Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 17.djvu/374

Rh 360 N E T N E U Wire-netting, which is in extensive demand for garden use, poultry coops, and numerous like purposes, is also a twisted struc ture made principally by machine power. The chief centre of wire-net making is Warringtou in Lancashire. (J. PA.) NETHERLANDS, KINGDOM OF THE. See HOLLAND. NETSCHER, GASPAR (1639-1684), portrait and genre painter, was born at Heidelberg in 1639. His father died when lie was two years of age, and his mother, fleeing from the dangers of a civil war, carried him to Arnheim, where he was adopted and educated by a benevolent physician named Tullekens. At first he was destined for the profession of his patron, but his great aptitude for painting soon caused the plan of his future career to be altered. He was placed under an artist named De Koster, and, having also studied under Terburg, he set out for Italy to complete his education there. Marrying, how ever, at Lie ge, he proceeded no farther. He settled at Bordeaux, and toiled hard to earn a livelihood by painting fancy subjects. But those small cabinet pictures which are now so highly valued on account of their exquisite finish brought but a small remuneration ; and, after re moving to the Hague, he turned his attention to portrait- painting. In this branch of his art he was more successful. He was patronized by William III., and his earnings soon became so considerable that he was enabled at times to gratify his own taste and fancy by depicting musical and conversational pieces. It was in these that Netscher s genius was first fully displayed. The choice of these subjects, and the habit of introducing female figures, dressed in rich, glossy satins, were imitated from Terburg ; they possess easy yet delicate pencilling, brilliant and correct colouring, and pleasing light and shade ; but fre quently their refinement passes into weakness, and they err through over-finish. The painter soon attracted notice, and was rapidly gaining both fame and wealth, when he was cut off in 1684 at the premature age of forty-five. The paintings of Netscher are rare. The most extensive col lection of them, numbering eight subjects, is at Dresden ; and examples may be studied in the Louvre, in the galleries of Florence, the Hague, Cassel, Copenhagen, and St Petersburg, in the London National Gallery, and in the Bridgewater, Ashburton, and Apsley House collections. The style of Netscher was imitated by his two sons Theodore and Constantine ; but these, though meritorious painters, were far inferior to their father. NETTLE is the vernacular equivalent of the Latin Urtica, which again gives its name to the Urticacese. The species of Urtica are herbs covered with stinging hairs, and with unisexual flowers on the same or on different plants. The male flowers consist of a perianth of four greenish seg ments enclosing as many stamens, which latter, when freed from the restraint exercised upon them by the perianth- segments while still in the bud, suddenly uncoil themselves, and in so doing liberate the pollen. The female perianth is similar, but encloses only a single seed-vessel with a solitary seed. The stinging hairs consist, at the base, of a bulbous reservoir filled with acrid fluid, and prolonged into a long slender tube, the extremity of which is finely pointed. By means of this point the hair penetrates the skin and discharges its irritant contents beneath the surface. Some tropical species of Urtica produce a fluid of such potency that the most serious consequences ensue from coming into contact with the plant. Nettle tops, or the very young shoots of the nettle, may be used as a vegetable like spinach ; but from the abundance of crystals (cystolithes) they contain they are apt to be gritty, though esteemed for their antiscorbutic properties. The fibre furnished by the stems of several species is, however, of more economic importance, being used for the purpose of cordage or paper-making. Three species of nettle are wild in the British Isles, although from their general presence in the neighbourhood of houses, or in spots where house refuse is deposited, it has been suggested that they are not really natives, a supposition that to some extent receives countenance from the circumstance that the young shoots are very sensitive to frost. In any case they follow man in his migrations, and by their presence usually indicate a soil rich in nitrogen. The trailing subterranean root-stock renders the common nettle somewhat difficult of extirpa tion. NETTLERASH, or URTICARIA, a disorder of the skin characterized by an eruption resembling the effect pro- cluced by the sting of a nettle, namely, raised red or red and white patches occurring in parts or over the whole of the surface of the body, and attended with great itching and irritation. It may be acute or chronic. In the former variety the attack appears to be connected with digestive derangements, and often comes on after indulgence in certain articles of diet, particularly various kinds of fruit, shell-fish, cheese, pastry, &c., also occasionally from the use of certain drugs, such as henbane, copaiba, cubebs, turpentine, &c. There is at first considerable feverishness and constitutional disturbance, together with sickness and faintness, which either precede or accompany the appear ance of the rash. The eruption may appear on any part of the body, but is most common on the face and trunk. In the former position it causes swelling and disfigurement while it lasts, and is apt to excite alarm in persons unacquainted with its nature. The attack may pass off in a few hours, or may last for several days, the eruption continuing to come out in successive patches. The chronic variety consists in an eruption similar to that above described, but lasting with interruptions for a length of time often extending to months or years. This form of the disease occurs independently of errors in diet, and is not attended with the feverish symptoms characterizing the acute attack. It is probably connected with consti tutional conditions, and is occasionally observed in the gouty. As regards treatment, the acute variety generally yields quickly to a purgative and the use of some antacid, such as magnesia or liquor potassse. The local irritation is allayed by sponging with a warm alkaline solution (soda, potash, or ammonia), or a solution of acetate of lead. In the chronic form, in addition to these remedies, any constitutional morbid condition will demand special atten tion. NETTLE TREE is the name applied to certain trees of the genus Celtis, and belonging to the family Urticacex. The best-known species have usually obliquely ovate, or lanceolate leaves, serrate at the edge, and marked by three prominent nerves. The flowers are inconspicuous, usually hermaphrodite, with a 4- or 5-parted perianth, as many stamens, a hairy disk, and a 1 -celled ovary with a 2-parted style. The fruit is succulent like a little drupe, a character which serves to separate the genus alike from the nettles and the elms, to both of which it is closely allied. The wood of Celtis australis of southern Europe (also cultivated in England) is made use of for a variety of purposes, while the leaves serve as forage. An oil for burning is extracted from the seed of Celtis occidentalis. A North-American species is used for like purposes. Celtis australis was one of those to which the term &quot; lotus &quot; was applied by Dioscorides and the older authors, its berries or drupes having a sweet pleasant taste. NEU-BRANDENBURG, a flourishing town in Mecklen- burg-Strelitz, Germany, situated on a small lake called the Tollenser-See, about 60 miles to the west of Stettin. It is still partly surrounded with walls, and possesses four interesting old Gothic gates, dating from 1304. The principal buildings are the Marienkirche, a Gothic building of the 14th century, the synagogue, the town-house, and the gymnasium. Iron-founding, machine-making, wool- spinning, and the making of paper, tobacco, and musical