Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/123

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fire, the whole quantity of milky juice they contained was driven out at all the pores, and drying in an inftant, flood in round globules, like fo many pearls, till wholly confirmed by the heat.

It is poffible that the obferving this creature to have a power of throwing out rhefe juices, and covering itfelf at pleafure with wet, might give rife to the imaginary pro- perty of its fubfifting by the fame means unhurt in the fire. This trial being made, the next was to be certainly deter- mined whether the creature were poifonous, or not. This Mr. Maupertuis propofed to try two ways ; the firft by mak- ing the creature bite fome animal ; the other by making fome other creature eat the newt. But thefe experiments were attended with more difficulties than might have been imagin- ed, for it was neither eafy to make it bite any thing, nor to make any creature eat it. No provocation could make the newt bite, and when its jaws were opened by force, its teeth were found fo fmall, and fo placed, that they ieemed rather in- tended to faw, or cut things to pieces, than to bite with ; and when a chicken was brought to be bit, and the feathers re- moved from the part, the jaws had no force to make the teeth penetrate, and, when prefied together, the teeth rather broke, or were put out of their places, than entered the ani- mal, fo that it was necefTary to take off the fkin, and the chicken then received feveral wounds, by forcibly prefijng the jaws of the newt, together with parts of the raw fiefh between : after this the lips, and tongue, of a dog, and the tongue of a turkey, were bitten in the fame manner by other newts. The animals were letloofe, and not one of them received the leaft injury from the bite.

The following trial was made, whether the flefli of the crea- ture, or its milky juice were poifonous, when received into the ftomach. Several animals were kept hungry a confider- able time, on purpofe to make them eat the animal, but none of them would touch it, fo well has nature defended this little creature by the acrid juice under its fkin, of which other ani- mals are warned, as by bftin-ft, and rcfufe to fvvallow fo dif- agreeable a repaft. A dog was at length compelled to fwal- low a newt cut into feveral pieces, while alive, and a turkey was forced to fwallow, in like manner, a fmall one. The dog's mouth was tied up for half an hour, and half an hour after they were untied, he vomited up the tail and the feet of the animal, and received no injury ; nor did the turkey which fwallowed the young one. After this, pieces of bread were foaked in the milky juice alone, and chickens were made to fwallow them, and wounds inflicted with weapons dipt in the fame juice, but no harm ever enfued to the creature from ei- ther.

From all thefe tryals, it appears very evident, that the ftories of this creature's being poifonous, are as idle, and groundlefs, as thofe of its living in the fire.

One thing remarkable this gentleman obferved in his direc- tions of the animal, which was, that he found in ieveral of the females, at once clutters of eggs, and living young ones. The eggs formed duffers refembling thofe of the ovaries of birds, and the young ones were contained in two tubes, or long pipes, the coats of which were perfectly tranfparent, and the young ones were cafily diflinguiflied through them, and there were counted in one female fifty-four of thefe, all living and vigo- rous. Mem. Acad. Par. 1727. NEXI, among the Romans, perfons free-born, who, for debt, were delivered bound to their creditor, and obliged to ferve him, till they could pay the debt. Hofm. Lex. in voc. NEXT/a&r, among miners, is he that hath the next meer in pofleffion. He -gbton's compl. Miner in the Explau. of the Terms. NHAMBUGUACU, in botany, a name of the great American

nanus, or palma ChrljH. Marggr. p. 77. Pijo, p. j8o. NHAMDIA, in zoology, the name of a fifh caught in the rivers of many parts of America, and of a fine tafte. It is of the an- guilliform kind, and has a long and fat body, becoming fmallcr toward the tail j its belly is foft; its head fiat ; and its mouth of a parabolic figure, and armed with fmall teeth. It is ufual- ly of about eight or ten inches long; its eyes are fmall and prominent; and it has a beard compofed of fix filaments, four placed below, and two above ; the laft are much longer and thicker than the other four, and have a long forrow behind each. It has feven fins bcfide the tail ; one of the back fins is thorny ; the reft are covered with the common fkin of the body, which is foft, and free from fcales. Its tail is forked, and its head is covered with a ftrong fheilv coat ; this is of a duiky brown. Its back and fides are of a bluifh grey ; the larger back fin is of the fame colour ; al! the reft are'black ; and, on each fide, there is a red Sine reaching lengthways from the gills to the tail. TVillughbyh Hift. Pifc. p. 140. A'HANDIROBA, in botany, a name given by Plumier to a ge- mis of plants, the fame with the fmUea of Linnsus. Plumier,

m^SIttS^' 2 t Sce the article * EVJ 1 LEA -

NHANDUAPOA, the name of a BrafiUan bird, called alfo > tiruguam, but more frequently known by its Dutch name/a/r- vogel. bee Scurvogel.

NHANDUGUACU. in zoology, the name of a Brafilian bird ot the emeu or cafibwary kind, but fmaller than the common, Suppi.. Vol. II,

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or African caflbwary. Its body is confiderably large ; its neck long and ftrong; its legs very long and thick ; its wines ex- tremely ihort, and unfit for flying, but affi ft.ng it in running ; its feathers are grey, and, on the back, are confiderably long. It commonly carries its neck bent like a fwan ; its head is fhaped like that of a goofe ; its back feathers cover the rump, and make a fort of tail; it runs as fwift as a greyhound, and feeds on flefli and fruits. Margrave's Hift. rjraf.

NHAQUUNDA, in zoology, the name of a fmall fifti caught in the American rivers. Its body is oblong, and every where nearly of the fame thicknefs ; its head and mouth are like thofe of the pike ; and its ufual length is about four inches. It can extend its upper lip, and round the opening of its mouth. It has no regular teeth, but its jaws are rough like a file. It has two fins at the gills, two on the belly, one long one on the back, but not reaching from head to tail, and one fliort, and almoft fquare one, behind tire anus. Its tail is covered with a hard fheliy cruft ; its body is covered with moderately large fcales ; and its back and fides are of a filvery grey ; its belly white It has on each fide a fingle row of round black fpots, of the bignefs of a pea, and among thefe a number of fmall blue ones. The fins alfo are all variegated with blue fpots, and it has a long ftreak reaching from the gills almoft to the tail, and under the end of that another fliort one which runs into the fubftance of the tail ; thefe are both raifed above the Airfare of the reft of the body, and are of a fine gold colour. _ It .is a very well tafted fifli. Marggrave's Hift. Braf.

NICETERIA Mimas, N,«»1« {l0, At™,, i„ antiquity, an Athenian folemnityin memory of Minerva's vidtoryo'.er Neptune, when they contended which of them fliould have the honour of giv- ing a name to the city afterwards called Athens. Potter, Ar- ch;eol. T. I. p. 416.

NICHIL' ANIS I'M, in church hiftory, heretics who maintained that Chrift had no being. Hofm. Lex. in voc.

NICOL, in natural hiftory, a word ufed by the miners in Ger- many to exprefs a grecniih cruft, covering feveral of the fpe- cies of marcafites and cobalt ; it emits fumes that fmell of gar- lick in the calcination, and is very injurious to the workmen, caufing contractions of their limbs, and other diforders. It is fometimes found in manes alone, but that more rarely.

NICO VIIA, in natural hiftory, a name given by fome to a ftone called by others chert and ubern. It is of a greyifll, horny con- stitution, and has veins of red on it. It is very hard and femi- pellucid, much refembling the common agates, and it wives fire readily with fteel. It lies in ftrata in Yorkfhire, and many other parts of England : thefe ftrata are about three foot thick, and run a raft way among the rocks. It ufually lies amoiin- lime ftone, and is not regular in colour, being fometimes of a dufky or blackifh hue, like the common flint. It is fo hard that no common tool will touch it, and it breaks irregularly, and without any grain, in the manner of the common flint. IVoodiv. Cat. Foil*. Vol. 1. p. 22. Sec Chert.

NICOTIANA, tobacco, in botany, the name of a genus ot I plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of tile infundibuli form kind, confifting of one leaf divided into feveral fegments at the edges ; the piftill arifes from the cup, ! and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hinder part of the flower; this afterwards becomes a membranaceous fruit, of a roundifh or oblong figure, divided by an intermediate membrane into two cells, which contain a large number of feeds fixed to a placenta. Town. Inft. p. 117. The fpecies of tobacco enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe : 1. The great, broad-leaved tobacco, 2. The great, narrow-leaved tobacco. 3. The great broad, and round-leaved tobacco. J. The Imall tobacco, called priapcia by fome writers. 5. The white-flowered, thorny, tree tobacco.

NIDDUI, in the Jewiih cuftoms, is ufed to fignify, feparated, or excommunicated. This, according to fome, was to be under- ftood of the lellcr fort of excommunication in ufe among the Hebrews. He that had incurred it was to withdraw himfelf from his relations, at leaft to the diftance of four cubits : it commonly continued a month. If it was not taken oft' in that time, it might be prolonged for fixty, or even ninety, days. But if, within this term, the excommunicated perfondid not give fatisfaction, he fell into the cherem, which was a fecond fort of excommunication ;. and thence into the third fort called fcamwatha, the moft terrible of all. Calwet Diet. Bibl. in voc.

NIDUS avis, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is of the polype- talous, anomalous kind, and is compofed of fix difiimilar leaves, the five upper of which are fo difpofed, as, in fome meafureto refemble an helmet ; the lower one is headed, and bifid at the end. The cup finally becomes a feed veffel, con- taining feeds of a very remarkable fmallnefs, and appearing only as duft. The roots are fibrous, and fo interwoven together as to refemble a bird's neft.

There is only one known fpecies of this genus, which is the plant called by many orchis abortiva fuj'ca, the brown, abortive orchis. %aurn. Inir. p. 137.

NIEKE conncl, in the language cf'the Ceylonefe, the name of a fpecies of cinnamon. The tree which produces it re- ferable* the nieki, another tree very common there. This is D d ' a