NOT 



NOV 



priated for that purpose. See ARITH- 

 METIC. 



There is one thing which deserves par- 

 ticular notice, in regard to this subject, and 

 that is, the great advantage that may re- 

 dound to science by a happy notation, or 

 expression of our thoughts. It is owing en- 

 tirely to this, and the method of denoting 

 the several combinations of numbers, by 

 figures standing in different places,lhat the 

 most complicated operations in arithmetic 

 are managed with so much ease and dis- 

 patch. Nor is it less apparent that the 

 discoveries made by algebra are wholly 

 to be imputed to that symbolical Ian- 

 guage made use of in it : for by this 

 means we are enabled to represent things 

 in the form of equations : and by vari- 

 ously proceeding with these equations, to 

 trace out, step by step, the several par- 

 ticulars we want to know. Add to all 

 this, that by such a notation, the eyes and 

 imagination are also made subservient to 

 the discovery of truth ; for the thoughts 

 of the mind rise up and disappear, accord- 

 ing as we set ourselves to call them into 

 view ; and, therefore, without some par- 

 ticular method of fixing and ascertaining 

 them as they occur, the retrieving them 

 when out of sight would be no less pain- 

 ful, than the very first exercise of deduc- 

 ing them one from another. As, there- 

 fore, we have frequent occasion to look 

 back upon the discoveries already made, 

 could these be no otherwise brought into 

 view, than by the same course of thinking 

 in which they were first traced, so many 

 different attentions at once must needs 

 greatly distract the mind, and be attend- 

 ed with infinite trouble and fatigue. But 

 now, the method of fixing and ascertain- 

 ing our thoughts by a happy and well 

 chosen notation, entirely removes all 

 those obstacles ; for thus, when we have 

 occasion to turn to any former discovery, 

 as care is taken all along to delineate 

 them in proper characters, we need only 

 cast our eye on that part of the process 

 where they stand expressed, which will 

 lay them at once open to the mind in their 

 true and genuine form. By this means 

 we can take, at any time, a quick and 

 ready survey of our progress, and running 

 over the several conclusions already gain- 

 ed, see more distinctly what helps they 

 furnish towards obtaining those others 

 we are still in pursuit of. Nay, further, 

 as the amount of every step of the inves- 

 tigation lies before us, by comparing 

 them variously among themselves, and 

 adjusting them one to another, we come at 

 length to discern the result of the whole, 



and are enabled to form our several dis- 

 coveries into an uniform and well con- 

 nected system of truths, which is the end 

 and aim of all our inquiries. 



NO'iES, in music, characters which 

 mark the sounds ; i. e. the elevations and 

 fallings of the voice, and the swiftness 

 and slowness of its motions. lu general, 

 under notes are comprehended all the 

 signs or characters used in music, though 

 in propriety the word only implies the 

 marks which denote the degrees of gra- 

 vity and acuteness to be given to each 

 sound. 



NOTONECTA, in natural history, boat- 

 Jly, a genus of insects of the order Hemip- 

 tera. Snout inflected ; antenna: shorter 

 than the thorax ; four wings folded cross- 

 wise, coriaceous on the upper half; hind- 

 legs hairy, formed for swimming. There 

 are seventeen species, in two divisions, 

 viz. A. Lip elongated, conic. B. Conic, 

 spinous at the sides. N. Americana, grey, 

 behind black ; scutel deep black, with a 

 yellow dot each side at the base ; snout 

 greenish at the base ; margin and tip of 

 the upper wings black; under wings 

 black. It inhabits North America. 



NOTOXUS, in natural history, a genus 

 of insects of the order Coleoptera. Anten- 

 nae filiform ; four feelers, hatchet-shaped ; 

 jaw one-toothed; thorax a little narrow- 

 ed behind. There about thirteen species. 

 N. monodon, thorax projecting over the 

 head like a horn ; testaceous; elytra with 

 a black band and spots. It inhabits North 

 America, and very much resembles N. 

 monoceros of Europe. 



NOVEL, in the civil law, a term used 

 for the constitutions of several emperors, 

 as of Justin, Tiberius, Leo, and more par- 

 ticularly of those of Justinian. The con- 

 stitutions of Justinian were called novels, 

 either from their producing a great alte- 

 ration in the face of the ancient law, or 

 because they were made on new cases, 

 and, after the revisal of the ancient code, 

 compiled by order of that empero'r. Thus 

 the constitutions of the emperors Theodo- 

 sius, Valentinian, Marcian, &c. were also 

 called novels, on account of their being 

 published after the Theodosian code. 



NOVEL assignment, or new assignment, 

 a term in law pleadings, which it is diffi- 

 cult to explain to those unacquainted with 

 practical pleading. It occurs in actions of 

 trespass, where, the form of the declara- 

 tion being very general, the defendant 

 pleads in bar a common justification; 

 to which the plaintiff replies, by stating 

 that he brought his action as well for a 

 certain other trespass, which he states 



