Page:Collier's New Encyclopedia v. 06.djvu/611

N^aX VOMICA 501 NYSTAGMUS materials for it being prepared in the blood; then each individual part by a process of cell growth carries on the work. In vegetable physiology, it con- sists of seven processes: absorption, cir- culation, respiration, transpiration, ex- cretion, assimilation, and growth. The nutrient substances — some of them essential and all of them useful — are carbon, oxygen, nitrogen, hydrogen, sul- phur, iron, calcium, potassium, mag- nesium, phosphorus, sodium and chlorine. NUX VOMICA, the seeds of Strychnos mix vomica. They contain two alkaloids, strychnia and brucia, with a peculiar acid. Nux vomica has been used in dys- pepsia, in some kinds of paralysis, in debility after rheumatic fever, etc. In overdoses the strychnia which it contains produces tetanus. NYACK, a village of New York in Rockland co., on the west bank of the Hudson river, opposite Tarrsrtown. It is on the Erie, the New York, Ontario and Western, and the West Shore railroads. It is connected with Tarrytown by ferry. It is an attractive residential community and is also an important industrial sec- tion, including yacht and boat building, shoes, sewing machines, carriages, etc. NYANGWE, an Arab trading station on the upper Kongo or Lualaba, at the edge of the Manyema country; in lat. 4** 20' S. From that point Stanley be- gan the descent of the Lualaba in 1876. NYANZA, an African word meaning lake, and especially applied to three bodies of water lying in the equatorial region of Africa. Of these the first was discovered in 1858 by Captain Speke, and by him named Victoria Nyanza. It is almost circular in form; 180 miles in diameter; has an area of 27,000 square miles; and is, with the exception of Lake Superior, the largest fresh water lake in the woi'ld. The second lake was discovered by Sir Samuel Baker in 1864, named Albert Nyanza, and forms a part of the course of the Nile. It is 14 miles long and 40 wide. The Albert Edward Nyanza was discovered by Stanley in 1876 and lies S. W. of Albert Nyanza. NYASSA, or NYANJA, one of the equatorial great lakes of east Africa; about 260 miles S. E. of Tanganyika and 400 inland from the E. coast. It lies at an altitude of 1,570 feet, is very deep in the middle, shelving rapidly from the shores, which are rocky md high. Long and narrow, it measures 350 miles from N. to S. and an average of 40 miles from E. to W. The Shire river emerges at its S. extremity, and goes S. to the Zambezi. The waters of the lake are sweet and abound in edible fish. The lake was known to the Portuguese as Maravi in the 17th century, but Livingston in 1859 first fixed its situation and navigated it. NYASSALAND PROTECTORATE, since 1907 the name given to a part of British Central Africa, immediately S. W. and N. W. of Lake Nyassa. It is practically the region in which the Af- rican Lakes Company of Glasgow car- ried on operations since its foundation in 1878; it works with the missionaries of the Established and Free Church of Scotland. The original purpose was to counteract the slave dealing of Arab marauders. The area of the Protector- ate is 42,217 square miles. Pop. (1916) 731 Europeans, 391 Asiatics, 1,140,000 natives. The principal tov^Tis are: Cap- ital, Zomba; Blantyre, and Fort John- ston, the last a port and naval station on Lake Nyassa. Trade in 1917-1918: Im- ports, £354,378; exports, £156,712. Chief products: coffee, sugar, ehinchona, and tobacco. Ivory, tea, and rubber are also exported. NYBORG, a maritime town in Den- mark, on the Great Belt, E. coast of Fyen Island; in the province of Svend- borg; 17 miles E. S. E. of Odense; for- merly one of the chief citadels of Den- mark; its fortifications were destroyed in 1869, and are now a promenade. The town was founded in 1170; several times a royal residence; and the birthplace of Christian II., 1481. The Swedes lost a great battle near the town, Nov. 14, 1659. NYKOPING, a seaport of Sweden; on a bay of the Baltic; 62 miles S. W. of Stockholm; manufactures machinery and cotton. The castle, now ruined, ranked in point of strength next to those of Stockholm and Calmar. King Waldemar was imprisoned here after his dethrone- ment in 1288, till his death in 1302. Eric and Waldemar, brothers of King Birger, were left in 1317 to perish of hunger in a dungeon, the keys of which the king threw into the sea. In horror of this deed the people seized the castle and de- molished it. In 1719 the town was taken and dismantled by the Russians. NYMPHS, in Greek mythology, female divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting the sea, streams, groves, meadows and pas- tures, grottoes, fountains, hills, glens, and trees. NYSTAGMUS, an involuntary move- ment of the eyeball due to clonic spasm of the muscles of the globe. It usually affects both eyes. The movement is usually horizontal, i. e., from side to side, but it may be rotary.