supply unfailing. The state railway from Santiago to the southern provinces passes through Ñuble, from N.N.E. to S.S.W., and sends off a branch from Bulnes W. to Jan Tomé on the Bay of Concepcién. The capital is Chillan, and the only other important town is Bulnes, a railway junction and active commercial centre. The hot baths of Chillan, in the eastern part of the province on the slope of the volcano of that name, about 7000 ft. above sea level, are very popular in Chile.
NUCERIA ALFATERNA (mod. Nocera Inferiore, q.v.), an
ancient town of Campania, Italy, in the valley of the Sarnus
(Sarno), about 10 m. E. of the modern coast line at Torre Annunziata,
and 8 m. E. of Pompeii. In the period before the Roman
supremacy it appears to have been the chief town in the valley
of the Sarnus, Herculaneum, Pompeii, Stabiae and Surrentum
all being dependent upon it. The coins of the town bear the
head of the river god. It maintained its allegiance to Rome
till 309 B.C. when it joined the revolted Samnites. In 308 it
repulsed a Roman attempt to land at the mouth of the Sarnus,
but in 307 it was besieged and surrendered. It obtained favourable
terms, and remained faithful to Rome even after Cannae.
Hannibal reduced it in 216 by starvation, and destroyed and
plundered the town. The inhabitants returned when peace was
restored. Even during the Social War Nuceria remained true to
Rome, though the dependent towns joined the revolt; after it
they were formed into independent communities, and Nuceria
received the territory of Stabiae, which had been destroyed by
Sulla in 89 B.C., as a compensation. In 73 B.C. it was plundered
by Spartacus. Of the buildings of the ancient city nothing
at all is to be seen; but on the hillsides on the S. are remains
of villas of the Roman period, and here tombs have been
found. (T. As.)
NUCLEUS (Lat. for the kernal of a nut, nux, the stone of fruit), the central portion of things, round which other parts of the same thing or other things collect together. The term is particularly applied to the central mass of protoplasm in a plant or animal cell (see Cytology).
NUER, a Nilotic negro people of the upper Nile, dwelling in the swampy plains south of Fashoda and at the Bahr-el-Ghazal confluence, and having for neighbours the Dinka, whom they resemble. They are long-legged and flat-footed, and live, like the aquatic birds, on fish, roots and river plants. They tattoo tribal marks on the forehead, and the women pierce the upper
lips. A few Nuer families live on the floating islets of grass and
reeds brought down by the river in flood.
NUEVA SAN SALVADOR, or Santa Tecla, the capital of the department of La Libertad, Salvador; on the railway between San Salvador (10 m. N.) and the Pacific port of La Libertad. Pop. (1905) about 18,000. The town was founded in 1854, and intended to replace the capital, San Salvador, which was ruined by an earthquake i11 that year but soon afterwards rebuilt.
Nueva San Salvador is an attractive town with a large and growing trade.
NUEVO LEÓN, a northern state of Mexico, bounded N., E.
and S.E. by Tamaulipas, S. and S.W. by San Luis Potosi and
W. and N. by Coahuila. Pop. (1900) 327,937; area 23,592
sq. m. Nuevo León lies partly upon the great Mexican plateau
and partly upon its eastern slopes, the Sierra Madre Oriental
crossing the state N.W. to S.E. A branch of the Sierra Madre
extends northward from the vicinity of Salinas, but its elevations
are low. The average elevation of the Sierra Madre Within the
state is slightly under 5500 ft. The general character of the
surface is mountainous, though the western and south-western
sides are level and dry as in the adjoining state of Coahuila.
In the N. the general elevation is low, the surface sandy and
covered with cactus and mesquite growth, and hot, semi-arid
conditions prevail. The eastern slopes receive more rain and are
well clothed with vegetation, but the lower valleys are subtropical
in character and are largely devoted to sugar production.
The higher elevations have a dry, temperate, healthful climate.
There are many rivers and streams, notably the Salado, Pesqueria
and Presas, but none is navigable within the state, though many
furnish good water power. Agriculture is the principal industry,
the chief products being sugar, barley, Indian corn and wheat.
Rum is a by-product of the sugar, industry, and “ mescal ” is
distilled from the agave. The gathering and preparation of
“ ixtle ” fibres from the agave and yucca forms another important
industry, the fibre being sent to Tampico for export.
Stock-raising receives considerable attention; there are about a
score of large cattle ranges, and there is a considerable export
of live cattle to Texas and to various Mexican States. Considerable
progress has been made in manufacturing industries, and
there are a large number of sugar-mills, cotton factories, woollen
mills, smelting works and iron and steel works. The state is well
served with railways, the capital, Monterrey, being one of the
most important railway centres in northern Mexico. The
Mexican National line crosses the northern half of the state and
has constructed a branch from Monterrey to Matamoros, and a
Belgian line (F. C. de Monterrey al Golfo Mexicano) runs from
Tampico N.N.W. to Monterrey, and thence westward to Trevino
(formerly Venadito) in Coahuila, a station on the Mexican International.
The other principal towns are: Linares, or San Felipe
de Linares (pop. 20,690 in 1900), 112 m. by rail S.E. of the capital
in a rich agricultural region; Lampazos, or Lampazos de
Naranjo (7704), 96 m. by rail N.W. of the capital; Cadereyta
Jiminez, Garcia, Santiago and Doctor Arroyo, the last in the
extreme southern part of the state.
NUGENT, ROBERT NUGENT, Earl (1702-1788), Irish
politician and poet, son of Michael Nugent, was born at Carlanstown,
Co. Westmeath. He was tersely described by Richard
Glover as “ a jovial and voluptuous Irishman who had left
popery for the Protestant religion, money and widows.” His
change of religion took place at a very early period in life; he
married in 1736 Anna (d. 1756), daughter of James Craggs, the
secretary of state, a lady who had already been twice given in
marriage. His wife's property comprised the borough of St
Mawes in Cornwall, and Nugent sat for that constituency from
1741 to 1754, after which date he represented Bristol until 1774,
when he returned to St Mawes. He was a lord of the treasury
from 1754 to 1759 and president of the board of trade from 1766
to 1768. He married in 1757 Elizabeth, dowager-countess of
Berkeley, who brought him a large fortune. His support of the
ministry was so useful that he was created in 1767 Viscount
Clare, and in 1776 Earl Nugent, both Irish peerages. He died on
the 13th of October 1788. Lord Nugent was the author of some
poetical productions, several of which are preserved in the second
volume of Dodsley's Collections (1748). The earldom descended
by special remainder to the earl's son-in-law, George Nugent
Temple Grenville, marquess of Buckingham, and so to his
successors, the dukes of Buckingham and Chandos.
NUISANCE (through Fr. noisance, nuisance, from Lat. nacere, to hurt), that which gives offence or causes annoyance, trouble or injury. In English law nuisance is either public or private. A public or common nuisance is defined by Sir J. F. Stephen as “ an act not warranted by law, or an omission to discharge a legal duty, which act or omission obstructs or causes inconvenience or damage 'to the public in the exercise of rights common to all His Majesty's subjects ” (Digest of the Cri1ninal Law, p. 120). A common nuisance is punishable as a misdemeanour at common law, where no special provision is made by statute. In modern times many of the old common law nuisances have been the subject of legislation. It is no defence for a master or employer that a nuisance is caused by the acts of his servants, if such acts are within the scope of their employment, , even though such acts are done without his knowledge and contrary to his orders. Nor is it a defence that the nuisance has been in existence for a great length of time, for no lapse of time will legitimate a public nuisance.
A private nuisance is an act or omission which causes inconvenience or damage to a private person, and is left to be redressed by action. There must be some sensible diminution of these rights affecting the value or convenience of the property. “ The real question in all the cases is the question of fact, whether the annoyance is such as materially to interfere with the ordinary comfort of human existence ” (Lord Romilly in Crump v.
