with water. It decomposes when kept in contact with water, evolving nitric oxid (NO). When mixed with about 20 times its own vol

ume of alcohol (rectified spirit), it is known as "spirit of nitrous ether," or "sweet spirit of nitre," and is used in this form as a diuretic and febrifuge.

Nitrous Oxid, or Nitrogen Monoxid, a gaseous substance having the chemical formula NO, and obtained by heating ammonium nitrate, NH.NO, as indicated by the equation

NH1.NO N2O + 2H2O.

Care must be exercised in its manufacture, as ammonium nitrate, when heated, is liable to explosive decomposition. Nitrous oxid is a colorless gas, with a slightly sweet taste. It sup ports combustion nearly as well as oxygen, and when subjected to a pressure of 30 atmospheres at 32° F., it condenses into a colorless, mobile liquid. When inhaled, it is apt to produce exhilaration, for which reason it is commonly called "laughing gas." Sir Humphry Davy, in experimenting with nitrous oxid about the year 1801, discovered that it produces insensibility when inhaled for a sufficient time, and in recent years it has been used as an anæsthetic for dental work and other minor surgical operations. Davy himself suggested this use in the following words: "As nitrous oxid, in its extensive operation, seems capable of destroying physical pain, it may probably be used with advantage in surgical operations in which no great effusion of blood takes place." It does not appear that the gas was so used, however, until 1844. On 10 December of that year Dr. Gardiner Q. Colton gave a lecture on "Laughing Gas," in Union Hall, Hartford, Conn., administering the gas to several of his auditors, for the purpose of illustrating its peculiar properties. Horace Wells, a Hartford dentist, was present at the lecture, and was impressed by the practical possibilities that appeared evident to him. On the following day Wells obtained a supply of the gas from Colton, inhaled it himself until he became unconscious, and while he was in this condition Dr. Riggs extracted one of his teeth. When consciousness returned, a few minutes later, he exclaimed, "I didn't feel it! The greatest discovery of the age!" About the same time Dr. William T. G. Morton and Dr. Chas. T. Jackson, of the Massachusetts General Hospital, at Boston, introduced ether as an anæsthetic, and a patent for its use was issued to them in November 1846. There has been much bitter controversy concerning the priority of Wells and of Morton and Jackson, as regards the introduction of anæsthetic methods in surgery; but so far as nitrous oxid is concerned, the evidence appears to favor Wells. Morton and Jackson experimented chiefly with ether, a substance which Wells appears to have used in his practice only upon one occasion. Consult The Locomotive' for November, 1889.

Nitzsch, nitsh, Karl Immanuel, German theologian: b. Borna, Germany, 21 Sept. 1787; d. Berlin, Germany, 21 Aug. 1868. He was a son of Karl Ludwig Nitzsch and was educated in Wittenberg, becoming professor of a theological seminary in Berlin in 1817 and in 182247 he was professor at Bonn. He then returned to Berlin where he was professor, university preacher and a member of the high consistory. He published: 'System der christlichen Lehre

(1829); Praktische Theologie) (3 vols. 184767); etc.

Ying-tse, China, a city of Manchuria, on the Niu-chuang, nu-chwäng', New-chwang, or Liao-ho River, about 35 miles from its mouth. It is practically an inland city, but was chosen as one of the ports to be opened to foreign commerce by the treaty of Tien-tsin (1858). The foreign settlements and the trade, however, are at Ying-tse, near the river's mouth, which is known to Europeans as Niu-chuang. The port is connected by railway with Tien-tsin, and also with the great Siberian Railway. Though closed by ice in the winter months, it carries on an important trade. Ying-tse imports cotton, woolen, and silk goods, sugar, paper, metals, opium, tobacco, etc.; total value of imports in 1901, $2,146,868; and exports beans, silk, ginseng, skins, and horns; total value of exports in 1901, $3,651,880. The import of Indian opium has fallen from $2,860,000 in 1866 to about $40,000. Large quantities of salt are manufactured in the vicinity. The port was captured by the Japanese in March 1895, and was occupied by the Russians in 1900. See MANCHURIA. Pop. 60,000.

Island, in the South Pacific Ocean, politically Niué, ne-oo'a, Niué-Fekai, or Savage dependent to New Zealand since 1900, is of ancient coral formation, 14 miles long, 10 miles wide, with a maximum altitude of 200 feet, and an area of 36 square miles. The soil is very productive, yielding cocoanuts, tara, yams, and

bananas.

Copra fungus, and straw hats are exported. Pop. (1903) 4,400, Malayo-Polynesians, all Christians, due to the labors of the London Missionary Society.

Niv'en, William, American mineralogist: b. Bellskill, Lanarkshire, Scotland, 6 Oct. 1850. After a common-school education in Scotland, he came to the United States in 1879, and pursued mineralogical investigations. He discovered four new minerals,- yttrialite, thorogummite, and nivenite in Llano County, Texas, in 1889, and aguilarite at Guanajuato, Mexico, in 1891. In 1891 he also found the remains of a prehistoric people, covering several hundred square miles in the state of Guerrero, Mexico. He was assistant commissioner of Arizona to the New Orleans Exposition.

Nivernais, nē-vĕr-nā, France, an ancient province corresponding nearly to the present department of Nièvre.

Nix, or Nixie, in German folk-lore, the name of water spirits (male and female), haunting rivers, brooks, ponds, and lakes. See also NICKER.

Nix'on, John, American military officer: b. Framingham, Mass., 4 March 1725; d. Middlebury, Vt., 24 March 1815. In the expedition against Cape Breton in 1745 he fought under Sir William Pepperell and was at the capture of Louisburg. He joined the colonial forces at the outbreak of the American Revolution and fought at the battle of Lexington, and at Bunker Hill he commanded a regiment. He was made brigadier-general in 1777 and was given command of Governor's Island in New York harbor. He served under General Gates in the battle of Stillwater, and in 1780 failing health compelled his retirement.

Nixon, John, American soldier: b. Philadelphia, Pa., 1733; d. there 31 Dec. 1808. He was early prominent in opposing the taxation demands of England, and in 1774 became a member of the first committee of correspondence in Pennsylvania; and was also a member of the committee of safety. In 1775 he became lieutenant-colonel of a battalion which he led at the battle of Princeton in 1777. In 1776 he commanded at Fort Island, and later in the same year was placed in command of the guard of the city of Philadelphia; he was the first to publicly proclaim the Declaration of Independence in the city on 8 July. He'served in the army till 1780, and was a member of the navy board and director of the provision supply. He was one of the organizers of the Bank of North America, and its president from

1792 to 1808.

Nixon, Lewis, American shipbuilder: b. Leesburg, Va., 7 April 1861. He was graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 1882, and was then sent to the Royal Naval College at Greenwich, England, to take a special course in naval architecture from which he was graduated in 1885. In 1884 he had been appointed to the construction corps of the navy, and on his return from abroad was ordered to duty in connection with the building of the cruisers Chicago and Boston; he was later superintending constructor for the navy at the Cramp shipyard, and assistant constructor at the Brooklyn Navy Yard. In 1890 he designed the battleships of the Indiana class, and when the contract for these vessels was awarded to the Cramp shipyard, he resigned from the navy to become superintending constructor there. He retained this position until 1895, when he leased the Crescent shipyard at Elizabeth, N. J., where he built 100 vessels within six years, including the sub-marine torpedo boat Holland. In 1902 he became president of the United States Shipbuilding Company, which includes the Crescent shipyard, the Eastern Shipbuilding Company, and others; and he is also connected with other manufacturing interests. In politics he has been allied with the Democratic party; was appointed a commissioner of the East River Bridge in 1898; and in November 1901 succeeded Richard Croker as leader of Tammany Hall, resigning the position in May of the next year; he has also been chairman of the finance committee of the Democratic Congressional Campaign Com

mittee.

Nixon, Oliver Woodson, American journalist: b. Guilford County, N. C., 25 Oct. 1825. He was graduated from Farmers' College, Ohio, in 1848, and from Jefferson Medical College, Philadelphia, in 1854. During the Civil War he was medical director of the Army of Missouri and in 1870 established the Cincinnati Evening Chronicle. With his brother, W. P. Nixon (q.v.), he merged it with the Cincinnati Times, and in 1878 they purchased the Inter-Ocean of Chicago, of which he has since been literary editor. He has published 'How Marcus Whitman Saved Oregon for the Union' (1895).

Nixon, William Penn, American journalist: b. Fountain City, Wayne County, Pa. He was graduated from Farmers' College, Ohio, in 1854 and from the law school of the University of Pennsylvania in 1859. He practised his pro

fession in Cincinnati till 1860 and sat in the Ohio Legislature 1865-8. He was business manager of the Cincinnati Chronicle, 1868-72, and since the date last named has been associated with the Chicago Inter-Ocean, which he purchased with his brother O. W. Nixon (q.v.) as publisher, manager and editor. In 1897 he was appointed collector of the port of Chicago.

Niza, net'sä, Marcos de (also called FRAY MARCOS), Italian missionary in America: b. Nice at the beginning of the 16th century; d. between 1550 and 1570. He gets his name, de Niza, from the city of Nice, where he lived and His governorentered the Franciscan Order. general Antonio de Mendoza, on the request of Marcos' bishop and friend Bartolome de las Casas, sent him about 1531 to New Galicia in order to reassure the Indians there that the purpose of the Spaniards was simply to convert the natives, not to enslave or conquer them. Fray Marcos lived successively in Peru, Guatemala and Mexico, and in 1539 undertook to explore the Northwest and to discover the truth of the story told by Cabeza de Vaca of the seven cities of Cibola and their golden wealth. Niza probably made his way into Arizona, and is frequently called the "discoverer of Arizona.” Upon his return he published a book locating the "seven cities," for which he must have mistaken the Zuñi pueblos. But the hopes to which he roused Mendoza were shattered by the expedition led by Coronado in 1540, which found no gold in Cibola. Niza's 'Descubrimiento de las siete ciudades' was edited by Ramusio, but is most accessible in a French version (1838).

Nizami, ni-zâ-mē' (full name ABU MOHAMMED BEN YUSUF SHEIK NIZAM-ED-DIN), Persian poet; b. Western Persia 1141; d. Ganjah 1203. Besides a Divan, or collection of lyrics, he wrote five larger poems, upon which his poetic fame rests, and which in Persia are regarded as masterpieces which no subsequent attempts have been able to equal. These poems are (1) Makhzan-al-asrar (Storehouse of Mysteries'), a didactic poem, in which theoretical doctrines as to ethics alternate with historical details, anecdotes, and fables; (2) Khusrau and Shirin,' a romantic epic, which has for its subject the love of the Persian king Khusrau for Shirin; (3) Laila and Majnun, which describes the love of Majnun, a son of the Arabian desert, for the beautiful Laila; (4) Haft Paikar' (Seven Portraits'), a collection of seven novels in a kind of poetical heptameron. The most famous of these tales is the 4th, called Turandocht, which, after being subjected to various changes, furnishes the materials of Gozzi's and Schiller's well-known dramas; (5) Iskandar Namah' ('Alexander Book'), a traditional and embellished history of Alexander the Great, taken from the Greek poem on that subject by the pseudo Callisthenes. These five have been assembled in a collection known as 'Panj Ganj (The Five Treasures'). Nizami is not so familiar to western nations as Firdausi, Hafiz, or Sa'di; but in Persia he is among the foremost classics, and, in his peculiar field, may be placed second Firdausi. 'Laila and Majnun' was rendered into English couplet verse by Atkinson (1836).

to

Nizam's (ni-zămz') Dominions. See HY

DERABAD.

Nizhan, nye'zhän, or Nyezhin, nyě'zhen, Russia, city in the government of Chernigof; on a branch of the Desna which flows into the Dnieper. It is in a fertile agricultural region in which tobacco is one of the principal products. It has a large trade in grain and tobacco. Pop. 33,000.

Nizhni-Novgorod, nēzh'ni-nov'go-rod. See NIJNI NOVGOROD.

Njord, nyerd, in Scandinavian mythology, god of the wind and waves. See MYTHOLOGY. No Am'mon, or No, the Hebrew designation for Thebes, the Disopolis Magnus of the Greeks. It is mentioned in Nah. iii. 8 (épos 'Aμμ) and in Ezek. xxx. 14-16; Jer. xlvi. 25 (AboToMs). The shorter form, No, seems to have prevailed generally among the Hebrews, and the Assyrian records call the city Ni, while in Egypt after the 21st dynasty it is written Nt, doubtless pronounced ne-t. Nahum's reference to it as "part of Ammon" makes its identity with Thebes positive. See THEBES.

No-body Crab, or Sea-spider. See PAN

TOPODA.

No Man's Land, a name applied to outlying districts in various countries; at one time to what is now mainly Griqualand East; also to a territory of 80,000 square miles in South Australia; to a small island near Martha's Vineyard, Mass.; to a strip of land bordering on Pennsylvania, Delaware, and Maryland, still in dispute between those States because of the displacement of the early boundary stones. Most commonly, however, the name is applied to Oklahoma in the following connection: In 1845 Texas, on being admitted into the Union, ceded to the United States that strip of her land which lay north of lat. 36° 30' N. This piece, 167 miles by 35, was without government until 1890, when it became a part of Oklahoma. At one time there was a great rush of prospectors and settlers to this section.

tinction to the strangers who conformed by being circumcised, and were styled "proselytes of righteousness.»

Darmstadt 1822. Noack, nō'äk, August, German painter: b. After painting under Sohn, Lessing and Schadow, in the Düsseldorf Academy (1839-42), he continued his student life in Munich and Antwerp, but eventually settled in his native town 1855, where he was made court painter and professor at the Polytechnic. He has painted several fine altar-pieces, and his to Luther) (Rostock Gallery) and The DispuVisit of Landgrave Philip the Magnanimous tation at Marburg (Darmstadt Gallery) give him high rank as a painter of historical pictures.

Noah, nō'a, according to the Hebrew Scriptures, the son of Lamech, and 10th in descent from Adam. He was the first ancestor of the new race of men who should people the earth after the flood, in which points he is the counterpart of the Chaldaic Xithuthros, the Hindu Prithu, and the Greek Deucalion, severally. We read nothing of him from his birth till he is 500 years old, when we are told that he begat three sons, Shem, Ham, and Japheth. Having been warned by God of the coming flood, he built an ark or great vessel by the direction of Jehovah, into which he entered with his family and all kinds of animals of every kind. After the waters had subsided the ark rested on Mount Ararat, where Noah offered a burnt-offering to God, and was assured that the earth should never again be destroyed by a flood. This is the first passage in the Bible where altar or burnt-sacrifice is mentioned. As rainbow in the clouds. a sign of this covenant with Noah, God set the Noah died at the age of 950 years, 350 years after the flood. The narrative marks several important points in the history of civilization. In agriculture, the recognition of such seasons as seed time and harvest; and the discovery of the vine, which is made such a salient point in Greek mythol

seven

4.

Noachian (nō-ā'ki-an) Precepts, canons or laws which, according to the Talmud, were given by Jehovah to the sons of Noah. These precepts are analogous to what among the Romans was classed as Natural Law or Jus Gentium, a code revealed by the consensus of conduct among the Mediterranean nations. The seven Noachian Precepts enjoin: 1. Submission to civil authorities, kings, judges, etc. 2. Avoid ance of idolatry and sacrilege. 3. Reverence to the name of God, as in taking an oath. Proper restraint and direction of the human sexual instinct. 5. Reverence for life, even of animals, by refusing to consume the blood of beasts as food. 6. Respect for the rights of property. 7. Refusal to eat the member of a living animal. The expanding and refining genius of the Rabbins sometimes adds four others to these seven, namely: 1. The blood of a living animal is not to be drawn for the purpose of drinking it. 2. Animals are not to be mutilated. 3. Magic and sorcery are unlawful. 4. The crossing of animals and grafting of trees are also unlawful. No stranger was allowed to dwell in Hebrew territory unless he conformed to the Noachian Precepts and became a "proselyte of the gate"; in contradis

institution of civil government. The Noachian Precepts (q.v.) are founded on Genesis ix. 1-17.

Noah, Mordecai Manuel, American politician and journalist: b. Philadelphia 19 July 1785; d. New York 22 March 1851. Through the influence of Robert Morris he was appointed clerk in the auditor's office of the United States Treasury. On the removal of the national capital from Philadelphia to Washington, he resigned his clerkship, and was for a time reporter at the sessions of the Pennsylvania Legislature at Harrisburg. In 1813 he was appointed United States consul at Tunis, with a special mission to Algiers. Captured in the English Channel by an English war ship, on 3 July 1813, he was detained several weeks as a prisoner of war, and then released, next proceeding by way of Spain to his post of duty. He succeeded in ransoming the American prisoners whom the Algerians held in slavery, but was recalled on the pretext that his religion was incompatible with his consular position at Tunis. He was abundantly vindicated later. In those days the United States paid a yearly tribute of $200,000 to Tunis for the privilege of navigating the Mediterranean. Noah denounced such payment, insisting that the money would be better spent in building war ships. Returning home in 1819

and settling in New York city he published a volume of his Travels in England, France, Spain and the Barbary States,' and founded the 'National Advocate.' In 1822 he was elected high sheriff of the city and county of New York. After the discontinuance of the 'National Advocate,' he began the New York Enquirer' which was merged with the Courier' and became the 'Courier and Enquirer,' in partnership with James Watson Webb, but political differences soon dissolved their connection. Appointed by President Jackson surveyor of the port of New York, he established in 1834 the Evening Star and became judge of the court of sessions. In 1842 he started a daily, The Union, which became a weekly and under the title, Noah's Sunday Times and Messenger, was edited by him until his death. A most interesting project in which he engaged in 1820 was to re-establish the Jewish nation and form a place of refuge for Jewish emigrants on Grand Island, in the Niagara River, near Buffalo. In 1825 with impressive ceremonies, he laid the cornerstone of the proposed city at White Haven, but the new "Ararat," as it was termed, came to naught. Noah's literary activity was varied; it included a large number of addresses and essays, a translation of the 'Book of Yashar, and many plays, some of them popular in their time. He was ever broad-minded and charitable, and a picturesque figure of his time. Consult: Wolf, Mordecai Manuel Noah: A Biographical Sketch' (1897); Morais, 'Eminent Israelites of the 19th Century) (1886).

Noah, Samuel, American soldier: b. London, England, 19 July 1779; d. Mount Pulaski, Logan County, Ill., 10 March 1871. Of Jewish descent and a cousin of M. M. Noah (q.v.), at 20 he emigrated to America, and was appointed 5 May 1805 cadet in the 1st Regiment of Artillery. He was graduated 9 Dec. 1807, was promoted ensign in 2d Regiment and after desultory service in the Gulf States resigned (13 March 1811) his commission of 1st lieutenant in the army. He joined Magee's Mexican forces which were besieged at Fort Bahia (14 Nov. 1812) by the Spanish royalists. On Magee's death, Noah in command of the rear-guard routed the enemy and captured San Antonio. War having been declared by the United States against England, Noah left Texas to re-enter the United States army, but on President Madison's refusal to re-commission him, volunteered as a private soldier to defend Brooklyn and served to the end of the war. At the time of his death he was the oldest graduate from West Point. Consult Cullom, Biographical Sketches of Deceased Graduates of the U. S. Military Academy.'

Noah Claypole. See CLAYPOLE, NOAH. Noah, Book of, a legendary pseudepigraphical book purporting to throw fuller light on the antediluvian and post-diluvian years of Old Testament history. Its date and authorship are equally uncertain.

Noailles, nō-i, French family from Limousin, dating from the 11th century. Its more important members are as follows: ANTOINE DE NOAILLES, b. 1504; d. Bordeaux II March 1562. He was admiral of France, ambassador to England 1553-6, the king's agent in the Truce of Vaucelles, and governor of Bordeaux.

His grandson, ANNE JULES DE NOAILLES, b. Paris 1650; d. Versailles 1708; was a servile courtier of the French king, who made him marshal of France in 1693. His son, ADRIEN MAURICE, DUC DE NOAILLES, b. Paris 29 Sept. 1678; d. there 24 June 1766; like his father was marshal of France (1734). Before this he had made his reputation by his financial policy and his opposition to Law. He fought in the war of the Polish Succession, became commanderin-chief of the army in Italy in 1735, and in the war of the Austrian Succession was crushingly defeated at Dettingen. His memoirs were edited by Millot (1777) and his correspondence by Rousset (1865). His son LOUIS, b. Versailles 21 April 1713; d. Paris 22 Aug. 1793; fought in Flanders and Germany; became marshal of France in 1775. LOUIS MARIE, VICOMTE DE NOAILLES, b. Paris 1756; d. Havana 1804; married a sister of Lafayette's wife and with Lafayette urged French intervention, and fought in America in behalf of the American Colonies, in which he took refuge during the darkest days of the Revolution. He returned to France soon afterward, but resigned from the army in 1792, again came to America, and fought bravely in the French army in San Domingo, being killed in the brilliant_capture of an English war vessel off Havana. PAUL, a great-grandson of Louis, b. Paris 4 Jan. 1802; d. there 12 May 1885; upheld the Bourbons and wrote 'Histoire de Mme. de Maintenon' (1848-58) and 'Histoire de la Maison de St. Cyr) (1865). His great-grandson, in turn, EMANUEL HENRI, MARQUIS DE NOAILLES, b. 15 Sept. 1830; was French minister to Washington 1872, to the Papal Curia 1873, to Rome 1876-82, to Constantinople 1882-96, and 1896-1902 to Berlin; and wrote on Polish history. His brother JULES CHARLES VICTURNIEN, DUC DE NOAILLES (1826-95), was a well-known economist, one of the editors of the Revue

des Deux Mondes, and author of many economic and historical studies, notably Cent Ans de République aux Etats-Unis) (1886-91).

Nobbe, nō'bě, Friedrich, German plant physiologist: b. Bremen, Germany, 20 June 1830. He was educated at Jena and Berlin, and in 1861 was called to a professorship at the Industrial School in Chemnitz. In 1868 he joined the faculty at the Academy of Forestry and Agriculture at Tharandt, where he founded an experiment station for plant physiology, and he originated, in 1869, scientific seed testing. He has published: Wider den Handel mit Waldgrassamen für die Wiesenkultur) (1876); etc.

Nobel, nō'běl, Alfred Bernard: b. Stockholm, Sweden, 21 Oct. 1833; d. San Remo, Italy, 10 Dec. 1896. He was the third son of Emmanuel, and in 1842 his father moved with his family to Saint Petersburg, Russia. In 1850 he sent Alfred to the United States to study under the famous engineer John Ericsson. On reaching his 21st year the son returned to Saint Petersburg trained as an engineer and moreover able to speak fluently Swedish, Russian, English, German and French. Later he took up the study of chemistry and showed a marked preference for that science in its technical applications. Emmanuel Nobel went to Russia under contract to prepare mines and torpedoes for the Russian government, and erected on the Neva works for their manufacture which eventually

were extended to include the manufacture of firearms and agricultural implements..

After Alfred returned from America he was constantly engaged with his father in pursuing some invention. Among other substances nitroglycerin especially occupied their attention, and finally in 1862 they had erected a works at Helenborg, Sweden, where nitroglycerin was manufactured on a commercial scale for the first time in its history. In 1864 the works were destroyed by an explosion which killed the chemist, and Alfred's younger brother Oscar, and the calamity so affected Emmanuel Nobel as to bring on a paralytic stroke which left him permanently crippled. Alfred Nobel immediately erected new works on a barge anchored in Lake Mälaren and in 1865 enlisted capital to erect works on a large scale at Winterviken, Sweden, and Krümmel, Germany. So many accidents occurred with nitroglycerin, and especially the destruction of a vessel transporting it at Aspinwall on the Isthmus of Panama attracted such attention, that its transportation was interdicted by many governments. In the latter part of 1866 Nobel discovered dynamite which replaced it and which was at once manufactured in his Swedish and German factories and in 1868 at a factory which he started near San Francisco, Cal. In 1871 he erected at Ardeer, Scotland, the works which are now the largest dynamite works in the world. In fact dynamite met with such acceptance that works sprang up in all civilized countries, and while in 1867 but II tons were made, in 1882, 9.500 tons were produced and in 1900 the United States alone manufactured 42,923 tons. In 1875 Nobel invented explosive gelatine and the gelatine dynamites. In 1888 he invented ballistite. Alfred Nobel was interested in many other arts than that of explosives, having taken out in England alone 129 patents. With his brothers Ludwig and Robert he formed in 1878 the famous firm of Nobel Brothers that operated the petroleum wells at Baku, Russia, and has proved the most active competitor of the Standard Oil Company. He also purchased the large ordnance works at Bofors, Sweden, that he might the more readily carry out his inventions in ordnance and his investigations in metallurgy. At his death he left an estate worth over nine millions of dollars, and in his will, after leaving small legacies to his already wealthy relatives, directed that the residue should constitute a fund the interest from which should be divided into five equal amounts and awarded as prizes to the person who shall have made, (1) the most important discovery or invention in the domain of physics; (2) in chemistry; (3) in physiology or medicine; (4) who shall have produced in the field of literature the most distinguished work of an idealistic tendency; and (5) who shall have most or best promoted the fraternity of nations, the abolishment or diminution of standing armies and the formation and increase of peace congresses. Prizes (1) and (2) are awarded by the Royal Academy of Science in Stockholm; (3) by the Caroline Medical-Chirurgical Institute in Stockholm; (4) by the Swedish Academy in Stockholm, and (5) by the Norwegian Storthing (Parliament). The statutes approved by King Oscar of Sweden require among other conditions "that every candidate for a prize

be proposed as such in writing by some duly

NOBILITY

qualified person. A direct application for a prize will not be taken into consideration." "Every written work, to qualify for a prize, shall have appeared in print." "No work shall have a prize awarded to it unless it has been proved by the test of experience or by the examination of experts to possess the pre-eminent excellence that is manifestly signified by the terms of the Will." The announcements of the awards are made on 10 December when the prize is given together with a diploma and gold medal. It is expected that within six months thereafter the prize-winner will lecture upon the subject for which the prize is awarded at Stockholm, or, in the case of the Peace prize, at Christiania.

The will was contested by heirs but a compromise was effected on condition that a portion of the property be devoted to the founding of institutions for research known as Nobel Institutes, which has been done. The income from the residue of the estate permits, however, of five prizes, each approximating closely to $50,000 in value, being awarded annually. Awards were made for the first time 10 Dec. 1901, prizes being given in physics to Wilhelm Conrad Röntgen of Munich, discoverer of the Röntgen rays; in chemistry to Jacob Henry Van't Hoff of Berlin, founder of the science of stereochemistry; in physiology and medicine to Emil von Behring, discoverer of diphtheria serums; in literature to Armand Sully-Prudhomme of Paris, author of 'Justice) (1878) and other poems, and 'De l'expression dans les beaux-arts (1884) and other prose works. The prize for peace was divided between Henri Dunant of Switzerland, prime-mover of the Geneva Convention and of the Red Cross societies, and Frederic Passy, founder of the Universal Peace Union.

The prizes for 1902 were awarded in physics jointly to H. A. Lorentz and P. Zeeman of Holland for researches on radiant energy; in chemistry to Emil Fischer of Berlin for syntheses of sugars; in physiology and medicine to Donald Ross of Liverpool for the discovery of the dissemination of malaria by the mosquito; in literature to Theodore Mommsen of Berlin for his works on Latin inscriptions and Roman history; and for peace to Frederick de Martens of Russia for promoting the Hague Conference and the Venezuelan Arbitration. The peace prize may be awarded to an institution or association as well as to individuals.

CHARLES E. MUNROE,

The Columbian University, Washington, D. C.

No'bert's Test-plates, finely-ruled glass plates so named from F. Nobert, a German optician, used for testing the power of microscopes. The rulings are executed on the under surface of a piece of exceedingly thin glass by means of a diamond point. Some of these ruled plates have the almost incredible number of 225,187 spaces to the inch. As means of testing the power of the microscope they are superior to any other object.

Nobility, in European countries, a certain rank or class of society which possesses hereditary honors and privileges above the rest of the citizens. Such a class is found in the infancy of almost every European nation. Its origin may be attributed to military supremacy, to the hon