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LEFT NONCONFORMISTS 477 nordenskjSld major, chief musician; chief trumpeter; foreman, coast artillery company. 6. — Sergeant; quartermaster sergeant, com- pany; staff sergeant. 7. — Corporal. Non- commissioned officers being called on to serve in more responsible position in emergencies, only the most intelligent are selected. In the United States army every year a number are enabled to obtain commissions. nonconformists, in English his- tory, those who declined to conform their worship to that by law established. They were of two kinds: First, those who, being religious, worshipped no- where; second, those who attended the services of some other religious denomi- nation than the Established Church. The name was first applied to those who declined to conform to the enactment of the Act of Uniformity of Edward VI., passed in 1549. It was revived and ap- plied to the 2,000 clergymen, who had to surrender their livings on account of their inability to conform to the more celebrated Act of Uniformity of Charles II., first enforced on Aug. 24, 1662. Ety- mologically viewed, a Dissenter and a Conformist somewhat differ. The for- mer word denotes that he feels differ- ently from Churchmen, that his sym- pathies go in a different direction; the latter word refers, not to his feelings, but to his action with respect to public worship. NORD, a department of France in the extreme N. (whence its name), corre- sponding with the former province of French Flanders, and bordering on Bel- gium and the Strait of Dover; area, 2,193 square miles; is composed of two parts, or at least contracts near the middle at Armentieres, on the Lys, to a very narrow strip. It is watered by the Scheldt and the Sambre, with their affluents, and by numerous canals. Next to that of the Seine, it is the most densely-peopled department of France. In blood the people are Flemish and Wal- loon in about equal proportions. The soil is fertile, well cultivated, and yields more abundant harvests than any other part of the country; the fisheries are pro- ductive, the mineral wealth very great, especially in coal; and for its manu- facturing industries Nord is in several respects the foremost of French depart- ments — iron, machinery, porcelain, glass and mirrors, paper, candles, soap, chemi- cals, beet-sugar, and cotton, woolen, linen, and silk cloths being all made on a large scale. It is abundantly equipped with railwasrs and navigable streams. The department possesses five fortresses of the first class and has been the scene of many great campaigns and battles. The chief town, Lille; chief port, Dunkirk, In the World War (1914-1918) the department was the scene of heavy fighting between the Allies and Germans in October and November, 1914, and in April and May, 1915. The depart- ment remained largely in German hands until October, 1918, when the Allies drove out the invaders. Pop. about 2,000,000. NORDAU, MAX SIMON, a German author; born in Pest, Hungary, July 29, 1849; followed various avocations, study- ing and practicing medicine, traveling, and writing for the press till 1880, when MAX SIMON NORDAU he went to Paris, and devoted himself to literature. He wrote a number of books, of which the best known, per- haps, in the United States is "Degen- eration" (1893). He became conspicuous in the Zionist movement. Among his other works are: "Paradoxes" (1885); "Drones Must Die" (1899) ; "The Dwarf's Spectacles" (1905) ; "The In- tegrity of History" (1911) ; "Conven- tional Lies of Civilization" (1912). During the World War he at first at- tacked the Germans and later turned against the French. NORDENSKTOLD. BARON NILS ADOLF ERIK, a Swedish Arctic ex- plorer; born in Helsingfors, Finland, Nov. 18, 1832; In 1857 he naturalized Vol. VI — Cyc — EE