The Meta-Encyclopedia

Single-source entries: N (22)

Each of these 8 subjects appears in only one of the 6 encyclopedias on this shelf. None is long enough to carry a page by itself, so they are gathered here by letter. Anything that grows moves out to a page of its own.

Niebuhr, Barthold Georg

nee'boor, Barthold Georg (1776-1831), a celebrated German historian. He was born at Copenhagen. He studied at Kiel, London, and Edinburgh. His early manhood was spent in banking. He entered the employ of the Danish government and a few years later was made a director of the government bank. A quarrel with his superior led him to resign office and to leave Copenhagen for Germany. He taught history at Berlin. In 1813 he entered the employment of the Prussian government and took a prominent part in arousing sentiment against Napoleon. In 1823 he settled down as a professor of history at Bonn. His reputation rests on a history of Rome, which he carried down from the earliest times as far as the Punic Wars . It was an epoch-making book. The stories of Romulus and the wolf, the founding of Rome, the vestal virgins, etc., were declared fables. A rational history of the Romans was drawn from such authentic material as was then at hand. Mommsen, whose history of Rome was written at a later date, with fuller material and information at hand, was a pupil of Niebuhr and received his inspiration from him. See Mommsen

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Niehaus

CHARLES HENRY, an American sculptor; born in Cincinnati, O., Jan. 24, 1855; educated in the public schools; studied art at the Royal Academy of Munich, Bavaria, where he won the first medal ever given to an American. Upon his return he received a commission to execute the Garfield monument at Cincinnati, perhaps his best work. After its execution, he spent some years in Rome, settling, upon his return, in New York. rk. Of his other works there should be mentioned, besides some fine portrait busts and some good specimens of his art in various museums, numerous statues of public men in Hartford, Conn.; Washington, D. C.; Buffalo, N. Y.; Canton, O.; Memphis, Tenn.; Indianapolis, Ind.; etc. The bronze doors of Trinity Church, New York, are also his creations, as are the pediments of the Appellate Court Building in the same city. At the Pan-American Exposition of 1901 in Buffalo he had two large groups, "Mineral Wealth." There, as well as at Charleston (1902) and St. Louis (1904), he was awarded gold medals. In 1906 he was made a member of the National Academy.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Niello-engraving

A kind of engraving of considerable antiquity. It was very much practised in the middle ages. The art consisted in drawing a design with a stylus or needle on gold and silver plates, and then cutting it with a graver. These incised lines were then filled with a composition of copper 1, bismuth 1, lead 1, and silver 9, the compound being of a bluish color when a little sulphur is added. The metal is called Niello-silver, or Tula. Nitre, or Saltpetre, as it is commonly called, occurs as a native product in the earth in many parts of the world, and is separated therefrom by leaching the soil and allowing the nitre to crystallize. It is artificially formed by heaping up organic matter with lime, ashes, and soil, and keeping the mass moistened with urine for a lengthened period, when the heap is lixiviated and the salt crystallized out. Nitre dissolves in about three times its weight of cold and one third its weight of boiling water. Paper dipped in this solution and dried forms what is known as touch-paper. Nitre has a cooling, saline taste, and strong antiseptic powers. Owing to the latter quality it is extensively used in packing meat. It is chiefly consumed, however, in the manufacture of gunpowder; the large amount of oxygen it contains, and the feeble affinity by which it is held, adapting it for sudden and rapid combustion.

Only in The Encyclopedia of Founding

Nielsen

ALICE, American prima donna; born at Nashville, Tenn., 1876. She studied in San Francisco under Ida Valerga. She first appeared in Oakland as Yum Yum in "The Mikado," and later sang in "Robin Hood." After singing in Toronto and London, she studied for grand opera in Rome, and made her début at the Bellini Theater in Naples as Marguerite in "Faust." In 1906 she toured the United States with the Don Pasquale Company and with San Carlo Company in 1907-1908. In 1910-1911 she was with the Boston Opera Company, and from that time with the Metropolitan Opera Company of New York, playing many leading rôles. NIÈVRE

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Niemen

a river of Russia, whose lower course (70 of its 500 miles) lies within the province of East Prussia, where it is called the Memel; it rises a few miles S. of the city of Minsk. It is navigable to Grodno; below Tilsit it divides into two branches, which reach the Kurisches Haff each by four mouths. Along a large part of its course some of the most severe fighting between the German and Russian armies took place during the World War.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia

Nifelheim

(See Hell .)

Only in An Encyclopaedia of Occultism

Niffleheim

in Scandinavian mythology, the region of cold and darkness. Hela, or Death, rules in Niffleheim and receives the souls of those mortals who die of disease or old age. See Mythology ; Scandinavian

Only in Aiton's Encyclopedia

Nigeria

colony and protectorate of, a British possession in west Africa, constructed Jan. 1, 1914, and comprising rly known as Lagos, districts formerly Northern Nigeria, which includes the territories formerly in the occupation of the Royal Niger Company, and Southern Nigeria, formed from a part of the Niger Coast Protectorate and a part of the territories of the Royal Niger Company. Its boundaries are formed by the French Sudan, Lake Chad, Kamerun, the Gulf of Guinea, and Dahomey. There are three chief divisions: the colony itse itself, the Northern Province, and the Southern Province. The total area is about 336,- 000 square miles. Pop. about 16,500,000. The seat of the central government is at Lagos, the principal port. Other towns of importance are Warri, Burutu, Forcados, Sapele, Brass, Degema, Port Harcourt, Bonny, Opobo, Karo, and Calabar. The Governor-General in 1919 was Sir Hugh Charles Clifford. In 1917 slavery was legally abolished. The most important products are palm oil, palm kernels, important, and pottery and glass are hides and skins. Imports (1918) $36, 121,000; exports (1918) $46,285,000. More than 11 per cent. of the exports go to the United States, almost 84 per cent. to the United Kingdom. There are about 1,000 miles of railways. The revenue in 1918 was £4,014,019; expenditure £3,459,774. The debt in 1917 was £8,470,593.

Only in Collier's New Encyclopedia