NICE, COUNCIL OF ragua; it is a species of Brazil wood, and is Nice, Council of. The first oecumenical Nicene Creed. The confession of faith in which the consubstantiality of the Father and Son is asserted against the Arians. [ARIANS.] This creed was commenced by the council of Nice, A.D. 325, and completed by the second general council of Constantinople, A.D. 381. But the words and the Son,' after those Who proceedeth from the Father,' were added by the Latin church (certainly before A.D. 411), expressing a point of doctrine in which it differs from the Greek. The Nicene Creed was generally used by the Eastern churches in the administration of baptism; but was not inserted in their daily service till the fifth century. In the service of the church of Rome it was inscribed A.D. 1014. Niche (Fr.; Ital. nicchia). In Architecture, a square or a cylindrical recess, formed in a wall, to receive a vase, statue, or other erect ornament. NICTITATION name of German silver or Argentane. These white alloys, when plated with silver, have over metal upon worn edges. Iron and steel articles plated copper the advantage of not showing a red are also sometimes electroplated with nickel. [NICKEL OCHRE.] Nickel Bloom. Native arsenate of nickel. sometimes containing arsenic and antimony. It occurs in short capillary crystals of an apple- nickel, occurring generally as a greenish-white Nickeline. [NICKEL OCHRE.] ; sects, mentioned in the Apocalypse, where the Nicolaitans. One of the earliest Christian angel of God reproaches the church of Pergamos with harbouring persons of this denomination. They are there characterised as inclining to the licentious and pagan practices of the Gentiles but the fathers have also accused them of partaking in a great measure of the Gnostic opinions. It is doubtful, however, whether on this point there be not some confusion between the Nicolaitans of the first and the followers of Nicolaus of the second century. Nicolo. [ONICOLO.] Frenchman, who in the year 1560 first sent the Nicotiana (so named after Jean Nicot, a nacee to which the Tobacco plant belongs. The seeds of tobacco into France). The genus of SolaTobacco of commerce is furnished by two or three species, but chiefly by N. Tabacum, a tallgrowing annual plant, with large oblong lanceshaped leaves, and pink funnel-shaped flowers. This sort is largely cultivated in the southern states of America, in China, in Holland, Germany, France, &c. N. rustica, a smaller plant with ovate leaves and green flowers, is cultivated in many parts of the world: and N. persica, repanda, quadrivalvis, multivalvis, and latissima are also grown for their produce. Nickel. Symbol Ni; atomic weight 58 8. A white metal discovered by Cronsted in 1751; it is ductile, malleable, attracted by the magnet, and, like iron, may be rendered magnetic. Its specific gravity when hammered is about 9. It is rather more fusible than pure iron; is not altered by exposure to air and moisture at common temperature, and has therefore been used to plate iron, but is slowly oxidised at a red heat. Its principal ore is a coppercoloured mineral found in Westphalia, and called kupfernickel, nickel being a term of detraction used by the German miners, who expected from the colour of the ore to find that merce. Tobacco forms an important article of com it contained copper. It is also obtained from United Kingdom amounted to 66,615,176lbs., an impure arsenide, known under the name of the value of which was computed at 3,448,2947., In 1864 the total imports into the Speiss. The salifiable oxide of nickel is NiO. of which 37,951,928lbs. were retained for home Its salts are mostly of a grass-green colour, and consumption, and yielded in duty a revenue of the ammoniacal solution of its oxide is deep 6,080,1847. Snuff is manufactured by grinding blue, like that of copper. Ferrocyanide of the dried and prepared tobacco leaves. potassium gives with nickel salts a white or very pale green precipitate. An alloy of nickel and iron forms an ingredient in most aerolites and in the masses of native iron found in various parts of the world, in which the proportion of nickel varies from 1.5 to 8.5 per cent. a hard white alloy. With copper, nickel forms Chinese, or Pakfong, consists of 40-4 parts of The white copper of the copper, 316 of nickel, 25-4 of zinc, and 2:6 of iron. A similar alloy is often used as a substitute for silver, or for plated articles, under the 670 Nicotiantin. A white crystalline substance, extracted from the leaves and seeds of the Nico- of the eyes. This is generally a nervous affec- NIDDUI tion, and very frequently it becomes a trick or habit. Where it arises from any local irritating cause, bathing the eyes with warm water affords relief. Niddui. A sort of minor excommunication among the Hebrews, which continued usually about a month. If not removed within that period, it was prolonged for sixty or even ninety days. If during this term satisfaction was not made, the excommunicated person fell into the cherem, which was the second species of excommunication; and afterwards into the scammatha, which was the most dreadful of all. Niello (Ital.). A method of engraving on plate. [ENGRAVING.] Nigella (Lat. dim. of niger, black). A small genus of Ranunculacea, containing a few rather pretty border flowers, N. damascena, romana, and hispanica, familiarly known by the name of Devil-in-a-bush; and comprising also the N. sativa, a black-seeded aromatic species, used in Eastern countries as a substitute for pepper. Nigged Ashlar. A mode of dressing the surface of stone, in which the face is left rough, or dressed only with a pointed hammer, instead of a chisel; this kind of work is also known by the name of hammer dressed, and it is generally employed in basements, or in rough masonry where the appearance of strength is desired. Night Blindness. An affection of the eyes, supposed to be caused by a partial paralysis of the retina. (Walker On Nyctalopia.) The disease prevails chiefly among the lumberers in the remote backwoods of Canada. (Hind's Labrador i. 153.) [HEMERALOPIA.] Night Heron. [ARDEA.] Night Watch. A period of the night as distinguished by a change of the watch. Among the Romans the night was divided into four watches, and styled first, second, third, and fourth watches, according to the military usage, by which the guard was relieved four times during the night. The first watch began at six in the evening and lasted till nine, according to our mode of computing time; the second lasted from nine till twelve or midnight; the third from midnight till three in the morning (called cock-crowing); and the fourth commenced at three and ended at six, thus completing the twelve hours. The Jews originally divided the night into three watches; but at a later period they adopted the Roman division of the night, which is frequently referred to in the New Testament. Night-jar. The name of a remarkable British bird, the type of the genus Caprimulgus, distinguished by the wide gape of its beak, whence perhaps has arisen the popular idea of its sucking the teats of cattle, and its other common name goat-sucker, the equivalent of which it has received in most European languages, and which Linnæus has continued in its generic designation. It is scarcely necessary to remark that the structure of the bill renders the act of sucking impracticable in the night NINE-POINTS CIRCLE jar or in any other bird. The genus Caprimal. gus is characterised by a wide and deeply-cleft beak, armed with strong bristles, and capable of engulfing the larger insects; the nostrils placed at its base are like small tubes; the wings are lengthened; the feet short, feathered to the toes, which are connected together by a membrane at their base; the claw of the middle toe is commonly pectinated at the base. The night-jars are most active, and hunt their prey in the dusk; they have the same light and soft plumage as other nocturnal birds. Our common species (Capr. europeus) is remarkable for the loud sound it emits, like the burr or jarring of a spinning-wheel. Nightingale (A.-Sax. nihtegale; Mr. Wedg wood connects the last syllable with the Lat. gallus). A migratory species of Passerines, and the sweetest of song-birds; the type of the subgenus Luscinia, which is more closely allied, according to Mr. Blythe, to the thrush family, than to the fauvettes (Currucida), among which it is placed by Cuvier. The males of the nightingale reach the southern counties of England sometimes in April, but more commonly not till the beginning of May; the females do not arrive till a week or ten days after the males. Migrating from the south, they visit this country for the purpose of breeding, and the famed song of the male is his love chant, and ceases when his mate has hatched her brood. Vigilance, anxiety, and caution now succeed to harmony; and his croak is the hush, the warning of danger and suspicion, to the infant charge and the mother bird.' If by accident his mate be killed, the male resumes his song; and will continue to chant very late in summer unless he can attract, as he commonly soon does, another female. The nightingale feeds chiefly on the larva of insects, which abound at the season of its arrival in this country. The nest is built near the ground; the eggs are four or five in number, of a uniform dark brown colour: the young are excluded in the month of June, and are ready to accompany the parents in their southward migration in the month of August. Nightmare. [EPHIALTES; INCUBUS.] Nightshade. [DULCAMARA; BELLADONNA.] Nigrine (Lat. niger, black). The reddishbrown or black varieties of titaniferous iron, from Transylvania. It occurs in pebbles and in square translucent prisms which exhibit a blood-red colour at the edges. Nilometer. An instrument, similar to our tide gauges, for measuring the rise of the Nile during the periodical floods. It is erected on the island of Er-Ródah, and consists of a graduated pillar upon which the height of the water is read off. The pillar stands in a kind of well which communicates with the river. Nimbus (Lat.). In Painting and Sculpture, a circular disc round the heads of divinities, sovereigns, and saints. [AUREOLA; GLORY.] Nimbus Cloud. In Meteorology. [CLOUD.] NINTH Ninth (Ger. neunte, Lat. nonus). In Music, one of the dissonant intervals, being the ninth from the fundamental or an octave above the second, with which, however, it is not to be confounded, as its harmonial and contrapuntal treatment is different. Ninzin. The French name of the Ginseng, Panax quinquefolium, the root of which is sometimes called Ninsin Root. Niobe (Gr. Nidßn). In Mythology, a daughter of Tantalus, married to Amphion, king of Thebes. Proud of her children, she provoked the anger of Apollo and Artemis, who slew them all her grief turned her into stone. (Soph. Electr. 151.) This fable is the subject of the beautiful group in the tribune at Florence, known by the name of Niobe and her Children. Some antiquaries attribute it to Scopas: Winkelman inclines to believe it the workmanship of Praxiteles. Niobium. Symbol Nb; atomic weight 94. A metal, discovered in Bavarian Tantalite by Rose. It is identical with Columbium, discovered in 1801 by Hatchett in a mineral called Columbite, found in North America. Niobium forms 3 oxides, NbO, NbO2, and Nb,O,; the latter with bases forms niobates. Nippers. In Sea language, small ropes for attaching the messenger to the cable. Nisi Prius (Lat.). In Law, a term originating in a legal fiction. When the pleadings in a cause in one of the superior courts of common daw [PLEADING] were concluded, and an issue of fact was raised between the parties, the issue was appointed, by the entry on the record or written proceedings, to be tried, by a jury from the county wherein the cause of action arose, at Westminster, unless before (nisi prius) the day appointed the judges of assize should have come to the county in question, which in practice they always did, in the ordinary course of their circuits; and the causes were tried before them accordingly by virtue of their commission of nisi prius, which empowers them to try all questions of fact issuing out of the courts of Westminster that are then ripe for trial by jury. Since the Common Law Procedure Act 1852, the nisi prius proviso, as it was called, has been disused, and the trial now takes place on circuit as a matter of course. Causes triable at nisi prius in London or Middlesex are tried at the London or Westminster sittings, held in and after every term. [COURTS, SUPERIOR.] Nitraria (Lat. nitrum, nitre). This genus of Malpighiacea from Central Asia and Northern Africa, consisting of thorny shrubs with fleshy leaves, is said to yield, in the species called N. tridentata, the lotus-tree of the ancients. [LOTE-TREE.] Nitrates. Salts of nitric acid. NITRE; NITRE.] [CUBIC Nitratine or Chili Saltpetre. A native nitrate of sodium covering large areas on the borders of Chili and Peru, and also in Bolivia; sometimes to a depth of several feet. Nitre (Lat. nitrum, Gr. vírpov). Nitrate NITRE of potassium; saltpetre KNO,. This salt is spontaneously generated in the soil, and crystallises upon its surface in several parts of the world, especially in India, whence much of the nitre used in Britain is derived. It is also formed by double decomposition between nitrate of sodium and salts of potassium. The greater part of the rough nitre imported from the East Indies is in broken brown crystals, which are more or less deliquescent. Exclusive of other impurities, it often contains a considerable portion of common salt, which, reacting upon the nitre, sometimes induces the production of nitrate of sodium and chloride of potassium; it also usually contains sulphate of calcium and traces of organic matter, In Germany and France, it is artificially produced in what are termed nitre-beds. Refuse animal and vegetable matter, which has putrefied in contact with calcareous soils, produces nitrate of calcium, which affords nitre by mixture with carbonate of potassium. The process consists in lixiviating old plaster rubbish, which, when rich in nitre, affords about five per cent. The loss which rough nitre sustains in refining is technically termed the refraction, and can only be ascertained by analysis, which frequently is somewhat intricate. Nitre crystallises in anhydrous, six-sided prisms, usually terminated by dihedral summits. Its sp. gr. is about 2. The solubility of nitre varies extremely with temperature: at 32°, 100 parts of water dissolve 13.2 of salt; at 77°, 38 parts; at 1320, 97 parts; at 176°, 169 parts; and at 212°, 246 parts. During the solution of 1 part of powdered nitre in 5 of water, the temperature sinks from 50° to 35°. It is insoluble in pure alcohol. The crystals of nitre, though the salt is anhydrous, generally contain interstitial water; so that they appear moist when powdered, and lose weight on drying. The taste of nitre is cooling and peculiar. At a temperature of about 600°, nitre fuses without undergoing change of composition, and congeals on cooling. Sometimes it is cast into small balls or cakes, called sal prunella. At a red heat, nitre is slowly decomposed; and highly heated in an earthen retort, or gunbarrel, it affords oxygen gas, mixed with a portion of nitrogen. In this decomposition, the nitre is first converted into nitrite of potassium, which is somewhat deliquescent; potash is the final result. Nitre is rapidly decomposed by charcoal at a red heat, and the results are carbonic oxide and anhydride, nitrogen, and carbonate of potassium, formerly called nitrum fixum and white flux. These mixtures of nitre and charcoal form the basis of a variety of compositions used for fire-works, the rapidity of the combustion being modified by the relative proportion of the charcoal. When phosphorus is inflamed upon nitre, a vivid combustion ensues, and a phosphate of potassium is formed. Sulphur sprinkled upon hot nitre burns, and produces a mixture of sulphate and sulphite of potassium, formerly employed in medicine under the name of polychrest salt. Many of the metals, when NITRIC ACID NITROGEN in filings or powder, deflagrate and burn when | diluted acid by a solution of nitrate of barium, thrown on red-hot nitre. For the use of nitre in GUNPOWDER, see that article. Nitre has sometimes been mistaken for Glauber's salt, and, when taken in the quantity of half an ounce or an ounce, it acts as a powerful poison. In such cases the stomach should be evacuated as rapidly as possible, and the symptoms of spasm relieved by opiates. In doses of 5 to 15 grains it is diuretic and diaphoretic. Nitrate of sodium crystallises in rhombohedrons, at first appearing like cubes; hence termed cubic nitre. It is found plentifully in Chili and Peru, and is imported from America. It is used as a manure and as a source of nitric acid, but, being slightly deliquescent, it cannot be employed in the manufacture of gunpowder. or nitrate of silver. Nitric Oxide. (NO.) This gas was first discovered by Hales, and more accurately studied by Priestley. It is obtained during the action of nitric acid diluted with about two parts of water upon metallic copper; it is copiously evolved, and may be collected over water. 100 cubic inches weigh between 32 and 33 grains; its density, therefore, compared with air, is 1037. It is easily recognised, as it forms orange-coloured fumes whenever it escapes into the air or comes into contact with oxygen, so that this gas and oxygen are excellent tests of each other's presence. It consists of equal volumes of nitrogen and oxygen, or of 1 equivalent of nitrogen and 1 of oxygen. Nitric Peroxide. (NO,.) The orangecoloured fumes produced when nitric oxide comes in contact with air or oxygen, consist of this gas. Nitrites. Salts of nitrous acid. Nitric Acid. (HNO,.) The equivalent of this monobasic acid is 63. It is commonly known in commerce under the name of Nitro-calcite. Native nitrate of calcium. aquafortis, and is prepared by distilling a It occurs as an efflorescence upon old walls and mixture of sulphuric acid and nitrate of potas-on calcareous rocks in the form of silky tufts, sium or of sodium. The decomposition takes place according to one of the following equations: 2KNO, + H2SO = K2SO, + 2HNO,, Neutral sulphate of potassium. according to the proportions of the ingredients used. It is commonly yellow, or orange coloured; but it may be deprived of nitrous acid, which occasions this colour, by heat, and it then becomes colourless. It is intensely corrosive and sour, fumes when exposed to air, and has a specific gravity of 1.52 when in its utmost state of concentration. It boils at 248°, and freezes at -50°. It is a powerful oxidising agent, and is decomposed with more or less rapidity by almost all the metals, and acts intensely upon most organic bodies, imparting to them a yellow tinge. The salts which it forms are called nitrates; they are all soluble in water; they are decomposed by heat, and, when mixed and gently heated with sulphuric acid, they evolve nitric acid or nitric and nitrous acids. The composition of nitric acid was first synthetically demonstrated by Cavendish in 1785. He produced it by passing electric sparks through a mixture of 7 volumes of oxygen and 3 of nitrogen, a result verified by Faraday, in reference to the presence of traces of nitric acid in the rain of thunder-storms. Nitric anhydride was discovered by Deville in 1849, who obtained it by passing dry chlorine over dry nitrate of silver: it is a colourless crystalline solid, very unstable, and having a strong affinity for water. Commercial nitric acid is generally contaminated by sulphuric and hydrochloric acids. When pure, no white cloud is produced in the VOL. II. 673 with a sharp and bitter taste. Nitro-magnesite. A native hydrated nitrate of magnesium, found with Nitrocalcite, which it resembles in colour and other characters. Nitrogen (Gr. víτpov; yevváw, I produce). Symbol N; atomic weight 14. A gaseous nonmetallic element, which forms a constituent of the atmosphere and of nitric acid, and which, being unrespirable, has also been termed azote: from à, privative, and (wh, life. It was identified as a peculiar gas by Dr. Rutherford in 1774, in which year it was also shown by Lavoisier to be one of the components of atmospheric air. It may be obtained, when not required absolutely pure, by burning a piece of phosphorus in a jar full of air inverted over water. The phosphorus during its combustion combines with the oxygen of the air to form phosphoric anhydride, which is dissolved by the water, and the remaining element of the air, namely the nitrogen, is left. Pure nitrogen may be obtained as follows: Place some pyrogallic acid, moistened with a strong solution of caustic potash, in a porcelain capsule floating on a water-bath, and invert a jar of air over it; the oxygen of the air will be more or less rapidly absorbed according to the quantity of the pyrogallic acid and the strength of the potash solution. In this case the carbonic anhydride, as well as the oxygen of the atmospheric air, is absorbed, so that the residuary nitrogen retains only aqueous vapour, which may be abstracted by any of the usual processes. Nitrogen is also obtained by passing air over shavings of metallic copper, heated to redness in a porcelain tube; the oxygen is retained by the copper, and the resulting nitrogen may be deprived of traces of carbonic anhydride by passing it through caustic potash, and of moisture by finally transmitting it over fused chloride of calcium. The decomposition of a solution of ammonia by the action of XX NITROHYDROCHLORIC ACID also been applied to an acid resulting from the mixture of one part of nitre with eight or ten parts of sulphuric acid, and proposed by Mr. Keir as a useful agent for separating the silver from the copper of old plated goods. At a temperature of about 200° it dissolves silver, while it scarcely acts upon copper or lead, unless diluted, or at higher temperatures. NIZAM chlorine, has also been resorted to as a means | decomposed, and the acid itself cannot be of procuring nitrogen; in this operation the obtained in a separate form. This term has hydrogen of the ammonia combines with the chlorine to form hydrochloric acid, and the nitrogen of the decomposed portion of the ammonia is set free. If the ammoniacal solution be very concentrated, the bubbles of chlorine as they pass into it often produce flashes of light and slight explosions, and care should be taken to avoid excess of chlorine, which might tend to the formation of the dangerously explosive compound known as chloride of nitrogen. Nitrogen is a colourless, inodorous, and tasteless gas, not absorbed by water, and having no action on vegetable colours. It extinguishes all burning bodies, and is itself uninflammable. It is a little lighter than atmospheric air, 100 cubic inches weighing 30 16 grains. Its equivalent is 14, and it combines with oxygen in 5 proportions, giving rise to the following compounds: By volume By weight Equiv. Symb. 1. Nitrous oxide. 100+ 50-28+16= 44=N,0. Nitrogen is an important component of many organic substances, and is remarkable as one of the constituents of most of the fulminating compounds, such as fulminating gold, silver, and mercury, and the chloride and iodide of nitrogen. Ammonia contains 82 per cent. of nitrogen. Nitrogen forms nitrides with a few of the metals. Nitrohydrochloric Acid. Nitromuriatic acid. The mixture of nitric and of hydrochloric acid; formerly called aqua regia, from its solvent power over gold, the king of the metals. When these acids are mixed, chlorine and nitric oxide are evolved, and with gold a chloride of gold is formed. Nitropicric Acid. A synonym of CARBAZOTIC ACID, Nitrous Acid. (HNO2.) A monobasic acid formed by the action of nitric acid on arsenious anhydride. With bases it forms nitrites, which are powerful reducing agents, owing to their taking oxygen to form nitrates. Nitrous Anhydride. (N2O,.) When two volumes of nitric oxide and one of oxygen are exposed to an intense cold, nitrous anhydride is formed as a blue liquid. It is decomposed by water into nitric acid and nitric oxide. Nitrous Oxide. (N,O.) Protoxide of nitrogen. This gas was discovered by Priestley in 1776, who called it dephlogisticated nitrous air, but its properties were first fully investigated by Davy in 1800. It may be obtained by carefully heating pure nitrate of ammonium, which salt is thus resolved into nitrous oxide and water. This gas is liquefied under a pressure of 50 atmospheres, and solidified at a temperature of 150° below 0°. The specific gravity of this gas is 1·5 air = 1, and = 22 H = 1. An ignited taper burns brilliantly in it, the flame being surrounded by a purplish halo. Nitrous oxide is a narcotic poison, and when breathed in any considerable quantity, destroys life. It may, however, as was first shown by Davy, be taken by a human being in a small quantity; it rapidly causes a peculiar species of intoxication, manifested at first by unsteadiness of gait, and subsequently by violent muscular exertion. There is a brilliant flow of ideas, with, generally speaking, a great disposition to pugnacity. From the pleasing kind of delirium which it produces, it has been called laughing or paradise gas. It is rapidly absorbed into the blood, and produces a great change in that fluid-manifested by a darkpurple colour of the lips, and by a livid or pallid Nitroprussides. When nitric oxide is passed through an aqueous solution of hydroferricyanic acid, one of the products is hydronitroprussic acid, the formula of which is H2, Fe,Cy,, NO: it forms a series of salts, dis-appearance of the face. In general the exhilacovered by Dr. Playfair (Philosophical Transactions, 1848). One of the most characteristic of these is the nitroprusside of sodium: Na, FeCys, NO+2Aq. It forms red prismatic crystals, the solution of which, when exposed to light, deposits Prussian blue, and evolves nitric oxide; when an alkaline sulphide is added to it, even in a most diluted state, it assumes a deep and characteristic purple colour, which, however, soon disappears. Nitrosaccharic Acid. By the action of sulphuric acid on gelatin a peculiar saccharine matter is formed (glycosine), which combines with nitric acid, and forms a crystallised acid designated as above. Nitrosulphuric Acid. A compound of nitric oxide and sulphurous acid; only formed in the presence of bases. Its salts are easily rating effects pass off in from five to ten minutes, and, with the exception of some prostration of strength and slight headache, no injurious symptoms follow. But in certain cases, probably from idiosyncrasy, the respiration of the gas has been attended with severe headache, giddiness, double vision, and delirium, with a feeling of weakness from exhaustion, lasting for several days. It is now largely used as an anæsthetic in dental operations, Nizam. The title of one of the native sovereigns of India. It is derived from Nizamul-Mulk, who in the beginning of last century obtained possession of the Mohammedan con- › quests in the Deccan: his successors in the sovereignty having assumed his name as their title of dignity, which they have retained to this day. |