Page:Cyclopaedia, Chambers - Supplement, Volume 2.djvu/132

 N U C

NUN

If this earthy matte? be of a vegetable nature, it will re- main fufpended in the water by means of its Hghtnefs, and will by degrees acquire a green colour, and this will be- come every day more and more green, as it acquires more and more matter to it. This colour is not to be wondered at, fince we find how very great a fhare of it is deftined to appear of the fame colour in plants.

"When the water fuflains a large quantity of mineral, or fparry matter, this forms its concretions in the fame man- ner as the vegetable; and being heavier than this light ve- getable earth, it fubfides to the bottom, and fometimes not alone, but entangling its particles among thofe of the ve- getable kind, it carries them down along with it. It is pal- pable from thefe, and from a great number of other the like obfervations, that water of whatever kind does iuftain in it the matter of earth, fuch as is neceffary for the en- creafe and nmtrijhment of vegetables ; and it appears very eonfonmt to reafon, that, in pafHng through the feveral fmall vefTels of the plants into which it is received, it de- pofites, and leaves behind it, this earth arranged into a pro- per form. This the ingenious Dr. Woodward has proved by the experiments of plants growing in glalTes of water an accurate lift of each of which is given at large in the tranfaction referred to in this article.

NOVUS auris mufculus, in anatomy, a name given by Fabrl cius to the mufcle calied by Albinus laxator tympani, and by others externum auris^ and exterior.

NUAYHAS, the ague tree, a name given by the Indians to a fort of bamboe cane, the leaves of which falling into the water, are faid to impregnate it with fuch virtue that the bathing in it afterwards will cure the ague. They ufe alfo a deco£tion of the leaves to diflblve coagu- lated blood, giving it internally, and, at the fame time, : rubbing the bruifed part externally with it. It is faid that this plant bears its flowers only once in its life ; that it lives fixty years before thefe appear, but that when they begin to fliew themfelves, it dies away in about a month afterwards, that is, as foon as it has ripened the feed. There feems fomething of fiction in the account of many other particulars of this tree, in the hortus Malabar icus, but it feems certain that the length of the ftalks, or trunk, mull be very great; for, in the gallery of Leyden, there is preferred a cane of it of twenty-eight foot long, and an- -other but little fhoiter in the Alhmolaean mufaeum at Ox- ford, which is more than eight inches in diameter ; yet both thefe appear to be only parts of the whole trunk, they being nearly as large at one end as at the other.

NUBA, a word ufed by Ibme writers to exprefs a peculiar fort of manna, or honey-dew, of a rofe-colour. Some chemifts alfo ufe it as a name for copper.

NUBECULA, a name ufed by fome authors for the diftem- perature in the eye called albugo, and leucoma, by mod wri- ters, being fpots in the cornea of the eye. Heifer's Surgery, p. 421. See Albugo.

NUBELOSA tinea, a term ufed by the Latin writers on he- raldry, to exprefs a fort of clouded line in certain coats of arms. Our heralds call it mink, and the French nuance. Id is figured fo as to reprefent clouds at the edge, and was given to the firft of the families who bear it, as a token of their flail in aftronomy and navigation.

NUBES, in natural hifloiy, a word ufed by the antients to ex- prefs that whitifh foulnefs which we frequently fee in the bot- tom of the fineft columns of cryftal ; we exprefs this by the fame word cloud.

The columnar emeralds are fubje& to the fame fort of foul- nefs at their bottom, and this part was called the root of the emerald properly enough, as it was that end of the co- lumn where it grew to the {tone ; but the word root of emerald has been fince applied to feveral very different fubftances of a green colour, and fome degree of tranf- parence.

NUBIGENUM as, a term ufed by fome hiftorians to fignify copper generated in the clouds, and falling from thence with rain, or in ftorms. They talk alfo of iron, and of ftones pro- duced the fame way, and call them ferrum nubigenum, and la- fides nubigeni.

Many of the German hiftorians mention the falling of iron in duft, and in large pieces ; and Avifenna tells us fuch things of Italy. Julius Scaliger fays that he had by him a piece of iron which came down in rain in Savoy ; and Cardan tells us of twelve hundred ftones falling from heaven, one of which was of an hundred and twenty pound weight, and others thirty or forty pounds apiece ; they were all, he fays, of the colour of iron. Dr. Lifter is for fuppofing them to be genuine py- ritx, which, he fays, is foluble into vapour, and thus raifed into the air may there concrete again into its own form, or that copper and iron may concrete from it. Phil. Tranf. N,° 156. See pratematural R a ins.

NUCIFRAGA, in zoology, a name given by many to the csccotbraujhs, or grofi beak, from its breaking nuts, and the ftones of fruits. See Coccothraustes.

NUCULA terreftrh, in botany, a name given by fome to the bulbscajlanuni. See Bulbocastanum.

NUDIPEDALIA, among the antients, a feftival in which all were obliged to walk bare-footed.

This was done on account of fome public calamity, as the plague, famine, an intenfe drought, and the like. It was likewife ufual for the Roman matrons, when any fup- plication and vows were to be made to the goddefs Vefta, to walk in proceffion to her temple bare-footed. Pitifc. hex. Ant. in voc.

NUFAR, in botany, the name of the zuater-lilly. This was the original name, and was firft ufed by the Arabians; from them the Greeks borrowed it, and varioufly changed it. The Arabians themfelves added the prefix nil to it, to exprefs one particular kind of water-Idly of /Egypt ; this they called nil nufar, or, for a fofter way of fpeaking, mm/or, and tie- nufar.

The Greeks borrowed this word, and wrote it firft mmifari- u?n, and afterwards, for fhortnefs, nupharium. The after- writers tranfpofed the letters, and made out of it, nilufar, linufar, a word wholly unintelligible, but by their tracing it back to its original. See Nilufar.

NUHAR, a name ufed by fome chemical writers for copper. ■

NUMERAL (Cyc!.)— Numeral figures. The antiquity of thefe in England has been fuppofed as high as the eleventh cen- tury, from an antient date found at Colchefter, at firft thought to exprefs 1090; the figure in the place of hundreds being taken for a cypher, by not attending to the infuie ftrokes, which were pretty near defaced ; but upon a more accurate view that miftake was difcovered, and the date found to be 1490. See Phil. Tranf N J 439 and 47 ^.

NUMELLA, among the Romans, an engine of wood ufed in punifhing offenders, whofe necks and feet were made faft in it. Pitifc. Lex. Ant in voc.

Numella was likewife ufed to denote a rope or cord made of raw ox-hides to bind beafts with. Pitifc. in voc.

NUMENIA, tJapwa, or Ntoppn, in antiquity, a feftival ob- ferved at the beginning of every lunar month, in honour of all the gods, but efpeciaily Apollo, who was called Hupm*, be- caufe the fun is the author of all lights ; for whatever diftinc- tion of times and feafons may be taken from other planets, yet they are all owing to him, as the original and fountain of all thofe borrowed rays, which the reft have only by partici- pation from him. For the ceremonies of this folemnity, fee Potter, Archaeol. T. r. p. 416.

NUMENIAST^E, N^wotf«i a among the antients, a defignatlon given to thofe who kept a feftival on every new moon. See the article Numenia.

NUMENIUS, in the Linnsean fyftem of zoology, the name of a diftin£t genus of birds, of the order of the fcokpaces. The diftingui thing characters of this genus are, that the feet have each four toes, and the beak is longer than the toes. Linnai Syft. Nat. p. 47.

Numenius is alfo a name ufed by many authors for thecurlew, a bird more ufually known by the name of arquata. See the article Arquata.

Numenius Jndicus, the Indian curlew, the name given byCIu- fius to theguara of the Brazilians, a very beautiful large bird, of the nature of the curlew, but of the fize of the platea or fpoonbill. -Ra/fOrnithol. p. 219. See Guara.

NUMIDICA avis, in zoology, a name given by many to the common turkey.

NUMIDICUM mamtor, in the natural hlftory of the antients, the name of a peculiar fpecies of marble, which was of no great beauty, but fingular in its remarkable hardnefs, and ca- pable of a very elegant polifti.

It feems to have been one of the firft marbles the Romans brought into ufe in pavements. It is a very firm, hard and ftrongkind, of a clofe texture, and in colour of a pale afh- coloured blue. It is found in Italy, Spain, France and Ger- many, but no where fo plentifully as in the laft country. It is a very durable and ftrong kind ; but its want of variety in colour, makes it but little efteemed. Hill's Hift. ofFofT p. 465.

NUMMULARIUS, among the Romans, was ufed to fignify a banker, or perfun who deals in money.

It likewife denoted an afTaycr, or one who eftimated the good- nefs and value of money, as to its weight and finenefs of me- tal. Pitifc. Lex. Ant. in voc.

NUN (Cyc/.) — Nun, in zoology, the common Englifh name for the pants ceeruleus, or blue titmoufe, diftinguiifiied from the common titmoufe by its fmallnefs, and by its having a blue head, furrounded by a white line. May's Ornithol. p. 176. See Par us.

Nun is alfo the name of a peculiar fpecies of pigeon, called by Moore the columba vejlalis. Jt is but a fmall pigeon, but fomething larger than the jacobine, and has a very particular plumage, from which it has taken its name, its head being as it were covered with a veil.

The body of this fpecies is all white, the head, tail, and fix of the flight feathers black, red or yellow ; the em are pearl- coloured, and the hood white : this is a large tuft of feathers on the hinder part of the head, and the more numerous they are, the more the bird is efteemed.

This is a very beautiful fpecies of pigeon, and is very much efteemed. Some of its feathers, however, will vary fome- times