NER
fometimes pracVifed in his time, but by his manner of naming it, feems to have been only done by fome mountebanks, who having no reputation to lofe, ventured boldly, and fometimes bad fuceefs. The reft of the \rabians are filcnt about the operation, and it feems to have been only praclifed by a Sew peoole in the days of this author, and wholly difcountenanced afterwards, from its bad fuceefs.
Amon<* the moderns- the firft who has named it is RoufTet, in his treatife on thcCaefarianfection. In order to invite men to countenance the Gefarian operation, he recommends feveral other de'pcrate ones, and among the reft, this of nephrotomy : but he is not able ro produce one inftance of its having been practifed either in his own, or earlier times, but when there ■was an abfeefs and an external tumor. C^lius Rodeginus gives indeed a very remarkable inftance of an operation of this kind being performed by chance, by a woman who, in the atrony of her pain from the ftone in the kidney, fcratcbed with her own nails, till fhe tore thro' the flefh lb deep, that eighteen ftones were difcharged at the wound.
The general opinion of authors is thus againft the operation j and the mofl: famed among thofe who have treated of wounds of the kidneys fay, that any wound which enters into the pel- vis is mortal. Yet this opinion, tho' general, is not certain or determinate ; and we have an account in the Philofopbical trianfacrions of the operation of nephrotomy being performed with fuceefs, by Marchetti of Padua, on Mr. Hobfon the Englifh conful at Venice. Phil. Tranf. N 3 223. p. 337.
NEPTA, a name ufed by fome authors for the afphaltivn. It feems a corruption of naphtha.
NEPTUNE' j cap, a name given by naturalifts to a remarkable fpecies of marine fungus, which is never found affixed to any folid body, but always Ioofe, and rolling about at the bottom of the fea. Its ufual fize is about five inches in height, and fix or (even in diameter at the bafe. It gradually becomes nar- rower from the bafe to the fummit, where it terminates in a round end, ornamented with clutters of a fohaceous fort of fubftanccs. refembling a cock's comb, but of the fame matter with the reft of the plant.
Its internal furface is very different from this : it is lightly fur- rowed down the fides, and befet with a number of fmall pro- tuberances, with obtufe points. Some of fhefe, when fmall, are found with a pedicle growing to them. This is always of a very brittle fubftance, and it is probable that all thofe found Ioofe had originally fuch pedicles, by which they adhered to fome folid body, in the manner of the corals, and other fea plants; but that its extreme brittlenefs occafions it to be foon broken ofT, by the motion of the water, after which the plant rolls Ioofe about, ,and takes in its nourilhment at its feveral pores, by means of the water which every way furrounds it. It is not probable that thefe and the like fea plants are nourished only by fea water ; but that there is in the fea a fort of mud continually formed out of the decayed particles of animals, and the folter vegetables, which may be fuppofed much to re- ferable the common vegetable mold in its ufes, as it has much the fame origin j and this, or at leaft its finer and lighter parts, may be conveyed by water into the pores of thefe plants, and nourifh them. Mem. Acad. Par. 1700.
NJiRANTZIUM, in botany, a name given by fome of the Greek writers to the citron tree. The antient Greeks were not acquainted with the word, and it feems to have been form- ed in the barbarous ages from the word narange, the name by which the Arabian phyficians called the fame fruit.
NERFLING, in zoology, the name of a frefli water fah of the leather- mo uth'd kind, common in fome of the lakes in Ger- many, and there called alfo the crff or serve, and feeming to be the fame with the common Englifli rudd. See Rubei lio. There are two kinds of this fifh, the flefh of the one of which, when drefled, is white, and that of the other yellowifti or red- im. The latter kind is moft- valued. IViUughbys Hift. Pifc. p. 252. 6>>rdePifc.
NERION, oleander, in botany, the name of a genus of plants, the characters of which are thefe : the flower is com- pofed of only one leaf, and is of the funnel-fafhion'd kind, and divided into many fegments at the edge. The piftil arifes from the cup, and is fixed in the manner of a nail to the hin- der part of the flower: this finally becomes a fruit of a cy- Jmdric fhape, compofed of two pods, which contain feeds winged with down. See Tab. 1. of Botany, Clafs 20. The fpecies of nericn enumerated by Mr. Tournefort, are thefe: t. The red-flowered nerion. 2. The white-flowered mrion. 3. The narrow-leav'd Indian nerion, with fing!e fweet- fcented flowers. 4. The broad-leaved Indian nerion, with fweet-fcented double flowers. 5 . The broad-leaved Indian nerion, with fweet-fcented, double, variegated flowers: and, o. rhe climbing American neHm, with tuberofe briony-like roots. Town Lift. p. 654. ;
NERITA, a genus of fhell fifh. of the nature of the femi- circular-mouth'd cochleae,and comprehended under the °-encral term cochlea femilunaris. See Tab. of Foflils, Clafs q. and Se- milunaris cochlea.
NEROPHIOION, in ichthyology, a name given by Schone- veldt, and lome others, to that fpecies of the acus or fyngnathus of Artedi, which is called by that author the hexagonal-bodied fingnatbm. with the pinnated tail ; and by others, the acus Art- JtotehsjXDA acus fecunda /pedes, and typhle ; by fome alfo, blennus.
NET
NERVE (Cyc!.) — The antients found, that by cutting;, lying or comprefling any nerve, or any other way intercepting its communication with the brain, the parts to which it belonged were immediately deprived of all fen fe and motion. One re- markable inftance of this is, the making an animal dumb by tying the nerves near the wind-pipe. We read in Galen, of a boy who became quite dumb by having both the recurrent nerves divided.
The experiment of cutting thefe nerves in brute animals, was repeated and confirmed by Vefalius } and Dr. Martin aflures us, he tried it fuccefsfulfy on a pig ; nor did the animal re- cover its voice, as fome have fufpected it might. As the voice depends on a proper aperture of the glottis, it feems likely that when the recurrent nerves are cut, the glottis will always ftand open, and be incapacitated from being fhut at the will of the animal. See Med. Ell". Edinb. Vol. 2. Art. 8. An anonymous phyfician offers what he calls an experimentwn crucis, in proof of the nerves being compofed of cylindrical canals, containing a fluid : it is the demonftraticn of the optic nerve inflated and dried, which appears canular to the naked eye. See Prefent State of Rep. Let. Vol, 12. Art 16.
Wounds of the Nerves, Upon the divifion of a nerve, the limb to which that nerve was extended becomes inftantly rigid,, void of fenfation, and withers : fo that it is no wonder that a man inftantly expires, upon the divifion of thofe nerves which are fent to the heart or diaphragm : a wound alfo is attended With great danger where the nerve is only partially wounded, and not entirely divided ; for the wounded fibres contract, them- felves, and thofe which remain undivided fuffer too great ex- tenfion, which will bring on moft violent pain, fpafms, con- vulfions, inflammations, and gangrenes, and fometimes death itfelf. Heifier's Surg. p. 27.
Nerves microfcopicaUy examined. Mr. Leuwenhoek endeavoured by his microfcope, to difcovcr theftmcrure of the nerves in the fpinal marrpw of an ox : he faw there with great delight, mi- nute hollow veffels of an inconceivable firmnefs, inverted with their proper membrane, and running out in length parallel to one another, and making up their compofition : and tho' fome hundreds of thefe veffels go to the formation of the leaft nerve that can be examined, he not only difcerned the cavities in them, which he computed to be three times Icfs than their diameters, but in fome perceived the orifices as plainly as the holes in a pricked paper are to be feen when looked at againft the fun. It requires, however, great dexterity and expedition to make this examination with fuceefs ; for after a thin flice of the fpinal marrow is placed before the microfcope, in lefs than a minute's time it becomes dry, and the whole appear- ance vanifhes. Bakers Microfcope, p, 14.5.
NERVOSE leaf, nervofuw folium, among botanifts. See Leaf.
NESTLINGS, a name given to Canary birds brought up by hand. See Canary and Passeres Canarienfes.
NET (CycL ) — The taking fowls by nets is the readieft and moft advantageous of all others, where numbers are to be taken. The making the nets is very eafy, and what every true fportf- man ought to be able to do for himfelf. All the tools neceiTary to it are wooden needles, of which there fiiould be fever.il of different fizes, fome round, and others flat ; a pair of round- pointed flatfeiffkrs, and awheel to wind off" the thread. The packthread is to be of different ftrength and thicknefs, accord- ing to the fort of birds that are to be taken ; and the general fize of the meflies, if not for very fmall birds, is two inches from point to point,
The nets fliould be made neither too deep nor too long, for they are then difficult to manage j and they muft be verged on each fide with twifted thread. The natural colour of the thread is too bright and pale, and is therefore to be altered in many cafes, according to the occafion.
The moft ufual colour is the rufiet : this is to be obtained by plunging the net, after it is made, into a tanner's pit, and let- ing it lie there till it be fufficiently tinged ; this is of a double fervice to the net, preferving the thread very greatly, as well as altering the colour. The green colour is given by chopping fome green wheat, and boiling it in water, then foaking the net in this green tincture till it have fufficient colour. The yellow colour is given in the fame manner, with the decoction of celandine; this gives a pale and faint ftraw colour, which is the colour of ftubble in the harveft time, and isjuftwhatis wanted. The brown nets are intended to be ufed on ploughed fields ; the green on grafs grounds, and the yellow on ftubble lands.
Great care is neceiTary in the preferving of nets ; and the prin- cipal thing to be confidcrcd in regard to this is, that all wet rots the threads : whenever tiiey have been ufed in dew or rain, they muft be hung up to dry in the fun ; and if there is any rent or breach made, it muft be mended as foon as it is difcovered. In the drying, they muft be hung as far as may be from the walls, that they may be out of the way of mice and rats, which are very apt to deftroy them. '1 he utmoft depth that mould be allowed to a net for fowl, is two fathom, and the utmoft length fix fathom.
The places for ufing fowling nets to moft advantage, arc the morning and evening haunts where the birds come to feed. The fportfman is to be at the place at leaft two hours before the time of their coming, and the net muft immediately be
fpread
