Hungary the natron lakes are very numerous, and afford a vast quantity annually. In some places it effervesces on the surface of the soil, heath, &c. It is even found efflorescing on meadows, where it is renewed every spring. About sixty miles north-east of Grand Cairo, in Egypt, there is a lime-stone valley in which there are several extensive natron lakes, which become dry during the summer season, and leave their sides and bottoms covered with a great quantity of soda or natron.

NATURAL history. Natural history, taken in its most extensive sense, signifies a knowledge and description of the whole universe. Facts respecting the heavenly bodies, the atmosphere, the earth, and indeed all the phenomena which occur in the world, and even those which relate to the external parts, as well as the actions of man himself, so far as reason can discover them, belong to the province of natural history. But when we leave the simple recital of effects, and endeavour to investigate the causes of such phenomena, we over step the boundaries of natural history, and enter on the confines of philosophy. This science, it must be evident, according to the above definition, is as extensive as nature itself; but in a more appropriate and limited sense, it treats of those substances of which the earth is composed, and of those organized bodies, whether vegetable or animal, which adorn its surface, soar into the air,

or dwell in the bosom of the waters.

In this restricted sense natural history may be divided into two heads; the first teaches us the characteristics, or distinc tive marks of each individual object, whether animal, vegetable, or mineral; the second renders us acquainted with all its peculiarities, in respect to its habits, its qualities, and its uses. To facilitate the attainment of the first, it is necessary to adopt some system of classification, in which the individuals that correspond in particular points may be arranged together, and with this view we have preferred that of Linnæus, as being the most simple and perfect of any that has yet been presented to the public.

A knowledge of the second head can only be acquired by a diligent and accurate investigation of each particular object; for this we must refer the reader to the several genera described in the course of the work, under which we have endeavoured to give a brief account of the interesting and more material facts connected with each genus.

The study of natural history consists in the collection, arrangement, and exhibition of the various productions of the earth. These are divided into three great kingdoms of nature, the boundaries of which meet in the ZOOPHYTES, which see.

Minerals occupy the interior parts of the earth, in rude and shapeless masses. They are concrete bodies, destitute of life and sensation. See MINERALOGY, and the several genera of minerals.

Vegetables clothe its surface with verdure, imbibe nourishment through their bibulous roots, respire by means of leaves, and continue their kind by the dispersion of seed within prescribed limits. They are organized bodies, possessing life, but not sensation. See BOTANY.

Animals inhabit the exterior parts of the earth, respire, and generate eggs; are impelled to action by hunger, affections, and pain, and by preying on other animals and vegetables, restrain within proper limits possess organized bodies, enjoy life and and proportions the numbers of both. They sensation, and have the power of loco-motion.

beings, is by his wisdom alone capable of Man, who rules and subjugates all other forming just conclusions from such natural Hence an acquaintance with these bodies, bodies as present themselves to his senses. and the capability from certain marks imprinted on them by the hand of nature, to affix to each its proper name, constitute distinguish them from each other, and to the first step of knowledge. These are the elements of this science; this is the great alphabet of nature, for if the name be lost, the knowledge of the object must be lost also.

The method pursued in natural history indicates that every body may, on inspection, be known by its peculiar name, and this points out whatever the industry of man has been able to discover respecting it, so that amid apparent confusion, the greatest order and regularity are discerni

ble.

The Linnæan system is divided into classes, orders, genera, species, and varieties, to each of which their names and characters are affixed. In this arrangement the classes and orders are arbitrary, the genera and species are natural.

Of the three grand divisions of the imperium naturæ, above referred to, the animal kingdom stands highest in the scale, next

to it the vegetable, and lastly the mineral kingdom.

To the vegetable and mineral kingdoms we have already referred under the distinct articles BOTANY and MINERALOGY, with regard to the animal kingdom we may observe, that animals enjoy sensation by means of a living organization, animated by a medullary substance, perception by nerves, and motion by the exertion of the will. They are furnished with members for the different purposes of life, organs for their different senses, and faculties or powers for the application of their different perceptions. They all originate ab ovo. Their external and internal structure, habits, instincts, and various relations to each other, will be found under the different genera. See also ANATOMY, COMPARATIVE ANATOMY, PHYSIOLOGY, &C.

The following is a brief abstract of the arrangement pursued by Linnæus in his division of the animal kingdom.

For particular information respecting the characters of the different classes, orders, &c. the reader may consult the several articles.

NATURALIZATION, is when an alien born is made the king's natural subject.

Hereby an alien is put in the same state as if he had been born in the king's ligeauce, except only, that he is incapable of being a member of the Privy Council, or Parliament, and of holding any office or grant. No bill for a naturalization, can be received in either House of Parliament, without such disabling clause in it; nor without a clause disabling the person from obtaining any immunity in trade thereby, in any foreign country, unless he shall have resided in Britain seven years next after the commencement of the session in which he is naturalized. Neither can any person be naturalized, or restored in blood, unless he have received the sacrament within one month before the bringing in of the bill, and unless he also take the oaths of allegiance and supremacy in the presence of the Parliament. See ALIEN.

NATURAL philosophy, otherwise called physics, is that science which considers the powers of nature, the properties of natural bodies, and their actions upon one another, Laws of nature are certain axioms, or general rules, of motion and rest, observed by natural bodies in their actions upon one another. Of these laws Sir I. Newton has established three: - Law 1. That every body perseveres in the same state, either of rest or uniform rectilinear motion, unless it is compelled to change that state by the action of some foreign force or agent. Thus, projectiles persevere in their motions, except so far as they are retarded by the resistance of the air and the action of gravity: and thus a top, once set up in motion, only ceases to turn round because it is resisted by the air, and by the friction of the plane upon which it moves. Thus also the larger bodies of the planets and comets preserve their progressive and circular motions a long time undiminished in regions void of all sensible resistance, As body is passive in receiving its motion, and the direction of its motion, so it retains them, or perseveres in

them, without any change, till it be acted upon by something external. Law 2. The motion, or change of motion, is always proportional to the moving force by which it is produced, and in the direction of the right line in which that force is impressed. If a certain force produce a certain motion, a double force will produce double the motion, a triple force triple the motion, and so on. And this motion, since it is always directed to the same point with the generating force, if the body were in motion before, is either to be added to it, as where the motions conspire; or subtracted from it, as when they are opposite; or combined obliquely, when oblique: being always compounded with it according to the demination of each. Law 3. Re-action is always contrary and equal to action; or the actions of two bodies upon one another are always mutually equal, and directed contrary ways, and are to be estimated always in the same right line. Thus, whatever body presses or draws another is equally pressed or drawn by it. So, if I press a stone with my finger, the finger is equally pressed by the stone: if a horse draw a weight forward by a rope, the horse is equally opposed or drawn back towards the weight; the equal tension or stretch of the rope hindering the progress of the one as it promotes that of the other. Again, if any body, by striking on another, do in any manner change its motion, it will itself, by means of the other, undergo also an equal change in its own motion, by reason of the equality of the pressure. When two bodies meet, each endeavours to persevere in its state, and resists any change; and because the change which is produced in either may be equally measured by the action which it excites upon the other, or by the resistance which it meets with from it, it follows that the changes produced in the motions of each are equal, but are made in contrary directions: the one acquires no new force but what the other loses in the same direction; nor does this last lose any force but what the other acquires; and hence, though by their collisions motion passes from the one to the other, yet the sum of their motions, estimated in a given direction, is preserved the same, and is unalterable by their mutual actions upon each other. In these actions the changes are equal; not those, we mean, of the velocities, but those of the motions, or momenta; the bodies being supposed free from any other impediments. For the changes of

velocities, which are likewise made con trary ways, inasmuch as the motions are equally changed, are reciprocally propor tional to the bodies or masses.

NATURALIST, a person well versed in the study of nature, and the knowledge of natural bodies, especially in what relates to animals, vegetables, metals, minerals, and stones. See NATURAL HISTORY.

NATURE, according to Mr. Boyle, has eight different significations; it being used, 1. For the author of nature, whom the schoolmen call natura naturuns, being the same with God. 2. By the nature of a thing, we sometimes mean its essence; that is, the attributes which make it what it is, whether the thing be corporeal or not; as when we attempt to define the nature of a fluid, of a triangle, &c. 3. Sometimes we confound that which a man has by nature with what accrues to him by birth; as when we say, that such a man is noble by nature. 4. Sometimes we take nature for an internal principle of motion; as when we say, that a stone by nature falls to the earth. 5. Sometimes we understand by nature the established course of things. 6. Sometimes we take nature for an aggregate of powers belonging to a body, especially a living one; in which sense physicians say, that nature is strong, weak, or spent; or that, in such and such diseases, nature left to herself will perform the cure. 7. Sometimes we use the term nature for the universe, or whole system of the corporeal works of God; as when it is said of a phoenix, or chimera, that there is no such thing in nature. 8. Sometimes too, and that most commonly, we express by the word nature a kind of semideity, or other strange kind of being.

If, says the same philosopher, I were to propose a notion of nature, less ambiguous than those already mentioned, and with regard to which many axioms, relating to that word, may be conveniently understood, I should first distinguish between the universal and the particular nature of things. Universal nature I would define to be the aggregate of the bodies that make up the world, in its present state, considered as a principle; by virtue whereof they act and suffer, according to the laws of motion, prescribed by the author of all things. See the articles BODY, INERTIA, MOTION, &c. And this makes way for the other subordinate notion; since the particular nature of an individual consists in the general nature, applied to a distinct portion of the universe; or, which is the same thing, it is a particular

Those who desire a more particular discussion of each of these opinions, may consult Boyle's "Free Inquiry into the Vulgar Notion of Nature." By a modern French writer we have the following account of Nature. This word, which we so frequently employ, must only be regarded as an abridged manner of expressing sometimes the results of the laws to which the Supreme Being has subjected the universe; at others, the collection of beings which have sprung from his hands. Nature, contemplated thus under its true aspect, is no longer a subject of cold and barren speculation with respect to morals: the study of its productions, or of its phenomena, is no longer bounded to enlightening the mind; it affects the heart, by kindling therein sentiments of reverence and admiration at the sight of so many wonders, bearing such visible characters of an infinite power and wisdom. Such was the disposition that was cultivated by the great Newton, when, af ter having considered the mutual connection which subsists between effects and their causes, which makes all the particulars concur to the harmony of the whole, he elevated his mind to the idea of a Creator and Prime Mover of matter, and enquired of himself why nature had made nothing in vain? whence it happens that the sun, and the planetary bodies, gravitate the one towards the other, without any intermediate dense matter? and, how it could be possible that the eye should be constructed without the knowledge of optics, or the organ of hearing without the intelligence of sounds?

NAVAL affairs, comprehend whatever relates to navigation, ship-building, sailors, &c. See NAVIGATION, SHIP-BUILDING.

NAUCLEA in botany, a genus of the Pentandria Monogynia class and order. Natural order of Aggregatæ. Rubiaceæ, Jussien. Essential character; corolla, funnel-form; seed one, inferior, two-celled; receptacle common globular. There are four species, of which N. parviflora is a beautiful large tree, growing naturally in almost every part of the coast of Coromandel, but chiefly among the mountains, flower ing during the cold season; the wood is of a light chesnut colour, firm and close grained; it is used for various purposes, where it can be kept dry; if exposed to moisture it very soon decays. It is called by the Telingas, bota cadamic.

NAUDE (PHILIP), in biography, an

the seventeenth and early part of the eighteenth century, was born at Metz in Lor. rain, in the year 1654. At the age of about twelve, he was taken into the service of the court of Eysenach, in the capacity of page, and attendant on the young princes. In this situation his behaviour secured him the esteem of all who knew him; and while he continued here he learned the German language, which afterwards proved of great use to him. When he had spent about four years at Eysenach, his father chose to take him home; but how he was employed during the next fifteen years of his life we are not informed. We are only told that his father had neither the intention nor the means of affording him a learned education; but that, notwithstanding the disadvantages of his condition, having an unconquerable thirst for knowledge, he became his own master, and made considerable proficiency in different branches of learning, particularly in the mathematical sciences. As he was in principle a Protestant, when the edict of Nantes was revoked in 1685, he left France with his wife and young child about nine months old, and resided about two years at Hanau. Hence he removed to Berlin, where he contracted an intimacy with M. Langerfield, mathematician to the court, and tutor to the pages. This gentleman, who knew how conversant he was with the sciences, advised him to open a mathematical school, and recommended pupils to him. In 1687, he received an appointment to teach arithmetic and the elements of the mathematics at the college of Joachim; and in 1690, he was made secretary interpreter. Upon the death of M. Langerfield not many years afterwards, M. Naude succeeded him in 1696, both in his employments at court, and the professorship in the Academy of Sciences. In 1701 he was elected a member of the Academy of Sciences; and in 1704, when the king founded the Academy of Princes, M. Naude was attached to it by a special patent, as professor of mathematics. He died at Berlin in 1729, at the age of seventyfive, highly respected for his integrity and general excellence of character. Thongh the mathematics chiefly occupied his attention, he was not unacquainted with the other sciences, and as he was zealous for the religion which he professed, he had made divinity his particular study, and written several treatises on religious and moral subjects. In mathematics, his sale