Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XII.djvu/267

 NETTLE KASH its effects last for many months, and sometimes cause death. The wood nettle, formerly U. Canadensis, but now placed in the genus La- portea, has been called American ramie. A closely related genus, pilea, includes the rich- weed, P. pumila, formerly U. pumila, a smooth plant with translucent stems, quite common in moist and shady places. The false nettle, Hcehmeria cylindrica, which is common in moist ground all over the country, has the gen- eral aspect of the nettles, but is without stings ; to this genus belongs the plant furnishing the China grass, and better known in this country as ramie. (See KAMIE.) Nettle tree is one of the names of celtis occidentalis. (See HACK- BEEEY.) Dead nettle is the common name for plants of the labiate genus Larnium. NETTLE RASH (urticaria), an eruptive disor- der characterized by the appearance of patches whiter or redder than the surrounding skin, and attended with intense itching. The dis- ease has been divided into three varieties : ur- ticaria febrilis, U. evanida, and U. tuberosa. The febrile variety is preceded by a feeling of general uneasiness, headache, nausea, and vom- iting. These symptoms are followed by a troublesome itching and the appearance of an eruption, commonly most abundant about the shoulders, loins, or thighs. The patches are irregular in size and form, sometimes rose- colored with whitish border, sometimes white with rose-colored border, sometimes few in number, sometimes covering the greater part of the surface, and giving rise on the face to great disfigurement and a feeling of stiffness and tension. The patches are evanescent, rap- idly disappearing, but only to give place to a new eruption. For the first day or two the disease is apt to be attended with a little fever, but this soon subsides, and after a variable time, generally about a week, the eruption disappears, leaving no traces. In U. evanida there is no febrile movement, and the disease is frequently chronic, the eruption often ap- pearing and disappearing several times a day, and frequently assuming the appearance of long wheals as if produced by a whip. U. tuberosa is the rarest and the most severe of the forms of nettle rash, in which the eruption is in the form of red swollen patches of the breadth of the hand, attended with an intol- erable itching. The patches extend deeply into the skin, are numerous, and produce a very disagreeable feeling of swelling and stiff- ness. The rash commonly shows itself in the evening to disappear in the morning, leaving a sense of weakness and prostration. It occurs chiefly in habits impaired by excess, and its course is often tedious and intractable. Nettle rash is most common in nervous persons with a delicate and irritable skin, and consequently in women and children. Its most frequent cause is some irritation of the digestive or- gans ; with some persons the use of a particu- lar article of diet is invariably followed by an eruption of nettle rash, the offending article 594 VOL. xii. 17 NEU-BREISACH 255 varying greatly in different cases, and only to be detected by experience. There are some ordinary articles of diet, as mussels, crabs, several of the richer varieties of fish, &c., which act as true poisons in certain individ- uals, producing a violent eruption of urticaria. Here the symptoms are often excessively se- vere, the patient suffering from intense head- ache and giddiness, violent nausea and vomit- ing, colicky pains in the stomach and bowels, free purging, &c. Sometimes there are violent pains in the back and limbs, sometimes a total loss of sensation and motion. The febrile re- action is often severe, and the eruption is gen- eral, attended with great swelling and violent itching and tingling. In ordinary febrile urti- caria, rest, attention to diet, a cooling regi- men, and the use of the tepid bath, are all that is necessary. Occasionally an alkaline wash may be found useful in relieving the itching. U. evanida is an intractable complaint, and is best treated by strict regulation of the diet. In the severer forms of nettle rash produced by fish poisoning, the poison should be got rid of by stimulating emetics. NETTLETON, Isabel, an American clergyman, born in North Killingworth, Conn., April 21, 1783, died May 16, 1844. He graduated at Yale college in 1809, studied theology, and in 1817 was ordained. He had intended to be- come a missionary, but the effect produced by his preaching was so powerful that he was induced to engage in evangelization at home. He preached revivals with great success in more than 40 towns in Connecticut, Massa- chusetts, and New York. In 1822 he had an attack of typhus fever, from which for a long time he was not expected to recover. He re- sumed his active labors in 1824, and in the same year published a volume of "Village Hymns." In 1827 he went to Virginia for the sake of his health, and returning in 1829 preached in New England and New York till 1831. In the spring of that year he went to England, also visiting Scotland and Ireland. Returning in 1832, he was appointed professor of pastoral duty in the newly organized theo- logical seminary at East Windsor ; he did not accept the office, but took up his residence in the place, and lectured occasionally. In later life he opposed the doctrinal views of the New Haven school of theology. NETTLE TREE. See HACKBEEEY. NEt-BRANDENBURG, a town of Germany, in the grand duchy of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, at the N. E. extremity of the Tollens lake and on the Hamburg and Stettin railway, 53 m. W. N. W. of Stettin; pop. in 1871, 7,245. It has a gymnasium, a Realschule, four beautiful Gothic gates, two churches (one of which, the Gothic church of St. Mary's, has recently been restored), a theatre, and a palace. The chief manufactures are tobacco, chemical products, playing cards, cottons, and woollens, and there is a large trade in wool. NEU-BREISACH. See BEEISAOH.