N U M 
very able, logician, will eafily difcover that his alarm at 
the philofophy of Defcartes was really occafioned, not by 
the Icheme of nullibifm, but by the Cartefian doctrine of 
the non-extenjion of mind, which More thought i neon fiftent 
with a fundamental article in his own creed, the exigence 
of witches and apparitions. To hint at any doubt about 
either, or even to hold any opinion that feemed to weaken 
their credibility, appeared to this excellent perfon quite 
a I'ufficient proof of complete atheifm. Dugald Stewart's 
Fir/t Differ tat ion, prefixed to the Supplement of the Ency. 
Britannica. 
NUL'LIBIST, f. A holder or profefior of nullibifm. 
NULLI'ETY, /! Nullity, nothingnefs. Scott. 
NULLIFID'I AN, adj. [from the Lat. nulius, none, and 
fries, faith.] Of no honefty ; of no religion ; of no faith.— 
A folifidian Chriftian is a nulliftdinn Pagan, and confutes 
his tongue with his hand. Feltham's Re}\ 
To NUL'LIFY, v. a. To annul; to make void.—You 
will fay, that this nullifies all exhortations to piety; fince 
a man, in this cafe, cannot totally come up to the thing 
he is exhorted to. But to this I anfwer, that the confe- 
quence does not hold ; for an exhortation is not frutfrate, 
if a man be but able to come up to it partially, though 
not entirely and perfectly. South's Sermons. 
NUL'LITY, f. Want of force or efficacy.—It can be 
no part of my bufinefs to overthrow this diftindlion. and 
to fliew the nullity of it ; which has been folidly done by 
rnoft of our polemick writers. South. —The jurifdiff ion is 
opened by the party, in default of juftice from the ordi¬ 
nary, as by appeals or nullities. Ayliffe. — Want of exift- 
ence.—A hard body ftruck againfl another hard body, 
will yield an exteriour found, in fo much as, if the per- 
cufiion be over foft, it may induce a nullity of found; but 
never an interior found. Bacon's Nat. Hi ft. 
NUL'LO, f. A cipher. Phillips. 
NUL'LUA, a town of Bengal: thirty miles fouth of 
Calcutta. 
NUL'SHI, a town of Hindooftan, in Bengal: twenty 
miles north-north-weft of Puccuioe. 
NU'MA MAR'CIUS, a man made governor of Rome 
by Tullus Hoftilius. He was fon-in-law of Numa Pom- 
pilius, and father to Ancus Martius. 
NU'MA POMPIL'IUS, a celebrated philofopher, and 
fecond king of Rome. See that article. 
NUMA'GA, a river of Germany, which runs into the 
Rhine fix miles above Brifach. 
NUMAN'TIA, in ancient geography, a town in the 
interior part of Hither Spain, at one of the fources of the 
Durius. According to Strabo, it was the capital of Cei- 
tiberia. Strong both by nature and art, and by the num¬ 
ber of its inhabitants, it was built upon a hill difficult of 
accefs, and on three fides furrounded by mountains ; and 
its extent was fuch, that within its circuit they had pafture 
for their cattle. Numantia is celebrated in Roman hiftory 
for the long war which it fuftained againfl: that republic, 
and for the ferocious bravery with which it defended it- 
feif at the dole of a fiege of twenty years. It was deftroyed 
at length by Scipio Africanus, in the year of Rome 620. 
See Rome. 
NUMB, adj. [benumen, benurr.eb, Sax. This word 
was formerly written num T as Mr. H. Tooke has alfo ob- 
ferved : how, or why, or when, the b was added to it, he 
knows not. Certain it is, I may add, that Milton omitted 
the b, and, in later times, Bentley. Nay, Dr. Johnfon him- 
felt, in all the editions of his Dictionary, has given bennm, 
not benumb. The etymon which Mr. Tooke gives of this 
word, is from the Sax. niman, to nim, to takeaway. Todd.] 
Torpid ; deprived in a great meafure of the power of mo¬ 
tion and fenlation ; chill; motionlefs.—Leaning long upon 
any part maketh it numb and afleep ; for that the com- 
preftion of the part fuffereth not the fpirits to have free 
accefs ; and therefore, wheli we come out of it, we feel a 
flinging or pricking, which is the re-entrance of the 
fpirsts. Bacon's Nat. Hi/t. — Producing chilnefs; benumb¬ 
ing: 
N U M 
When we both lay in the field, 
Frozen almoft to death, how he did lap me 
Even in his garments, and did give himfelf, 
All thin and naked, to the numb cold night. Shahefpeare , 
To NUMB, v. a. To make torpid; to make dull of mo¬ 
tion or fenlation ; to deaden ; to ftupify : 
Bedlam beggars, with roaring voices, 
Strike in their numb'd and mortify’d bare arms 
Pins, wooden pricks, nails, fprigs of rofemary ; 
And, with this horrible objeCl, from low farms 
In force their charity. Shahefpeare's K. Lear. 
Nought dial! avail 
The pleafing fong, or well-repeated tale, 
When the quick fpirits their warm march forbear, 
And numbing coldnefs has unbrac’d the ear. Prior. 
She can unlock 
The clafping charm, and thaw the Humming fpell. Milton. 
NUM'BEDNESS, f. Torpor; interruption of fenfaticn. 
—If the nerve be quite divided, the pain is little, only a 
kind of ftupor or nnmbednejs. Wifeman's Surgen/. 
To NUM'BER, v. a. [nmnbrer, Fr. numero, Lat.] To 
count; to tell; to reckon how many.—If a man can num¬ 
ber the duff of the earth, then fliall thy feed alfo be num¬ 
bered. Gen. xiii. 16. 
The gold, the vett, the tripods, number'd o’er. 
All thefe he found. Pope's Odyffey. 
To reckon as one of the fame kind.—He was number'd 
with the tranfgrefiors,and bare the fin of many. I fa. liii. 12. 
NUM'BER, f. [number, old Fr. of the tenth century ; 
nombre, modern ; from numerus, Lat.] The fpecies of 
quantity by which it is computed how many; either 
unity, ora multitude of units.—There is but one gate for 
ftrangers to enter at, that it may be known what numbers 
of them are in the town. Addijbn. 
Hie thee from this flaughter-houfe, 
Left thou increafe the number of the dead. Shahefpeare. 
Any particular aggregate of units, as even or odd. —This 
is the third time; I hope good luck lies in odd numbers: 
they fay there is divinity in odd numbers, eitherin nativity, 
chance, or death. Shahefpeare's Merry Wives of Windjbr. 
Number, lays Malcolm, is either abftradf or applicate: 
abflraft, when referred to things in general without at¬ 
tending to their particular properties ; and applicate, when 
confidered as the number of a particular fort of things, as 
yards, trees, or the like. When particular things are 
mentioned, there is always fomething more confidered 
than barely their numbers ; fo that what is true of num¬ 
bers in the abflraft, or when nothing but the number of 
things is confidered, wall not he true when the queftion is 
limited to particular things ; for inftance, the number two 
is lels than three, yet two yards is a greater quantity than 
three inches ; and the reafon is, becaufe regard muft be 
had to their different natures, as well as number, when¬ 
ever things of a different fpecies are confidered ; for, 
though we can compare the number of fuch things nb- 
ftradtedly, yet we cannot compare them in any applicate 
lenle. And this difference is neceffary to be confidered, 
becaufe upon it the true fenfe, and the poflibility or i.n- 
poffibility, of fome queftions depend. 
Number is unlimited in refpedf of increafe; becaufe we 
can never conceive a number fo great but flill there is a 
greater. However, in refpeiSf of decreafe, it is limited: 
unity being the firft and leaft number, below which, there¬ 
fore, it cannot defeend. 
It is not fo certain that numeration, as that language, 
is inftindtive among mankind. Nations may learn of 
themfelves to fpeuk, and of one another to reckon. Their 
dialedls they may form, and their arithmetic they may 
communicate. In this cafe, lifts of numerals would be a 
proper bafts for tracing the progrefs of civilization, of 
commerce, and of the arts of life ; but not a proper balls 
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