NEEPAWA 



4110 



NEGLIGENCE 



Sewing-machine ne- made in the 



United States. They have the eye near the 

 point and a groove o one side for the thread. 

 A crochet needle has a hook near the point. 

 Some needles used in sewing shoes are curved. 

 forming a part of a circle. Some needles used 

 by surgeons are also curved. Thorns and 

 pointed sticks were first used by the ancients, 

 and needles of bone are still in use by unciv- 

 ilized people. Stone needles have been found 

 among the relics of the ancient Egyptians. 



NEEPAWA, nc'pawa, a town in Manitoba, 

 the center of a rich agricultural district and an 

 important railway junction point. It is a divi- 

 sion point on the Canadian Northern Railway, 

 and is also on the Canadian Pacific short line 

 between Winnipeg and Edmonton. It is 134 

 miles west of Winnipeg, sixty-one miles west of 

 Portage la Prairie and seventeen miles east of 

 Minnedosa. The Canadian Northern shops, a 

 large oatmeal mill, a machine shop, brickyard, 

 creamery and sash-and-door factory are the 

 principal industrial establishments. The town 

 owns its waterworks and electric light system. 

 The summer fair of the Northwest Agricultural 

 and Art Association is held here. In the Rid- 

 ing Mountains, northwest of Neepawa, is an 

 abundance of game. Population in 1911, 1,864; 

 in 1916, 1354. 



NEG'ATIVE QUANTITY, a quantity taken 

 in a sense opposite to that chosen as positive. 

 For example, if a dollar owned be declared to 

 constitute a positive quantity, then a dollar 

 owed will be a negative quantity. If a number 

 of degrees above zero on the thermometer be 

 thought of as positive, the corresponding num- 

 ber of degrees below will be negative, and so on. 

 The mathematician has considerable use for 

 such fictitious negative quantities, which he in- 

 dicates by the symbol . In the mathematical 

 expression 6 8, an impossible operation is in- 

 dicated, if we think only of positive quantities. 

 The mathematician meets this difficulty by sup- 

 posing numbers to exist below zero and to be 

 of such a character that, when they are added 

 to positive numbers, the latter are caused to 

 diminish instead of being increased. (For ex- 

 ample, 6 added to +8 gives a result of 2, or 

 +2.) He conceives such negative numbers to 

 proceed from zero to infinity. The operations 

 and principles involved in the solution of prob- 

 lems containing negative quantities are ex- 

 plained and illustrated in the article ALGEBRA. 

 See, also, NUMBER. 



NEGAUNEE, negaw'ne, MICH., a center of 

 the iron-mining industry, situated in Marquette 



County, near the northern coast of the Upper 

 Peninsula, twelve miles southwest of the city 

 of Marquette and three miles east of Ishpem- 

 ing. It was in this locality that the iron ore 

 of the Lake Superior region was first discov- 

 ered; the ore was mined here as early as 1854, 

 more than twenty years before any other range 

 in this region was opened. Negaunee is located 

 about 1,450 feet above the surface of Lake Su- 

 perior, on a ridge called the Iron Mountain, 

 where the deposits of ore are extensive and of 

 good quality. There are several highly produc- 

 tive mines within the city's limits. The place 

 was settled in 1846, was incorporated as a vil- 

 lage in 1865 and received its city charter in 

 1873. The Chicago & North Western, the Du- 

 luth, South Shore & Atlantic and the Lake Su- 

 perior and Ishpeming railroads serve the city. 

 In 1910 the population was 8,460; it had in- 

 creased to 9,416 by 1916 (Federal estimate). 

 The area of the city is nearly fourteen square 

 miles. 



NEGLIGENCE, neg' lijens. A railroad com- 

 pany engaged John Smith to guard a danger- 

 ous crossing in a city. Smith entered a near-by 

 store and failed to warn an automobile of an 

 approaching train. The automobile was struck, 

 and those in it were seriously injured. Because 

 Smith failed to do his duty he was convicted 

 in court of gross negligence. 



Mr. A set fire to some brush on his land on 

 a windy day in time of drought. The wind was 

 blowing towards B's house on an adjoining 

 farm; brands from the burning brush set B's 

 house afire, and it was destroyed. The court 

 ruled that A failed to use ordinary caution in 

 setting fire to the brush under existing condi- 

 tions and that B was entitled to damages. 



Negligence, in law, is failure to do what a 

 man of ordinary judgment and prudence would 

 do, when it is evident that such omission will 

 result in injury to another; or it is failure to 

 do what a contract specifies should be done. 

 Smith omitted to do the thing he was hired to 

 do and A was grossly careless or negligent in 

 setting fire to his brush. Negligence presup- 

 poses legal 'obligations which warrant the in- 

 jured party in bringing suit for damages, but 

 the burden of proof rests with the party bring- 

 ing the suit. When the case is so clear that 

 there is no doubt of the negligence of the de- 

 fendant the case may be decided by the court, 

 but the determination of the fact of negligence 

 is usually left to the jury. When evidence 

 shows that the defendant was not negligent the 

 case is dismissed. If the plaintiff was contribu- 



