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NUBLE 498 NUMBERS wells and small oases here and there, as on the chief caravan routes. The great "Nubian Desert" lies E. of the Nile, opposite the great W. bend of the river. Below Khartum rain is almost unknown. The only exception to the general aridity is the narrow strip of country on both sides of the Nile. NUBLE, province of Chile, inland, bordering on Lenares and Concepcion. Capital, Chilian. Is in part on the slope of the Andes and in part in the fertile valley of Chile. Produces wheat, timber, and has considerable live stock. Vine is largely cultivated. Area, 3,407 square miles. Fop. about 200,000. NUEVA CACERES, capital of prov- ince of Ambos Camarines, Philippines, 11 miles S. of Bay of San Miguel, on the Naja river. Has cathedral, episcopal palace, normal school, seminary, and other fine buildings. Steamers ply be- tween it and Manila, 145 miles away. Founded 1578. Name also of town on Cebu Island. Pop. about 20,000. NUEVA ECIJA, province of Luzon, Philippine Islands. Is mountainous, with dense woods, fertile, producing rice, tobacco, sugar, palay and coffee. Cattle raising is the principal industry. Wa- tered by rivers tributary to the Fam- panga, on which steamers ply. Cap- ital, San Isidro. Pop. about 150,000. NUEVA ESPARTA, state of Vene- zuela, of which the Caribbean island, Margarita, and other islands were con- stituted in 1901, though since 1904 forms part of Federal district. Consists of two mountainous portions, united by low isthmus. Interior produces maize, sugar, bananas, cotton. Salt and fishing active. Capital, Asuncion. Pop. 50,000. NUEVA VIZCAYA, central province of northern Luzon, Philippine Islands. Valley fertile in rice and tobacco, while domestic animals are raised in the mountainous districts. Tributaries of the Rio Grande de Cagayan water val- leys, and there is considerable boat traffic. Pop. about 150,000. NUGENT, JOHN F., United States Senator from Idaho* born in 1868 and began the practice oi law at Silver City, Idaho, in 1898. H'^ became chairman of the Democratic Staia Committee in 1912 and was appointed a member of the United States Senate by Governor Alex- ander on Jan. 22, 1918, to fill out the un- expired term of the late Senator Brady. NULLIFICATION, in American pol- itics, the doctrine formerly held by the extreme States' Rights party, of the right of a State to declare a law of Con- gress unconstitutional and void, and if the Federal government attempted to en- force it, to withdraw from the Union. As an instance, in 1832, during the pres- idency of Andrew Jackson, the free trade and States' Rights party in South Caro- lina, under the leadership of John C. Cal- houn, her senator in Congress, asserted the doctrine of nullification in a State convention which declared the tariff acts of that year unconstitutional, and there- fore null and void ; that the duties should not be paid ; and that any attempt on the part of the general government to en- force their payment would cause the withdrawal of South Carolina from the Union and the establishment of an inde- pendent government. President Jackson met this declaration with a vigorous proclamation, in which he declared that the laws must be executed, and that "the Union must and shall be preserved." South Carolina, standing alone, receded from her position under protest, and a "Compromise Bill," introduced by Henry Clay in 1833, providing for a gradual reduction of duties, for the time settled the controversy. NUMA POMPILIUS, the second King of Rome; said to have reigned from 714 to 672 B. c. He was of Sabine origin, and was distinguished as a philosopher and legislator. He was regarded as the founder of the most important religious institutions of the Romans, and left writ- ings explanatory of his system, which were burnt by_ order of the senate when accidentally discovered 400 years after his time, NUMBER, in grammar, that distinc- tive form given to a word according as it is intended to express or is spoken of one individual or several individuals. In English there are two numbers: the sin- gular, which denotes one, or a single in- dividual; the plural, which is used when two or more individuals are spoken of. In Greek, Sanskrit, and a few other lan- guages, a third number was used, called the dual, when only two individuals are spoken of. In the oldest English a dual number existed in the case of pronouns. In phrenology, the name given by Combe to one of the perceptive faculties, the seat of which is placed by Spurzheim just above the external angle of each eye. It is supposed to give facility in arith- metical operations, and is called the or- gan of calculation. NUMBERS, one of the books of the Old Testament. It spans a period of nearly 39 years, commencing with the second year of the wanderings, the sec- ond month, and the first day, and ter- minating in the 40th year. The Jews and