N A R
N A T
narciffus, with double white flowers, fmelling like ba'fam of Peru. 93. The white narcijfm of Ceylon, with a hexangular fweet-fccnted flower. Team. Inft. p. 3i3» *" et l- NARCOS, m ichthyology, a name given by Joannes Cuba, and oth?r writers, to the torpedo or cramp-fifli ; a fpecies of rata, diftinguifhed by Artedi by the name of the rata iota /avis, the wholly fmooth raia. NARCOSIS, a ftupefaition or intenfible ftate, whether brought
on by medicines, or happening from natural caufes. NARD1NUM ungucntum, ointment of fpikenard, an ointment greatly celebrated among the antient writers in medicine. It teems to have been varioufly prepared, but always with a great number of aromatic ingredients, and always with fpikenard for the bafis.
Diofcorides fays, that the malabathrum, or Indian leaf, was Sometimes an ingredient in it, but that it was alfo fometimes 1 made without it. It was generally, however, mix'd with the oleum balaninum, or amphacinum, infpiflated with an addition of fchamanth ; and to increafe its fragrancy there were added, coftus, arnomum, myrrh, and balm of Gilead. The fineft was accounted that which was of a thin confidence, and very fragrant fmell. It was faid to be attenuating and deterfive, but fomewhat acrimonious ; and was fometimes, for particular ufes, reduced to a folid confiftence with refin. Dio- fcorides, 1. l. c. 35. NARDUS, in the Linnaean fyftem of botany, the name of a diftinct: genus of plants of the grafs kind, the d ill ingu idling characters of which are, that there is no calyx ; that the flow- er is compofed of two valves ; the exterior is very flender, oblong, and ends in a beard or awn, and in fome fort receives the other into a cavity in its fore part : the interior is fmall and ftrait, and is terminated by a much fhorter awn. The ftami- na are three capillary filaments, fhorter than the flower : the anthers are oblong : the germen of the piftillum is oblong : the ftyles are two in number, capillary, and reflex and downy : the ftigmata are fimple. The flower continues firmly attached to the teed. The teed is fingle, long, ftrait, pointed at both ends, and narrower in its upper than in its under part. L'umai Gen. Plant, p. 19. See Spikenard, Cycl. Nardus rujllca, in botany, a name attributed by fome authors to the afarabacca, and by others to the baccharis rmnfpelienfiwiu Dak, Pharm. p. 79. NARES pijeium. The ncftrih in fifh are placed fo very varioufly, and have fo many differences in number, figure, fituation and proportion, that they make a very eflential feries of character?, for the diftinguifhing the genera and fpecies one from another. In regard to number ; 1. Some fifh have them not at all, as the petromyzum. z. Many fifh have one nojlril on each fide, placed in the manner of thofe of birds and quadrupeds, as the chonepterus, &c. 3. Many have them placed two on each fide, as the cyprini, percse, &c.
In regard to figure, they are, 1. In fome round, as all four are in the gadi, and the two anterior ones in the conger, mackrell, &c. 2. Some are oval, as the pofterior pair in the conger, &c. and, 3. Many are oblong.
As to their fituation, they alio differ much : 1 . Some are placed very near the fnout or roftrum, as the clupese ; and the anterior tubulofe foramina, in the conger or tea eel, are alfo of this kind, 2. In many kinds of fifh they are placed near the eyes, as in the pike, the pearch, and the like : and, 3, In fome they are placed as it were at a middle diftance between the eyea and the end of the fnout, as in the ammodytas or fand eels, &c. The nares of fifh differ alfo in proportion : in thofe fifties which have two pairs of thefe holes, they are, I. In fome ve- ry near one another, fo as almoft to touch : they are thus placed in the cyprinus and clupese, &c. 2. They are placed at great diftauces, which is the cafe in the conger, the pearch, and many others. According to thefe variations, the nojlrils, tho' a part in general very little attended to, yet become of notable ufe in the diftinguifliing the fpecies. Jrtedi's Ichthyol. NARIFUSORIA, a name given by authors tofuch medicines as were meant to be inftilled into the noftrils, for diforders of the head and eyes. NARINARI, the firafilian name of a fifh of the aquih marina kind, called by the Dutch pi iljlert mdfcicle. It is very Urge and flat, and the figure of its body is nearly triangular, its fides or wings being very broad, and larger. The head is very large, and has a furrow down its middle : the mouth is fomewhat triangular, but rounded at the corners. It has no teeth ; but in the place of them, has a bone in the under part of its mouth, in the fhape of a tongue, of four fin- gers long, and a finger and half broad, and a fmaller bone of the fame fhape in the upper part : between thefe it crufhes its prey. The under bone confifts of feventeen fmall pieces, of the figure of the letter V. Thefe are hard and firm, and are field together by cartilages, and under them arc the fame num- ber of others, much more foft and fpungy. The upper bone confifts of fourteen pieces, which are each in like manner double, and joined to one another by cartilages. The body is ufually a foot and a half long, and the tail four foot. Its flefh is finely flavoured. Marggrave Hid. Braf. p. 119. The bones of this and the like fifh's mouths, arc the foflile filiqiiejira. NAR1S est emits alius, in anatomy, a name given by Riolanus to one of the muteles of the note, the ufe of which, he fays, is
to dilate the ala of the note, witlioiit any elevation of the hofe ittelf. It is called by Albmus the compreffor nan's, and by Winflow the tranfverjalis, or inferior naft. Cowper calls it the elevator aUc naft, and Sajitor'mi the tranfuerfus naft,
NARONICjE radix, .in the materia medica, a name given by fome authors to the iris root. Ger, Emac Ihd. 2. See Iris;
NARROW, in the manege. A horte is faid to narrow, when he does not take ground enough, dr does not bear far enough out to the one hand or to the other. If your horte narrows^ you muft affift him with the infide rein, that is, you muff, car- ry your hand to the outfide, and prefs him forward upon ftraight lines with the calves of your legs.
Narrow is alfo a term among bowlers. See Bowling.
NARWAL, a name given to a fifh of the whale kind, morefrc- See Unicorn.
quently called the fa-unicorn.
NASAMMONITES, in natural hiftory, a name given by the
antientsto a ftone, which Pliny defcribes to have been of a
blood colour, variegated with veins of black. We know no
ftone which anfwers to this character at prcfent, unlefs it be
fome of the agates, in a variegated ftate.
NASCALE, a fort of peflary, made of woo', cotton^ or the"
like, and introduced into the vagina, after being impregnated
with proper ingredients.
NASDA, a word uted by fome medical writers for naphtha, and
teemingly a corruption of that word. NAS1TAS, a word uted by fome authors to cxprefs a fpeikin^
thro' the note. NASTOS, in botany, a name by which Clufius and fome other authors have called the reed* of which the common walking canes are made, which is the aruv.do farcla of other writers^ Ger. Herb. p. 34. NASTURTIUM, creffes, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe; the flower' confifts of four leaves, and is of the cruciform kind : the piftil arites from the cup, and becomes a roundifh flatted fruit, divided by an intermediate membrane into two cells, and contjining ufually a number of flat feeds. To thefe marks it is to be add- ed, that the leaves of the nafturtiums are divided and cut into tegmenta, by which it is at fight diftinguifhed from the thlafdi. The fpecies of naflurtium enumerated by Mr. Tournefort are thefe: 1. The common garden crefs. 2. The curled- leav'd garden crefs. 3. The narrow-leav'd garden crefs, with more curled leaves. 4. The broad-leav'd garden crefs. ;. The wild crefs, called by fome the umbellated thlafpi. 6. The lefTer-podded wild crefs, with finely-divided leaves. 7. The wild crefs, with extremely fine divided leaves. 8. The orien- tal naflurtium, with the lower leaves like thofe of yarrow^ and the upper ones like thofe of thorough wax. 9. The wild crefs with criftated pods. 10. The alpine crefs, with finely-divided leaves. 1 1 . The little fpring crefs, called by fome the rock cardamine. 1 2. The little rock crefs, with leaves' like thote of fliepherd's purte. 1 3. The fmall procumbent fpring naflur- tium: and, 14. The little fpring najlurtium, with leaves only at the root. Tourn. Inft. p. 213.
IVater-crejfes are frequently eaten in fpring as a fallad. The whole plant is of a very acrid tafte, and is a powerful attenuant and refolvent. It is recommended as a kind of fpecific in the. fcurvy, and is eaten in great quantities by many with that in- tent. It is good againlt all obftructions of the.viteera, and confequently in jaundices, and other chronic difeates. It is alfo a powerful diuretic and promoter of the mentes. People have pretended to preterve the virtues of this plant in waters, fyrups, and conferves; but the beft way of takirto- it is either to eat it as a fallad, or to drink its exprefll-d juice firfgly, or mixed with that of the other antiteorbutic plants, as "brook- lime, &c. which is often done. NASUS, in zoologv, the name of a frefh-water fifh, common in the Rhine, the Danube, and moft of the large rivers iri Germany, tho' unknown in England, and called" by different authors thejifnus, favctta, and platyrynchos . Its general fize is between fix and twelve inches in length. In fhape and colour it much retembles our chub, its belly and fides are of a filvery white, and the belly fins and the lower half of the tail are often a little reddifh : its head is fmall, and has a black fpot on its hinder part ; its belly is flat^ and fome- what broad, and its teales large; and its fnout or note ftand out beyond the mouthy which is a Angularity, and from which it had its name. Its mouth is very fmall; it has no teeth, and its fkull is pellucid. It is a loote and _infip id -tailed fifh and very full of bones. They fpawn in May, at which time the males are rougher than at any other teafon, and have their heads fpecklcd with white fpots, like the Englifh rudd. At this time alfo they fwim together in immenfefhoals, and thefiiher- men have fometimes caught two or three thoufand of them in onenight. l^illughbys Hift. Pile. p. 25 \. NAT ANT leaf, among botanifts. See Leaf. NATATIO,/7wW«/?;£-, in ichthyology. The fwimnwg of fifties in general is greatly afhfted by their air bladder. Thofe kinds which have not this bladder,cithcr have regular lungs, and con- tain air in them, as is the cafe in the cetaceous fifties ; or they have remarkably thin andflat bodies, as the rays and thornbacks and thepleuronecli; dr rcniarkably long and flexous ones, as the petromyza ; and by thefe means are capable of eafy flextious motions, which, with the help of the fins, thruft them any Way at pieafure ; tho' their bodiqs are not ib nicely pois'd, as to th'e
weigh*
