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NUMEKA'TION. The art of numbering, 

 from nutnero, to number. Numeration is 

 the art of reading, as numbers expressed 

 by figures; notation is the art of writing 

 euch numbers. These terms are however 

 often used synonymously. 



NCMERA'TOR. That which numbers. 

 See FRACTION. 



NU'MIDA. The Pintado or Guinea-fowl: 

 a genus of Gallinaceous birds, of which 

 there are two species, both natives of 

 Africa. In a wild state they live in flocks, 

 and prefer the vicinity of marshes. The 

 plumage is slate-coloured, everywhere 

 sprinkled with small white spots. 



NTJMISMATICS. That branch of archae- 

 ology which treats of coins and medals : 

 from numisma, coin. The word numis- 

 matology has been used in the same sense. 



NCM'M ELITES. Lenticular stones. A 

 genus of multilocular fossil shells. Order 

 Cephalopoda. Name from tc/MfUM, coin, 

 and A.;0o?, stone, in 'allusion to a supposed 

 resemblance to pieces of money. The 

 nummulites are the most widely diffused 

 of all fossils, forming entire chains of cal- 

 careous hills, and immense bodies of 

 building-stone. The pyramids of Egypt 

 are built of them. 



NCN, Sax. nunne. 1. A woman devoted 

 to religion, under a vow of perpetual 



chastity. 2. In ornithology, the blue 



titmouse. 



NUN'CIO. Nuntio. A kind of spiritual 

 ambassador from the Pope. Lat. nuncius, 

 a messenger. 



NUNCUPATIVE, from mmmpo, to de- 

 Clare ; existing only in name. A nuncu- 

 pative will is one made by the verbal 

 declaration of the testator, and depends 

 merely on oral testimony for proof. 



NUN'DIN*. Market days among the 

 Romans : quasi novem-dinee, every ninth 

 day. Hence also the term was applied to the 

 first eight letters of the alphabet, which 

 were repeated successively from the first 

 to the last day of the year, and of which 

 one always expressed the market days. 



NUT. 1. The fruit of certain trees and 

 shrubs, consisting of a hard shell inclosing 

 a kernel. Various kinds are distinguished, 

 as walnuts , chesnuts , hazel-nuts, cocoa-nuts, 

 butter-nuts. See also Nux, JATROPA, and 



PISTACIA. 2. In mechanics, the small 



hollow or interior screw upon the end of 

 a screwed-bolt or other male screw to 

 fasten it. 



NUTA'TION, from nuto, to nod. A term 

 used in astronomy for that kind of vibra- 

 tory motion of the axis of the earth, by 

 which its inclination to the ecliptic varies 

 a few seconds, and as often returns to its 

 former position. The period of these 

 variations is nine years.. 



NUT'GALLS. Excrescences formed on 

 the leaves of the oak by the puncture of 

 ut insect. See GALL-NUTS. 



NUT'MEO. The fruit of the genuine nut- 

 meg-tree (Myristica moschata], a native ol 

 the Moluccas, but which has been trans- 

 planted to other congenial climates. 



NU'TRIA, or NEETHIA. The commercial 

 name of the skins of the Conia (Myopota- 

 mus coipits, Comaner), an animal which 

 lives in burrows along the banks oi 

 rivers, through a great part of South 

 America. The skins are valuable for their 

 fur, which is largely used in the hat ma- 

 nufacture, and take their name from 

 some similarity of the animal which pro- 

 duces them to the otter, called by the 

 Spaniards nutria. 



NUTRI'TION, from nutria, to nourish. 

 The completion of the assimilating pro- 

 cesses in living bodies. The food, changed 

 by a series of decompositions, and ren- 

 dered similar to the being which it is de- 

 signed to nourish, applies itself to those 

 organs, the loss of which it is to supply, 

 or the growth of which it is to promote, 

 and this identification of nutritive mat- 

 ter to the living organs of the system con- 

 stitutes nutrition. 



Nux. The Latin word for nut (q. v.). 

 The nux vomica is the fruit of a species of 

 Strychnos, which grows in various parts 

 of the East Indies. The fruit is about the 

 size of an orange, covered with a smooth 

 crustaceous yellow bark, and filled with 

 a fleshy pulp, in which are embedded 

 several round flat seeds, covered with a 

 kind of woolly matter, and internally 

 tard and tough like horn. The taste is 

 extremely bitter and acrid, but the sub- 

 stance has no remarkable smell. It is 

 known as a virulent poison. See STRYCHNIA. 



NUZ'ZER. A term in India for a sort of 

 compulsory present made to a superior. 



NYCTAL'OPT, Lat. nyctalopia, from vv^, 

 night, and <mj/, the eye. A defect of vi- 

 sion in which the person sees little dur- 

 ing bright day, but tolerably well by the 

 dull light of evening, called also nyctalops 



NYL'GHATJ, j Blue-bull. The Persian 



NTL'OAU. ) name of a species of ante- 

 lope, the Antilopa pietu, Gm. It has two 

 small smooth horns bent forward, and the 

 upper and under parts of the neck maned 

 India. 



NYMPH, Lat. nympha, from vu/u^. 1. 

 In mythology, a goddess of the mountains, 

 forests, meadows, rivers, and lakes, named 

 according to their places of residence, 

 places of dominion, &c., as the oceanidt* 

 or nymphs af the ocean, the nereides of 

 the sea, the naiads of the fountains, the 

 dryads and hamadryads of the forests and 



groves. 2. In entomology, the second 



state of an insect passing to its perfec ; 

 form: another name for the pupa, chry- 

 salis, or aurelia (q. v.). 



NYMPH-E'A. The water-lily. A ger.uz 

 of perennial plants. Polyandria21.<:.'- 



