Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/111

 NAB

NAP

N.

NABATH7EA filiqua, in the materia medica, a name given by the interpreters of Avifenna, and other of the Arabian phyficians, to the jembut, or aljembut, of thofe au- thors.

It appears, from the accounts they have given us of this drug, that it was a long and flender pod, produced on a thorny tree. It has been generally fuppofed to be the fame wirh the carob, or filiqua dulci^ but very erroneoufiy. The fame authors who mention this aljembut, or Nabatbaa filiqua, mention that alfo under the name of thealuabati, or Syrian filiqua, as it is inter- preted.

The Syrian filiqua, they fay, purges, and is good in colics. The J^abatbaan they recommend to us, as an aftringent in haemor- rhages. It is plainly to be inferred from this, that the Naba^ tbaa filiqua is different, in the greateft degree, from the Syrian pod, or carob fruit; and by its virtues, and the defcription they give us of the thorny tree which produces it, it feems very pro- bable that it was the pod of fome fpecies of the acacia. "What gives the greatefi: probability to this opinion is, that the fame authors have plainly, in other places, called the acacia by the common name of filiqua. Ifidore, explaining fome paf- fages of the old Roman authors on this fubjecl, fays, that the Ihrub filkon, which the Latins had improperly called filiqua, yields a fruit, the expreffed juice of which is the drug called acacia in the mops.

The Arabian authors who mention this filiqua Nahatbcea, and call it z\(ofeucbi, and charnub feuchi, defcribe the fhrub which produces it, as being prickly, and rifing but a cubit high from the ground ; and, they add, that it had crooked, or falcated pods, which contained feeds, and a pulp very much refembling theothcryJ/^wi, which is the carob. Neophytus, and others, tell us, that the pods of the acacia were called by the Greeks cerati'on, as well as thole of the carob ; and the Arabians call the acacia, alcarad, a name plainly derived from this ceraiion of the Greeks.

As therefore both the pods of the carob, or filiqua edulis, and thofe of the acacia were called by the fame names ceratia, &c. it is plain that when the authors before-mentioned defcribe two kinds of carob, or as they exprefs it ceratia, differing from one another, and pofleffmg, the one the virtues of the carob fruit, and the other of the acacia^ they mean the carob by the pur^inc fruit, and the acacia by the aftringent. NABCA, in botany, a name by which fome authors have called the tree more ufually defcribed under the name of cenoplia, or the great jujube tree. Cbabraus, p. 5 1. NABECH, in botany, the name given by the Arabian writers to the fruit of the tree fadar, which is the lotus of Diofcorides, and the acanthus of Virgil. The fruit of this, which is round, and like a cherry, only fmaller, was firft called by this name na- becb, or nabac, but afterwards the tree was alfo called by it. Seethe article Sadar. NABLUM, in Hebrew, nebel, an inftrument of mufic among the Hebrews. The Seventy, and the Vulgate, tranflate it fome- times by nablum^ and at other times by pfalterion, or lyra, or even ciibara.

The nablum was a {fringed inftrument, very near of the form of a a, which was played upon by both hands, and with a kind of bow. See Calmet's differtation concerning the in- ftruments ofmufic of the antient Hebrews, prefixed to the fe- cond volume of his commentary upon the pfalms. Calmct, Diet. Bibl. f^ADIR-il-kifne, in the Turkifh offices, the fuperintendant over

the wardrobe. Pocod's Egypt, p. 188. NjEVI (Cyd.) are excrefcences of flefh in various parts of the body, fuppofed to have been occafioned by frights, difappoint- ments, &c. of the mother, while the infant was in the womb, Thefe tumors arife in all parts of the body ; they are of all fi- gures, and of all fees, and are fomctimes of the common co- lour of the fkin, fometimes black, red, &c. Many of them, bothinfhape and colour, refemble fruits of feveral kinds, as mulberries, ftrawberries, and the like ; or animals, as mice, or . fpiders. They are to be removed, as warts, by ligature, cautery, or ex- tirpation with the knife. But if they have large veffcls near their roots, if they are irrongly fi xe d to the bone, or if they feemtohave a cancerous difpofttion, it is much beft for the turgeon to let them wholly alone ; and where they are feated in the neighbourhood of arteries, or large veins, if prefTed to extirpate them, he mould never be without cauteries, ftyptics, bandages, and other neceffary apparatus, in cafe of hemor- rhages. Heifer's Surgery, p. 323. NAGE1V1ULUS, in ichthyology, a name siven by fome of the ^erman authors to the filh called by Willughby and others, a J*?"* ° r P ik *f**rcb. It is truly a fpecies of pearch, ., and is dilhnguifhed from the common pearch, principally by Suppl. Vol. II. ' l J 7

having two long teeth on each fide of the mouth. SeepERCA, NAJAS, in botany, the name given by Linnaeus to a genus of plants called by Vaillant and Micheli fiuvialis. The cha- racters are thefe: it produces male and female flowers di- ftinct. In the male flowers, the perianthium is compofed of one leaf of a cylindric figure, and truncated at the bafc, growing fmaller at the top, and having at the mouth two oppoflte fegments which bend backwards. The flower is compofed of only one petal, and is a tube of the length of the cup ; its verge is divided into four fegments, which are rolled backwards. There are no ftamina, but the middle of the flower produces one, oblong, erect anthera. In the female flower there is no cup, nor any petal, but a piftil whofe germen is of an oval figure, and terminates in a flender ftyle;_ the ftigmata are fimple ; the fruit is an oval capfule, containing one oblong oval feed. Linmsi Gen. PI. 443. Fail/. A. G. 1 719. T. 1. T. 2. Michel. 8.

NAIL, (Cyd.) in the manege. The different pofition of the nails of the bridle, or left hand of the horfeman, gives the horfe a facility of changing hands, and forming his depar- ture, and flop ; by reafon that the motion of the bridle follows fuch a pofition of the nails. To give a horfe head, you muft turn the nails downwards. To turn the horfe to the right, you muft turn them upwards, moving your hand to the right. To change to the left you muft turn the nails down, and bear to the left. To flop the horfe you muft turn them upwards, and lift up, or raife your hand.

Nails cftbe bumanbody. Dr. Pozzi endeavours to prove, that the nails grow out of the tendons, which are fpread upon the laft phalanx of the fingers and toes. See Unguis.

NAKEDyiVi-, or leaf, among botanifts. See the articles Stalk, and Leaf.

NAKIB, in the Oriental dignities, the name of an officer who is a deputy to the cadilifkier, or, as he may be called, the lord high chancellor of Egypt, appointed by the grand fignior. Po- w^'sEgypt, p. 170.

NAKIR, a word ufed by fome medical writers to exprefs a vio- lent flatulence which paffes from one limb to another, and is alis-ays attended with pain.

NAKLOUS, an Egyptian mufical inftrument, made like two plates of brafs, and of all fizes, from two inches to a foot in diameter; they hold them by ftrings fattened to their middles, and ftrike them together fo as to beat time. Tbey are ufed in the Coptic churches, and in the Mahometan proceflions. Powers Egypt, p. 186.

NAL la appetla, in botany, a name ufed in the Hortus Malaba- ricus to exprefs an Indian fhrub, or tree, from the roots of which they obtain an oil of a gold yellow 'colour, and very a- greeable fmell, called appel oil. It is of a bitterifh and fharp tafte, and is in great eflecm among them in pains of the head. Hort. Malab.

NAMANTIA, in ichthyology, a name given by the French to the manaii, or fea cow.

NAME (Cyd.) — Generical Name. See Generical.

NAMUR marbk, a name given by our artificers to a fpecies of black marble, which is very hard, and capable of a good polifh, but has no variegations of any other colour. It is common in Italy, France, and Germany, and is the fpecies called the Lu- cullean marble by the Romans. Hill's Hilf. Foff. p. 466. Sec Luculleum marmor.

NAPELLUS (Cyd.) — This plant is poifonous in fome places, and innocent in others. Its mortal quality increafes with the heat of the climate, and goes off where that is fmall. In the fouth of France, it is a fatal po'tfon j in Bretany, they find the roots inoffenfive to the moft tender conftitutions ; and farther north, they eat the leaves among their fallad herbs, to get them an appetite, and find them a fafe and wholefome food. Defian- des Tr. Phyf.

It is faid the napdlus may be fo corrected by volatile fait of tar- tar, as to become innocent. Jtoyte's Works, Abr.Vol. [. p. 60. Dr. Hill makes the mpelius a fpecies of aconite. Hill's Nat, Hift. Vol. 2. p. 483.

NAPESCA, a name given by fome to a fpecies of jujube.

NAPHA, a name given by many of the writers in pharmacy to 1 orange-flower u ater.

, NAPHTHA, (Cyd.) in natural hiftory, the name of a genus of fluid foffils, the charafters, of which are, that they are of athiu confifience, bright and pellucid, of a ftrong fmell, very readily inflammable, and, when pure, burning away, without leaving any refiduum.

Of this genus there are only two fpecies, the one commonly known by the name of naphtha, the other by that of petroleum. The firft is a pure and clear mineral fluid, of a much thinner confiftence than any of the expreffed oils of vegetables; and A a fome-