Page:The New International Encyclopædia 1st ed. v. 14.djvu/443

NESSELRODE. 393 NESTORIANS. of Paris in ISOti, tlujui;li he ictiiiiicd the ilignily of Chiincellor of the Empire and a seat in the Ministerial Couneil. He died at Saint Peters- hurg, ilarcli 2;i, 18U2. His autohidyraphy, which is nut of espeeial value, was published in ISliU. NESSLER, nes'ler. Julius (1S27— ). A Ger- man a;;ricuUural elieniist, horn at Kehl. He established at Karlsruhe the important experi- mental station which afterwards passed under Government control. Among the preparations known by his nanjc are Nessler's reagent for am- ■monia, a mixture of iodide potassium and iodide of mercury with free potash, and Xessler's insect powder, powdered tobacco, fusel oil, soap, and sjjirits of Vine. He described his important studies on the culture of the vine and of tobafco, and on the tests of the jjurity of wine, in Der Wcin, seine I}cs-,la»dleile iind seine liehandlung (2d ed. 186G) ; Drr Tahnk. seine lieslnndteile und seine lielidndlun;! (1807); and Die Berei- tunff, P/lege und Vnlersuchung des Weins (7th ed. 1S'.)7). NESSLER, VicTOi! (1841-00). A German composer, born in lialdcnheini, Alsace. He re- ceived his musical education in Leipzig, where he was a student of theology, during which period he successfully conducted several singing socie- ties. The success of his opera Fleurette (18()4) determined his career; and after further study in Leipzig, he devoted himself entirely to com- position. His works comprise half a score of operas and operettas of varying merit, the most successful of which is the universally popular Der Trompeter von Sdkkingen ; also choruses, song-cycles, and part-songs. He died at Strass- burg. NES'STIS (Lat., from Gk. XfViros, Xessos). In Greek mythology, a centaur who carried travelers over the river Evenus. When Hercules came with Deianira to the river, he swam across, but allowed the centaur to carry his wife. Nessus offered violence to her and was killed by Her- cules. In revenge, he told Deianira that his blood would prove an invincible love philter. Later, becoming jealous of lole. she dipped a robe in the blood and sent it to her husband, who was so tortured by the venom from the arrows pois- oned in the hydra's blood, that he sought death on the funeral pile. Sophocles deals with this myth in the Traehiniee. NEST. A receptacle for eggs or young, pro- vided by many sorts of animals. The nest reaches its greatest elaboration among birds, where in some cases, as that of the cotton-bird, liangnests, weaver-birds, etc., it becomes a fabric woven with astonishing ingenuity. The nests of certain swifts (see 8.L.XG.NE) are further remarkable for edible (|ualitics. Xests and the habits, instincts, and utilities connected with them are fully discussed under Xidificatiox. NES'TOR (Lat.. from Gk. N^o-rup). In the Homeric epic, the type of the wMse yet vigorous old man. He was said to be a son of Neleus and Chloris, and at the time of the Trojan War had already outlived two generations. He is the persuasive speaker, drawing on his .stores of wis- dom and experience for the guidance of the younger leaders. In the war which Hercules waged against Xeleus. all the brothers of Nestor were killed, but he escaped through his absence in Geronia. On his return to Pylos he punished the neighboring Epeians of Ells for their raids. He even took part in the war between the Lapitha; and Centaurs, but it is only in later writers that he appears as a participant in the Calydonian Hunt and the Argonaulie expedition. His part in the Iliad is prominent, since the Ionian princes of Asia Minor regarded themselves as his descendants. He appears in the Odyssey as safely returned from Troy to Pylos, where he hospitably receives the young Telemachus. Of his death there was no tradition, but Pausanias mentions his grave at Pylos. NESTOR (10.10-1114). The first Russian chronicler. In 108.'? he entered the convent at Kiev, where he died after a life of asceticism and holiness. The original of his chronicle has not come down to us, nor is there any faithful copy of it extant. One can only gather what it was from the numerois later chronicles, all based on one archetype directly ascribed to Nestor in one codex. Like the mediaeval chronicles of •Toannes IMalalas and Georgios Hamartolos, on which it drew for nnich information in general history, Nest(n-'s story begins with the distribu- tion of mankind after the flood and then leads up to the .Slavs — a branch of the Japhetic race — and their svibdivisions. A note after the year 1110 shows that the subsequent narrative belongs to another person. Nestor made xise of all jjos- sible sources of information, incorporating treaties with Greek emperors, didactic works written by princes for their children's instruction, lives of saints, church annals, popular legends and traditions, personal reminiscences of old peo- ple, and finally his own recollections. The rapid growth of Kiev inspired the avithor to a high pitch of patriotism, the narrative often attaining great poetic fervor and charm. Besides the chronicle, Nestor is reputed to have written the Lives of Saint Boris and Glyeh and the Life of Saint Theodosius. Consult: Chroniqne dite de y est or, trans, by L. Leger (Paris. 1884) ; Pogo- din, Nestor, trans, into German by F. Lowe (Saint Petersburg, 1844). NESTO'RIANS. The name conunonly given to one of the schismatic churches of the East, formely large and nourishing, but now small in numbers and with little inlluence. The name is derived from Nestorius (q.v. ). It was first ap- plied to them by a theological opponent, Philox- enus, Monophysite Bishop of Hierapolis, about the year a.d. .500, and although the Nestorians themselves never adopted the title, preferring to be known as Chaldican or Oriental Christians, it passed into common use and has remained their usual designation. The Nestorians claim an Apostolic origin for their Church, aiqiealing to an ancient tradition according to which the Apos- tle Thadda'us is said to have carried the Gospel to King Aligar of Edessa, but this story lacks his- torical contirniation. There is no clear evidence of the presence of Christianity in Persia before about 200. when the Bishop of Antioch held con- trol over that section of the Church. Under the Neo-Persian kingdom of the Sassanid.T (q.v.), in the third century, a new bishopric was estab- lished at Seleucia-Ctesiphon, on the Tigris, which in time assumed ecclesiastical leadership. But it was not until the fifth century that the Nestorians began to call the Bishop of Seleucia their 'Catb- olicis.' or national patriarch, and still longer before his primacy was acknowledged by the other bishops.