N'YANZA-NYAYA.

spasmodic contraction of all the muscles speedily set in, the whole body becoming as stiff as a board; the lower extremities were extended and stiff, and the soles of the feet concave. The skin became livid, the eyeballs prominent, and the pupils dilated and insensible; the patient lay for a few minutes without consciousness, and in a state of universal tetanus. A remission occurred, but the symptoms became aggravated, and the patient died asphyxiated from the spasm of the chest in about an hour and a half after taking the poison.' It is difficult to say what is the smallest dose that would prove fatal to an adult. Thirty grains of the powdered nuts, given by mistake to a patient, destroyed life. Three grains of the extract have proved fatal; and in a case quoted by Taylor (op. cit.), half a grain of sulphate of strychnine caused death in 14 minutes. The preparations of nux vomica are the powdered nuts, the extracts, the tincture, and strychnine; the alkaloid being usually preferable, in consequence of its more constant strength. In various forms of paralysis, especially where there is no apparent lesion of structure, nux vomica is a most successful remedy; although there are cases in which it is positively injurious. It is also of service in various affections of the stomach, such as dyspepsia, gastrodynia, and pyrosis. The average dose of the powder is two or three grains, gradually increased; that of the tincture, 10 or 15 minimis; and that of the extract half a grain, gradually increased to two or three grains. The dose of strychnine, when given in cases of paralysis, is at the commencement one-twentieth of a grain three times a day, the dose being gradually increased, till slight muscular twitchings are observed. For gastric disorders, a still smaller dose is usually sufficient, as, for example, one-fortieth of a grain.

N'YA'NZA, a great fresh-water lake in Central Africa, discovered by Captain Speke in 1858, and more fully explored by Speke and Grant in 1862. The native name N. signifies simply the water;' but Speke named it Victoria N'yanza. Its southern point is in lat. 2° 44′ S., long. 33° E. Its northern shore runs nearly parallel to the equator, and is about 20 miles to the north of it. Speke supposes that formerly it covered a larger area; at present, it is estimated to be 220 miles in length, and fully as much in breadth. It is of no great depth; the

with name N'yanza), another lake in the interior of Africa, which Dr Livingstone discovered in 1861 by ascending the river Shiré (q. v.). The southern end of the Nyassa, or Star Lake, is in lat. 14° 45′ S, and it is supposed to extend northwards beyond the parallel of 10° S. It is 350 miles inland from the coast of Mozambique, and its surface is 1200 feet above the sea. Dr Livingstone explored 200 miles of the western shores. The lake has something of the boot-shape of Italy,' and appears to vary from 20 to 50 or 60 miles in width. Most of the land near the lake is low and marshy; on the east, at a distance of eight or ten miles there are ranges of high and well-wooded granite hills. Except near the shore, the lake is deep; the temperature of the water, which is sweet, was 72°. The lake abounds in fish; and the southern shores are closely beset with villages, whose inhabitants are hardy fishermen and industrious cultivators of the soil. Something had previously been known about this lake under the nam of the Maravi; but the accounts were so vagu, that latterly it was omitted from the maps of Africa.

NYAYA (from the Sanscrit ni, into, and dyai going, a derivative from i, to go; hence literally entering,' and figuratively, 'investigating analyti cally'), is the name of the second of the three great systems of ancient Hindu philosophy; and it is apparently so called because it treats analytically, material and spiritual, distributed by it under as it were, of the objects of human knowledge, both different heads or topics; unlike, therefore, the Vedanta (q. v.) and Sankhya (q. v.), which follow a synthetic method of reasoning, the former of these divine matters, and the latter in subjects relating to systems being chiefly concerned in spiritual and the material world and man. The Nyaya consists, like the two other great systems of Hindu philo sophy (see MIMANSA and SANKHYA), of two divisions. The former is called NYAYA (proper), and will be exclusively considered in this article; the other is known under the name of VAIS'ESHIKA (q. v.). With the other systems of philosophy, it concurs in promising beatitude, that is, final deliverance of the soul from re-birth or transmigration, to those who acquire truth, which, in the case of the Nyaya, means a thorough knowledge of the principles taught by this particular system.

surface is 3740 feet above sea-level. There are fleets The topics treated of by the Nyaya are briefly the of canoes on the lake, and yet there is no communi- following: 1. The pramân'a, or instruments of right cation between the tribes on its opposite shores, notion. They are: a. Knowledge which has arisen who are quite unknown to each other. At its from the contact of a sense with its object; b. north-east extremity, Lake Baringo, described by Inference of three sorts (a priori, à posteriori, and the natives as a long narrow basin, is probably from analogy); c. Comparison; and d. Knowledge, connected with the N'yanza. The countries on the verbally communicated, which may be knowledge west shores of the lake enjoy a mild and genial of that whereof the matter is seen,' and knowledge climate, equal to that of England in summer; and, of that whereof the matter is unseen' (revelation). contrary to expectation, the rain-fall is below that 2. The objects or matters about which the inquiry is of many parts of Britain, being only 49 inches. The concerned (prameya). They are: a. The Soul (atman). natives of Karagué and Uganda, on the western It is the site of knowledge or sentiment, different shores, are superior races, with a considerable degree of civilisation. The banana, coffee, and date-palm abound, and hundreds of white hornless cattle were seen browsing in the richest pasture-lands. The principal feeder of the N. on the west is the Kitangulé, and from its northern side issue several streams, which unite to form the Nile (q. v.). The principal of these flows through Napoleon Channel, over the Ripon Falls. North-west from Lake V. N. lies the Albert Nyanza, discovered in 1866, which is probably connected with the Victoria Nyanza. The White Nile issues from the Albert Nyanza, and as the region receives an immense rain-fall, this may be the really effective cause of the periodical overflowing of the Nile.

NYAʼSSA, or NYANJA (apparently identical

for each individual coexistent person, infinite, eternal, &c. Souls are therefore numerous, but the supreme soul is one; it is demonstrated as the creator of all things. b. Body (s'arira). It is the site of action, of the organs of sensation, and of the sentiments of pain or pleasure. It is composed of parts, a framed substance, not inchoative, and not consisting of the three elements, earth, water, and fire, as some say, nor of four or all the tive elements (viz. air and ether in addition to the former), as others maintain, but merely earthy. c. Organs of sensation (indriya); from the elements, earth, water, light, air, and ether, they are smell, taste, sight, touch, and hearing. d. Their objects (artha). They are the qualities of earth, &c.-viz. odour, savour, colour, tangibility, and sound. e. Understanding (buddhi),

NYAYA.

or apprehension (upalabdhi), or conception (jnâna), (vitan'd'd), when a man does not attempt to estab terms which are used synonymously. It is not lish the opposite side of the question, but confines eternal, as the Sankhya maintains, but transitory. himself to carping disingenuously at the arguments f. The urgan of imagination and volition (manas). of the other party. 13. Fallacies, or semblances of Its property is the not giving rise simultaneously reasons (hetvabhasa), five sorts of which are distin to more notions than one. g. Activity (pravr'itti), guished, viz. the erratic, the contradictory, the or that which originates the utterances of the voice, equally available on both sides, that which, standing the cognitions of the understanding, and the gestures itself in the need of proof, does not differ from that of the body. It is therefore oral, mental, or cor- which is to be proved, and that which is adduced poreal, and the reason of all worldly proceedings. when the time is not that when it might have h. Faults or failings (dosha), which cause activity availed. 14. Tricks, or unfairness in disputation -viz. affection, aversion, and bewilderment. (chhala), or the opposing of a proposition by means Transmigration (pretyabhava, literally, the becom- of assuming a different sense from that which the ing born after having died), or the regeneration objector well knows the propounder intended to of the soul, which commences with one's first convey by his terms. It is distinguished as verbal birth, and ends only with final emancipation. It misconstruing of what is ambiguous, as perverting, does not belong to the body, because the latter in a literal sense, what is said in a metaphorical one, is different in successive births, but to the soul, and as generalising what is particular. 15. Futile because it is eternal. k. Fruit or retribution objections (jati), of which twenty-four sorts are (phala), or that which accrues from activity and enumerated; and, 16. Failure in argument or reason failings. It is the consciousness of pleasure or of defeat (nigraha-sthana), of which twenty-two of pain. l. Pain (duh'kha), or that which has the distinctions are specified. characteristic mark of causing vexation. It is defined as 'the occurrence of birth,' or the originating of body,' since body is associated with various kinds of distress. Pleasure is not denied to exist, but, according to the Nyaya, it deserves little consideration, since it is ever closely connected with pain. m. Absolute deliverance or emancipation (apavarga). It is annihilation of pain, or absolute cessation of one's troubles once for all.

After (1) 'instruments of right notion,' and (2) the objects of inquiry,' the Nyâya proceeds to the investigation of the following topics.

The great prominence given by the Nyaya to the method, by means of which truth might be ascertained, has sometimes misled European writers into the belief, that it is merely a system of formal logic, not engaged in metaphysical investigations. But though the foregoing enumeration of the topics treated by it could only touch upon the main points which form the subject-matter of the Nyaya, it will sufficiently shew that the Nyaya intended to be a complete system of philosophical investigation; and some questions, such as the nature of intellect, articulated sound, &c., or those of genus, variety, and individual, it has dealt with in a masterly 3. Doubt (sam's'aya). It arises from unsteadiness manner, well deserving the notice of western specu in the recognition or non-recognition of some mark, lation. That the atomistic theory has been devolved which, if we were sure of its presence or absence, from it, will be seen under the article VAIS'ESHIKA. would determine the subject to be so or so, or On account of the prominent position, however, not to be so or so; but it may also arise from con- which the method of discussion holds in this system, flicting testimony. 4. Motive (prayojana), or that and the frequent allusion made by European writers by which a person is moved to action. 5. A fami- to a Hindu syllogism, it will be expedient to explain liar case (dr3ish'tânta), or that in regard to which a how the Nyaya defines the different members of a man of an ordinary and a man of a superior intel- syllogism' under its seventh topic. A regular argulect entertain the same opinion. 6. Tenet or dogma ment consists, according to it, of five members(siddhanta). It is either a tenet of all schools,' viz. a. the proposition (pratijna), or the declaration i.e. universally acknowledged, or 'a tenet peculiar of what is to be established; b. the reason (hetu), or to some school,' i. e. partially acknowledged; or a the means for the establishing of what is to be hypothetical dogma,' i. e. one which rests on the established;' c. the example (udaharan'a), i. e. some supposed truth of another dogma; or an implied familiar case illustrating the fact to be established, dogma,' i. e. one the correctness of which is not or inversely, some familiar case illustrating the expressly proved, but tacitly admitted by the impossibility of the contrary fact; d. the appli Nyaya. 7. The different members (avayava) of a cation (upanaya), or 're-statement of that in respect regular argument or syllogism (nyaya). 8. Confu- of which something is to be established; and e. the tation or reduction to absurdity (tarka). It consists conclusion (nigamana), or the re-stating of the in directing a person who does not apprehend the proposition because of the mention of the reason.' force of the argument as first presented to him, to An instance of such a syllogism would run accord. look at it from an opposite point of view. 9. Ascer-ingly thus: a. This hill is fiery, b. for it smokes, c tainment (nirn'aya). It is the determination of a question by hearing both what is to be said for and against it, after having been in doubt. The three next topics relate to the topic of controversy, viz. 10. Discussion (vâda), which is defined as consisting in the defending by proofs on the part of the one disputant, and the controverting it by objections on the part of the other, without discordance in respect of the principles on which the conclusion is to depend; it is, in short, an honest sort of discussion, such, for instance, as takes place between a preceptor and his pupil, and where the debate is conducted without ambition of victory. 11. Wrang ling (jalpa), consisting in the defence or attack of a proposition by means of tricks, futilities, and such like means; it is therefore a kind of discussion where the disputants are merely desirous of victory, instead of being desirous of truth. 12 Cavilling

as a culinary hearth, or (inversely) not as a lake, from which vapour is seen arising, vapour not being smoke, because a lake is invariably devoid of fire; d. accordingly, the hill is smoking; e. there fore, it is fiery.

The founder of the Nyaya system is reputed under the name of Gotama, or, as it also occurs, Gautama (which would mean a descendant of Gotama). There is, however, nothing as yet known as to the history of this personage or the time when he lived, though it is probable that the work attri buted to him is, in its present shape, later than the work of the great grammarian Pân'ini. It consists of five books or Adhyayas, each divided into two days, or diurnal lessons, which are again sub. divided into sections or topics, each of which contains several aphorisms, or Sutras. See SûTRA. Like the text-books of other sciences among the

NYCTAGINACEA-NYL-GHAU.

NYMPHÆACEE-NYSTADT.

NYMPHÆA'CEÆ, a natural order of exogenous plants, growing in lakes, ponds, ditches, and slow rivers, where their fleshy rootstocks are prostrate in the mud at the bottom; and their large, longstalked, heart-shaped, or peltate leaves float on the

surface of the water.

a large space with nets, and by great numbers of daughters of Oceanus (N. of the great ocean people. It is a spirited animal, and dangerous to which flows around the earth), the Nereids, a rash assailant. It is capable of domestication, daughters of Nereus (N. of the inner depths of the but is said to manifest an irritable and capricious sea, or of the Inner Sea-the Mediterranean), temper. Potameides (River N.), Naiads (N. of fountains, or Hamadryads (Forest N., who were believed to lakes, brooks, wells), Oreades (Mountain N.), Dryads die with the trees in which they dwelt). They were the goddesses of fertilising moisture, and were represented as taking an interest in the nourishment and growth of infants, and as being addicted to the chase (companions of the divine huntress They are among the most beautiful conceptions Diana), to female occupations, and to dancing. of the plastic and reverent (if credulous) fancy of the ancient Greeks, who, in the various phenomena of nature-the rush of sea-waves, the bubble of brooks, the play of sunbeams, the rustle of leaves, and the silence of caves-felt, with a poetic permit us to realise, the presence of unseen joyous vividness that our modern science will hardly powers.

Their flowers also either float, or are raised on their stalks a little above the water. The flowers are large, and often very beautiful and fragrant. There are usually four sepals, and numerous petals and stamens, often passing gradually into one another. The ovary is many-celled, with radiating stigmas, and very numerous ovules, and is more or less' surrounded by a large fleshy disc. The seeds have a farinaceous albumen. More than fifty species are known, mostly natives of warm and temperate regions. The rootstocks of some of them are used as food, and the seeds of many.-See WATER-LILY, LOTUS, VICTORIA, and EURYALE-Very nearly allied to N. are Nelumbiaceae. See NELUMBO.

NY'SSA. See TUPELO TREE

NY'STADT, a town of Finland, on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, 50 miles south of Biorneborg. Here, in 1721, a treaty was agreed to, between Russia and Sweden, by virtue of which all the conquests of Peter the Great along the consts of the Gulf of Finland were annexed to Russia

NYMPHS, in Classic Mythology, female divinities of inferior rank, inhabiting the sea, streams, groves, meadows and pastures, grottoes, fountains, hills, glens, trees, &c. Among the N., different classes were distinguished, particularly the Oceanides, | Pop. 3258.

16

0

O', a prefix in many Irish family names, serves to form a patronymic, like Mac in Gaelic names; as O'Brien, a descendant of Brien. By some, it is considered to be derived from of; but it is more likely from Ir. ua, Gael. ogha, a grandson. In the Lowland Scottish, the word oe is used for grandson, and in some localities for nephew.

THE fifteenth letter in the English | the other (Q. sessiliflora) having them almost without and in most western alphabets, is stalks. Other differences have been pointed out; one of the five simple vowel-signs but they are regarded by some of the most eminent of the English language. As the and careful botanists as merely accidental, and not language is at present pronounced, coincident with these; while, as to the length it stands for at least four distinct of the fruit-stalks, every intermediate gradation sounds, heard in the words note, nor, occurs. Both varieties occur in Britain, the first (not), move, son. The primary and being the most prevalent, as it is generally in the simple sound of O is that heard long in north of Europe; the second being more abundant nor, and short in not, top. The sound in more southern countries. The short-stalked oak given to it in such words as note, go, is is sometimes called DURMAST OAK in England. It really a diphthong-a long o terminating has been much disputed which is entitled to be in a slight u or oo sound (0). The corresponding has occasionally been expressed lest new plantations considered the true British oak; and much alarm letter in the Hebrew and Phoenician Alphabet (q. v.) should be made of the wrong kind; whilst the most was called Ayn, i. e., 'eye; and accordingly the contradictory statements have been made as to the primitive form of the Phoenician letter was a rough comparative value and characters of the timber. picture of an eye, which naturally became a circle The oak succeeds best in loamy soils, and especially with a dot in the centre-still to be seen in some in those that are somewhat calcareous. It cannot ancient inscriptions-and then a simple circle. endure stagnant water. It succeeds well on soils too poor for ash or elm; but depends much on the depth of the soil, its roots penetrating more deeply than those of most other trees. Noble specimens of oak trees, and some of them historically celebrated, exist in almost all parts of Britain; but are much more frequent in England than in Scotland. The former existence of great oak forests is attested by the huge trunks often found in bogs. The oak 180 feet; the trunk being four, six, or even eight attains a height of from 50 to 100 or even 150 or feet in diameter. It sometimes grows tall and stately, but often rather exhibits great thickness of bole and magnitude of branches. It reaches its greatest magnitude in periods varying from 120 to 400 years, but lives to the age of 600, or even 1000. The timber is very solid, durable, peculiarly unsusceptible of the influence of moisture, and therefore OAK (Quercus), a genus of trees and shrubs of eminently adapted for ship-building. It is also the natural order Cupulifera, having a three-celled employed in carpentry, mill-work, &c.-The bark ovary, and a round (not angular) nut-which is abounds in tannin; it also contains a peculiar bitter called an acorn-placed in a scaly truncated cup, principle called Quercine, and is used in medicine, the lower part of it invested by the cup. The species chiefly in gargles, &c., on account of its astringency, are very numerous, natives of temperate and tropical sometimes also as a tonic; it is used along with countries. A few species are found in Europe. gall-nuts in the manufacture of ink; but most of North America produces many; and many are all for tanning (see BARK), and on this account the natives of mountainous regions in the torrid zone; oak is often planted as copse-wood (see COPSE) in some are found at low elevations in the valleys of situations where it cannot be expected to attain to the Himalaya, some even at the level of the sea great size as a tree. The timber of copse oak is in the Malay peninsula and Indian islands. But excellent firewood. The oak is particularly fitted in the peninsula of India and in Ceylon, none are for copse-wood, by the readiness with which it found; and none in tropical Africa, in Australia, or springs again from the stools after it has been cut. in South America. The oaks have alternate simple-Acorns are very nourishing food for swine, and in leaves; which are entire in some, but in the greater times of scarcity have been often uned for human number variously lobed and sinuated or cut; ever- food, as, indeed, they commonly are in some very green in some, but more generally deciduous. Many of them are trees of great size, famous for the strength and durability of their timber, as well as for the majesty of their appearance, and their great longevity. Throughout all parts of Europe, except the extreme north, two species are found, or varieties of one species, the COMMON OAK (Q. robur); one (Q. pedunculata) having the acorns on longish stalks,

OA'HU, one of the Sandwich Islands (q. v.). OAJA'CO, OAXACA, or GUAXACA, a city of Mexico, capital of a state of the same name, stands on the river Rio Verde, 210 miles south-south-east of Mexico. It covers an area 2 miles in length by 14 in breadth, is well built, with open streets, interspersed with plantations, on which the cochineal insect feeds, and has about 25,000 inhabitants. Silk, cotton, sugar, and chocolate are manufactured.

poor countries, either alone or mixed with meal. The bitterness which makes them disagreeable is said to be in part removed by burying them for a time in the earth. The acorns of some trees are also much less bitter than others, and oaks of the common species occur which produce acorns as sweet as chestnuts Other varieties of the common oak are assiduously propagated by nurserymen as