Nishapur.

for the present, is the only surviving representative of this important Vedânga, is that of Yáska, who was a predecessor of Pân'ini (q.v.). His work consists of three parts-the Naighan't'uka, where, for the most part, synonymous words are taught; the Naigama, which contains words that usually occur in the Vedas only; and the Daivata, which contains words chiefly relating to deities and sacrificial acts. A commentary on this work has been composed by the same Yâska, and it likewise bears the name of Nirukta. In the latter, Vedic passages are quoted in illustration of the words to be explained, and the comment given by Yaska on these passages is the oldest instance, known at present to Sanskrit philology, of a Vedic gloss. Besides the great importance which Yâska's Nirukta thus possesses for a proper understanding of the Vedic texts, it is valuable also on account of several discussions which it raises on grammatical and other questions, and on account of the insight it affords us into the scientific and religious condition of its time.-Text and Commentary of Yâska's Nirukta have been edited by prof. R. Roth (Göttingen, 1852).

NIRVANA (from the Sanskrit nir, out, and vâna, blown; hence, literally, that which is blown out or extinguished) is, in Buddhistic doctrine, the term denoting the final deliverance of the soul from transmigration. It implies, consequently, the last aim of Buddhistic existence, since transmigration is tantamount to a relapse into the evils or miseries of sansára, or the world. But as Hinduism, or the Brahmanical doctrine, professes to lead to the same end, the difference between nirvána and moksha, apavarga, or the other terms of Brahmanism designating eternal bliss, and consequent liberation from metempsychosis, rests on the difference of the ideas which both doctrines connect with the condition of the soul after that liberation. Brahman, according to the Brahmanical doctrine, being the existing and everlasting cause of the universe, eternal happiness is, to the Brahmanical Hindu, the absorption of the human soul into that cause whence it emanated, never to depart from it again. According to this doctrine, therefore, the liberation of the human soul from transmigration is equivalent to that state of felicity which religion and philosophy attribute to that entity (see INDIA-Religion). As, how ever, the ultimate cause of the universe, according to Buddhism, is the void or non-entity, the deliverance from transmigration is, to the Buddhists, the return to non-entity, or the absolute extinction of the soul. However much, then, the pious phraseology of their oldest works may embellish the state of nirvâna, and apparently deceive the believer on its real character, it cannot alter this fundamental idea inherent in it. We are told, for instance, that nirvâna is quietude and identity, whereas sansâra is turmoil and variety; that nirvâna is freedom from all conditions of existence, whereas sansâra is birth, disease, decrepitude, and death, sin and pain, merit and demerit, virtue and vice; that nirvâna is the shore of salvation for those who are in danger of being drowned in the sea of sansâra; that it is the free port ready to receive those who have escaped the dungeon of existence, the medicine which cures all diseases, the water which quenches the thirst of all desires, etc.; but to the mind of the orthodox Buddhist, all these definitions convey but the one idea, that the blessings promised in the condition of nirvâna are tantamount to the absolute "extinction of the human soul," after it has obeyed, in this life, all the injunctions of Buddhism, and become convinced of all its tenets on the nature of the world and the final destination of the soul.

Although this is the orthordox view of nirvâna, according to the oldest Buddhistic doctrine, it is necessary to point out two categories of different views which have obscured the original idea of nirvana, and even induced some modern writers to believe that the final beatitude of the oldest Buddhistic doctrine is not equivalent to the absolute annihilation of the soul.

The first category of these latter, or, as we may call them, heterodox views, is that which confounds with nirvâna the preparatory labor of the mind to arrive at that end, and therefore assumes that nirvâna is the extinction of thought, or the cessation to thought, of all difference between subject and object, virtue and vice, etc., or certain speculations on a creative cause, the conditions of the universe, and so on. All these views the Buddha himself rejects, as appears from the work Lankavatra (q.v.), where relating his discourse on the real meaning of nirvâna, before the Bodhisattwa Mahamati. The erroneousness of those views is obviously based on the fact, that the mind, even though in a state of unconsciousness, as when ceasing to think, or when speculat ing, is still within the pale of existence. Thus, to obviate the mistaken notion that such a state is the real nirvana, Buddhistic works sometimes use the term nirupadhisesha nir vána, or “the nirvâna without a remainder of substratum" (i.e., without a rest of exist ence), in contradistinction to the "nirvâna with a remainder;" meaning by the latter expression that condition of a saint which, in consequence of his bodily and mental austerities, immediately precedes his real nirvâna, but in which, nevertheless, he is still an occupant of the material world.

The second category of heterodox views on the nirvâna is that which, though acknowl edging in principle the original notion of Buddhist salvation, represents, as it were, a compromise with the popular mind. It belongs to a later period of Buddhism, when this religion, in extending its conquests over Asia, had to encounter creeds which abhorred the idea of an absolute nihilism. This compromise coincides with the creation of a Buddhistic pantheon, and with the classification of Buddhist saints into three classes,

Nishapur.

each of which has its own nirvâna; that of the two lower degrees consisting of a vast number of years, at the end of which, however, these saints are born again; while the absolute nirvâna is reserved for the highest class of saints. Hence Buddhistic salvation is then spoken of, either simply as nirvana, or the lowest, or as parinirvána, the middle, or as maháparinirvâna, or the highest extinction of the soul; and as those who have not yet attained to the highest nirvâna must live in the heavens of the two inferior classes of saints until they reappear in this world, their condition of nirvâna is assimilated to that state of more or less material happiness which is also held out to the Brahmanical Hindu before he is completely absorbed into Brahman.

When, in its last stage, Buddhism is driven to the assumption of an Adi, or primitive, Buddha, as the creator of the universe, nirvâna, then meaning the absorption into him, ceases to have any real affinity with the original Buddhistic term. See BUDDHISM and LAMAISM.

NISAN. See ABIB.

NISARD, JEAN MARIE NAPOLEON DÉSIRÉ, b. France, 1806. In 1828 he became a contributor to the Journal des Débats, assuming a vigorous opposition to the government of Louis XVIII. After the revolution of 1830, for a short time he gave a warm support to the Louis Philippe government, then joined the opposition, and as one of the editors of the National was co-laborer with Armand Carrel in the most vigorous attacks upon the sinister divergence of Louis Philippe's administration from the path marked out for it by Lafayette. But soon changing, for the remainder of his life he was a champion of the past in politics, literature, and art; and cut to the quick, in his criticisms, the works of Hugo and other poets and dramatists of his own time. His works secured attention by their profuse and graceful diction, and an agreeable expression of imagination. Guizot, prime minister of Louis Phillippe, made him supervisor of normal schools in 1835, and promoted him to higher positions each year, until he loved the government better than his former opinions, and supported Louis Philippe as warmly as he had before satirized him. He sat as deputy in the chambers, 1842-48; and in his literary work, which was continued, plainly avowed that the French spirit was in its decadence, and looked back to the age of Louis XIV. for its brightest exemplars. Left in the shade by the revolution of 1848, he recovered place and power, political and literary, under the reign of Napoleon III. As lecturer in the college of France in 1855, he made such servile use of his opinions to defend the perjuries of the emperor that the students refused to listen, and gave him a charavari, which resulted in the imprisonment of 15 students, and the protection of subsequent lectures by a strong police force. Napoleon rewarded Nisard by naming him commander of the legion of honor in 1856, and director of the normal school in 1857. The latter position he retained till 1867, when he was raised to the dignity of a senator. He was elected a member of the Academy in 1850. Among his principal works are Histoire de la litterature Française, Poëtes latins de la décadence, and an early article in the Débats entitled De la litterature facile, et de la littéra ture difficile. He d. 1888.

NISBET, CHARLES, D.D., 1736-1804; b. Scotland; graduated at Edinburgh university, 1754; was for some years a prominent Presbyterian clergyman at Montrose, and by his wit and power in argument won considerable influence in the general assembly. He openly avowed his smpathy with the American colonies, and having accepted the presidency of Dickinson college, Pennsylvania, came to America in 1785, where he delivered lectures on logic, philosophy of the mind, belles-lettres, and systematic theology, and endeavored to bring the system of education up to his high standard. He was a great scholar, and possessed a wonderful memory. He died at Carlisle, Penn., and his posthumous works were published in 1806; his memoirs, by Dr. Miller, in 1840.

NISCE MI, a t. of Sicily, in the province of Caltanisetta, 10 m. n.e. from Terranova, and on the right bank of the river Terranova. In 1790 this town was visited by an earth. quake, and during seven shocks, the ground gradually sank in one place to the depth of 30 feet. Fissures opened, which sent forth sulphur and petroleum. Pop. 11,750.

NISCH, or NISSA, one of the principal towns of Servia, in the district added to the principality by the Berlin congress of 1878, 122 m. s.e. from Belgrade. It stands on the river Nissawa, a branch of the Morawa. The town is ill built; but many new houses and a well supplied bazaar attest its present prosperity. Nisch has long been noted as the point of meeting of many roads, of both military and commercial importance. Its importance would be greatly increased by the proposed construction of a railway from Belgrade to Constantinople and Thessalonica. In ancient times, Nisch bore the name of Naissos, and was a flourishing town of upper Mosia; in it the emperor Constantine the great was born. It was Slavonic in the 6th c., was taken by the Tartar Bulgarians in the 8th, by the Servians again in the 12th, and by the Turks in 1389. Near Nisch, in 1689, the Markgraf Louis of Baden, with 17,000 men, destroyed a Turkish army of 40,000. Pop. 13,000.

NISHAPUR', or NÜSHAPUR, a t. of Persia, province of Khorassan, 53 m. w.s.w. of Meshid, is situated in a most beautiful and fertile valley. Pop. about 8,000. It is sur rounded by a rampart and trench, and has a considerable trade in turquoises, which are obtained from mines in its vicinity.

Nitrates.

NISI PRIUS is the name (borrowed from the first two words of the old writ which summoned juries) usually given in England to the sitting of juries in civil cases. Thus a judge sitting at nisi prius, means a judge presiding at a jury trial in a civil cause, and the nisi prius sittings are the jury sittings.

NISI PRIUS (ante), originally the clause in the writ which commanded the sheriff to bring a jury to Westminster, "unless before" (nisi prius) a justice of assizes should come to the county where the cause of action arose. In course of time the phrase was used to designate a large class of business transacted at the assizes before superior courts, and the phrases nisi prius judge, nisi prius law, and nisi prius courts, came into use. At present, in England and the United States, nisi prius courts are those courts, or terms of courts, held for the trial of civil causes, with the presence and aid of a jury; and a nisi prius sitting is to be distinguished from a sitting of the court in banco, in full bench, for the hearing of appellate cases.

NISIBIS, the capital of ancient Mygdonia, the north-eastern part of Mesopotamia. It was situated in a fertile district, and was of importance, both as a place of strength and as an emporium of the trade between the east and west. Nisibis was a city of very great antiquity, but of its remoter history nothing is known. In the time of the MacedonioSyrian kings it was also called Antiochea Mygdonia. It was twice taken by the Romans (under Lucullus and Trajan), and again given up by them to the Armenians; but being a third time taken by Lucius Verus, 165 A.D., it remained the chief bulwark of the Roman empire against the Persians, till it was surrendered to them by Jovian after the death of Julian in 363. The name Nisibin is retained by a small village in the Turkish ejalet of Diarbekr, round which are numerous remains of the ancient city.

NITER, or SALTPETER, as it is frequently called, is the nitrate of potash, KNO,. It usually occurs in long, colorless, striated, six-sided prisms; its taste is cooling, and very saline; it is soluble in seven times its weight of water at 60° F., and in less than one-third of its weight of boiling water, but is insoluble in alcohol. When heated to about 642° F. (340° C.) it fuses without decomposition into a thin liquid, which, when cast in molds, solidifies into a white, fibrous, translucent mass, known as sal prunelle. At a higher temperature, part of the oxygen is evolved, and nitrite of potash is formed. Owing to the facility with which niter parts with its oxygen, it is much employed as an oxidizing agent. Mixtures of niter and carbon, or of niter and sulphur, or of niter, carbon, and sulphur, deflagrate on the application of heat with great energy; and if niter be thrown on glowing coals, it produces a brisk scintillation. Touch-paper is formed by dipping paper in a solution of niter and drying it.

Niter occurs as a natural product in the East Indies, Egypt, Persia, where it is found sometimes as an efflorescence upon the soil, and sometimes disseminated through its upper stratum. The crude salt is obtained by lixiviating the soil, and allowing the solu tion to crystallize. A large quantity of niter is artificially formed in many countries of Europe, by imitating the conditions under which it is naturally produced. The most essential of these conditions seem to be the presence of decaying organic matter whose nitrogen is oxidized by the action of the atmosphere into nitric acid, which combines with the bases (potash and lime) contained in the soil. "The method employed in the artificial production of niter consists in placing animal matters, mingled with ashes and lime rubbish, in loosely aggregated heaps, exposed to the air, but sheltered from rain. The heaps are watered from time to time with urine or stable runnings; at suitable intervals the earth is lixiviated, and the salt crystallized. Three years usually elapse before the niter bed is washed; after this interval a cubic foot of the debris should yield between 4 and 5 ounces of niter. As there is always a considerable quantity of the nitrates of lime and magnesia present, which will not crystallize, carbonate of potash, in the shape of wood-ashes, is added so long as any precipitate occurs. The nitrate of lime is decomposed, and the insolubte carbonate of lime separated:

Carbonate of Potash. Nitrate of Lime. Carbonate of Lime. Nitrate of Potash.
K,CO3 + Ca(NO3)2 = CaCO3 + 2KNO,

The clear liquor is then evaporated and crystallized. It has been found that the earth in which niter has once been formed furnishes fresh niter more readily than on the first occasion. Care is taken that the niter plantations, as they are termed, shall rest upon an impervious flooring of clay, so that the liquid which drains away from them may be collected and preserved."-Miller's Elements of Chemistry, 2d ed. vol. ii. p. 359.

Niter does not occur in any living members of the animal kingdom, but it is found in the juices of various plants, amongst which may be named the sunflower, nettle, goose-foot, borage, tobacco, barley, etc.

All the niter used in this country comes from the East Indies. The common varieties, which have a dirty yellowish appearance, are termed rough or crude saltpeter, while the purer kinds are called East India refined. The purification or refining of niter is effected by dissolving it in water, boiling the solution, removing the scum, straining it while hot, and setting it aside to crystallize. The most common impurities are sulphate of potash, chlorides of sodium and potassium, and nitrate of lime. Chloride of barium will detect the first of these impurities, nitrate of silver the second, and oxalate of ammonia the third.

Niter is employed in the manufacture of sulphuric acid, in the preparation of nitric acid, as an oxidizing agent in numerous chemical processes, as an ingredient of fireworks, and especially in the manufacture of gunpowder. It is extensively used in medicine. In moderate doses (from ten grains to a scruple) it acts as a refrigerent, diuretic, and diaphoretic, and hence its use is indicated when we wish to diminish abnormal heat, and to reduce the action of the pulse, as in febrile disorders and hemorrhages. In acute rheumatism it is given in large doses with great benefit. Some physicians prescribe as much as one, two, or three ounces, largely diluted with water, to be given in the course of 20 hours; but as in several cases a single ounce has proved fatal in a few hours, the effects of such large doses should be carefully watched. It is a popular remedy in sore throat, either in the form of niter balls, or powdered and mixed with white sugar. In either case the remedy should be retained in the mouth till it melts, and the saliva impregnated with it gently swallowed. The inhalation of the fumes produced by the ignition of touch-paper often gives speedy relief in cases of spasmodic asthma.

Nitrate of potash is sometimes called prismatic niter or potash saltpeter, to distinguish it from nitrate of soda, which is known in commerce as cubic niter or soda saltpeter.

Cubic niter, or nitrate of soda, NaNO,, occurs abundantly on the surface of the soil in Chili and Peru. It derives its name from its crystallizing in cube-like rhombohedrons. In most of its properties it resembles ordinary niter, but in consequence of its greater deliquescence it cannot be substituted for that salt in the preparation of gunpowder. Being considerably cheaper than the potash-salt, cubic niter is often substituted for it in the manufacture of nitric and sulphuric acids; and it is used in agriculture as a topdressing for wheat and oats. In several experiments it has been found that one cwt. per acre has produced an increase of 12 bushels in the wheat crop, and of 4 or 5 sacks in the oat crop.

NI TI-GHAUT, a pass of the Himalaya, between the British district of Kumaon and Thibet. It takes its name from the village of Niti, in Kumaon, 13 m. s. of the pass, in lat. 30° 47' n., and long. 79° 56' east. The pass is 16,814 ft. above the level of the sea. This is regarded as the easiest pass between Kumaon and Thibet, and is consequently one of the principal channels of trade between Hindustan and Chinese Tartary. The Bhotias of Niti subsist chiefly by the carrying of goods in this trade. The articles of merchan

dise are conveyed on yaks, goats, and even sheep. Travelers often suffer much from difficulty of respiration on the pass of Niti-Ghaut, on account of the rarefaction of the

air.

NITRATE OF POTASH. See NITER.

NITRATE OF SODA. See NITER.

NITRATES are salts formed by the union of nitric acid with bases. Some are found in a natural mineral condition, as saltpeter and cubic niter. They are distinguished for their solubility in water. On being heated, they undergo decomposition, being converted either into free nitric acid and a base, or into oxygen and a nitrite. For potassium nitrate and sodium nitrate, see NITER. In many respects, one of the most important nitrates is the nitrate of silver, or lunar caustic (q.v.); see also SILVER. It is of great use in surgery and the arts. As a caustic it acts powerfully, but rather superficially, producing a white slough, which blackens soon on exposure to the light. It is used in a solid state, or in solutions of all strengths. If dissolved in pure water, it remains colorless; but the smallest particle of organic matter will cause the solution to turn dark. On this account it is employed for making marking-fluids for linen. Indelible ink is usually made by dissolving 1 part of nitrate of silver and 4 parts of gum-arabic in 4 parts of water, and adding a little India ink to give it color, so that it may be seen when the mixture is applied. The place which is to receive the impression is first moistened with a solution of carbonate of soda and dried. After the application of the ink, the writing is exposed to the sunlight. Lunar caustic markings may be readily removed by applying a few drops of tincture of iodine, and dissolving out the iodide of silver thus formed by a solution of hyposulphite of soda, or a dilute solution of caustic potash. Nitrate of silver is used in photography (q.v.). Nitrate of ammonia, NH.NO,, is said to be formed in the atmosphere by the electrical discharges during thunder-showers. It has also been produced by passing electric sparks through a mixture of oxygen, hydrogen, and nitrogen gases. It is usually prepared by adding a slight excess of aqua ammonia to nitric acid. If crystallization is conducted slowly, six-sided prisms, like those of nitrate of potash, will be formed, having a specific gravity of 1.635. It melts at 226° F., and at 482° decomposes into water and nitrous oxide, or laughing-gas. See NITROGEN. Nitrate of baryta, or baryta saltpeter, is made by treating the native carbonate of baryta with nitric acid. It crystallizes in anhydrous regular octahedrons, having a specific gravity of 3.184. When heated strongly it is converted into baryta, or baric oxide, with evolution of oxygen and nitrogen. Nitrate of bismuth and also sub-nitrate are important salts in the arts and medicine. See BISMUTH. Nitrate of cobalt, prepared by the action of nitric acid on the oxide, crystallizes from solutions in beautiful pink-red deliquescent crystals, having a specific gravity of 1.83. It is much used in the chemical laboratory, particularly as a blow-pipe reagent. With magnesium compounds, it vields a pink color; with those of zinc, green; and with aluminum compounds a beautiful blue; for this reason it is

Nitro-benzol.

much used in coloring porcelain and earthenware. Nitrate of copper is made by the action of diluted nitric acid on copper turnings. Nitric oxide gas is given off during the operation. It crystallizes from cold solutions in beautiful blue, deliquescent, rhomboidal prisms, containing four molecules of water. From solutions above 59° it crystallizes with three molecules of water in needles, having a specific gravity of 2.047, soluble in alcohol. Nitrate of copper is converted, by moderate heat, into an insoluble basic nitrate. By raising the heat, the acid is completely driven off, leaving only the black oxide of the metal. Nitrate of copper is sometimes useful in surgery, as an application to certain ill-conditioned ulcers. The nitrates of iron are important salts. The protonitrate, or ferrous nitrate, is formed by digesting iron-turnings in very dilute nitric acid. It crystallizes in pale green rhombohedrons. having the formula Fe(NO3)2,6H,0. It is much used in dyeing. The pernitrate, or ferric nitrate, is made by dissolving ironturnings in nitric acid of sp. gr. between 1.2 and 1.3. It is used in surgery. Nitric acid forms several salts with lead, the principal of which is the common nitrate, or plumbi nitrate, Pb(NO3)2. It crystallizes in anhydrous regular octahedrons, usually milk-white and opaque. It dissolves in 7 parts of cold water. It is decomposed by heat, with evolution of nitrogen tetroxide. Nitric acid forms a greater number of salts with mercury than with any other metal, one of which is used in medicine (see MERCURY, ante), and the other for the manufacture of corrosive sublimate.

NITRIC ACID is the most important of the five compounds which oxygen forms with nitrogen (q.v.). Until 1849 it was only known in the hydrated form (the aqua-fortis of the older chemists), but in that year Deville showed that anhydrous nitric acid, or nitric anhydride, N2O5, nitrogen pentoxide, might be obtained in transparent colorless crystals by the action of perfectly dry chlorine gas on well-dried crystals of nitrate of silver, the reaction being exhibited in the equation:

It is a very unstable compound, and sometimes explodes spontaneously. It dissolves in water with evolution of much heat, and forms hydrated nitric acid.

Hydrated nitric acid (symb. HNO,, equiv. 63, sp. gr. 1.521), when perfectly pure, is 9 colorless, limpid, fuming, powerfully caustic fluid, possessing an intensely acid reaction, as shown by its action on litmus. It boils at 186.8° F. (86° C.), and freezes at about -40° F. (-40° C.). It parts very readily with a portion of its oxygen to most of the metals, and hence is much used in the laboratory as an oxidizing agent. Its mode of action on the metals requires a few remarks. In order that a metal should unite with nitric, or any other acid, it is necessary that it should be in the form of an oxide. This oxidation is, however, effected at the same time that the metal and nitric acid are brought in contact, by one portion of the latter becoming decomposed and converting the metal into an oxide, while the remaining portion combines with the oxide thus formed to produce a nitrate. The exact nature of the decomposition varies in the case of different metals.

Nitric acid, whether in the concentrated or in a more dilute form, acts energetically on organic matters. As examples of such actions, we may refer to its power of decolorizing indigo; of staining the skin and all albuminous tissues of a bright-yellow color; of coagulating fluid albumen; and of converting cotton fiber into an explosive substance. See GUN-COTTON.

The monohydrated acid, HNO3, is by no means a stable compound. If it be exposed to the action of light it is decomposed into hyponitric acid, NO. (the peroxide of nitrogen of Graham), and oxygen; and mere distillation produces a similar effect. When it is mixed with water it emits a sensible amount of heat, owing to the formation of a much more stable hydrate, HNO, + H2O, which distills at 250° F. (121° C.) without change, and is unaffected by exposure to light. Its specific gravity is 1.424; and it is found that a weaker acid when heated parts with its water, and a stronger acid with its acid, till each arrives at this density. The existence of this hydrate has, however, been recently called in question by Roscoe.

The so-called fuming nitric acid is merely a mixture of the pure acid with hyponitric acid.

Nitric acid does not occur naturally in a free state; but it is found tolerably abundant in combination with potash, soda, lime, and magnesia; and after thunder-storms traces of it, in combination with ammonia, are found in rain-water. It may be formed in small quantity by passing a series of electric sparks through a mixture of its component gases in the presence of water, which is a mere imitation, on a small scale, of the mode in which it is produced in the atmosphere by a storm. It is usually prepared in the laboratory by the application of heat to a mixture of equal weights of powdered niter (nitrate of potash) and oil of vitriol (hydrated sulphuric acid) placed in a retort. A combination of sulphuric acid and potash remains in the retort, while the nitric acid distils over, and is condensed in the receiver, which is kept cool by the application of a wet cloth. The reaction is explained by the equation: