K E ft 
Ins. parents were notorious for their vices ; and the father 
was fo confcious of his own and his wife’s deteftable dif- 
pofitions, that he affirmed, at his Ton’s birth, that nothing 
couid fpring'from himfelfand Agrippina but fome mon- 
■fter, born for the public calamity. That this prophecy 
was fulfilled, we (hall have abundant occafion to (how 
under the article Rome. 
The Neros were of the Claudian family, which, dur¬ 
ing the republican times of Rome, was honoured with 
twenty-eight confulftiips, five didtatorflups, fix triumphs, 
feven cenforftiips, and two ovations. They affumed the 
furname of Nero, which, in the language of the Sabines, 
signifies “ ftrong and warlike.” 
NER'OLY, f. A kind of odoriferous efience, drawn 
from the orange-flower. AJh. 
NE'RON, or Neron'du, a town of France, in the de¬ 
partment of the Rhone and Loire: twenty-four miles 
weft of Lyons, and fifteen north-north-eaft of Montbri- 
fon. Lat. 45. 50. N. Ion. 4. 19. E. 
NERON'DOS, a town of France, in the department of 
the Cher : feventeen miles eaft-fouth-eaft of Bourges, and 
ten north of-Sancoins. 
NERO'NIA, a name given to Artaxata by Tiridates, 
who had been reftored to his kingdom by Nero, whofe fa¬ 
vours he acknowledged, by calling the capital of his do¬ 
minions after the name of his benefaftor. 
NER'PIS, a town of Sweden, in Eaft Bothnia : ten 
miles north of Chriftianftadt. 
NER'STEIN, a town of France, in the department of 
Mont Tonnerre : one mile north of Oppenheim. 
NER'STIN, a town of the duchy of Courland: eigh¬ 
teen miles fouth-fouth-weft of Seelburg. 
NERT'CHA, a river of Ruflia, which runs into the 
Arooor near Nertchinfk. 
NERTCHIN'SK, a town of Ruflia, in the government 
of Irkutlk, on the Nertcha, near its union with the Amoor, 
built in the year 1658, on the borders of China. On the 
fort, which was the firft beginning of the towm, are 
thirty-two brafs guns, and one of iron. The town, be- 
fides fome public edifices, contains about a hundred and 
fifty houfes, mod of which are very meanly built. The 
Chinefe caravans formerly pafled through this place, but 
now they take another road. However, the Ruffian en¬ 
voys are received, and handfomely entertained by the 
Chinefe ; and the like compliment is paid to thofe of 
China, by the Ruffians, in this town. A treaty of peace 
■was concluded at Nertchinfk, between Ruflia and China,, 
in the year 1689. This town feems to derive its name 
from the two fmall rivers, called Nertcha and Shinke, be¬ 
tween which it lies. The adjacent country is indeed 
very mountainous, but yields excellent pafture for cattle. 
Lat. 51.12. N. Ion. 116.44. E. 
NERTCHIN'SKOI MOUNTAINS, otherwife called 
the Mountains of Daouria, mountains of Ruflia, which 
extend from the Baikal and the fources of the Selenga 
and the Amoor, down the two (ides of thefe rivers ; on 
the one fide as far as where the Argoon falls into the 
Amoor, and on the other fide up to the heads of the 
Niufa and the Oldekon, where it annexes itfelf to the 
fpurious range of Okhotz, or Krebet Stanovi. It con- 
fequently includes the whole fpace between the Selenga 
and the Argoon, takes the fame direftion with the courfe 
of the Amoor and the Ingoda from weft to north-eaft, and 
runs down to us from the Mongoley under the name of 
Yablonoi Krehet , or Apple Mountain. It has its greateft 
elevations about the origin of the Amoor and the Ingoda, 
where it confifts of very rugged granite tops, high and 
fteep. Between the courfe of the Ingoda and the fources 
of the Khilok and Vitim it is much fmaller, notwithftand- 
ing which it feems to ftand very high. It here forms a 
ridge, partly uniform in its progrefs, woody, and well- 
watered, and confifts for the moft part of pure crumbled 
granite. 
The part of this range inclofed by the Amoor and Ar¬ 
goon is properly called the Nertchinlkoi chain of ore- 
Vol. XVI. No. 1150. 
N E 11 TM 
mountains, and is found to be the richeft in minerals of 
any of the mountains hitherto explored in thefe regions 
It produces beautiful kinds of granite, porphyry, jafper, 
a great quantity of chalcedonies, carnelians, onyx, agate, 
hornftone, large fmoky topazes, aqua-marine, hyacinth, 
and topaz-coloured fchorl, genuine topaz and beryl; gra¬ 
nites, fine feldfpar, glandules. Terpentine, albeftus, ne* 
phrites, chalk-ftone, flate, gypfum, excellent river lpar ; 
falt-lakes, vitriol-pyrites, alujn-ore, native fulphur, coals, 
warm fprings ; zinc, iron, and a remarkable quantity of 
lead-ore, containing filver and gold, of which, (ince the 
commencement of the laft century, a great many mines 
have been opened, and of which leveral are (till in full 
work. Thefe regions alfo prefent numerous forefts. The 
trees are Pinus lylveftris, larch, birch, firs, cedars, &c. 
The principal rivers here are the Selenga, tire Khilok, the 
Vitim, the Olekma, the Karenga, the Niufa, the Olekon, 
the Onon, the Indoga, the Amoor, the Argoon, See. Sec. 
Toohe's View of the Ruff. Emp. 
NERTE'RIA, J'. [frbtn nglegot, Gr. inferior, or lowly; 
in allufion to the humble and proftrate growth of the 
plant.] In botany, a genus of the clafs tetrandria, order 
digynia. Generic characters — Calyx: a fuperior, very 
fmall, undivided rim. Corolla: one-petalled, funnel- 
form, fuperior; tube fliort, enlarging gradually; border 
four-cleft, with ffiarp fegments bent back and Ihorter than 
the tube. Stamina : filaments four, equal, inferted into 
the bafe of the corolla, filiform ; anther® oblong, two- 
lobed, ereCt. Piftilium : germen inferior, oval, fomewhat 
compreffed, even ; ftyles two, filiform, (lightly connate at 
the bafe, fmooth; ftigmas acute, reflex, divaricating. Pe- 
ricarpium : berry globular, umbilicate at top, with a very 
fmall round fear, two-celled. Seeds : folitary, roundilh, 
acuminate at the bafe, flat on one fide, convex on the 
other.— Effential Character. Corolla funnel-form, four- 
cleft, fuperior ; berry two-celled ; feeds folitary. 
Nerteria deprefla, a fingle fpecies. Root fibrous, an¬ 
nual. Stems herbaceous, procumbent, rooting at the 
joints, branched, leafy, filiform, fomewhat angular, fmooth. 
Branchlets axillary, oppofite, ereft, one-flowered, ffiort. 
Leaves oppofite, petioled, orbiculate-cordate, bluntilh, 
quite entire, even ; ftem-leaves fpreading, branch-leaves 
ereCt-apprefl’ed.- Flowers folitary at the ends of the branch- 
lets, feffile, pale. Bradtes two, oppofite, acute, very fmall; 
berry fucculent, very fmooth, red, the fize of a pea. 
Found by Mutis very frequently in wet marfhy places of 
New Granada. It is alfo a native of New Zealand. See 
Manettia. 
NER'VAL, adj. In anatomy, belonging to the bones 
of the hinder part of the head. AJh. 
NERVA'TION, f. [from nerve.~\ The act of joining 
firmly together, as by nerves and finews. Bailey. 
NERVE, J'. \_nervus, Lat. nerf, Fr.] The organs of fen- 
fation paffing from the brain to all parts of the body.—The 
nerves do ordinarily accompany the arteries through all 
the body; they have alfo blood-veflels, as the other 
parts of the body. Wherever any nerve fends out a 
branch, or receives one from another, or where two nerves 
join together, there is generally a ganglio or plexus. Quincy . 
See the article Anatomy, vol. i. p.527, 31, 95; 633,7. 
What man dare, I dare : 
Approach thou like the rugged Ruffian bear ; 
Take any fliape but that, and my firm nerves 
Shall never tremble. Shaltefpeare's Macbeth. 
It is ufed by the poets for finew or tendon : 
Strong Tharyfmed difeharg’d a fpeeding blow 
Full on his neck, and cut the nerves in two. Pope's Oilyff. 
Force; ftrength.—The nerve and emphafis of the verb 
will lie in the prepofition. Ahp. Sancroft's Sermons. 
To NERVE, v. a. To ftrengthen.- -Tremendous god- 
defs, nerve this lifted-arm ! Aaron Hill. 
NER'VELESS, adj. Without ftrength.—The weftern 
eloquence, in its turn, appeared nervelcfs and effeminate, 
9 A frigid 
