corolla none; pistil one; capsule -celled. There is but one species, irina, which, according to Jussieu, e whorled sheathing leaves, the axillary, sessile; the filament in the owers long, with a four-valved anhich is the four-cleft corolla of Linin the female flowers two stigmas, ne nut, or four seeds. Native of the oast of Europe; in the canal between and Leghorn; and in the Rhine, near Je.

NAIL. See ANATOMY.

The nails have been chemically examin , and are found to be composed chiefly of membranous substance, which possesses he properties of coagulated albumen. They contain also a little phosphate of lime. Water softens but does not dissolve them. They are readily dissolved and decomposed by concentrated acids and alkalies. It is pretty certain that they are composed of the same substances as HORN, which see. Under the head of nails must be comprehended the talons and claws of the inferior animals, and likewise their hoofs, which differ in no respect from horn.

NAILS, in building, &c. small spikes of iron, brass, &c. which being driven into wood, serve to bind several pieces together, or to fasten something upon them. The several sorts of nails are very numerous: as 1. Back and bottom nails; which are made with flat shanks to hold fast, and not open the wood. 2, Clamp-nails, for fastening the clamps in buildings, &c. 3. Claspnails, whose heads clasping and sticking into the wood, render the work smooth, so as to admit a plane over it. 4. Clench-nails, used by boat and barge builders, and proper for any boarded buildings that are to be taken down, because they will drive without splitting the wood, and draw without breaking; of these there are many sorts. 5. Cloutnails, used for nailing on clouts to axle-trees. 6. Deck-nails, for fastening of decks in ships, doubling of shipping, and floors laid with planks. 7. Dog-nails, for fastening hinges on doors, &c. 8. Flat-points, much used in shipping, and are proper where there is occasion to draw and hold fast, and no conveniency of clenching. 9. Jobentnails, for nailing thin plates of iron to wood, as small hinges on cupboard-doors, &c. 10. Lead-nails, for nailing lead, leather, and canvass, tohard wood. 11. Port-nails, for nailing hinges to the ports of ships. 12. Pound-nails, which are four-square, and are much used in Essex, Norfolk, and Suffolk,

and scarcely any where else, except for pail. ing. 13. Ribbing-nails, principally used in ship building, for fastening the ribs of ships in their places. 14. Rose-nails, which are drawn four-square in the shank, and commonly in a round tool, as all common two. penny nails are; in some countries all the larger sort of nails are made of this shape. 15. Rother-nails, which have a full head, and are chiefly used in fastening rother-irons to ships. 16. Round head nails, for fastening on hinges, or for any other use where a neat head is required; these are of several sorts. 17. Scupper nails, which have a broad head, and are used for fastening leather and canvass to wood. 18. Sharp-nails, these have sharp points and flat shanks, and are much used, especially in the West Indies, for nailing soft wood. 19. Sheathing nails, for fastening sheathing-boards to ships. 20. Square-nails, which are used for hard wood, and nailing up wall-fruit. 21. Tacks, the smallest of which serve to fasten paper to wood; the middling for wool-cards, &c. and the larger for upholsterers and pumps. Nails are said to be toughened when too brittle, by heating them in a fire-shovel, and putting some tallow or grease among them.

NAIS, in natural history, a genus of the Vermes Mollusca class and order. Body creeping, long, linear, pellucid, depressed; peduncles, or feet, with small bristles on each side. There are ten species; N. digilata, has single lateral bristles; tail laciniate. It is found in stagnant waters, or the sandy sediment of rivers, with its head attached to the stalk of aquatic plants. It is not half an inch long.

NAISSANT, in heraldry, is applied to any animal issuing out of the midst of some ordinary, and showing only his head, shoulders, fore-feet, and legs, with the tip of his tail, the rest of his body being hid in the shield, or some charge upon it; in which it differs from issuant, which denotes a living creature arising out of the bottom of any ordinary or charge.

NAKED, in architecture, is the surface or plain from whence the projectures arise, or which serves as a ground to the projectures. Thus, we say the foliages of a capital ought to answer to the naked of a column, and that a pilaster ought to exceed the naked of the wall by so many inches.

NAMA, in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Digynia class and order. Natural order of Succulentæ. Convolvuli, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five-leaved; co

NABOB, a corruption from nawaub, the plural of naib. The title means deputed, but it is often assumed in India without a right to do it. As the real signification and import of this word are not generally known, we shall extract a passage out of Mr. Orme's "History of the Carnatic," that will place them in the clearest point of view: "Most of the countries which have been conquered by the Great Megul in the peninsula of India, are comprised under one viceroyalty, called from its situation, Decan, or South. From the word soubah, signify. ing a province, the viceroy of this vast territory is called soubadar, and by Europeans, improperly, soubah. Of the countries under his jurisdiction, some are entirely subjected to the throne of Delhi, and governed by Mahomedans, whom Europeans improperly call Moors; whilst others remain under the government of their original Indian princes, or rajahs, and are suffered to follow their ancient modes, on condition of paying tribute to the Great Mogul. The Moorish governors depending on the sonbah, assume, when treating with their inferiors, the title of nabob, which signifies deputy: but this in the registers of the throne (of Delhi) is synonimous to Soubadar, and the greatest part of those who style themselves nabobs are rank ed at Delhi under the title of phous-dar, which is much inferior to that which they assume. The Europeans established in the territories of these pseudo-nabobs (if we may be allowed the expression) following

"A nabob ought to hold his commission from Delhi, and if, at his death, a successor has not been previously appointed by the Great Mogul, the soubah bas the right of naming a person to administer the nabobship until the will of the sovereign is known; but a nabob thus appointed by a soubah is not deemed authentically established until he is confirmed from Delhi. The soubah receives from the several nabobs the annual revenues of the crown, and remits them to the treasury of the empire. The nabobs are obliged to accompany him in all military expeditions within the extent of his viceroyalty, but not in any without that extent, These regulations were intended to place them in such a state of dependence on the soubah, as shall render them subservient to the interest of the empire, and at the same time leave them in a state of independence, which would render it difficult for the Soubah to make use of their assistance to brave the throne, Nabobs, however, have kept possession of their governments in opposition both to the Soubah and the throne; and what is more extraordinary in the offices of a despotic state, both soubahs and nabobs have named their successors, who have often succeeded with as little opposition as if they had been the heirs apparent of an hereditary dominion."

NABONASSAR, or Era of Nabonassar, a method of computing time from the commencement of Nabonassar's reign. The epocha of Nabonassar is of the greater importance, as Ptolemy and other astronomers account their years from it.

NADIR, in astronomy, that point of the heavens which is diametrically opposite to the zenith, or point directly over our heads. The zenith and nadir are the two poles of the horizon.

NAJAS, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Monandria class and order. Natural order of Inundatæ. Naiades, Jussien. Essential character: male, calyx cylindric, bifid; corolla four-cleft; filament none: female, ca

rolla five-pafted; capsule one-celled, twovalved. There is but one species, viz. N. Jamaicensis, an annual little plant, spreading much about the root; it is seldom more than five or six inches in length, with the stalk and branches margined.

NAME, denotes a word whereby men have agreed to express some idea; or which serves to signify a thing or subject spoken of. This the grammarians usually call a noun, though their noun is not of quite so great an extent as our name. See GRAMMAR.

NANDINA, in botany, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Essential character: calyx many-leaved, imbricate; corolla six-petalled. There is but one species, viz. N. domestica, a native of Japan.

NAPEA, in botany, a genus of the Dioecia Monadelphia class and order. Natural order of Columniferæ. Malvaceæ, Jussieu. Essential character: calyx five. cleft; petals five: male, stamina monadelphous, very many fertile; styles several, barren: female, stamina monadelphous, very many barren; styles several, longer than the stamens; capsule orbicular, depressed, ten-celled; seeds solitary. There are two species, viz. N. lævis, smooth napæa, and N. scabra, rough napaa. Both these plants grow naturally in Virginia and many parts of North America; from their bark a kind of hemp may be procured, such as many of the malvaceous tribe af.

ford.

NAPTHA, in chemistry, one of the bitumens which has been used much lately in the experiments on the newly discovered metals of POTASSIUM and SODAIUM, which see. Naptha is of a light colour, more or less transparent, perfectly thin and liquid, and so light as to float on water; it is odorifer. ous, volatile, and inflammable. See BITUMEN, PETROLEUM, &C.

NARCISSUS, in botany, a genus of the Hexandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Spathaceæ. Narcissi, Jussieu. Essential character: petals sixequal; nectary funnel-form, one-leafed ; stamina within the nectary. There are fifteen species, of which we shall notice the N. tazetta, polyanthus narcissus. It is a native of Spain and Portugal, the South of France, Italy, and Japan; it has a large roundish bulb, from which proceed three or four narrow leaves; the scape, or flowerstalk, is upright, angular, concave, from twelve to eighteen inches in height; flow.

ers very fragrant, clustered, from seven to ten coming out of one spathe of a white or yellow colour.

There is a greater variety of the polyanthus narcissus than of all the other species, for the flowers being very ornamental, and appearing early in the spring, the florists in Holland, Flanders, and France, have ta ken great pains in cultivating and improving them.

NARCOTIC principle. See OPIUM. NARCOTICS, in medicine, soporiferous medicines, which excite a stupefaction.

NARDUS, in botany, mat-grass, a genus of the Triandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Gramina, Gramineæ, or Grasses. Essential character: calyx none; corolla two-valved. There are four spe

cies.

NARRATION, in oratory and history, a recital or rehearsal of a fact as it happened, or when it is supposed to have happened. Narration is of two kinds, either simple or historical, as where the auditor or reader is supposed to hear or read of a transaction at second hand; or artificial and fabulous, as where their imaginations are raised, and the action is as it were reacted before them.

NATROLITE, in mineralogy, a species of the zeolite family, was first described and analysed by Klaproth, who gave it the name which it bears, on account of the great proportion of soda which it contains. It occurs massive, and in its fracture presents straight or diverging fibres; its co- . lour is light yellow, with little lustre; it is striped, and the stripes are curved in the direction of the external surface. It fuses very readily before the blow-pipe. It consists of