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NASMYTH NASSAU 153 army was entirely broken up, and Hood was removed from command Jan. 23, 1865. NASMYTH, James, a British inventor, born in Edinburgh, Aug. 19, 1808. He studied in the school of arts and at the university of Edin- burgh, and was employed in London previous to settling in Manchester in 1834, when he founded an extensive establishment for the manufacture of machinery, from which he re- tired in 1856. He invented the steam ham- mer, the steam pile driver, and a new and effec- tive kind of ordnance, and constructed pow- erful telescopes for investigating the moon. In conjunction with James Carpenter, he pub- lished " The Moon considered as a Planet, a World, and a Satellite " (2d ed., 1874). NASO, a town of Sicily, in the province and 40 m. W. S. W. of the city of Messina ; pop. about 8,000. It is celebrated for its pictu- resque situation and its mediaeval appearance. It contains fine buildings, and the trade is ac- tive. In the vicinity are ferruginous springs. Some authorities identify Naso with the an- cient Agathyrnum or Agathyrna, but the site of the latter town is also assigned to another locality, and is altogether doubtful. NASR-ED-DIN, shah of Persia, born in 1829. He succeeded to the throne on the death of his father, Muhammad, Sept. 10, 1848. The principal events of his reign are his successful contests with some of the neighboring tribes ; his defeat in the war with England (1856-'7); a famine which broke out in 1871, and desola- ted a large portion of the country; and his visit in 1873 to European courts, the Russian and British cabinets both attempting to secure his good will. While in England he made concessions to Reuter for establishing railways and canals and working mines in Persia ; but differences arose between the contracting par- ties, and nothing has yet been effected (1875). The shah wrote a curious diary of his Euro- pean tour, which was translated verbatim into English by J. W. Redhouse (London, 1874). NASSAU, formerly a German duchy, bounded by the Prussian provinces of the Rhine and Westphalia, by Hesse-Darmstadt, Hesse-Cassel, Hesse-Homburg, and Frankfort; area, 1,808 sq. m. ; pop. in 1866, 468,311. It now forms the S. W. part of the Prussian province of Hesse-Nassau, including the beautiful valley of the Lahn, between the Taunus range in the southeast and the Westerwald in the north- west; the towns of Wiesbaden (the former capital), Diez, Dillenburg, and Herborn; the watering places Ems, Selters, and Schwalbach ; and the renowned vineyards of Johannisberg, Hochheim, Rtidesheim, and Asmannshausen. In Germanic antiquity Nassau was inhabited by various tribes of Alemanni. After their in- corporation with the Prankish empire various families rose into prominence, among which was that of Laurenburg or Lurenburg. Wai- ram I. (died in 1020) was by his two sons, Walram II. and Otho, the founder of two lines, the older of which subsequently assumed the title of counts of Nassau, after a small rural settlement of that name, which is mentioned in a public record as early as A. D. 794. The younger son became by marriage with the heiress of Gelderland the founder of the Guel- drian line, and from the latter are descended the Dutch princes of Orange, hence called of Nassau- Orange. Walram IV., of the elder line, was the father of Adolphus of Nassau, who was king of Germany from 1292 to 1298. The grandsons of the latter, Adolphus II. and John I., and their successors divided their inheri- tances into several branches, which were even- tually reunited by Louis II., who died in 1625. His sons again divided the house of Nassau into several branches, of which that of Nas- sau- Weilburg was the more immediate source of the German line of dukes, who acquired their new dignity by joining the confederation of the Rhine (1806). After the fall of Napo- leon, the German possessions of the Nassau- Orange line were acquired by the dukes of Nassau in exchange for territory ceded by them to Prussia. They also acquired at that time the hereditary right to the succession of Luxemburg, which however they sold to Hol- land in 1839 for about $350,000. In the war of 1866, Nassau sided with Austria, was occu- pied by Prussian troops in July, and by the de- cree of Sept. 20, 1866, was annexed to Prussia. The last duke, Adolphus (born July 24, 1817), succeeded his father in 1839, and after his dis- possession took up his residence in Frankfort, where he still resides (1875). NASSAU, the N. E. county of Florida, border- ing on the Atlantic, separated from Georgia on the N. and N. W. by St. Mary's river, and bounded S. by the Nassau river ; area, 610 sq. m. ; pop. in 1870, 4,247, of whom 1,970 were colored. It has a level surface and sandy soil. Amelia island, included in the county, occupies the whole of the coast. The county is trav- ersed by the Florida railroad. The chief pro- ductions in 1870 were 24,058 bushels of In- dian corn, 17,614 of sweet potatoes, 1,900 Ibs. of rice, 984 of wool, and 4,198 gallons of molasses. There were 8,133 cattle, 777 sheep, and 3,447 swine. Capital, Fernandina. NASSAU, an island in the Pacific ocean, in lat. 11 30' S., Ion. 165 30' W., discovered by Capt. Sampson, of the American whaler whose name it bears, in 1835. It is low and ap- parently uninhabited, but wood and water are plentiful. It is supposed to be identical with Danger island, which an English whale ship so called reported in 1848 to be in lat. 11 35' S., and Ion. 166 45' W. NASSAU, a city, capital of the island of New Providence, of the Bahama group, in lat. 25 5' N., Ion. 71 21 ; W. ; pop. about 9,000. The town is well laid out, has a library and museum, and its salubrious climate makes it a winter re- sort for invalids. In 1872 the entrances were 43 steamers of 57,910 tons, and 196 sailing vessels of 20,104 tons; clearances, 43 steam- ers of 57,910 tons, and 186 sailing vessels of