prelates resisting the innovation, the subject was laid before a council assembled at Mantua, and the Spanish missal was once more declared Catholic and orthodox. Still the holy see persisted in its object. No artifice or intrigue was spared; and the court of Castille was divided into two hostile factions, one in favour of and the other against the introduction of the Roman ritual. In the perplexity occasioned by this dispute the two parties resolved to leave the decision to the judg ment of God, and the expedient adopted to discover the divine will was this: two wild bulls were procured, the one to represent the Roman, the other the Muzarabic ritual, and, in the presence of the king and the court, were matched against each other. After a bloody conflict, the Muzarabic remained victor. But this result did not deter Gregory VII. In 1087 the trial was repeated: a champion was chosen on each side, and the decision left to the fate of arms; but again victory was in favour of the ancient liturgy. Fire was then tried, and both missals were cast into the flames; but, if we believe the archbishop Don Rodrigo, who was present at the ceremony, the success was still more signal; for no sooner did the Roman volume touch the fire, than it jumped out of the flames half burnt, while the Spanish remained for a considerable time in the midst of them without receiving the least injury. The object was at last gained by other means. Alfonso, the renowned. conqueror of Toledo, was won over to the interests of Rome, and, after much trouble and difficulty, he prevailed on the prelates of the kingdom to receive the universal office; and from that moment the Muzarabic, although not publicly condemned, fell into disuse. There is however still a chapel in the cathedral of Toledo where mass is performed every day agreeably to the Muzarabic ritual. It was founded by Cardinal Ximenes de Cisneros.

incomplete, but that of the trunk and lower extremities is complete. When the lesion occurs opposite the first or second dorsal vertebræ, the upper extremities may not be at all paralysed, but the lower limbs will be perfectly so, and the respiratory muscles are still affected; but when the lesion is in the part opposite the lumbar vertebræ, only the lower extremities and the bladder are affected.

From these general remarks, it will be seen that the symptoms of inflammatory affections of the cord can only be understood by reference to the physiology of the spinal cord. [NERVOUS SYSTEM, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] Inflammatory affections of the spinal cord, when independent of accident, are usually fatal; nevertheless, recoveries are sufficiently numerous to justify the medical man in the persevering use of judicious remedies. Cases often occur in which the active disease is arrested, but in which the paralytic affections remain. In the treatment of this disease, care must be taken not to push antiphlogistic remedies too far. Bleeding is not recommended after paralysis has taken place. At first, purgatives may be had recourse to; but as the case becomes chronic, tonics, and even stimulants, will be borne and found necessary. Counter-irritation over the region of the affected part of the spine should be produced by blisters, &c.; but care must be taken that there is no tendency to gangrene, which is likely to set in in these cases. One great point to be attended to in all these cases is, the state of the bladder. Although urine may be passed, voluntarily or involuntarily, the bladder may nevertheless, from its paralysed condition, remain in a distended state, and if the water is not drawn off by the catheter bad consequences will result. It is also of great importance to keep the patient clean and dry, as if this is not attended to ulceration will occur in the parts with which the urine is

(Masdeu, Historia Critica, lib. ii.; Mariana, Historia General de España, lib. ix., chap. xviii.; Missale Gothicum secundum Regulamin contact, and increase the suffering and danger of the patient. Beati Isidori Hispalensis, Romæ, 1804.)

MYCOMELJC ACID. Mycomelinic Acid. [URIC ACID.] MYELITIS. Inflammation of the substance of the spinal cord. The spinal cord is liable to the same inflammatory affections as the brain. [MENINGITIS.] It is covered like the brain with membranes, which may be diseased independent of the substance of the cord, which like the soft part of the brain may also be diseased independent of its membranes. Inflammation of the cord and its membranes is a frequent accompaniment of a similar disease on the brain.

The membranes of the cord may be inflamed separately or together. The dura mater of the cord may be inflamed on its free or its adherent surface. This is sometimes the case in caries of the vertebræ. This inflammation may be attended with effusion or ulceration. The spinal arachnoid and pia mater may also be inflamed, and the same results observed as in the same membranes in the brain. These membranes are red and injected to a considerable extent, and serum or lymph are effused according to the severity of the inflammation.

The symptoms of inflammation of the different membranes cannot be well made out. The one great characteristic of all these inflammations is intense pain. This pain extends along the spine, and passes to the limbs, and is not unfrequently mistaken for rheumatic pain. With the pain there is a tendency to the disturbance of the mus cular action. There may be rigidity or tetanic contraction of the muscles of the back, amounting in some cases to perfect opisthotonos. The muscles of the lower extremities may be affected in the same way. There may be also retention of urine, priapism, and obstinate constipation. In the commencement of the disease neither the pulse nor the tongue are much affected, but as the disease advances the pulse becomes rapid and the tongue brown, as the patient falls into a low typhoid condition.

The treatment in these cases should consist of opiates to alleviate the patient's sufferings, and of local bleeding, and purging with neutral salts. The hot bath in the acute stage, with setons, moxas, and leeches in the chronic stage should be employed. Mercury is not

recommended.

Inflammation of the substance of the cord occurs independent of any affection of its membranes. This may also occur idiopathically, or as the result of accident. The symptoms of inflammation of the cord are very varied, according to the part of its structure which is affected. Tracing the inflammation from above downwards, all or any of the following symptoms may be observed. Convulsions of the muscles of the head and face, difficulty of articulating, or an entire loss of voice, spasm of the muscles of the jaw, difficulty in swallowing, irregular or spasmodic breathing, palpitation or intermittent action of the heart, constriction of the chest, dyspnoea, nausea, and vomiting, pains in the bowels, sense of a cord tied round the belly, difficulty in making water, retention of urine, incontinence of urine, constipation, involuntary evacuations, convulsions of the voluntary muscles, and palsy.

If the seat of the disease is above the origin of the phrenic nerves, or the third cervical vertebræ, death speedily takes place, as the nervous influence is no longer transmitted to the diaphragm, and other muscles of respiration. When the injury is below the origin of the phrenic nerves, or at the level of the fifth and sixth cervical vertebræ, the inspiration is free, but the expiration is laborious from paralysis of the intercostal and abdominal muscles. The patient can yawn, but cannot sneeze. The upper extremities are also usually paralysed in this case. If the inflammatory affection is a little lower down, as opposite the seventh cervical, the palsy of the upper extremities is

(Watson, Lectures on the Principles and Practice of Physic; Aitkin, The Science and Practice of Medicine.)

MYRIAD (μvpás), the Greek term for ten thousand; usually employed in our idiom for an indefinite but very large number. MYRICIN. [BEES' WAX.]

MYRICYL. BEES' WAX.]

MYRICYLIC ALCOHOL. [BEES' WAX.]

MYRISTIC ACID (C2H2,O,+HO), is a crystalline fatty acid found in the seeds of Myristica moschata, the common nutmeg. Combined with glycerin, it forms the fat of the nutmeg; with the oxide of ethyl, a myristic ether which is an oily liquid.

Myristic acid has also been recently found amongst the products of the saponification of spermaceti.

MYRISTICA MOSCHATA. Nutmeg. [MYRISTICA, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] The genuine nutmeg must not be confounded with the Californian nutmeg, the produce of the Torreya myristica, a tree native of middle Florida, growing on calcareous hills along the eastern side of the river Appalach, and at Aspalaga.

This is so called not from its spicy qualities, nor from possessing any of the intrinsic properties of the nutmeg, but from its cone bearing a very close resemblance to that fruit, more especially in the runcinated appearance of its seed. See Bot. Mag.' pl. 4780; also Edinburgh New Philos. Journ.,' vol. x., July 1859, p. 7.

MYRISTONE (C2H27, CH270,?) The ketone of myristic acid. It bears the same relation to myristic acid as acetone does to acetic acid.

MYRONIC ACID. An acid of unknown composition contained along with myrosin in black mustard. In contact with myrosin and water it gives essential oil of mustard, or sulphocyanide of allyl. [FERMENT.]

MYROSIN. [MYRONIC ACID.]

MYROSPERIUM, Balsam of Peru, according to Richter, contains two oils, myroxylin, which is insoluble in alcohol, and myrosperium, which is soluble in that liquid. The latter substance when treated with an alcoholic solution of potash, yields cinnamic acid and a resinous body.

MYROSPERMUM. Balsam of Peru and of Tolu. All conjectures respecting the sources of these balsams are set at rest. They are not only the produce of trees specifically distinct, but of trees growing in very different countries, that yielding balsam of Peru being the produce of a new species of myrospermum, described by the late Dr. Royle under the name of M. Pereirae. It somewhat resembles the M. pubescens, of Kunth. It grows only on the Balsam Coast, which is in the neighbourhood of Sonsonate, State of St. Salvador, Guatemala, reaching from the front of Acajutla, to that of Libertad. Thus it seems that none comes from Peru, though the name would imply that it does. Royle's 'Materia Med.', 3rd edition, 1856.

Balsam of Tolu flows from incisions in the tree, and is of the consistence of a strong turpentine. It is sent to. Europe in earthenware jars or tin cases. It becomes tenacious with age, and in cold weather may be fractured, but melts again in summer, or with the warmth of the hand. It is of a yellow or brownish colour, transparent, with the taste and odour of the white balsam of Peru. This balsam is much adulterated. All the three forms possess the ordinary qualities of balsamic substances, and, either in the state of syrup or tincture, are employed where such medicines are indicated." These have been already detailed [BALSAMS], and it is only necessary to state here, that their fragrance renders them pleasant adjuncts to cough mixtures.

when the acute or active stage is passed, while the difference of price is the only reason for preferring one kind to another.

MYROXOCARPIN (CHO). A resinous body extracted from the white Balsam of Tolu.

MYROXYLIC ACID. Carbobenzoic Acid. An acid obtained from Balsam of Peru. It is probably impure benzoic acid.

MYRRH, Medical Uses of. [BALSAMODENDRON, in NAT. HIST. DIV.] MYSTERIES. [DRAMA; French Drama.] MYSTERY (uvor piov). In the religion of the Greeks there were rites and doctrines which were kept secret from the mass of the people and only communicated to a chosen few. These things were called mysteries. This word has been adopted by the writers of the New Testament, who apply it to things which are kept secret for a time and afterwards revealed, or to things which are kept secret from some persons though they may be revealed to others, or lastly, to things, which, though not kept perfectly secret, are only made known by symbols. Thus the term answers pretty well to the English word secret. It is frequently opposed to words which imply discovery. Thus the New Testament writers speak of a mystery revealed (uvoThptor àτокaλvôlév) or brought to light (pwTwoév) or made known (yvwpiobév). They call the gospel a mystery, as being a system which had formerly been kept secret, but was now revealed to them, and through them to the world (Rom. xvi. 25, 26; 1 Cor. ii. 7-10; Ephes. iii. 9; vi. 19; Coloss. i. 26, 27; ii. 2; iv. 3). So Christ said to his disciples, "To you it is given to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given" (Matt. xiii. 11; Mark iv. 11; Luke viii. 10), that is, you are permitted to understand those doctrines which are at present kept secret from others. But afterwards they were commanded to proclaim these secrets to the world (Matt. x. 26, 27; xxviii. 19, 20; Mark iv. 22; xvi. 15; 1 Cor. iv. 1). It is also applied to individual facts or doctrines. Thus the admission of the Gentiles to the privileges of the Christian religion is called a mystery, because it had never before been understood by the Jews (Rom. xi. 25; Ephes. iii. 3-5). The fact that the living will undergo a change at the resurrection is also called a mystery (1 Cor. xv. 51). To the same class belongs the only passage in which the word might perhaps be understood to imply something not merely unknown but actually incomprehensible, namely, 1 Tim. iii. 16, "Great is the mystery of godliness (or religion, evσ eßeías); God was manifest in the flesh," &c., which means, "Great is the secret which religion discloses-God was manifest in the flesh," &c. In 2 Thess. ii. 7, the mystery of wickedness" is "wickedness which is already secretly at work in the church," and of which the revelation is predicted in ver. 8 (τὸ γὰρ μυστήριον ἤδη ἐνεργεῖται τῆς ἀνομίας, Kal TOTE ȧπокаλνÔÒησεтαi & avoμos). The word is used in rather a singular way, but still with the same meaning, in 1 Cor. xiv. 2, where it is said of a person who speaks in an unknown tongue, "in the spirit he speaketh mysteries," that is, he communes with God in language unintelligible to those around. We have examples of the use of the word to denote the secret meaning of a figure or symbol in Ephes. v. 2; Rev. i. 20; xvii. 5, 7. This general signification of a secret is the only one in which the word mystery is used in the New Testament. In the Septuagint its meaning is the same (Daniel ii. 18, 19, 27, 28, 29, 30, 47; iv. 9). The early ecclesiastical writers applied the word to solemn religious rites, and this is probably the reason why μvoτýpшov is translated in the Vulgate by sacramentum. In modern usage a mystery is a doctrine which is incomprehensible by the human understanding, or which appears to involve facts irreconcileable with each other. Thus the doctrine of the Trinity, the union of the divine and human nature in the person of Christ, the consistency of God's perfect foreknowledge and fixed plan of providence with the free-will of man, are spoken of as mysteries. Not that these doctrines are considered as self-contradictory; for if such contradiction be proved, the doctrine is no longer mysterious but impossible. We believe that they can be explained, though our mental powers are not strong enough to explain them. It is worthy of remark that mysteries (in the modern sense) are found in philosophy and natural religion as well as in revealed religion. MYSTICS, a Christian sect which arose in the 2nd century, and whose principles are probably to be traced to the philosophy of the Christian Platonists of Alexandria, Ammonius Saccas and his followers. They first appear as a distinct sect in the 4th century, under the teaching of a Grecian fanatic, who gave himself out to be Dionysius the Areopagite, one of St. Paul's converts (Acts, xvii. 34), and who is generally regarded as the founder of the sect of the Mystics.

....

The austere lives and apparent devotion of the Mystics caused their principles to spread extensively in the Eastern church, and had a great influence in the spread of monachism. In the 9th century they were introduced into the West by a present which the Grecian emperor Michael Balbus made to Louis le Debonnaire, of the works of Dionysius the Areopagite, which however are undoubtedly spurious. The book was translated into Latin by the order of Louis, and the principles contained in it soon found many followers. In the 13th century the Mystics were the most formidable opponents of the schoolmen, and gradually many eminent men who were disgusted with the puerile conceits and lifeless religion of the latter, attached themselves to the Mystics, or rather to the purely spiritual principles held by them; and just before the Reformation, nearly all the friends of spiritual religion were included in this sect. In the 17th century the doctrines of Mysticism were advocated by a Spanish priest, Michael de Molinos, from whose representations of religion, as consisting in the perfect tranquillity of a mind always engaged in communion with God, the sect obtained the new name of Quietists. At the end of the same century attention was called to Mysticism in France by the writings of Madame Guyon, whose sentiments were opposed by Bossuet and defended by Fénélon; and in the next century the Pietists of Germany may be reckoned among them. In all these instances, however, it is more a general resemblance in first principles, than any adoption of the tenets either of Ammonius or Dionysius.

MYTHOLOGY (μυθολογία). The mythology of a people may be said to consist of those legends and traditions which have been, at some period or other, usually believed by the majority of the nation, but which cannot be regarded as historical truths on principles of sound criticism. The term therefore, although chiefly referring to them, is not confined to the religious systems of the Pagan nations; it includes everything that has been an object of popular belief, not merely respecting the origin, attributes, and adventures of the gods, but also concerning the early heroes, migrations, and exploits of a people. The historical inquirer has frequently great difficulty in determining at what time the mythology of a nation may be said to cease, and its history to begin; and in fact it is impossible to determine the exact time, since the transition from mythology to history must be necessarily gradual; and many traditions, which appear at first sight entirely mythological, may, upon further examination, be proved to contain some great historical truths.

Though a mythological event may be fictitious, it appears that mythology differs from fiction or fable, in having been once generally believed by a people as an account of events which actually took place. That which is regarded by us as mythological, may therefore be considered by another people as an historical or religious truth; and in the same manner as the exploits and adventures of the gods and heroes in the Mahabharata and Râmâyana are viewed by us as mythological, so the exploits and adventures of the Israelites in the conquest of Canaan, in many respects as extraordinary and wonderful as those of the gods and heroes in the great Hindu poems, may be looked upon by the Brahmans as the mythology of the Christian religion. On few subjects perhaps has more learning been expended, than in investigating the history and origin of the mythology of the principal nations of antiquity. Among the various theories that have been proposed on this subject, the four following appear to have met with the greatest number of supporters :

1. The Scriptural theory, according to which all mythological legends are derived from the facts contained in the narratives of Scripture, though the real facts have been disguised and somewhat altered. The supporters of this theory maintain that all mythic personages may be found in the Scripture; that Deucalion is only another name for Noah, Hercules for Samson, Arion for Jonah, &c. This hypothesis has been supported with a profusion of learned ingenuity and absurdity by Jacob Bryant, in his 'Analysis of Ancient Mythology,' who saw the patriarchs in every minute event of heathen mythology. Sir William Jones, in his dissertations, in the 'Asiatic Researches,' on the Hindu gods, applied Bryant's arguments to the Hindu mythology, though his good sense preserved him to a great extent from the follies which distinguished Bryant's work. Most of the Christian Fathers maintained that the principal deities in the ancient mythology were in reality devils, and that their worship and history had been taught to mankind by the devils themselves. This theory has been adopted by Milton, in the first book of his 'Paradise Lost,' in those lines beginning with

"First Moloch, horrid king, besmeared with blood

Of human sacrifice, and parents' tears," &c.

Adopting the Platonic doctrine, that the human soul is a portion of the divine nature, they held that every man has a divine light within him which is sufficient for his guidance to present and future happiness, but that this light is obscured by the grossness of our material bodies and by the influence of external objects. To shake off these evil influences, and thus to keep the soul in as close connection as possible with its divine original, they considered to be the essence of religion; and this they endeavoured to accomplish by constant medita-embellishments of later times. This mode of accounting fo rthe origin tion on spiritual objects, secret communion with God, and an austere discipline of the body. As they considered everything external to the soul as only calculated to obscure the divine light within, they set no value upon accurate systems of doctrine nor upon religious observances as contributing to the advancement of religion. One of their leading doctrines was that real love to God must necessarily be disinterested, that is, uninfluenced by the expectation of reward or punishment.

2. The Historical theory, according to which all the personages mentioned in mythology were once real human beings, and the legends and fabulous traditions relating to them are merely the additions and of mythology appears to have been in some measure adopted by the Egyptian priests, and was maintained by many of the Greek writers. The Egyptian priests told Herodotus (ii., 144) that their deities originally reigned upon the earth, and that the last who reigned was Orus, the son of Osiris, whom the Greeks called Apollo. An instance of this mode of accounting for the origin of mythology may be seen in the explanation which the Egyptian priests gave to Herodotus of the myth

N

is one of the liquid or trembling series of letters. It is formed with the tongue at the point where the teeth and palate meet, and the sound passes chiefly through the nasal passage. For the characters by which this letter is represented, see ALPHABET.

The letter n is subject to the following changes:

1. It is interchangeable with nd. Thus the Latin roots men, fini, gen (genus), appear in Saxon English as mind, bind or bound, kind or kin. The converse change is common in the provincial dialect of Somersetshire, where the English words wind, hind (behind), find, round, and, are pronounced wine, hine, vine, roon, an; while on the contrary, manner is changed to mander. [D.]

2. Before f, n was silent in Latin. Hence the town Confluentes, at the junction of the Moselle and Rhine, is now called Coblenz. So the German fünf is in English five.

3. N final often becomes a more complete nasal, and is equivalent to ng. Thus the German infinitive in en appears to be the parent not only of the participle in end, but of the substantive in ung, with which are connected the English participle and substantive of the same form in ing. The Somersetshire dialect prefers the n without g, as stanin, sparklin, starvin, for standing, sparkling, starving. The Sanskrit alphabet has a particular character for this sound.

4. Ni or ne before a vowel often forms but one syllable with that vowel, the i ore being pronounced like the initial y. This sound is represented in Italian and French by gn, as Signor, Seigneur; in Spanish by ñ, as Señor; and in Portuguese by nh, as Senhor: all derived from the Latin senior, elder.

5. N is interchangeable with . Hence the double form of luncheon and nunchion; but see L.

6. N with m, particularly at the end of words. [M.]

7. On and o are frequently interchanged. Hence the disappearance of the final n in the Latin nominatives ratio, ordo, Laco. The Portuguese also often discard an n so placed. It is probably from a confusion between the two sounds that the question has arisen, whether the letter ain of the Hebrew alphabet is an o or an n.

8. R final perhaps with rn. Hence the double forms of the Latin verbs cer and cern, separate; ster and stern, strew; sper and spern, kick, despise. Again star (and the Latin must once have had stera in order to form from it the diminutive stella, as from puera comes puella) is in German stern. Spur in the English is sporn in German, and of the same origin perhaps is the name of the Spurn Head, at the mouth of the Humber, as well as the Latin spern-ere. The Latin bur (seen in com-bur-o) is the same word as the English burn; and even the Latin curr-ere, to run, has in Gothic the form urn-an, just as the south-western dialect of England has hirn, and the ordinary English, by a slipping of the r [R], run. In the same south-western dialect beforne, avaurn, orn, norn, ourn, are the forms employed for before, afore, or or either (Germ. oder) nor or neither, our. It is, however, not improbable that the n so often attached to roots ending in r is the remnant of an actual suffix, like the en or on of our open, reckon, or the av of so many Greek verbs, λαμβανω for example.

N

9. N with 8. This change will not be readily admitted without consideration, as the sounds appear so different, The change however is very parallel to the admitted change of and d; and indeed as the two latter letters are formed at the same part of the mouth, so are n and s. The close connection of the two letters will be most forcibly demonstrated by examples of suffixes in which the change occurs. Thus the English language has a double form of the plural suffix in en and es, as in oxen and asses. The Greek verb has the same variety; first, in TUTTOMED and TUTTOμES; secondly, in TUTTETES, which must have been the older form of TUTTETE, and the so-called dual TUTTETOV. Again the Latin comparative has for its oldest suffix ios, as in melios, whence both melior and melius; or a better example occurs in ple-ios and pleos, whence the latter forms plous and plūs. On the other hand the Greek suffix is ion, as wλe-ov and Aeov, from the same root as the Latin plus, and with the same meaning. The old genitive plural suffix in Latin appears to have been sum, as servosum, whence servorum; but the Sanskrit often exhibits plural genitives in nam. The suffix for a female in Greek is either na or sa, as Bariivva, peλaiva, λeaiva, or Baoiλioσa, TUTTоvσa; and in English we have ess, while the Germans have inr. Lastly, such verbs as oßev-vvur have oßer for the radical part, which often takes the form oßes, as a-oßeo-Tos; and the same change appears in owppor, Nom. owppwv and owppoσouvn. As regards pōno, posui, positum, the imperfect tenses are compressed from pos-n-o or pos-in-o, so that this is no example of such interchange.

10. N before & silent, but lengthening the preceding vowel. This fact is well exemplified throughout the grammar of the Greek language. The Latin had the same peculiarity. Hence consul was sometimes written cosol, and when abbreviated was always represented by the three first of the sounded letters, namely, cos. So censor, infans, vicies, viccnsumus, are often found in the form ccsor, infas, vicies,

vicesimus. We see too why the Greeks wrote the Latin word knowp KavσTATIVOS, with a long vowel in the first syllable. Lastly, while the Germans write gans, wünschen, the English have goose, wish.

11. N silent at times before t and th. The English word mutton is derived from the French mouton and the Italian montone; and our word tooth in the older Gothic dialects was tunth, thus corresponding as nearly as it ought to do with the Greek odovт, and Latin dent. 12. N before v silent. Thus the Latin convention, assembly, became covention (as it occurs in one of the oldest inscriptions), before it was reduced to contion, the assembly of the people, a word which most modern editors, in spite of all the best MSS. and of etymology, persist in writing with a c for the fourth letter. Similarly from conventu came the French couvent: and though the English generally say convent, yet the name Covent Garden is a proof that the n was not always pronounced even here.

An initial n is either prefixed to, or taken from, words by error. | Thus nadder, a snake, has now lost its n through a confusion of the phrase a nadder with an adder. On the other hand, the phrase for then once, that is, for this once, in which the article has its old accusative form then, is now written for the nonce. It is in this way that we should account for the prefixed n in the diminutives Ned, Nol, Nan, Nel, for Edmund or Eduard, Oliver, Anne, Ellen, as if the original phrases mine Ed, mine Anne, had been confounded with my Ned, my Nan? At any rate, mine, thine, an, were severally the original forms of my, thy, a, and used even before consonants; nay, in Somersetshire they have changed aunt to nânt, uncle to nuncle, awl to nawl. Very similar is the prevailing error of calling the Greek negative particle alpha privative instead of av privative; the latter of which corresponds so accurately with the Latin in and the English un, to say nothing of the Greek aveu, and the German ohne. In fact, n at the end of words is often pronounced very faintly.

The Somerset dialect has been referred to because its peculiarities have been recorded with great care in Mr. Jennings's 'Observations.' NABOB, or NAWAB, a corruption of the Hindustani Nuwwab, which was the title of the governor of a province under the Mogul empire, such as the Nuwwab of Arcot, of Oude, &c. (Gilchrist, 'Vocabulary.') Several of these gradually assumed an independent sovereignty during the decline of the empire, and became either allies or dependents of the Anglo-Indian government. The word Nabob is sometimes used in Europe to mean a wealthy man who has made his fortune in India. NABONASAR, ÆRA OF. [PERIODS OF REVOLUTION.] NADIR. [ZENITH.]

NÆVUS (Novus maternus, Mother Spot or Mole) is a congenital mark or morbid growth on a part of the skin. Nævi are of various kinds; some are merely yellowish or brown discolorations of the skin without any evident alteration in its structure; but the greater number are composed of an excessively vascular tissue, or a dense network of arteries and veins forming a reddish or livid substance, more or less elevated above the surface of the surrounding skin. A third kind are like extensive warty excrescences, and many of them are covered with thick-set coarse hair.

The navi of the first kind rarely require treatment. Those of the second are more important from their tendency to increase, or to ulcerate and slough, or to produce severe hemorrhage by the rupture of some of their vessels. Many plans have been suggested for their removal. If they be not seated on an exposed part, or if they do not show a tendency to increase, they had better be left without treatment. In other cases, the simplest and sometimes a sufficient means is the continued application of cold with moderately firm pressure; but a more certain method is to produce such an inflammation in them as may obliterate their vessels and reduce them to the common substance of scars. In small superficial nævi this may be effected by vaccinating them so as to produce a number of pustules on their surface; and in larger ones, by cauterising a part of their surface with fused potash, or nitric acid, or nitrate of silver, or by injecting some stimulant (as dilute nitric acid) into their tissue, or by making small incisions into them, or by passing hare-lip pins and sutures [HARELIP] through parts of their substance, or by placing setons in them. The circumstances of each case must decide the choice between these several means, and the mode in which that which is selected may be best applied. Should complete removal be deemed necessary, nævi may be either cut out, or made to slough by tying them round the base. For the third kind of warty navi, excision is at once the simplest and most secure means.

It is a popular belief that nævi and some other malformations in infants are consequent on an impression made on the mind of the mother during pregnancy, and that the mark always bears some resemblance to the object by which the impression was excited. It cannot be denied, that among the many cases of nævi, some singular coincidences of the kind have occurred, and that in some of these the