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 supply unfailing. The state railway from Santiago to the southern provinces passes through Ñuble, from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and sends off a branch from Bulnes W. to Jan Tomé on the Bay of Concepción. The capital is Chillan, and the only other important town is Bulnes, a railway junction and active commercial centre. The hot baths of Chillan, in the eastern part of the province on the slope of the volcano of that name, about 7000 ft. above sea level, are very popular in Chile.

NUCERIA ALFATERNA (mod. , q.v.), an ancient town of Campania, Italy, in the valley of the Sarnus (Sarno), about 10 m. E. of the modern coast line at Torre Annunziata, and 8 m. E. of Pompeii. In the period before the Roman supremacy it appears to have been the chief town in the valley of the Sarnus, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae and Surrentum all being dependent upon it. The coins of the town bear the head of the river god. It maintained its allegiance to Rome till 309 when it joined the revolted Samnites. In 308 it repulsed a Roman attempt to land at the mouth of the Sarnus, but in 307 it was besieged and surrendered. It obtained favourable terms, and remained faithful to Rome even after Cannae. Hannibal reduced it in 216 by starvation, and destroyed and plundered the town. The inhabitants returned when peace was restored. Even during the Social War Nuceria remained true to Rome, though the dependent towns joined the revolt; after it they were formed into independent communities, and Nuceria received the territory of Stabiae, which had been destroyed by Sulla in 89, as a compensation. In 73 it was plundered by Spartacus. Of the buildings of the ancient city nothing at all is to be seen; but on the hillsides on the S. are remains of villas of the Roman period, and here tombs have been found.

 NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit), the central portion of things, round which other parts of the same thing or other things collect together. The term is particularly applied to the central mass of protoplasm in a plant or animal cell (see ).

NUER, a Nilotic negro people of the upper Nile, dwelling in the swampy plains south of Fashoda and at the Bahr-el-Ghazal confluence, and having for neighbours the Dinka, whom they resemble. They are long-legged and flat-footed, and live, like the aquatic birds, on fish, roots and river plants. They tattoo tribal marks on the forehead, and the women pierce the upper lips. A few Nuer families live on the floating islets of grass and reeds brought down by the river in flood.

NUEVA SAN SALVADOR, or, the capital of the department of La Libertad, Salvador; on the railway between San Salvador (10 m. N.) and the Pacific port of La Libertad. Pop. (1905) about 18,000. The town was founded in 1854, and intended to replace the capital, San Salvador, which was ruined by an earthquake in that year but soon afterwards rebuilt. Nueva San Salvador is an attractive town with a large and growing trade.

NUEVO LEÓN, a northern state of Mexico, bounded N., E. and S.E. by Tamaulipas, S. and S.W. by San Luis Potosi and W. and N. by Coahuila. Pop. (1900) 327,937; area 23,592 sq. m. Nuevo León lies partly upon the great Mexican plateau and partly upon its eastern slopes, the Sierra Madre Oriental crossing the state N.W. to S.E. A branch of the Sierra Madre extends northward from the vicinity of Salinas, but its elevations are low. The average elevation of the Sierra Madre Within the state is slightly under 5500 ft. The general character of the surface is mountainous, though the western and south-western sides are level and dry as in the adjoining state of Coahuila. In the N. the general elevation is low, the surface sandy and covered with cactus and mesquite growth, and hot, semi-arid conditions prevail. The eastern slopes receive more rain and are well clothed with vegetation, but the lower valleys are subtropical in character and are largely devoted to sugar production. The higher elevations have a dry, temperate, healthful climate. There are many rivers and streams, notably the Salado, Pesqueria and Presas, but none is navigable within the state, though many furnish good water power. Agriculture is the principal industry, the chief products being sugar, barley, Indian corn and wheat. Rum is a by-product of the sugar, industry, and “mescal” is distilled from the agave. The gathering and preparation of “ixtle” fibres from the agave and yucca forms another important industry, the fibre being sent to Tampico for export. Stock-raising receives considerable attention; there are about a score of large cattle ranges, and there is a considerable export of live cattle to Texas and to various Mexican States. Considerable progress has been made in manufacturing industries, and there are a large number of sugar-mills, cotton factories, woollen mills, smelting works and iron and steel works. The state is well served with railways, the capital, Monterrey, being one of the most important railway centres in northern Mexico. The Mexican National line crosses the northern half of the state and has constructed a branch from Monterrey to Matamoros, and a Belgian line (F. C. de Monterrey al Golfo Mexicano) runs from Tampico N.N.W. to Monterrey, and thence westward to Trevino (formerly Venadito) in Coahuila, a station on the Mexican International. The other principal towns are: Linares, or San Felipe de Linares (pop. 20,690 in 1900), 112 m. by rail S.E. of the capital in a rich agricultural region; Lampazos, or Lampazos de Naranjo (7704), 96 m. by rail N.W. of the capital; Cadereyta Jiminez, Garcia, Santiago and Doctor Arroyo, the last in the extreme southern part of the state.

NUGENT, ROBERT NUGENT, (1702–1788), Irish politician and poet, son of Michael Nugent, was born at Carlanstown, Co. Westmeath. He was tersely described by Richard Glover as “a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left popery for the Protestant religion, money and widows.” His change of religion took place at a very early period in life; he married in 1736 Anna (d. 1756), daughter of James Craggs, the secretary of state, a lady who had already been twice given in marriage. His wife’s property comprised the borough of St Mawes in Cornwall, and Nugent sat for that constituency from 1741 to 1754, after which date he represented Bristol until 1774, when he returned to St Mawes. He was a lord of the treasury from 1754 to 1759 and president of the board of trade from 1766 to 1768. He married in 1757 Elizabeth, dowager-countess of Berkeley, who brought him a large fortune. His support of the ministry was so useful that he was created in 1767 Viscount Clare, and in 1776 Earl Nugent, both Irish peerages. He died on the 13th of October 1788. Lord Nugent was the author of some poetical productions, several of which are preserved in the second volume of Dodsley’s Collections (1748). The earldom descended by special remainder to the earl’s son-in-law, George Nugent Temple Grenville, marquess of Buckingham, and so to his successors, the dukes of Buckingham and Chandos.

 NUISANCE (through Fr. noisance, nuisance, from Lat. nocere, to hurt), that which gives offence or causes annoyance, trouble or injury. In English law nuisance is either public or private. A public or common nuisance is defined by Sir J. F. Stephen as “an act not warranted by law, or an omission to discharge a legal duty, which act or omission obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage 'to the public in the exercise of rights common to all His Majesty’s subjects” (Digest of the Criminal Law, p. 120). A common nuisance is punishable as a misdemeanour at common law, where no special provision is made by statute. In modern times many of the old common law nuisances have been the subject of legislation. It is no defence for a master or employer that a nuisance is caused by the acts of his servants, if such acts are within the scope of their employment, even though such acts are done without his knowledge and contrary to his orders. Nor is it a defence that the nuisance has been in existence for a great length of time, for no lapse of time will legitimate a public nuisance.

A private nuisance is an act or omission which causes inconvenience or damage to a private person, and is left to be redressed by action. There must be some sensible diminution of these rights affecting the value or convenience of the property. “The real question in all the cases is the question of fact, whether the annoyance is such as materially to interfere with the ordinary comfort of human existence” (Lord Romilly in Crump v.