l keep upon her lap, that the child may always lie straight, and only sit up as the nurse slants the mattress. To set a child quite upright before the end of the first month, hurts the eyes, by making the white part of the eye appear below the upper eyelid. Afterwards the nurse will begin to set it up and dance it by degrees. The child must be kept as dry as possible.
The clothing should be very light, and not much longer than the child, that the legs may be got at with ease, in order to have them often rubbed in the day with a warm hand or flannel, and in particular the inside of them.
Rubbing a child all over takes off scarf, and makes the blood circulate. The one breast should be rubbed with the hands one way, and the other the other way, night and morning at least.
The ankle bones and inside of the knees should be rubbed twice a-day; this will strengthen those parts, Nursing, and make the child stretch its knees and keep them flat, which is the foundation of an erect and graceful person.
A nurse ought to keep a child as little in her arms as possible, lest the legs should be cramped, and the toes turned inwards. Let her always keep the child's legs loose. The oftener the posture is changed, the better.
Tossing a child about, and exercising it in the open air in fine weather, is of the greatest service. In cities, children are not to be kept in hot rooms, but to have as much air as possible.
Want of exercise is the cause of large heads, weak and knotted joints, a contracted breast, which occasions coughs and stuffed lungs, an ill-shaped person, and waddling gait, besides a numerous train of other ills.
The child's flesh is to be kept perfectly clean, by constantly washing its limbs, and likewise its neck and ears, beginning with warm water, till by degrees it will not only bear, but like to be washed with cold water.
Rising early in the morning is good for all children, provided they awake of themselves, which they generally do: but they are never to be waked out of their sleep, and as soon as possible to be brought to regular sleeps in the day.
When laid in bed or cradle, their legs are always to be laid straight.
Children, till they are two or three years old, must never be suffered to walk long enough at a time to be weary.
Girls might be trained to the proper management of children, if a premium were given in free schools, workhouses, &c., to those that brought up the finest child to one year old.
If the mother cannot suckle the child, get a wholesome cheerful woman with young milk, who has been used to tend young children. After the first six months, small broths, and innocent foods of any kind, may do as well as living wholly upon milk.
A principal thing to be always attended to is, to give young children constant exercise, and to keep them in a proper posture.
With regard to the child's dress in the day, let it be a shirt; a petticoat of fine flannel, two or three inches longer than the child's feet, with a dimity top (commonly called a bodice coat), to tie behind; over that a surcingle made of fine buckram, two inches broad, covered over with satin or fine tichen, with a ribbon fastened to it to tie it on, which answers every purpose of stays, and has none of their inconveniences. Over this put a robe, or a slip and frock, or whatever you like best; provided it is fastened behind, and not much longer than the child's feet, that their motions may be strictly observed.
(c) Of these 42 members, there are only 34 chosen from the patrician families; the other eight are taken from among the burghers, and make in a manner a small separate body.
(d) This secret council is composed of seven principal chiefs of the republic, and for that reason is called septemvirate. It determines the most important affairs; and is the depository of the precious stones of the empire, of the imperial crown, the ensigns, seals, and keys of the city. Two caps are to be put on the head, till the child has got most of its teeth.
The child's dress for the night may be a shirt, a blanket to tie on, and a thin gown to tie over the blanket.or Nuisance, in Law,** a thing done to the annoyance of another.
Nuisances are either public or private.—A public nuisance is an offence against the public in general, either by doing what tends to the annoyance of all the king's subjects, or by neglecting to do what the common good requires: in which case, all annoyances and injuries to streets, highways, bridges, and large rivers, as also disorderly alehouses, bawdy-houses, gaming houses, stages for rope-dancers, &c., are held to be common nuisances.—A private nuisance is, when only one person or family is annoyed by the doing of any thing; as where a person stops up the light of another's house, or builds in such a manner that the rain falls from his house upon his neighbour's.
**NUT,** among botanists, denotes a pericarpium of an extraordinary hardness, enclosing a kernel or seed.
**Nutation,** in Astronomy, a kind of tremulous motion of the axis of the earth, whereby, in each annual revolution, it is twice inclined to the ecliptic, and as often returns to its former position.
**NUTCRACKER.** See Corvus, Ornithology Index.
**NUTHATCH.** See Sitta, Ornithology Index.
**Nutmeg,** the fruit of a tree, and a well known spice. See Myristica.
**Nutrition,** in the animal economy, is the repairing the continual loss which the different parts of the body undergo. The motion of the parts of the body, the friction of these parts with each other, and especially the action of the air, would destroy the body entirely, if the loss was not repaired by a proper diet, containing nutritive juices; which being digested in the stomach, and afterwards converted into chyle, mix with the blood, and are distributed through the whole body for its nutrition.
In young persons, the nutritive juices not only serve to repair the parts that are damaged, but also to increase them; which is called growth.
In grown persons, the cuticle is everywhere constantly desquamating, and again renewing; and in the same manner the parts rubbed off, or otherwise separated from the fleshy parts of the body, are soon supplied with new flesh; a wound heals, and an emaciated person grows plump and fat.
Buffon, in order to account for nutrition, supposes the body of an animal or vegetable to be a kind of mould, in which the matter necessary to its nutrition is modelled and assimilated to the whole. But (continues he) of what nature is this matter which an animal or vegetable assimilates to its own substance? What power is it that communicates to this matter the activity and motion necessary to penetrate this mould? and, if such a force exist, would it not be by a similar force that the internal mould itself might be reproduced?
As to the first question, he supposes that there exists in nature an infinite number of living organical parts, and that all organized bodies consist of such organical parts; that their production costs nature nothing, since their existence is constant and invariable; so that the Nutrition matter which the animal or vegetable assimilates to its substance, is an organical matter of the same nature with that of the animal or vegetable, which consequently may augment its volume without changing its form or altering the quality of the substance in the mould.
As to the second question: There exist (says he) in nature certain powers, as that of gravity, that have no affinity with the external qualities of the body, but act upon the most intimate parts, and penetrate them throughout, and which can never fall under the observation of our senses.
And as to the third question, he answers that the internal mould itself is reproduced, not only by a similar power, but it is plain that it is the very same power that causes the unfolding and reproduction thereof: for it is sufficient (proceeds he), that in an organized body that unfolds itself, there be some part similar to the whole, in order that this part may one day become itself an organised body, altogether like that of which it is actually a part.
**NUX MONCHATA.** See Myristica.
**NUX PISTACHIA.** See Pistachia, Botany Index.
**NUX VOMICA,** a flat, compressed, round fruit, about the breadth of a shilling, brought from the East Indies. It is found to be a certain poison for dogs, cats, &c., and it is not to be doubted that it would also prove fatal to mankind. Its surface is not much corrugated; and its texture is firm like horn, and of a pale grayish-brown colour. It is said to be used as a specific against the bite of a species of water-snake. It is considerably bitter and deleterious; but has been used in doses from five to ten grains twice a-day or so, in intermittents, particularly obstinate quartans, and in contagious dysentery. The *strychnus Ignatii* is a tree of the same kind, producing gourd-like fruit, the seeds of which are improperly called St Ignatius's beans. These, as also the woods or roots of some such trees, called *ligurnum colubrinum*, or snakeroot, are very narcotic bitters, like the nux vomica.
**NYTS, Peter,** a native of Holland, and a leading character in that extraordinary transaction which happened between the Japanese and the Dutch about the year 1628. In 1627 Noys arrived in Batavia from Holland, and was in the same year appointed ambassador to the emperor of Japan by the governor and council of Batavia.
He repaired to that empire in 1628; and being a man of a haughty disposition, and extremely vain, he believed it practicable to pass upon the natives for an ambassador from the king of Holland. Upon his assuming this title he was much more honourably received, caressed, and respected, than former ministers had been. But he was soon detected, reprimanded, and reproached in the severest manner, sent back to the port, and ordered to return to Batavia with all the circumstances of disgrace imaginable; notwithstanding which, his interest was so great, that, instead of being punished as he deserved, he was immediately afterwards promoted to the government of the island of Formosa, of which he took possession the year following.
He entered upon the administration of affairs in that island with the same disposition that he had shown while ambassador, and with the most implacable resentment against against the Japanese; neither was it long before an opportunity offered, as he thought, of revenging himself to the full. Two large Japanese ships, with upwards of 500 men on board, came into the port; upon which he took it into his head to disarm and unrig them, in the same manner as the Dutch vessels are treated at Japan. The Japanese did all they could to defend themselves from this ill usage; but at last, for want of water, they were forced to submit. Governor Nyuts went still farther. When they had finished their affairs at Formosa, and were desirous of proceeding, according to their instructions, to China, he put them off with fair words and fine promises till the monsoon was over. They began then to be very impatient, and desired to have their cannon and sails restored, that they might return home; but the governor had recourse to new artifices, and, by a series of false promises, endeavoured to hinder them from making use of the season proper for that voyage.
The Japanese, however, soon perceived his design; and at length, by a bold attempt, accomplished what by fair means and humble entreaty they could not obtain; for, by a daring and well concerted effort, they took him prisoner, and made him and one of the council sign a treaty for securing their liberty, free departure, and indemnity, which was afterwards ratified by the whole council. Nyuts was first confined in Batavia, and afterwards delivered up to the Japanese, notwithstanding the most earnest entreaties on his part to be tried, and even to suffer any kind of death where he was, rather than to be sent to Japan. He was sent there, however, in 1634. He was submitted to the mercy or discretion of the emperor; and the consequence was, that, though imprisoned, he was well used, and could go anywhere, provided his guards were with him, which was more than he could possibly have expected. He now looked for nothing but the continuance of his confinement for life. On a particular occasion, however, i.e., at the funeral of the emperor's father, at the request of the Dutch he was set free, and returned again to Batavia, to the surprise of that people, who, however, adopted ever after a very different conduct with respect to the Japanese.