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# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Neva

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​NEVA, a river of Russia, which carries off into the Gulf of Finland the waters of Lake Ladoga, Onega, Ilmen and many smaller basins. It issues from the south-west corner of Lake Ladoga in two channels, which are obstructed by sandstone reefs, so that the better of the two has a depth of only 7 to 16 ft. A little farther down it becomes completely navigable, and attains a breadth of 4200 ft.; but between the village of Ostrovki and that of Ust-Tosna it passes over a limestone bed, which produces a series of rapids, and reduces the width of the river from 1050 to 840 and that of the navigable passage from 350 to 175 ft. Nine or ten miles before reaching its outfall the river enters St Petersburg, and 5 or 6 m. lower down breaks up into the Great Neva (850 to 1700 ft. wide), the Little Neva (945 to 1365), and the Great Nevka (280 to 1205), this last, 2 m. farther on, sending off the Little Nevka (370 to 1130 ft.). Its total length is only 40 m. In front of the delta are sandbanks and rocks which prevent the passage of vessels except by a canal, 18 m. long, 124 to 226 ft. wide, and admitting vessels with a draught of 181/2 ft., from Kronstadt to St Petersburg. Most of its alluvial burden being deposited in the lakes, the Neva takes a long time to alter its channels or extend its delta. The ordinary rise and fall of the river is comparatively slight, but when the west wind blows steadily for a long time, or when Lake Ladoga sends down its vast accumulations of block-ice, inundations of a dangerous kind occur, as in 1777, 1824, 1879 and 1903.
According to observations extending from 1706 to 1899, the mean day of the freezing of the Neva is November 25th, the earliest October 28th, the latest January 9th, and the next latest December 26th. The mean day of opening is April 21st, the earliest March 18th, and the latest May 12th. The mean number of days open is 218, the least 172, the greatest 279.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nevada (Missouri)

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​NEVADA, a city and the county-seat of Vernon county, Missouri, U.S.A., in the south-western part of the state, about 90 m. S. by E. of Kansas City. Pop. (1900) 7461, of whom 235 were foreign-born and 168 negroes; (1910) 7176. It is served by the Missouri Pacific and the Missouri, Kansas & Texas railway systems. The principal public buildings are the county court house, the federal building and the high school. Nevada is the seat of Cottey College for girls (Methodist-Episcopal, South, 1884) and of a state hospital for the insane, and there is a state camp ground for the National Guard of Missouri. There are three parks, one of which, Lake Park, is a pleasure and health resort, with a lake and chalybeate and sulphur springs. The smelting of lead and zinc and the manufacture of paper, lumber, sheet metal and bricks are among the city's industries. Nevada is a trading centre for the surrounding country, and a fine farming and stock-raising region, in which Indian corn, oats, wheat, clover, timothy and blue-grass are grown; coal is mined in the vicinity. The city’s water-supply is drawn from artesian wells. Nevada (“Nevada City” until 1869) was platted in 1855, was burned down in 1863 during the occupancy by the state militia in war time, was incorporated as a town in 1869, was entered by the first railway in 1870, and was chartered as a city in 1880.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nevada City

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​NEVADA CITY, a township and the county-seat of Nevada county, California, U.S.A., about 130 m. N.E. of San Francisco. Pop. (1890) 2524; (1900) 3250 (764 foreign-born); (1910) 2689. It is the terminus of the Nevada County Narrow Gauge railway, which connects with the Southern Pacific railway at Colfax, 23 m. S. An electric line extends to Grass Valley (pop. in 1900, 4719), 4 m. S.W. Situated in a hilly and picturesque region, 2580 ft. above the sea, Nevada City is frequented as a health and summer resort (annual mean temperature, about 53·5° F.; mean summer temperature, about 66°). Gold-mining and quartz-mining are its principal industries, and in 1907 Nevada County’s output of gold (104,590·76 oz., worth $2,162,083) was second only to that of Butte county (134,813·39 oz., worth $2,786,840) in California; the county is the leading producer from quartz mines. Among the manufactures of the township are carriages and products of planing mills, foundries and machine shops; and grapes and fruits are raised in the surrounding country. Gold was first discovered within what is now Nevada City, on Deer Creek, in the summer of 1848, by James W. Marshall, who, in January of the same year, had found the metal near what is now Coloma, Eldorado county. The first settlement was made here in 1849; rich deposits of gold were soon afterwards found on or near the surface, and the settlement had the characteristic growth of a western mining town; its output of gold reached its maximum in 1850–1851. Nevada City was first incorporated in 1851 under a special act of the legislature (repealed in 1852); it was reincorporated in 1856 and again in 1878.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Neuwied

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​NEUWIED, a town of Germany, in the Prussian Rhine province, the capital of the mediatized countship of Wied, is situated on the right bank of the Rhine, 8 m. below Coblenz, on the railway from Frankfort-on-Main to Cologne. Pop. (1905) 18,177. The principal edifice is the château of the princes of Wied. This is situated in a fine park, and contains a collection of Roman antiquities. The town has an Evangelical and a Roman Catholic church. Its chief products are starch, sugar, tobacco, cigars, chicory, buttons and enamelled goods. There are large rolling-mills, and in the vicinity are several large iron-foundries. The schools of Neuwied enjoy a high reputation.
Neuwied was founded by Count Frederick of Wied in 1662, on the site of the village of Langendorf, which was destroyed during the Thirty Years’ War, and it rapidly increased owing to the toleration accorded to all religious sects. Among those who sought refuge here was a colony of Moravian Brethren; they still occupy a separate quarter of the town, where they carry on manufactures of porcelain stoves and deerskin gloves. Near Neuwied one of the largest Roman castra on the Rhine has been excavated. In April 1797 the French, under General Hoche, defeated the Austrians near Neuwied, this being their first decisive success in the revolutionary wars. Legenhaus, in the neighbourhood, is one of the residences of the princes of Weid.
See Wirtgen and Blenke, Neuwied und seine Umgebung (Neuwied, 1901).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Myslowitz

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​MYSLOWITZ, a town of Germany, in the Prussian province of Silesia. Pop. (1905), 15,845. It lies on the navigable Przemsa, across which an iron bridge leads to the Polish town of Modrzejow, 120 m. S.E. from Breslau by rail, and an important junction of lines to Oswiecim-Lemberg and Vienna. It contains a Protestant and three Roman Catholic churches, a palace and a gymnasium, and other schools. Extensive coal-mines are worked, and among its other industries are flax-spinning and brick-making. It became a town in 1857.
See Lustig, Geschichte von Myslowitz (Myslowitz, 1867).
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Mysore (town)

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​MYSORE, capital of the state of Mysore, India, 10 m. S.W. of Seringapatam on the Mysore State railway. Pop. (1901), 68,111. The city, which is spread over an area of about 71/2 sq. m., has its nucleus at the foot of the Chamundi hill, in a valley formed by two parallel ridges running north and south. The fort stands in the south of the town, forming a quarter by itself; the ground-plan is quadrangular, each of the sides being about 450 yds. long. The old palace of the maharaja within the fort, built in an extravagant style of Hindu architecture, was partly destroyed by fire in 1897, whereupon a new palace was built on the same site. The principal object of interest in the old palace was the throne, which is said to have been presented to Chikka Deva Raj by the emperor Aurangzeb. The houses of the European residents are for the most part to the east of the town. The residency or government house was built in 1805. The building afterwards used for the district offices was originally built by Colonel Wellesley (duke of Wellington) for his own occupation. The domed building for the public offices in Gordon Park, the Maharaja's College, the Victoria Jubilee Institute, and the law courts are conspicuous. Mysore, though the dynastic capital of the state, was superseded by Seringapatam as the seat of the court from 1610 to 1799, and in 1831, on the British occupation, the seat of administration was removed to Bangalore.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Myxoedema

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​MYXOEDEMA (or athyrea), the medical term for a constitutional disease (see Metabolic Diseases) due to the degeneration of the thyroid gland, and occurring in adults; it may be contrasted with cretinism, which is a condition appearing in early childhood. There are two forms, myxoedema proper and operative myxoedema (cachexia strumipriva). (1) Myxoedema has been termed “Gull’s Disease” from Sir William Gull’s observations in 1873. Women are more often the Victims than men, in a ratio of 6 to 1. It frequently affects members of the same family and may be transmitted through the mother, and it has been observed sometimes to follow exophthalmic goitre. The symptoms are a marked increase in bulk and weight of the body, puffy appearance of skin which does not pit on pressure, the line of the features becoming obliterated and getting coarse and broad, the lips thick and nostrils enlarged, with loss of hair, subnormal temperature and marked mental changes. There is striking slowness of thought and action, the memory becomes defective, and the patient becomes irritable and suspicious. In some instances the condition progresses to that of dementia. The thyroid gland itself is diminished in size, and may become completely atrophied and converted into a fibrous mass. The untreated disease is progressive, but the course is slow and the symptoms may extend over 12 to 15 years, death from asthenia or tuberculosis being the most frequent ending. (2) Symptoms similar to the above may follow complete removal of the thyroid gland. Kocher of Bern found that, in the total removal of the gland by operation, out of 408 cases operative myxoedema occurred in 69, but it is thought that if a small portion of the gland is left, or if accessory glands are present, these symptoms will not develop. The treatment of myxoedema is similar to that of cretinism.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Myrrh

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​MYRRH (from the Latinized form myrrha of Gr. μύῤῥα; the Arabic murr, bitter, was applied to the substance from its bitterness), a gum-resin highly esteemed by the ancients as an unguent and perfume, used for incense in temples and also in embalming. It was one of the gifts offered by the Magi, and a royal oblation of gold, frankincense and myrrh is still annually presented by the sovereign on the feast of Epiphany in the Chapel Royal in London, this custom having been in ​existence certainly as early as the reign of Edward I. True myrrh is the product of Balsamodendron (Commiphora) Myrrha, a small tree of the natura.l order Amyridaceae that grows in eastern Africa and Arabia, but the name is also applied to gum resins obtained from other species of Balsamodendron.
1. Baisa Bol, Bhesa Bol or Bissa Bol, from Balsamodendron Kataf, resembles true myrrh in appearance. but has a disagreeable taste and is scarcely bitter. It is used in China, mixed with food, to give to milch cows to improve the quality and increase the quantity of milk, and when mixed with lime as a size to impart a gloss to walls. (2) Opaque bdellium produced by B. Playfairii, when shaken with water forms a slight but permanent lather, and on this account is used by the Somali women for cleansing their hair, and by the men to whiten their shields; it is known as meena hărma in Bombay, and was formerly used there for the expulsion of the guinea-worm. (3) African bdellium is from B. africanum, and like opaque bdellium lacks the white streaks which are characteristic of myrrh and bissa bol, both are acrid, but have scarcely any bitterness or aroma. (4) Indian bdellium, probably identical with the Indian drug googul obtained in Sind and Baluchistan from B. Mukul and B. pubescens, Hook, is of a dark reddish colour, has an acrid taste and an odour resembling cedar-wood, and softens in the hand.
As met with in commerce true myrrh occurs in pieces of irregular size and shape, from 1/2 in. to 2 or 3 in. in diameter, and of a reddish-brown colour. The transverse fracture has a resinous appearance with white streaks; the flavour is bitter and aromatic, and the odour characteristic. It consists of a mixture of resin, gum and essential oil, the resin being present to the extent of 25 to 40%, with 21/2 to 8% of the oil, myrrhol, to which the odour is due.
Myrrh has the properties of other substances which, like it, contain a volatile oil. Its only important application in medicine is as a carminative to lessen the griping caused by some purgatives such as aloes. The volatile oils have for centuries been regarded as of value in disorders of the reproductive organs, and the reputation of myrrh in this connexion is simply a survival of this ancient but ill-founded belief.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Myrtle

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Myrtle (Myrtus communis). :
| 1. Vertical section of flower, enlarged. | 3. Berry, enlarged. |
| 2. Plan of flower in horizontal plane. | 4. Seed with contained embryo, 𝑒, much enlarged. |
It is a low-growing, evergreen shrub, with opposite leaves, varying in dimensions, but always small, simple, dark-green, thick in texture, and studded with numerous receptacles for oil. When the leaf is held up to the light it appears as if perforated with pinholes owing to the translucency of these oil-cysts. The fragrance of the plant depends upon the presence of this oil. Another peculiarity of the myrtle is the existence of a prominent vein running round the leaf within the margin. The flowers are borne on short stalks in the axils of the leaves. The flower-stalk is dilated at its upper end into a globose or ovoid receptacle enclosing the 2- to 4-partitioned ovary. From its margin proceed the five sepals, and within them the five rounded, spoon-shaped, spreading, white petals. The stamens spring from the receptacle within the petals and are very numerous, each consisting of a slender white filament and a small yellow two-lobed anther. The style surmounting the ovary is slender, terminating in a small button-like stigma. The fruit is a purplish berry, consisting of the receptacle and the ovary blended into one succulent investment enclosing very numerous minute seeds. The embryo-plant within the seed is usually curved. In cultivation many varieties are known, dependent on variations in the size and shape of the leaves, the presence of so-called double flowers, &c. The typical species is quite hardy in the south of England. The Chilean species, M. Ugni, a shrub with ovate, dark green leaves and white flowers succeeded by globular red or black glossy fruit with a pleasant smell and taste, is a greenhouse shrub, hardy in south-west Britain. The common myrtle is the sole representative in Europe of a large genus which has its headquarters in extra-tropical South America, whilst other members are found in Australia and New Zealand. The genus Myrtus also gives its name to a very large natural order, Myrtaceae, the general floral structure of which is like that of the myrtle above described, but there are great differences in the nature of the fruit or seed-vessel according as it is dry or capsular, dehiscent, indehiscent or pulpy; minor differences exist according to the way in which the stamens are arranged. The aromatic oil to which the myrtle owes its fragrance, and its use in medicine and the arts, is a very general attribute of the order, as may be inferred from the fact that the order includes, amongst other genera, Eucalyptus (q.v.), Pimenta and Eugenia (cloves). Myrtol, a constituent of myrtle oil, has been given in doses of 5–15 minims on sugar or in capsules for pulmonary tuberculosis, fetid bronchitis, bronchiectasis, and similar conditions. It appears to lessen expectoration in such cases. The leaves of Myrtus chekan are aromatic and expectorant, and have been used in chronic bronchitis.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nias

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​NIAS, the largest island in the chain off the west coast of Sumatra, Dutch East Indies, lying about 1° N., 97° 30′ E. It is roughly oblong in form, measuring about 80 m. by 28, and appears to be partly of volcanic origin and to consist partly of older rocks corresponding with those of Sumatra. Its extreme elevation is about 2300 ft. A number of islets (Nako, Bunga, &c.) lie off the west and north coasts. The island is thickly populated by a pagan people, who by some authorities, including F. Junghuhn, have been associated with the Battas, but are probably a distinct branch of the pre-Malayan or Indonesian race. Slavery and head-hunting are universal, despite the efforts of Dutch a-nd German missionary societies. The natives are skilled in ​such crafts as weaving and metal-work, as well as in agriculture and road-making. Coco-nut oil is produced on Nias and also more especially on the Nako group. A Dutch commissioner is established at Gunong Sitoli on the east coast, a settlement of Malay and Chinese traders.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Niagara Falls, Ontario

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​NIAGARA FALLS (formerly Clifton or Suspension Bridge), a town and port of entry of Welland county, Ontario, Canada, 40 m. S.S.E. of Toronto, on the west bank of the Niagara river and opposite the Falls. Pop. (1901) 4244. It is a station on the Grand Trunk, Michigan Central and St Catharines & Niagara Central railways, and has electric railway communication with the chief towns in the neighbourhood. Three large steel bridges connect it with the American town of Niagara Falls on the opposite bank. Its importance is chiefly due to the tourist traffic, but the unrivalled water power is being more and more employed. Factories have sprung up, and power is transmitted to Toronto and other cities. A beautiful park, named after Queen Victoria, extends along the bank of the river for 21/2 m. above the Falls.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nicaea

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​NICAEA, or Nice [mod. Isnick, i.e. εἰς Νικαίαν] an ancient town of Asia Minor, in Bithynia, on the Lake Ascania. Antigonus built the city (316 B.C.?) on an old deserted site, and soon afterwards Lysimachus changed its name from Antigonia to Nicaea, calling it after his wife. Under the Roman empire Nicaea and Nicomedia disputed the title of metropolis of Bithynia. Strabo describes the ancient Nicaea as built regularly, in the form of a square, with a gate in the middle of each side. From a monument in the centre of the city all the four gates were visible at the extremities of great cross-streets. After Constantinople became the capital of the empire Nicaea grew in importance, and after the conquest of Constantinople by the Crusaders became the temporary seat of the Byzantine emperor; the double line of walls with the Roman gates is still well preserved. The possession of the city was long disputed between the Greeks and the Turks. It remained an important city for some time after its final incorporation in the Ottoman empire; but became subsequently an insignificant village.
# 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nicander

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​NICANDER (2nd cent. B.C.), Greek poet, physician and grammarian, was born at Claros, near Colophon, where his family held the hereditary priesthood of Apollo. He flourished under Attalus III. of Pergamum. He wrote a number of works both in prose and verse, of which two are preserved. The longest, Theriaca, is an hexameter poem (958 lines) on the nature of venomous animals and the wounds which they inflict. The other, Alexipharmaca, consists of 630 hexameters treating of poisons and their antidotes. In his facts Nicander followed the physician Apollodorus. Among his lost works may be mentioned: Aetolica, a prose history of Aetolia; Heteroeumena, a mythological epic, used by Ovid in the Metamorphoses and epitomized by Antoninus Liberalis; Georgica and Melissourgica, of which considerable fragments are preserved, said to have been imitated by Virgil (Quintilian x. 1. 56). The works of Nicander were praised by Cicero (De oratore, i. 16), imitated by Ovid, and frequently quoted by Pliny and other writers. His reputation does not seem justified; his works, as Plutarch says (De audiendis poetis, 16), have nothing poetical about them except the metre, and the style is bombastic and obscure; but they contain some interesting information as to ancient belief on the subjects treated.
Editions.—J. G. Schneider (1792, 1816); O. Schneider (1856) (with the Scholia); H. Klauser, “De Dicendi Genere . . . Nicandri” (Dissertationes Philologicae Vindobonenses, vi. 1898). The Scholia (from the Göttingen MS.) have been edited by G. Wentzel in Abhandlungen der k. Gesellschaft der Wiss. zu Göttingen, xxxviii. (1892). See also W. Vollgraff, Nikander und Ovid (Groningen, 1909 foll.).