Nux Vomica

a poisonous drug. It is obtained from the seed of a small tree native in Japan, Burma, Siam, Cochin China, and northern Australia. The branches bear ovate, strongly ribbed leaves and corymbs of greenish white flowers. The latter are succeeded by fruit having the size and shape of a small orange. The seeds have the size and shape of a nickel. They are covered with a coating of grayish green silky hair. Both fruit and seeds contain strychnine. They are exceedingly poisonous, but are eaten by the hornbill with apparent relish. The uses of nux vomica in medicine are the same as those of strychnine. See Poison

Nyanza,ni-an'za, a word in the Bantu speech signifying great water. There are three of these large lakes in equatorial Africa. The Victoria Nyanza, 300 miles long, lies in a granitic valley and is eighty-two miles wide where it is crossed by the equator. The waters are fresh and sweet. It was discovered by Captain Speke in 1858, and was named by him for Queen Victoria. The Albert Edward Nyanza was named for her oldest son, the late King Edward. Albert Nyanza, another fine lake, was discovered by Samuel White Baker in 1864, and was named for Albert, the queen's consort. These three noble lakes are important reservoirs from which the main Nile receives much of its water. They lie in a fruitful country, soon, it is hoped, to be rendered accessible by railroads on the Cape to Cairo route. See Nile; Cape To Cairo