NUT 



tlon, which yielded by slow evapora- 

 tion 185 grains of matter, which was 

 composed of 



Tannin 130 



Gallic acid and extract ... 31 

 Mucilage and extract .... 12 

 Lime and saline matter . . 12 



185 



See TANNIN. 



NUTATION, in astronomy, a kind of 

 tremulous motion of the axis of the earth, 

 whereby, in each annual revolution it is 

 twice inclined to the ecliptic, and as often 

 returns to its former position. 



Sir Isaac Newton observes, that the 

 moon has the like motion, only very small, 

 and scarcely sensible. 



NUTMEG, in natural history, the ker- 

 nel of a large fruit, not unlike the peach, 

 the produce of a tree called, by botanists, 

 MYRISTICA, which see. 



The nutmeg is separated from its in- 

 vestient coat, the mace, before it is sent 

 over to us ; except that the whole fruit is 

 sometimes imported in preserve, by way 

 of sweetmeat, or as a curiosity. See 



^ 



The nutmeg, as we receive it, is of a 

 roundish or oval figure, of a tolerably 

 compact and firm texture, but easily cut 

 with a knife, and falling to pieces on a 

 smart blow. Its surface is riot smooth, 

 but furrowed with a number of wrinkles, 

 running in various directions, though 

 principally longitudinally. It is of a grey- 

 ish brown colour on the outside, and of a 

 beautiful variegated hue within, being 

 marbled with brown and yellow variega- 

 tions, running in perfect irregularity 

 through its whole substance. It is very 

 unctuous and fatty to the touch, when 

 powdered, and is of an extremely agree- 

 able smell, and of an aromatic taste, with- 

 out the heat that attends that kind of 

 flavour in most of the other species. 



There are two kinds of nutmeg in the 

 shops, the one called by authors the male, 

 and the other the female. The female is 

 the kind in common use, and is of the 

 shape of an olive r the male is long and 

 cylindric, and has less of the fine aromatic 

 flavour than the other, so that it is much 

 less esteemed, and people who trade 

 largely in nutmegs will seldom buy it. 

 Besides this oblong kind of nutmegs", we 

 sometimes meet with others of perfectly 

 irregular figures, but mere lusus naturae, 

 not owing to a different species of the 



NYM 



tree. The longer male nutmeg, as we 

 term it, is called by the Dutch the wild 

 nutmeg. It is always distinguishable from 

 the others, as well by its want of fra- 

 grancy, as by its shape : it is very subject 

 to be worm-eaten, and is strictly forbid, 

 by the Dutch, to be packed up among 

 the other, because it will give occasion 

 to their being worm-eaten by the insects 

 getting from it into them, and breeding 

 in all parts of the parcel. The largest, 

 heaviest, and most unctuous of the nut- 

 megs are to be chosen, such as are the 

 shape of an olive, and of the most fra- 

 grant smell. 



NUTRITION. See PHYSIOLOGY. 



NYCTANTHES, in botany, a genus of 

 the Diandria Monogynia class and order. 

 Natural order of Sepiariae. Jasmines, 

 Jussieu. Essential character: corolla, 

 salver shaped, with truncated segments ; 

 capsule, two-celled, margined ; seeds 

 solitary. There are seven species, of 

 which N. undulata, wave-leaved Nyctan- 

 thes, is a shrub about six feet in height, 

 the young shoots are hairy ; leaves of a 

 shining green, smooth, in pairs from the 

 joints, bitter, without any smell ; flowers 

 white ; calycine segments six ; of the co- 

 rolla six, seven or eight, narrow, much 

 waved on the edge ; fruit superior, re- 

 sembling a black cherry, containing a 

 round hairy seed. It is a native of the 

 East Indies, where it is much cultivated 

 on account of the sweetness of the flow- 

 ers, which are worn by the ladies in their 

 hair. 



NYMPH, or PUPA, among naturalists, 

 that state of winged-insects between their 

 living in the form of a worm, and their 

 appearing in the winged or most perfect 

 state. 



The eggs of insects are first hatched 

 into a kind of worms, or maggots ; which 

 afterwards pass into the nymph-state, sur- 

 rounded with shells or cases of their own 

 skins ; so that, in reality, these nymphs 

 are only the embryo-insects, wrapped up 

 in this covering; from whence they at 

 last get loose, though not without great 

 difficulty. 



Linnseus applied the term Pupa to this 

 state of the insect, from a fancied resem- 

 blance which it bears to a child wrapped 

 in swaddling clothes, according to the old 

 European fashion. 



NYMPHJE. See ANATOMY. 



NYMPH^EA, in botany, -water-lily, a 

 genus of the Polyandria Monogynia class 

 and order. Natural order of Succulemae. 

 Hydrocharides, Jussieu. Essential cha- 

 racter, calyx four, five, or six leaved ; co- 





