NUTRITION-NUX VOMICA. readily adduced to prove that a certain influence of the nervous system is essential to healthy nutrition. Injuries of the spinal cord are not unfrequently followed by mortification of portions of the paralysed parts; and both experiments and clinical cases shew that the repair of injuries takes place less completely in parts paralysed by lesion of the spinal cord than in ordinary cases. Division of the trunk of the trifacial nerve has been followed by incomplete nutrition of the corresponding side of the face, and ulceration of the cornea is a frequent consequence of the operation. 4. The fourth condition is so obvious as to require no special illustration. For further information on this most important department of physiology, the reader is referred to Mr Paget's Surgical Pathology, or to his original lectures on Nutrition, Hypertrophy, and Atrophy (published in volume 39 of The Medical Gazette), or to the chapter on Nutrition and Growth,' in Kirkes's Handbook of Physiology, which contains an excellent abstract of Mr Paget's views, and to which we are indebted for the greater part of this article. NUX VO'MICA is the pharmacopoeial name of the seed of Strychnos Nux Vomica, or Poison Nut. The following are the characters of these seeds, which are imported from the East Indies: Nearly circular and flat, about an inch in diameter, umbili cated and slightly convex on one side, externally of an ash-gray colour, thickly covered with short satiny hairs, internally translucent, tough and horny, taste intensely bitter, inodorous.'-The British Pharmacopœia, p. 99. For the genuine characters, see the article Strychnos.-The N. V. tree is a native of Coromandel, Ceylon, and other parts of the East Indies. It is a tree of moderate size, with roundish-oblong, stalked, smooth leaves, and terminal corymbs. The fruit is a globular berry, about as large as a small Nux Vomica: Branchlet, Leaves, and Flowers. orange, one-celled, with a brittle shell, and several seeds lodged in a white gelatinous pulp.-The bark is known as False Angostura Bark, having been confounded with Angostura Bark, in consequence of a commercial fraud, about the beginning of the present c.; but its properties are very different, as it is very poisonous. The seeds contain (in addition to inert matters, such as gum, starch, woody fibre, &c.) three alkaloids closely related to each other, which act as powerful poisons on the animal frame, and speedily occasion violent tetanic convulsions and death. These alkaloids or bases are named Strychnine, Brucine, and Igasurine, and exist in the seeds in combination with lactic and strychnic (or igasuric) acid. For a good method of obtaining pure strychnine, which is by far the most important of the three bases, the reader is referred to the Pharmacopoeia of the United States, pp. 295, 296. Strychnine (C21H22N2O2) occurs 'in right square octahedrons or prisms, colourless and inodorous, scarcely soluble in water, but easily soluble in boiling rectified spirit, in ether, and in chloroform. Pure sulphuric acid forms with it a colourless solution, which, on the addition of bichromate of potash, acquires an intensely violet hue, speedily passing through red to yellow.'-Op. cit. In nitric acid, it ought, if pure, to form a colourless solution; if the solution is reddish, it is a sign that brucine is also present. Strychnine combines with numerous acids, and forms well-marked salts, which are amenable to the same tests as the base itself. Brucine (C23H26N2O4+4H2O) is insoluble in ether, but more soluble in water and in strong alcohol than strychnine; and is the most abundant of the three alkaloids in nux vomica. It acts on the animal economy similarly to, but much less actively than, strychnine, from which it may be distinguished not only by its different solubility, but by the red colour which is imparted to it by nitric acid, and which changes to a fine violet on the addition of protochloride of tin. Like strychnine, it forms numerous salts. Igasurine seems closely to resemble brucine in most respects. Little is known regarding Igasuric Acid. Strychnine, brucine, and igasurine occur not only in nux vomica, but in the seeds of Strychnos ignatit (St Ignatius's beans), and in the seeds and other parts of several plants of the genus Strychnos. The amount of strychnine present in these substances varies from 0.5 to 1.5 per cent. Nux vomica, according to the experiments of Marcet, acts on vegetables as a poison. His experiments were, however, confined to the haricot bean and the lilac. It is poisonous in a greater or lesser degree to most animals, though larger quantities are required to kill herbivorous than carnivorous animals. Thus, a few grains will kill a dog, but some ounces are required to destroy a horse. It is believed, however, that the bird called Buceros Rhinoceros eats the nuts with impunity; and a peculiar kind of Acarus lives and thrives in the extract of the nuts. Dr Pereira describes three degrees of the operation of this substance on man. 1. In very small doses, its effects are tonic and diuretic, and often slightly aperient. 2. In larger doses, there is a disordered state of the muscular system; the limbs tremble; a slight rigidity or stiffness is felt when an attempt is made to put the muscles in action; and the patient experiences a difficulty in keeping the erect posture. If the use of the medicine be continued, these effects increase in intensity, and the voluntary muscles are thrown into a convulsed state by very slight causes, as, for example, by inspiring more deeply than usual, or even by turning in bed. It is remarkable that in paralysis the effects are most marked in the paralysed parts. 3. In poisonous doses, the symptoms are tetanus and asphyxia, followed by death. After swallowing a large dose of strychnine (on which the poisonous effects of nux vomica essentially depend), the following phenomena occurred in a case recorded by Taylor in his Medical Jurisprudence: A young man, aged seventeen, swallowed forty grains of strychnine. The symptoms came on in about a quarter of an hour; lock-jaw and N'YANZA-NYAYA. spasmodic contraction of all the muscles speedily set in, the whole body becoming as stiff as a board; the lower extremities were extended and stiff, and the soles of the feet concave. The skin became livid, the eyeballs prominent, and the pupils dilated and insensible; the patient lay for a few minutes without consciousness, and in a state of universal tetanus. A remission occurred, but the symptoms became aggravated, and the patient died asphyxiated from the spasm of the chest in about an hour and a half after taking the poison.' It is difficult to say what is the smallest dose that would prove fatal to an adult. Thirty grains of the powdered nuts, given by mistake to a patient, destroyed life. Three grains of the extract have proved fatal; and in a case quoted by Taylor (op. cit.), half a grain of sulphate of strychnine caused death in 14 minutes. with name N'yanza), another lake in the interior of Africa, which Dr Livingstone discovered in 1861 by ascending the river Shire (q. v.). The southern end of the Nyassa, or Star Lake, is in lat. 14° 45′ S, and it is supposed to extend northwards beyond the parallel of 10° S. It is 350 miles inland from the coast of Mozambique, and its surface is 1200 feet above the sea. Dr Livingstone explored 200 miles of the western shores. The lake has something of the boot-shape of Italy,' and appears to vary from 20 to 50 or 60 miles in width. Most of the land near the lake is low and marshy; on the east, at a distance of eight or ten miles there are ranges of high and well-wooded granite hills. Except near the shore, the lake is deep; the temperature of the water, which is sweet, was 72°. The lake abounds in fish ; and the southern shores are closely beset with villages, whose inhabitants are hardy fishermen and industrious cultivators of the soil. Something had previously been known about this lake under the name of the Maravi; but the accounts were so vague, that latterly it was omitted from the maps The preparations of nux vomica are the powdered nuts, the extracts, the tincture, and strychnine; the alkaloid being usually preferable, in consequence of its more constant strength. In various forms of paralysis, especially where there is no apparent lesion of structure, nux vomica is a most successful of Africa. remedy; although there are cases in which it is NYAYA (from the Sanscrit ni, into, and âyai positively injurious. It is also of service in various going, a derivative from i, to go; hence literally affections of the stomach, such as dyspepsia, gastro-entering,' and figuratively, 'investigating analyti dynia, and pyrosis. The average dose of the powder cally'), is the name of the second of the three is two or three grains, gradually increased; that of the tincture, 10 or 15 minims; and that of the extract half a grain, gradually increased to two or three grains. The dose of strychnine, when given in cases of paralysis, is at the commencement one-twentieth of a grain three times a day, the dose being gradually increased, till slight muscular twitchings are observed. For gastric disorders, a still smaller dose is usually sufficient, as, for example, one-fortieth of a grain. N'YA'NZA, a great fresh-water lake in Central Africa, discovered by Captain Speke in 1858, and more fully explored by Speke and Grant in 1862. The native name N. signifies simply the water;' but Speke named it Victoria N'yanza. Its southern point is in lat. 2° 44′ S., long. 33° E. Its northern shore runs nearly parallel to the equator, and is about 20 miles to the north of it. Speke supposes that formerly it covered a larger area; at present, it is estimated to be 220 miles in length, and fully as much in breadth. It is of no great depth; the surface is 3740 feet above sea-level. There are fleets of canoes on the lake, and yet there is no communication between the tribes on its opposite shores, who are quite unknown to each other. At its north-east extremity, Lake Baringo, described by the natives as a long narrow basin, is probably connected with the N'yanza. The countries on the west shores of the lake enjoy a mild and genial climate, equal to that of England in summer; and, contrary to expectation, the rain-fall is below that of many parts of Britain, being only 49 inches. The natives of Karagué and Uganda, on the western shores, are superior races, with a considerable degree of civilisation. The banana, coffee, and date-palm abound, and hundreds of white hornless cattle were seen browsing in the richest pasture-lands. The principal feeder of the N. on the west is the Kitangulé, and from its northern side issue several streams, which unite to form the Nile (q. v.). The principal of these flows through Napoleon Channel, over the Ripon Falls. North-west from Lake V. N. lies the Albert Nyanza, discovered in 1866, which is probably connected with the Victoria Nyanza. The White Nile issues from the Albert Nyanza, and as the region receives an immense rain-fall, this may be the really effective cause of the periodical overflowing of the Nile. NYA'SSA, or NYANJA (apparently identical great systems of ancient Hindu philosophy; and it is apparently so called because it treats analytically, material and spiritual, distributed by it under as it were, of the objects of human knowledge, both different heads or topics; unlike, therefore, the Vedanta (q. v.) and Sankhya (q. v.), which follow a synthetic method of reasoning, the former of these divine matters, and the latter in subjects relating to systems being chiefly concerned in spiritual and the material world and man. The Nyaya consists, like the two other great systems of Hindu philosophy (see MÎMÂNSA and SANKHYA), of two divisions. The former is called NYÂYA (proper), and will be exclusively considered in this article; the other is known under the name of VAIS'ESHIKA (q. v.). With the other systems of philosophy, it concurs in promising beatitude, that is, final deliverance of the soul from re-birth or transmigration, to those who acquire truth, which, in the case of the Nyaya, means a thorough knowledge of the principles taught by this particular system. The topics treated of by the Nyâya are briefly the following: 1. The praman'a, or instruments of right notion. They are: a. Knowledge which has arisen from the contact of a sense with its object; b. Inference of three sorts (à priori, à posteriori, and from analogy); c. Comparison; and d. Knowledge, verbally communicated, which may be knowledge of that whereof the matter is seen,' and knowledge of 'that whereof the matter is unseen' (revelation). 2. The objects or matters about which the inquiry is concerned (prameya). They are: a. The Soul (atman). It is the site of knowledge or sentiment, different for each individual coexistent person, infinite, eternal, &c. Souls are therefore numerous, but the supreme soul is one; it is demonstrated as the creator of all things. b. Body (s'arira). It is the site of action, of the organs of sensation, and of the sentiments of pain or pleasure. It is composed of parts, a framed substance, not inchoative, and not consisting of the three elements, earth, water, and fire, as some say, nor of four or all the five elements (viz. air and ether in addition to the former), as others maintain, but merely earthy. c. Organs of sensation (indriya) ; from the elements, earth, water, light, air, and ether, they are smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. d. Their objects (artha). They are the qualities of earth, &c.-viz. odour, savour, colour, tangibility, and sound. e. Understanding (buddhi), NYAYA. (vitan'd'â), when a man does not attempt to establish the opposite side of the question, but confines himself to carping disingenuously at the arguments of the other party. 13. Fallacies, or semblances of reasons (hetvâbhâsa), five sorts of which are distinguished, viz. the erratic, the contradictory, the equally available on both sides, that which, standing itself in the need of proof, does not differ from that which is to be proved, and that which is adduced when the time is not that when it might have availed. 14. Tricks, or unfairness in disputation or apprehension (upalabdhi), or conception (jnâna), terms which are used synonymously. It is not eternal, as the Sankhya maintains, but transitory, f. The organ of imagination and volition (manas). Its property is the not giving rise simultaneously to more notions than one. g. Activity (pravr'itti), or that which originates the utterances of the voice, the cognitions of the understanding, and the gestures of the body. It is therefore oral, mental, or corporeal, and the reason of all worldly proceedings. h. Faults or failings (dosha), which cause activity -viz. affection, aversion, and bewilderment. i.(chhala), or the opposing of a proposition by means Transmigration (pretyabhava, literally, the becoming born after having died), or the regeneration of the soul, which commences with one's first birth, and ends only with final emancipation. It does not belong to the body, because the latter is different in successive births, but to the soul, because it is eternal. k. Fruit or retribution (phala), or that which accrues from activity and failings. It is the consciousness of pleasure or of pain. 1. Pain (duh'kha), or that which has the characteristic mark of causing vexation. It is defined as the Occurrence of birth,' or the originating of body,' since body is associated with various kinds of distress. Pleasure is not denied to exist, but, according to the Nyâya, it deserves little consideration, since it is ever closely connected with pain. m. Absolute deliverance or emancipation (apavarga). It is annihilation of pain, or absolute cessation of one's troubles once for all. After (1) 'instruments of right notion,' and (2) the objects of inquiry,' the Nyâya proceeds to the investigation of the following topics. 3. Doubt (sam's'aya). It arises from unsteadiness in the recognition or non-recognition of some mark, which, if we were sure of its presence or absence, would determine the subject to be so or so, or not to be so or so; but it may also arise from conflicting testimony. 4. Motive (prayojana), or that by which a person is moved to action. 5. A familiar case (dr1ish'tânta), or that in regard to which a man of an ordinary and a man of a superior intellect entertain the same opinion. 6. Tenet or dogma (siddhânta). It is either 'a tenet of all schools,' i. e. universally acknowledged, or 'a tenet peculiar to some school,' i. e. partially acknowledged; or a hypothetical dogma,' i. e. one which rests on the supposed truth of another dogma; or an implied dogma,' i. e. one the correctness of which is not expressly proved, but tacitly admitted by the Nyaya. 7. The different members (avayava) of a regular argument or syllogism (nyaya). 8. Confutation or reduction to absurdity (tarka). It consists in directing a person who does not apprehend the force of the argument as first presented to him, to look at it from an opposite point of view. 9. Ascertainment (nirn'aya). It is the determination of a question by hearing both what is to be said for and against it, after having been in doubt. The three next topics relate to the topic of controversy, viz. 10. Discussion (vâda), which is defined as consisting in the defending by proofs on the part of the one disputant, and the controverting it by objections on the part of the other, without discordance in respect of the principles on which the conclusion is to depend; it is, in short, an honest sort of discussion, such, for instance, as takes place between a preceptor and his pupil, and where the debate is conducted without ambition of victory. 11. Wrangling (jalpa), consisting in the defence or attack of a proposition by means of tricks, futilities, and such like means; it is therefore a kind of discussion where the disputants are merely desirous of victory, instead of being desirous of truth. 12 Cavilling of assuming a different sense from that which the objector well knows the propounder intended to convey by his terms. It is distinguished as verbal misconstruing of what is ambiguous, as perverting, in a literal sense, what is said in a metaphorical one, and as generalising what is particular. 15. Futile objections (jâti), of which twenty-four sorts are enumerated; and, 16. Failure in argument or reason of defeat (nigraha-sthâna), of which twenty-two distinctions are specified. The great prominence given by the Nyâya to the method, by means of which truth might be ascertained, has sometimes misled European writers into the belief, that it is merely a system of formal logic, not engaged in metaphysical investigations. But though the foregoing enumeration of the topics treated by it could only touch upon the main points which form the subject-matter of the Nyâya, it will sufficiently shew that the Nyâya intended to be a complete system of philosophical investigation; and some questions, such as the nature of intellect, articulated sound, &c., or those of genus, variety, and individual, it has dealt with in a masterly manner, well deserving the notice of western speculation. That the atomistic theory has been devolved from it, will be seen under the article VAISʼESHIKA. On account of the prominent position, however, which the method of discussion holds in this system, and the frequent allusion made by European writers to a Hindu syllogism, it will be expedient to explain how the Nyâya defines the different members of a syllogism' under its seventh topic. A regular argument consists, according to it, of five membersviz. a. the proposition (pratijna), or the declaration of what is to be established; b. the reason (hetu), or 'the means for the establishing of what is to be established;' c. the example (udaharan'a), i. e. some familiar case illustrating the fact to be established, or inversely, some familiar case illustrating the impossibility of the contrary fact; d. the application (upanaya), or ‘re-statement of that in respect of which something is to be established;' and e. the conclusion (nigamana), or the re-stating of the proposition because of the mention of the reason. An instance of such a syllogism would run accordingly thus: a. This hill is fiery, b. for it smokes, c. as a culinary hearth, or (inversely) not as a lake, from which vapour is seen arising, vapour not being smoke, because a lake is invariably devoid of fire; d. accordingly, the hill is smoking; e. therefore, it is fiery. The founder of the Nyâya system is reputed under the name of Gotama, or, as it also occurs, Gautama (which would mean a descendant of Gotama). There is, however, nothing as yet known as to the history of this personage or the time when he lived, though it is probable that the work attributed to him is, in its present shape, later than the work of the great grammarian Pân'ini. It consists of five books or Adhyayas, each divided into two days,' or diurnal lessons, which are again subdivided into sections or topics, each of which contains several aphorisms, or Sûtras. See SÛTRA. Like the text-books of other sciences among the NYCTAGINACEÆ-NYL-GĦAU. Hindus, it has been explained or annotated by a triple set of commentaries, which, in their turn, have become the source of more popular or elementary treatises.--The Sanscrit text of the Sutras of Gotama, with a commentary by Vis'wanatha, has been edited at Calcutta (1828); and the first four books, and part of the fifth, of the text, with an English version, an English commentary, and extracts from the Sanscrit commentary of Vis'wanâtha, by the late Dr J. R. Ballantyne (Allahabad, 1850-1854). This excellent English version and commentary, and the celebrated Essay on the Nyaya, by H. T. Colebrooke (Transactions of the Royal Asiatic Society, vol. i. London, 1827; and reprinted in the Miscellaneous Essays, vol. i. London, 1837), are the best guide for the European student who, without a knowledge of Sanscrit, would wish to familiarise himself with the Nyaya system. ance. NYCTAGINA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, consisting partly of herbaceous plants, both annual and perennial, and partly of shrubs and trees. Lindley ranks them in his Chenapodal AlliThe flowers are either clustered or solitary, and either the cluster or the flower often has an involucre, which is often gaily coloured. The perianth is tubular, plaited in bud, coloured; the limb entire or toothed, deciduous. The stamens are equal in number to the lobes of the perianth. The ovary is superior, with one ovule, and one style. The fruit is a thin caryopsis, enclosed within the enlarged and indurated base of the perianth. There are about 100 known species, natives of warm countries. Some have flowers of considerable beauty, as those of the genus Mirabilis, known in our gardens as Marvel of Peru, one of which, M. Jalapa, was at one time erroneously supposed to produce jalap. The roots of many are fleshy, purgative, and emetic. Those of Boerhaavia paniculata are used instead of ipecacuanha both in Guiana and in Java. NYCTERI’BIA, an extremely curious genus of insects, ranked in the order Diptera, although very different from most of that order, and having neither wings nor balancers. Its nearest alliance is with Hippoboscida (see FOREST FLY and SHEEP TICK), which it resembles particularly in parasitic habits, and in the retention of the eggs within the abdomen of the female, until they have not only been hatched, but have passed from the larva into the pupa state. The form, however, is so spiderlike, that these insects were at first ranked among the Arachnida. The few species known are all parasitic on bats, on which they run about with great activity. The head is very small, curiously affixed to the back of the thorax, and when the creature sucks the blood of the bat, upon which it lives, it places itself in a reversed position. NY'KERK, or NIEUWKERK, on the Veluwe, is a very flourishing and well-built town, near the Zuider Zee, in the province of Gelderland, Netherlands, 25 miles north-west of Arnheim. Pop. 8000. It has a good harbour, which is connected with the sea by a wide canal of 1 miles in length. In the neighbourhood are fine rich meadow-pastures and lands suited for all kinds of grain, tobacco, potatoes, &c. Tobacco is extensively grown; many cattle are raised; and a brisk trade carried on both with the surrounding country and Amsterdam, the market to which the cattle, tobacco, dairy, and other agri cultural produce, together with much firewood, are sent. N. has a handsome Reformed church, a Roman Catholic chapel, a synagogue, orphan-house, and good schools. There are several manufactures carried on, which also give employment to the people. In Netherlands church history, N. is famed as the place where a great religious move ment began at the middle of last century. The history of the movement, which spread through out the land, contains all the marks of the later revivals in America, Scotland, and Ireland. See Ypey and Dermout's Geschiedenis der Nederd. Her. Kerk, vol. iv. NY'KÖPING, a seaport of Sweden, pleasantly situated on the Baltic, in lat. 58° 45' N., long. 17° E., about 60 miles south-west of Stockholm. It comprises among its manufacturing products cotton goods, stockings, tobacco, &c., and has good shipyards, mills, and manufactories for machinery, while in the vicinity of the town are extensive paper-mills. The ruined old castle of N., nearly destroyed by fire in 1665, and which ranked in point of strength next to those of Stockholm and Calmar, has experienced many eventful vicissitudes of fortune. King Valdemar of Sweden, after his dethronement in 1288, was imprisoned here till his death in 1302; but the most tragic incident connected with N. Castle was the horrible death within its walls of the Dukes Eric and Valdemar, who, after being entrapped by their pusillanimous brother, King Birger, in 1317, were left to perish of hunger in a dungeon, the keys of which the king threw into the sea before he left the castle. The horror of this deed roused the indignation of the people, who seized upon the castle, sacked it, and demolished its keep and donjons. In 1719, the town was taken and dismantled by the Russians; and since then it has ceased to be the scene of any events of historical interest. It is noted for the pure Swedish spoken by its inhabitants. 4282. Pop. NYMPHÆACEÆ-NYSTADT. a large space with nets, and by great numbers of people. It is a spirited animal, and dangerous to a rash assailant. It is capable of domestication, but is said to manifest an irritable and capricious temper. NYMPHÆA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, growing in lakes, ponds, ditches, and slow rivers, where their fleshy rootstocks are prostrate in the mud at the bottom; and their large, longstalked, heart-shaped, or peltate leaves float on the surface of the water. Their flowers also either float, or are raised on their stalks a little above the float, or are raised on their stalks a little above the water. The flowers are large, and often very beautiful and fragrant. There are usually four sepals, and numerous petals and stamens, often passing gradually into one another. The ovary is many-celled, with radiating stigmas, and very numerous ovules, and is more or less surrounded by a large fleshy disc. The seeds have a farinaceous albumen. More than fifty species are known, mostly natives of warm and temperate regions. The rootstocks of some of them are used as food, and the seeds of many.-See WATER-LILY, LOTUS, VICTORIA, and EURYALE -Very nearly allied to N. are Nelumbiacea. See NELUMBO. daughters of Oceanus (N. of the great_ocean which flows around the earth), the Nereids, daughters of Nereus (N. of the inner depths of the sea, or of the Inner Sea-the Mediterranean), Potameides (River N.), Naiads (N. of fountains, or Hamadryads (Forest N., who were believed to lakes, brooks, wells), Oreades (Mountain N.), Dryads die with the trees in which they dwelt). They were the goddesses of fertilising moisture, and were represented as taking an interest in the nourishment and growth of infants, and as being addicted to the chase (companions of the divine huntress Diana), to female occupations, and to dancing. They are among the most beautiful conceptions of the plastic and reverent (if credulous) fancy of the ancient Greeks, who, in the various phenomena of nature-the rush of sea-waves, the bubble of brooks, the play of sunbeams, the rustle of leaves, and the silence of caves-felt, with a poetic permit us to realise, the presence of unseen joyous vividness that our modern science will hardly powers. NY'SSA. See TUPELO TREE. NY'STADT, a town of Finland, on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, 50 miles south of Biorneborg. Here, in 1721, a treaty was agreed to, between Russia and Sweden, by virtue of which all the conquests of Peter the Great along the coasts of the Gulf of Finland were annexed to Russia. NYMPHS, in Classic Mythology, female divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting the sea, streams, groves, meadows and pastures, grottoes, fountains, hills, glens, trees, &c. Among the N., different classes were distinguished, particularly the Oceanides, | Pop. 3258. 16 |