208 
NEE 
N E P 
N E F 
a large hole of a wiredrawing-iron, and re- 
turned into the fire, and drawn through a se- 
cond hole of the iron, smaller than the first, 
and thus successively, from hole to hole, till 
it has acquired the degree of fineness requir- 
ed fur that species of needles, observing 
every time it is to be drawn that it is greased 
over with lard, to render it more manageable. 
The steel thus reduced to a line wire, is cut 
in pieces of the length of the needles intend- 
ed. These pieces are flatted at one end on 
the anvil, in order to form the head and eye ; 
they are then put into the lire to soften them 
farther, and tliebce taken out and pierced at 
each extreme of the flat part on the anvil, by 
force of a puncheon of well-tempered steel; 
and laid on a leaden block to bring out, with 
another puncheon, the little piece of steel re- 
maining in the eye. The corners are then 
filed off the square of the heads, and a little 
cavity filed on each side of the flat of the 
head ; this done, the point is formed with a 
file, and the whole filed over ; they are then 
laid to heat red-hot on a long flat narrow iron, 
crooked at one end, in a charcoal-lire, and 
when taken out, are thrown into a bason of 
cold water to harden. On this operation a 
good deal depends; too much heat burns 
them, and too little leaves them soft: the 
medium is learned by experience. When 
they are thus hardened, they are laid in an 
iron shovel on a fire, more or less brisk in 
proportion to the thickness of the needles ; 
taking care to move them from time to time. 
r l his serves to temper them, and take off their 
brittleness ; great care here too must be taken 
of the degree of heat. They are then straight- 
ened one alter another with the hammer, the 
coldness of the water used in hardening them 
having twisted the greatest part of them. 
The next process is the polishing them. To 
do this they take twelve or fifteen thousand 
needles, and range them in little heaps against 
each other in a piece of new buckram 
sprinkled with emery-dust. The needles 
thus disposed, emery dust is thrown over 
them, which is again sprinkled with oil of 
olives: at last the whole is made up into a 
roll, well bound at both ends. This roll is 
then laid on a polishing-table ; and over it a 
thick .plank loaden with stones, which two 
men work backwards and forwards a day and 
a half, or two days, successively; by which 
means the roll being continually agitated by 
the weight and motion of the plank over it, 
the needles withinside being rubbed against 
each other with oil and emery, are insensibly 
polished. After polishing they are taken out, 
and the filth washed oft' them with hot water 
and soap; they are then wiped in hot bran, a 
little moistened, placed with the needles in a 
round box, and suspended in the air by a cord, 
which is kept stirring till the bran and needles 
are dry. The needles thus wiped in two or 
three different brans are taken out and put 
in wooden vessels, to have the good separat- 
ed from those whose points or eyes have been 
broken, either in polishing or wiping; the 
points are then all turned the same way, and 
smoothed with an emery-stone turned with a 
wheel. This operation finishes them, and 
there remains nothing but to make them into 
packets of two hundred and fifty each. 
NE EXEAT REGNO, is a writ to re- 
strain a person from going out of the king- 
dom without the king’s licence. 
Within tiie realm, the king may command 
the attendance and service of all his liegemen ; 
but he cannot send any man out of the realm, 
or even upon the public service, except sea- 
men and soldiers, the nature of whose em- 
ployment necessarily implies an exception, 
i Black. 138. 
This writ is now mostly used where a suit 
is commenced in the court of chancery against 
a man, and he intending to defeat the other 
of his just demand, or to avoid the justice 
and equity of the court, is about to go be- 
yond sea, or however, that the duty will be 
endangered if he goes. 
If the writ is granted on behalf of a subject, 
and the party is taken, he either gives security 
by bond in such sum as is demanded, or he 
satisfies the court by answering (where the 
answer is not already in) or by affidavit, that 
he intends not to go out of the realm, and 
gives such reasonable security as the court 
directs, and then he is discharged. 1’. R. C. 
252. 
NEGLIGENCE, is where a person neg- 
lects or omits to do a thing which he is 
obliged by law to do. Thus where one has 
goods of another to keep till such a time, and j 
he has a certain recompence or reward for 
the keeping, he shall stand charged for in- 
jury by negligence, &c. 
NEPA, a genus of insects of the order lie- 
meptera ; the generic character is, snout in- 
flected ; wings four, cross-complicate, coria- 
ceous on the upper part; fore-feet cheliforrn, 
the rest formed for walking. This genus is 
aquatic, inhabiting stagnant waters, and prey- 
ing on the smaller water-insects, &c. The 
largest species yet known, and which very far 
surpasses in size all the European animals of 
the genus, is the nepa grandis, which is a na- 
tive of Surinam and other parts of South 
America, often measuring more than three 
inches in length. Its colour is a dull yellow- 
ish-brown, with a few darker shades or varie- 
gations ; the under wings are of a semitrans- 
parent white colour, and the abdomen is ter- 
minated by a short tubular process. 
Nepa cinerea, or the common water-scor- 
pion, is a very frequent inhabitant of stagnant 
waters in our own country, measuring about 
an inch in length, and appearing, when the 
wings are closed, entirely of a dull brown co- 
lour; but when the wings are expanded, the 
body appears of a bright red colour above, 
with a black longitudinal band down the 
middle ; and l he lower wings, which are of a 
fine transparent white, are decorated with red 
veins: from the tail proceeds a tubular bifid 
process or style, nearly of the length of the 
body, and which appears single on a general 
view, the two valves of which it consists 
being generally applied close to each other 
throughout their whole length. The animal 
is of slow motion, and is often found creeping 
about the shallow parts of ponds, &c. In the 
month of May it deposits its eggs on the soft 
surface of the mud at the bottom of the wa- 
ter; they are of a singular shape, resembling 
some of the crowned seeds, having an oval 
body, and an upper part surrounded by seven 
radiating processes or curved spines; the 
young, when first hatched, are not more than 
the eighth of an inch in length. The water- 
scorpion flies onlv by night, when it wanders 
about the fields in the neighbourhood of its 
native waters. The larvae and pupae differ in 
appearance from the complete insect, in hav- 
ing only the rudiments of wings, and being of j 
a paler or yellower colour. See Plate Nat. 
Ilist. fig. 292. 
Nepa cimicoides of Linnaeus differs ma- 
terially from the preceding species, and has 
at first view more the aspect of a notonecta 
than a nepa, the hind legs being formed for 
swimming briskly, and furnished with an edg- 
ing of hairs on the inner side. This insect is 
less common than the preceding, but is found 
in similar situations. 
Nepa linearis is an insect of a highly sin- 
gular aspect, bearing a distant resemblance j 
to some of the smaller insects of the genera | 
mantis and phasma. It measures about an 
inch and a half from the tip of the snout to the j 
beginning of the abdominal style or process, ] 
which is itself of equal length to the former j 
part, and the whole animal is extremely 
slender in proportion to its length ; the legs j 
also are long and slender, and the chelae or ] 
fore-legs much longer in proportion than those j 
of the second species or nepa cinerea ; the ] 
colour of the animal is dull yellowish-brown ; ] 
the back, when the wings are expanded, ap- ] 
pearing of a brownish-red, and the under j 
j wings white and transparent. It inhabits the 1 
larger kind of stagnant waters, frequenting the 
shallower parts during the middle of the day, J 
when it may be observed to prey on the 
smaller water-insects, &c. Its motions are 
singular, often striking out all its legs in a j 
kind of starting manner at intervals, and con- j 
tinning this exercise for a considerable time. 1 
The eggs are smaller than those of the nepa I 
cinerea, of an oval shape, and furnished with j 
two processes or bristles divaricating from the ] 
top of each. See Plate Nat. Hist. fig. 293. 
There are 14 species. 
NEPENTHES, a genus of the tetrandria j 
order, in thcgvnandria class of plants, and in ] 
the natural method ranking among those of ] 
which the outer is doubtful. The calyx is 1 
quadripartite; there is no corolla; the cap- J 
suit: is quadrilocular. There is one species, 1 
a plant of Ceylon. 
NEPER’s RODS, or Bones, an instru- J 
ment invented by J. Neper, baren of Mer- I 
chiston, in Scotland, whereby the multiplica- 1 
tion and division of large numbers are much J 
facilitated. 
Neper's rod , the construction of. Sup- J 
pose the common table of multiplication to j 
lie made upon a plate of metal, ivory, or 1 
pasteboard, and then conceive the several 1 
columns (standing downwards from the digits 1 
on the head) to be cut asunder ; and these ] 
are what we call Neper’s rods for multiplica- ] 
tion. But then there must be a good number j 
of each ; for as many times as any figure is in 1 
the multiplicand, so many rods of that species 1 
(/. e. with that figure on the top of it) must ] 
we have; though six rods of each species will 1 
be sufficient for any example in common af- 1 
fairs ; there must be also as many rods of 0’s. 
But before we explain the way of using 1 
these rods, there is another thing to be known, ] 
viz. that the figures on every rod are written ] 
in an order different from that in the table. 1 
Thus, the little square space or division in I 
which the several products of every column 1 
are written, is divided into two parts by a 1 
line across from the upper angle on the right ] 
to the lower on the left ; and if the product is j 
a digit, it is set in the lower division ; if it has ] 
two places, the first is set in the lower, and j 
the second in the upper division ; but the j 
