NOL 



it his business to get all the information 

 which he could concerning them, he was 

 soon convinced that the pretended facts 

 were deceptions or exaggerations, and 

 that no method had been discovered, by 

 means of which the power of medicine 

 could by electricity be made to insinuate 

 itself into the human body. But these 

 wonders were not the only objects which 

 engaged our Abba's attention in this visit 

 to Italy ; for his inquiries were extended 

 to all the branches of natural philosophy, 

 the arts, agriculture, &c. On his return 

 to France, through Turin, the King of 

 Sardinia made him an offer of the order 

 of St. Maurice, which he thought it his 

 duty to decline, not having the permis- 

 sion of his own sovereign for accepting 

 it. In the year 1753, the King establish- 

 ed a professorship of experimental philo- 

 sophy at the Royal College of Navarre, 

 and nominated the Abbe Nolletto fill that 

 post. In the year 1757, the King bestow- 

 ed on him the brevet of master of natural 

 philosophy and natural history to the 

 younger branches of the royal family of 

 France ; and in the same year appointed 

 him professor of natural philosophy to 

 the schools of artillery and engineers. 

 Soon after this last preferment, he was 

 received a pensionary of the Royal Aca- 

 demy of Sciences. This celebrated and 

 laborious natural philosopher died in 

 1770, in the seventieth year of his age, 

 regretted by the enlightened public, as 

 well as the numerous friends whose at- 

 tachment he had secured by the amiable- 

 ness of his manners and the goodness of 

 his heart ; and more especially regretted 

 by his poor relations, to whose relief and 

 comfort he always paid the most affec- 

 tionate attention. Besides the Royal So- 

 ciety of London, and the Royal Acade- 

 my of Sciences at Paris, he was a mem- 

 ber of the Institute of Bologna, the Aca- 

 demy of Sciences at Erfurt, and other 

 philosophical societies and academies. 



In addition to a multitude of papers in- 

 serted in the different volumes of the 

 " Memoirs of the Academy of Sciences," 

 from the year 1740 to the year 1767, both 

 inclusive, the Abb Nollet was the author 

 of " Lessons on Experimental Philoso- 

 phy," in six volumes, 12mo. " A Collec- 

 tion of Letters on Electricity," 1753, in 

 three volumes, 12mo. " Enquiries into 

 the particular Causes of Electric Pheno- 

 mena," I2mo. and " The Art of making 

 Philosophical Experiments," in three vo- 

 lumes, 12mo From the articles just enu- 

 merated, as well as an anecdote already 

 related in his life, it appears that Abb 

 Nolfet paid particular attention to the 



VOL. V. 



NON 



study of electricity ; and it must be ac- 

 knowledged, notwithstanding the mis- 

 takes which he fell into upon the subject, 

 that his indefatigable industry and curi- 

 ous experiments contributed materially 

 to the improvement of that science. The 

 theory of Affluences and Effluence of this 

 philosopher, which gained considerable 

 attention in his time, may be seen in 

 Priestley's Electricity. 



NO-mmi's-land, a space in midships, be- 

 tween the after-part of the belfry and the 

 fore-part of a boat, when she is stowed 

 upon the booms, as in a deep waisted 

 vessel. These booms are laid upon the 

 forecastle nearly to the quarter-deck, 

 where their after-ends are usually sustain* 

 ed by a frame, called the gallows, which 

 consists of two strong posts, about six feet 

 high, with across piece reaching from 

 one to the other athwart ships, and serv- 

 mg to support the ends of those booms, 

 masts, and yards, which lie in reserve to 

 supply the place of others carried away, 

 &c. The above-named space is used to 

 contain any blocks, ropes, tackles, &c. 

 which may be necessary on the forecas- 

 tle, and probably derives the name of no- 

 man's-land from its situation, as being 

 neither on the starboard nor larboard side 

 of the ship, nor on the waist nor forecas- 

 tle ; but being situated in the middle, par- 

 takes equally of all those places. 



NOMENCLATURE, a catalogue of se- 

 veral of the most useful words in any lan- 

 guage, with their significations, compiled 

 in order to facilitate the use of such 

 words, to those who are to learn the 

 tongue: such are our Latin, Greek, 

 French, &c. nomenclatures. 



NOMINATIVE, in grammar, the first 

 case of nouns which are declinable. The 

 simple position or laying down of a noun, 

 or name, is called the nominative case; 

 yet it is not so properly a case as the mat- 

 ter or ground whence the other cases are 

 to be formed, by the several changes and 

 inflections given to this first termination. 

 Its chief use is to be placed in discourse 

 before all verbs, as the subject of the pro- 

 position or affirmation. 



NONAGISMAL, in astronomy, the 

 90th degree of the ecliptic, reckoned from 

 the eastern term, or point. The altitude 

 of the nonagesimal is equal to the angle 

 of the east, and, if continued, passes 

 through the poles of the ecliptic ; whence 

 the altitude of the nonagesimal at a given 

 time, under a given elevation of the pole, 

 is easily found. If the altitude of the 

 nonagesimal be substracted from 90, the 



C 



