N EP 



603 



N ER 



(no one dissenting), is simi- 

 larly applied in the House of Lords. 



NE'MESIS. A Greek divinity, the god- 

 dess of Vengeance. 



NEOC'ORL-S. The guardians of the Gre- 

 cian temples. 



Nuoi/oGy, from ?, new, and Aoya?, a 

 word ; the introduction of new words into 

 a language. The progress of science re- 

 quires perpetual exercise of neology, but 

 unnecessary neo/o<7isms,especially in scien- 

 tific language, are at all times to he re- 

 prehended. 



NEOME'XIA, from vios, and /j. A 

 monthly festival, in ancient mythology, 

 in honour of all the gods ; but especially 

 Apollo, who was called Neome'nos. 



NE'PA. The water-scorpion : a genus of 

 hemipterous insects. Family Hydrocorisce. 

 This genus was formed by Linnaeus, but 

 it is now variously divided. Named nepa, 

 a scorpion, from the species, which in- 

 habit stagnant waters, preying on the 

 smaller aquatic insects. 



NEPEN'THEs,v7j;Tvfts. 1 . " A drug which 

 banishes sorrow, allays wrath, and causes 

 oblivion of all evils." The preparation of 

 hemp, known in the East under the name 

 of bangue, is supposed to have been the 

 j)!r60Js which Homer tells us Helen cast 

 into the wine (Odyss. lib. iv. v. 220). In 

 that passage, however, the word is merely 

 an epithet of <pa%f*ctzi>v. 2. The pre- 

 paration now called laudanum. 3. The 



pitcher-plant: a genus. Diaecia Monan- 

 dria. Ceylon and China. , 



NEPH'ELINE. A mineral, usually found 

 in volcanic productions, crystallised in 

 six-sided prisms, and named from y<jsAr, 

 a cloud, in allusion to its yellowish- white 

 colour. U is the Sommite of Jameson, 

 being found only in cavities of lava at 

 Mont Somma. It is composed of silex, 

 alumina, lime, and oxide of iron. 



NEPHE'LIVM. A genus of trees. JI/o- 

 noscia Pentandria. One species. East 

 Indies. 



NEI'H'IULGY, Lat. nephralgia, from 

 viffoi, the kidneys, and Ayy, pain. 

 Pain of the kidneys, not attended by 

 fever. 



NE'PHHITE, kidney-stone (viQgtrvit, from 

 vt<f(6f . a kidney). A subspecies of jade, 

 formerly worn by persons from an absurd 

 notion that it relieved disease of the 

 kidneys. Its colours are green, gray, 

 and white; its constituents are silex, 

 lime, alumina, soda, potash, iron, man- 

 ganese, and water. It is chiefly found in 

 the East, and in some parts of Germany, 

 and is worked into handles for sabres, 

 daggers, knives, &c. 



XRPHRI'TIS. Inflammation of the kid- 



NE PLUS ULTRA, no further beyond. Th 

 utmost extreme of anything. 



NEP'OTISM, from Lat. nepotes, nephews, 

 relations. A species of favour so called, 

 in the grant of the Roman pontiffs, to 

 which many of the Italian nobility owe 

 their high rank. 



NEPTC'KIAX, pertaining to the ocean, 

 the domain of Neptune. The Neptunian 

 theory of geology was that originated by 

 Werner, who attempted to show that all 

 the formations have been precipitated 

 from water, or from a chaotic fluid. This 

 theory, which received at first almost 

 unanimous assent, was successfully op- 

 posed by the Vulcanic theory of Dr. Hutton, 

 so beautifully expanded and illustrated 

 by Lyell and some other geologists of the 

 present day. 



NER'EIS. The Sea-nymph. A genus of 

 articulata : order Dorsibranchiata. The 

 Nereides are described by Cu vier as having 

 an even number of tentacula, attached to 

 the sides of the base of the head ; and & 

 little further forwards, two others that 

 are biarticulate, behind which are two 

 simple ones. They have been called Sea- 

 centipedes. 



NER'ITA. The Sea-snail. The name 

 given by Linnaeus to a genus of mollusca, 

 which is now variously subdivided : 

 order Pectinibranch iata : family Trochoida, 

 Cuv. Name borrowed from the Greek 

 WSirrs, described by Pliny. The Nerita 

 is a littoral univalve shell, semi-globose, 

 depressed beneath, and having no um- 

 bilicus. 



NE'RIUM. The Rose-bay. A genus of 

 shrubby and arborescent plants. Pentan- 

 dria lHonogynia. Name from vr,ce, 

 humid, because the species grow in moist 

 places. The Oleander is the best known 

 European species. 



NER'OLI. The name given by perfumers 

 to the essential oil of orange flowers, pro- 

 cured by distillation with water, in the 

 same way as the other volatile oils. 



NERVB, Lat. nervus, from vtvgov- ! " In 

 the anatomy of the ancietits (says Dr. K. 

 Grant), the nerves and tendons were 

 confounded under this name, and this ac- 

 counts for the opposite meanings of the 

 word nertotu, which sometimes signifies 

 strong, sinewy, and at others weak and 

 irritable. In the language of modern 

 anatomy, the nerves are those long white 

 cords which arise from the brain and 

 spinal cord, and are distributed in all 

 parts of the frame, endowing it with sen- 

 sation and voluntary motion. They are 

 distinguished into cerebral and spinal : the 

 cerebral nerves are generally reckoned as 

 nine pairs ; the spinal are thirty pairs, 

 and are divided into twelve pairs of dorsal, 

 five pairs of lumbar, and five of sacral-" 

 2. In botany, applied to a congeries of 



