NAR 
rolla five-parted • capsule one-celled, »wo- 
valvcd. There is but one species, viz. N. 
Jamaicensis, au annual little plant, spread- 
ing much about the root ; it is seldom more 
than five or six inches in length, with the 
stalk and branches margined. 
NAME, denotes a word whereby men 
have agreed to express some idea ; or which 
serves to signify a thing or subject spoken 
of. This the grammarians usually call a 
noun, though their noun is not of quite 
so great an extent as our name. See 
Guammar. 
NANDINA, in botany, a genus of the 
Hexandria Monogynia class and order. 
Essential character: calyx many-leaved, 
imbricate ; corolla six-petalled. There is 
but one species, viz. N. domestica, a native 
of Japan. 
NAPtEA, in botany, a genus of the 
Dioecia IMonadelphia class and order. Na- 
tural order of Columniferae. Malvaceae, 
Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five- 
cleft ; petals five : male, stamina monadel- 
phoHS, very many fertile; styles several, 
barren: female, stamina monaclelphous, 
very many barren; styles several, longer 
tlian the stamens; capsule orbicular, de- 
pressed, ten-celled ; seeds solitary. There 
are two species, viz. N. laevis, smooth na- 
p®a, and N. scabra, rough napwa. Both 
these plants grow naturally in Virginia and 
many parts of Nortli America ; from their 
bark a kind of hemp may be procured, 
such as many of the malvaceous tribe afi 
ford. 
NAPTHA, in chemistry, one of the 
bitumens which has been used much lately 
in the experiments on the newly discovered 
metals of Potassium and Sodaium, which 
see. Naptha is of a light colour, more or less 
transparent, perfectly thin and liquid, and 
so light as to float on water ; it is odorifer- 
ous, volatile, and inflammable. See Bitu- 
men, Petroi.eum, &c. 
NARCISSUS, in botany, a genus of the 
Hexandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order of Spathacese. Narcissi, 
Jussieu. Essential character : petals six- 
equal ; nectary funnel-form, one-lcafed ; 
stamina within the nectary. There are fif- 
teen species, of which we shall notice the 
N. tazetta, polyanthus narcissus. It is a 
native of Spain and Portugal, the South of 
France, Italy, and Japan ; it has a large 
roundish bulb, from which proceed three or 
four narrow leaves ; the scape, or flower- 
stalk, is upright, angular, concave, from 
twelve to eighteen inches in height ; flow- 
NAT 
ers very fragrant, clustered, from seven to 
ten coming out of one spathe of a white or 
yellow colour. 
There is a greater variety of the polyan- 
tlius narcissus than of all the other species, 
for the flowers being very ornamental, and 
appearing early in the spring, the florists 
in Holland, Flanders, and France, have ta- 
ken great pains in cultivating and improv- 
ing them. 
NARCOTIC principle. See Opium. 
NARCOTICS, in medicine, soporiferous 
medicines, which excite a stupefaction. 
NARDUS, in botany, mat-grass, a genus 
of the Triandria Monogynia class and order. 
Natural order ot Gramina, Gramine^, or 
Grasses. Essential character : calyx none ; 
corolla two-valved. There are four spe- 
cies. 
narration, in oratory and history, 
a recital or rehearsal of a fact as it hap- 
pened, or when it is supposed to have hap- 
pened. Narration is of two kinds, either 
simple or historical, as where the auditor or 
reader is supposed to hear or read of a 
transaction at second hand; or artificial 
and fabulous, as where their imaginations 
are raised, and the action is as it were re- 
acted before them. 
NATROLl TE, in mineralogy, a species 
of the zeolite family, was first described 
and analysed by Klaproth, who gave it the 
name which it bears, on account of the 
great proportion of soda which it contains. 
It occurs massive, and in its fracture pre- 
sents straight or diverging fibres; its co- 
lour is light yellow', with little lustre ; it is 
striped, and the stripes are curved in the 
direction of the external surface. It fuses 
very readily before the blow-pipe. It con- 
sists of 
Silica 48 
Alumina 1^4.25 
Soda Id-o 
Oxide of Iron 1.75 
Water 9 
99 .5 
Loss 5 
100 
NATRON, in chemistry, a terra fre- 
quently given to soda, upon the supposition 
thatit is the natron or nitrum of the ancients. 
See Soda. Natural natron occurs either 
as an efflorescence on the surface of the 
soil, or on decomposing rocks of particular 
kinds, or on the sides and bottoms of lakes 
that become dry during the summer. In 
