NANTES 



4060 



NAPIER 



tany, but in 1499, when Anne of Brittany married 

 I VIII. it passed to the crown of France. 

 In 17'J3 it was the scene of some of the most 

 terrible massacres of the French Revolution, 

 u 1865 and 1870 the old town was de- 

 molished, and since then the city's natural 

 beauties have been much improved by art and 

 many notable new structures. Population, 1911, 



NANTES, EDICT OF, one of the most cele- 

 brated royal decree* in history, memorable as 

 the first formal recognition by a great Euro- 

 pean country of the principle of religious tol- 

 eration. 1- ;ed on April 13, 1598, by 

 King Henry IV of France, in the city of Nantes, 

 and marked the end of a struggle between the 

 Roman Catholics and Protestants that had long 

 harassed the kingdom. By this decree the 

 Huguenots (French Protestants) were given the 

 same civil rights as the Roman Catholics, and 

 granted liberty of conscience in religious mat- 

 ters, on condition that they pay tithes to the 

 Roman Catholic Church and celebrate the 

 Church festivals. In addition they were per- 

 mitted to remain in possession of their fortified 

 towns, among which was the city of La Ro- 

 chelle. The edict remained in force untif its 

 revocation by Louis XIV in 1685. He was per- 

 suaded to this step by Madame de Maintenon. 



NANTICOKE, nan' ti koKk, PA., a borough in 

 Luzerne county, situated in the northeastern 

 part of the state, seven miles southwest of 

 Wilkf s-Harre. It is on the Susquehanna River 

 and is served by the Pennsylvania Railroad and 

 by electric interurban lines. Anthracite coal 

 mines in the vicinity employ 10,000 men. Silk 

 mills, hose factories and cigar factories are lead- 

 ing industrial establishments. The city has a 

 splendid system of parks, a $200,000 high school 

 building, a city hall and a state hospital. The 

 settlement of Xanticoke was begun in 1850 and 

 chartered as a city in 1874. The popu- 

 lation, among whom are many Slavs, was 18,- 

 877 in 1910; it was 23,126 (Federal estimate) in 

 1916. The area of the borough is three square 

 miles. 



NANTUCKET, nantuk'et, an island off the 

 coast of Massachusetts, eighteen miles south of 

 Cape Cod and sixty miles southeast of NV\v 

 Bedford. Its mild climate and beautiful scen- 

 ery have made it a very popular summ< r re- 

 sort, and there is frequent communication by 

 steamer from. New Bedford, Wood's Hole and 

 Marthas Vineyard. The island, with adjacent 

 islets, forms the county of Nantucket, Mass., 

 with the county seat of the same name. 



The chief occupations are fishing and coast- 

 wise trade; Nantucket had formerly important 

 whale fishery interests. There is a good public 

 library. Admiral Sir Isaac Coffin's Lancastrian 

 School and Muskeget Park. The island was 

 settled in 1659. The population is about 3,000. 



NAPANEE, nap a net'', a town in Ontario, 

 the county town of the united counties of Len- 

 nox and Addington. It lies on the Napanee 

 River, which is navigable to the Bay of Quinte, 

 i miles away, and is on the Grand Trunk 

 and Canadian Northern railways, 135 miles < 

 of Toronto and twenty-eight miles west of 

 Kingston. Napanee is important as a manu- 

 facturing center, its principal products being 

 flour, brick and tiles, lumber, furniture, motor 

 boats, carriages and cutlery. The surrounding 

 country is a good farming district, and supplies 

 materials for the town's creamery and cannery. 

 Napanee has the county buildings, a collegiate 

 institute, an armory, a park and a race track. 

 Population in 1911, 2,807; in 1916, estimated, 

 4,000. 



NAPHTHA, naj'tha. What is called naph- 

 tha in America is distinguished by the name 

 petroleum naphtha elsewhere. Since ancient 

 times the word naphtha has been applied to a 

 large number of volatile (rapidly-evaporating) 

 liquids, the first of which was a fluid form of 

 asphalt burned in lamps by the ancient Kjryp- 

 tians. The word occurred in a number of the 

 ancient languages and originally meant moixt '.; 

 it is from the same root as the name of the sea 

 god Neptune. 



Petroleum naphtha is now the most impor- 

 tant form of naphtha throughout the world. It 

 is the volatile part of the oil, from which gaso- 

 line, benzine and similar products may be taken 

 by refining. Naphtha is the source of much of 

 the illuminating gas now manufactured, and is 

 valuable as a cleaner, as a dissolver of rubber 

 and as a domestic fuel. See PETROLEUM. 



NAPIER, nape'yur, or napeer' , JOHN (1550- 

 1617), a Scotchman born in Edinburgh, famed 

 as the inventor of logarithms, a means of short- 

 ening mathematical calculations (see LOGA- 

 KITHMS). He was one of the first great British 

 mathematicians. Besides the system of loga- 

 rithms, he invented various mechanical devices 

 for multiplying and dividing, and extracting 

 square and cube ro6ts (see CALCULATING MA- 

 C-MINES), and he also originated a number of 

 formulas in trigonometry. By a certain writing 

 called the Plaine Discovery of the Whole Reve- 

 lation of Saint John, published in 1594, he at- 

 tempted to show that the Pope is antichrist. 



