NIG 



gion. He was naturally of a grave and 

 serious disposition ; but at the same time 

 a very affable and agreeable companion. 

 So engaging were his manners, that they 

 conciliated the esteem of all his acquaint- 

 ance ; by which means he frequently drew 

 over to his opinion, those who differed 

 widely from him in sentiment. With such 

 a character, he acquired great credit and 

 influence in the council of the town of 

 Puremerende, where he resided ; and also 

 in the states of that province, who re- 

 spected him the more, because he never 

 engaged in any cabals or factions, but re- 

 commended himself only by an open, 

 manly, and upright behaviour. Had he 

 aspired after some of the higher offices of 

 government, there is no doubt but that his 

 merits would have secured to him the 

 suffrages of bis countrymen ; yet he pre- 

 ferred to such honours the cultivation of 

 the sciences, contenting himself with be- 

 ing counsellor and burgomaster, without 

 courting or accepting any other posts, 

 which might interfere with his studies. He 

 died in 1718, at the age of 63, having 

 been twice married. He was the author 

 of various works, among which are, 

 " Considerationes circa Analyseos ad 

 quantitates Infinite parvas applicatse Prin- 

 cipia, &c." 1694, octavo ; in which he pro- 

 posed some difficulties on the subject of 

 the analysis of infinitessimals. " Analysis 

 Infinitorum, seu Curvilineorum proprieta- 

 tes, ex Polygonorum deducts," 1696, 

 quarto ; which is a sequel to the former, 

 with attempts to remove those difficulties. 

 " Considerationes Secundx circa Calculi 

 Differentiaiis Principix, et Responsio ad 

 Virum nobilissimum G. G. Leibnitium,8tc.' 

 1696, quarto ; occasioned by an attack of 

 Leibnitz on the author*s ' Analysis," in 

 the Leipsic Journal for 1695. " A Trea- 

 tise on the new Use of the Tables of Sines 

 and Tangents,'* 1714. " The proper Use 

 of the Contemplation of the Universe, for 

 the Conviction of Atheists and Unbeliev- 

 ers," 1715, quarto ; of which a French 

 translation was published at Paris, in 

 1725, quarto, entitled, " L'Existence de 

 Dieu demontree par les Merveilles de la 

 Nature ;" and also an English one at Lon- 

 don, in 1716, in three volumes, octavo, 

 under the title of The Religious Philo- 

 sopher, or, the right Use of contemplating 

 the Works of the Creator." A Memoir 

 inserted in a Dutch Journal, ^entitled, 

 " Bibliotheque de PEurope," for the year 

 1716, in defence of the preceding work 

 against a criticism of M. Bernard, in the 

 "Nouvelles de laRepublique des Lettres." 

 " A Letter to M. Bothnia de Burmania, 



on his Article concerning Meteors," in- 

 serted in the " Nouvelles litter, du 22 

 Avril, 1719 :" and about a month before 

 his death, he put the finishing hand to an 

 excellent refutation of Spinoza, which 

 was published in Dutch at Amsterdam, 

 in 1720, quarto. 



N1GELLA, in botany, fennel jlo-wer, a 

 genus of the Polyandria Pentagynia class 

 and order. Natural order of Multisilique. 

 Ranunculaceae, Jussieu. Essential charac- 

 ter : calyx none ; petals five ; nectary 

 five, two-lipped, within the corolla ; cap- 

 sule as many, connected. There are five 

 species ; these are annual herbaceous 

 plants, with pinnate or bipinnate leaves, 

 and linear leaflets ; flowers terminating, 

 in some species surrounded with a five- 

 leaved calyx like multifid involucre. 



NIGHT, that part of the natural day 

 during which the sun is underneath the 

 horizon ; or that space wherein it is dus- 

 ky. Night was originally divided by the 

 Hebrews, and other eastern nations, into 

 three parts, or watchings. The Romans, 

 and afterwards the Jews from them, di- 

 vided the night into four parts, or watches, 

 the first of which began at sun-set and 

 lasted till nine at night, according to our 

 way of reckoning ; the second lasted till 

 midnight ; the third till three in the morn- 

 ing; and the fourth ended at sun-rise. 

 The ancient Gauls and Germans divided 

 their time not by days but by nights ; and 

 the people of Iceland and the Arabs do 

 the same at this day. The like is also 

 observed of our Saxon ancestors. 



NIGHTINGALE. See MOTACILLA. 



NIGRINE, in mineralogy, a species of 

 the Menachine genus. Colour, dark 

 brownish-black, passing to velvet black ; 

 it occurs in larger and smaller angular 

 grains; specific gravity 4 5. It is not attract- 

 ed by the magnet ; it is infusible per se, 

 but with borax it melts to a transparent 

 hyacinth -red globule; it yields its mena* 

 chine to acid of sugar. This species is 

 found in Transylvania, consisting of yel- 

 low sand, intermixed with fragments ot 

 granite, gneiss, and mica-slate, and from 

 which gold is obtained by washing. It 

 comes to us commonly intermixed with 

 grains of precious garnet, cyanite, and 

 common sand. Its name fe derived from 

 its black colour ; it is distinguished from 

 menachanite by its stronger lustre, supe- 

 rior hardness, the colour of the streak, as 

 well as by its not being in the smallest de- 

 gree affected by the magnet, which also 

 distinguishes it from iron-sand. Its con- 

 stituent parts are, 



