N I S 



branch. Park's Travels, vol. ii. Appendix, N" iv, 



p. clxxxiv. 



NU.A, in Mythology, is one of the many names ot the 

 Hindoo 'Toddefs Parvati. The word means blue or dark- 

 azure, and is one of the Sanflirit names for the Nile, as is 



alfo Kali. 



NILAKANT'HA, a name of the god Siva, meaning 

 blue-throated, fimilar to Shitakantha, or Shitakoontha, 

 under which word fome account is given of the origin, &c. 



of the appellation. r ^t.- • t, r 



NILE, in Geography, a town of Ohio, in the county ot 

 Scioto, having 396 inhabitants. 



NIMMISHITHAN, a townimp oi Ohio, m Stark 

 county, having 385 inhabitants. 



NIOBE, in Jnaent Mythology, was, according to the 

 hiftorians who acquiefce in the authority of Diodorus Siculus 

 and Apollodorus, the daughter of Tantalus, and filter of 

 Pelops. Pelops removing from Phrygia, carried his fifter 

 with him to that part of Greece which afterwards took 

 his name ; and for the fecurity of his new dominions, 

 married her to Amphion, a prince eminently powerful and 

 eloquent, who fortified Thebes with walls. Niobe became, 

 in confequence of that marriage, the mother of a numerous 

 proo-eny ; and was thus led to defpife Latona, who in 

 revenge induced Apollo and Diana to put all her 

 children to death, in the manner related by Ovid and 

 Plutarch. This epifode, as it is faid by fome writers, con- 

 tains a hiftory no lefs true than tragical. The city of 

 Thebes was defolated by a peftOence, which deftroyed all 

 Niobe's children ; and as contagious diftempers have been 

 attributed to the immoderate heat of the fun, it was 

 reported that Apollo flew them with his darts. Niobe, 

 after the death of her children, and huftand, who, over- 

 powered with grief, deftroyed himfelf, returned to Lydia, 

 and ended her days near mount Sipylus, upon which was 

 feen, according to Paufanias, a rock that, viewed at a 

 diftance, refembled a woman in -deep melancholy and 

 dillrefs. Sophocles, in his Antigone, fays, that this princefs 

 ivas not at firft transformed into a ftone ; but that the gods, 

 at her requeft, granted her that favour afterwards. The 

 fame poet, in his EleAra, fays, that Niobe Iheds tears in a 

 tomb of ftone. 



NIPPER, in Rope-mak'mg, is formed of two fteel plates, 

 through which the yarn pafles from the tar-kettle, which 

 are fo adjufted by weights and a lever, that the yarn receives 

 no more tar than is required, and what is fqueezed out drops 

 into a trough and returns into the kettle. 



NIRRITI, is the name of a Hindoo deity, confort 

 ov faktl oi Nirrit or Nairit. (See the latter article. ) She 

 fhares with her huftand the regency of the fouth-well 

 quarter of the heavens. 



NISHAPOUR, anciently the greatefl: and richeft city 

 of Khoraflan in Perfia, and one of the four royal cities of 

 the province, is feated on a plain, formerly irrigated by 

 about 12,000 aquedufts, which have fallen into decay. 

 It is faid to have been founded by Taimuras, and de- 

 ftroyed by Alexander the Great. After the lapfe of many 

 years, it was rebuilt by Sapor I., and his ftatue was feen 

 in it till the Arabs deftroyed it. This city was taken in 

 the 548th year of the Hegira by the Tartars, who fo com- 

 pletely ruined it, that when the original inhabitants returned 

 to take poflefTion of it, they could not diftinguifh their 

 own houfes. After having regained its former fplendour, 

 it was again taken and pillaged by the Tartars under 

 Gengis Khan ; fo that the prefent inhabitants do not 

 exceed the number of 15,000. The ruins of the city are 

 Aearljr ten furfungs in circumference. It is at prefent 



NOR 



fubjeft to the dominion of the king of Perfia, and has nine 

 dillricls dependent upon it, each of which has about ten 

 walled villages. The fruits are abundant and delicious. 



NITRE, Natt-ve. See Mineralogy, Addenda. 



NITRIC Acid, Nitrates, &c. in Chemiftry. The 

 correft proportions in which azote and oxygen combine, 

 will be found in the tables appended to Atomic Theory, 

 to which therefore we refer our readers. We fliall only 

 ilate here the compofitiou of nitric acid, which is 5 

 atoms oxygen + i atom azote : hence the \veight of 

 its atom is 67.5, from which datum the compohtion of the 

 nitrates can be accurately determined. 



NIVENIA, in Botany, a noble genus, dedicated by- 

 Mr. Brown to Mr. James Niven, an intelligent obferver 

 and collector of Cape plants, fent out by Mr. Hibbert.— 

 Br. Tr. of Linn. Soc. v. 10. 133. Ait. Hort. Kew. v. i. 

 201. (Paranomus; Salif. Farad, at p. 67.) — Clafs and 

 order, Tetrandrm Monogyma. Nat. Ord. Proteacea, Juif. Br. 



Eff. Ch. Corolla four-cleft, regular. Anthers funk in the 

 concave tips of the fegments. Neftary four fcales. Stigma 

 vertical. Nut fuperior. Involucrum of four leaves, con- 

 taining four flowers ; hardened when in fruit. 



Ten fpecies are defcribed, all ftirubs, natives of hills at 

 the Cape of Good Hope. Leaves fcattered, doubly pin- 

 natifid, thread-fliaped ; the upper ones, in fix of the fpecies, 

 undivided and flat. Floiuers fpiked, capitate, bradteated, 

 purplifli. — Four fpecies are mentioned in Hort. Kew. 



1. 'N. Sceptrum. (Protea Sceptrum ; Linn. Suppl. 116, 

 Sparm. Stockh. Tranf. for 1777. 53, not 55, t. i.) — Upper 

 leaves obovate or lanceolate, flattifh ; fimple at the edges. 

 Corolla filky, with clofe hairs. 



2. N. fpathulata. (P. fpathulata ; Thunb. Prot. n. 5S. 

 t. 5.) — Upper leaves broader than long, hooded, bordered. 

 Involucrum obtufe. Corolla bearded. Style fmooth. Stigma 

 oblong-club fhaped. 



3. 'N./picata, and 4. N. crithm'tfoUa, the latter P. Lago- 

 pus ; Andr. Repof. t. 243, have all the leaves doubly 

 pinnatifid. 



NOBLEBOROUGH, 1. 3, r. 1206. 



NOCK, the foremoft upper corner of boomHiils, and 

 of ftayfails cut with a fquare tack. 



NOCKAMIXON, 1. 2, r. 1209. 



NOCTLTRN, LiTURGic, the divine office of the night, 

 as dirtinguiftied from that of the day. The latter confifted 

 of the feven canonical hours, the former of three nocturns, 

 each confifting of feveral pfalms, leflbns, &c. ; and it was 

 heretofore cuftomary to interrupt the fleep three different 

 times for the performance of them. 



NOOTH's Apparatus. See Laboratory. 



NORFOLK, col. 2, 1. 15, add — By the parhamentary 

 returns in 181 1, this county contained 33 hundreds, 5 

 boroughs, 'uiz. King's Lynn, Thetford, and Great Yar- 

 mouth, and one city, viz. Norwich'; 51,774 houfes, occupied 

 by 291,999 perfons ; 138,089 being males, and 153,910 

 females : of whom 31,454 families are employed in agricul- 

 ture, and 23,082 in trade and manufactures. 



Norfolk, in America, 1. 4, c. 22 ; 1. 6, r. 31,245 ; 1. S, 

 r. 18,679 — 5047 ; !• 4 from bottom, r. 1441. 



NORMAN. Add— Alfo, a fquare fid of oak, or fliort 

 carling, fixed through the head of the rudder of Eaft India 

 fliips, to prevent the lofs of the rudder, in cafe of its being 

 unfhipped. Alfo, a fliort wooden bar with a head, ufed in 

 one of the holes of the windlafs when there is little ftrain 

 on the cable. 



NORRIDGEWOCK, 1. 2, add— and county of Somer- 

 fet ; 1. 3, r. 880. 



NORTH Beaver. See Beaver, 



North- 



