 quity represent them in the beauty of youth, clothed 

 in light garments, sometimes in company with Diana, 

 and sometimes dancing with Venus and the fawns. 

 The nymphs of the water are often represented merely 

 with an urn or pitcher. From the great consequence 

 which nymphs possess as local goddesses, frequent 

 sacrifices are offered to them. Oil, milk, sheep, 

 lambs, goats, wine, and flowers, were sacrificed to 

 them. The nymphaa (splendid houses near baths) 

 were also sacred to them. 



NYSTADT, PEACE OF, September 10, 1721. Sec 

 Northern ff^itr. 



