NECHES 402 NEEDLE ble, but can be actually proved hy spectrum analysis to consist of glowing gas, has re-established it on a firmer basis than ever, though the original the- ory may need revision in points of detail. NECHES, a river of eastern Texas. It rises in Van Zandt co. and flows in a S. E. direction into Sabine Lake. It is about 350 miles in length. NECHO (ne'ko). King of Egypt called in Scripture Pharaoh-Necho. He succeeded his father Psammetichus in 617 B. C. He planned a canal from the Nile to the Arabian Gulf, which undertaking he was forced to abandon, after losing a great number of men. This monarch in- vaded Assyria, and, on his march, was attacked by Josiah, King of Judah, who was slain in the battle. Necho was in turn defeated by Nebuchadnezzar, and obliged to return to his own country, where he died in 601 B. C. NECKAR, one of the largest tribu- taries of the Rhine, and the principal river of Wiirttemberg, rising on the E. declivity of the Black Forest, near the village of Schwenningen. It has a wind- ing course of 250 miles, and joins the Rhine at Mannheim — the other towns on its banks being Tubingen, Heilbronn, and Heidelberg. From Cannstadt, about mid- way in its course, the Neckar is navi- gable. Fair wines are grown on its banks. NECKER, JACQUES, a French states- man; born in Geneva, Switzerland, Sept. 30, 1732. He went to Paris at an early age, obtained employment in a banking house, in which he rose to a partnership, and in 13 years, having made a number of successful speculations, retired from business with a large fortune. The Rev- olution, which all his efforts were un- able to check, obliged him to retire to Switzerland. Necker wrote three vol- umes on the finances of France, a book on the influence of religious opinions, and other works. He married the daugh- ter of a Protestant clergyman, by whom he had a daughter, Madame de Stael- Holstein, the wife of the Swedish am- bassador. She afterward became cele- brated by the name of Madame de Stael. He died in Coppet, Switzerland, April 9, 1804. NECROMANCY, the divination of the future by questioning the dead. This superstition originated in the East, and IS of the highest antiquity. Mention is made of necromancy in the Scriptures where it is strongly condemned. In the "Odyssey" Homer has made Ulysses raise the shade of Tiresias from the infernal regions. See Spiritualism. NECROPOLIS, a Greek term, meaning "the city of the dead," and applied to the cemeteries in the vicinity of ancient cities. It occurs in classical antiquity only as applied to a suburb of Alex- andria, lying to the W. of that city, whei'e the corpses were received and embalmed. Here Cleopatra applied the asp to her breast. NECROSIS, a word used as synony- mous with mortification or gangrene; but it is more commonly used in surgery to denote the death or mortification of a part or the whole of a bone. Necrosis differs from caries of a bone, inasmuch as in the latter case the vitality of the bone is only impaired, not destroyed, as in the former; in the same way as ulcera- tion of the soft parts differs from gangrene. Necrosis is found in either sex, and at all periods of life, and may be occasioned either by external causes, as fractures, contusions, etc., or by in- ternal or constitutional causes, as a de- bilitated or deranged habit of body. When a portion of a bone becomes dead, it is regarded as an extraneous substance. NECTAR, in Greek mythology, the supposed drink of the gods. It was be- lieved that this nectar, which they never gave to mortals, contributed much toward their eternal existence. NECTARINE, a fruit which differs from the peach only in having a smoother rind and firmer pulp, being in- deed a mere variety of peach. NEEDHAM, a town of Massachusetts in Norfolk co., about 10 miles S. W. of Boston. It is situated on the New York, New Haven and Hartford railroad. It contains a town hall and public library. Its chief industry is knit goods. Pop. (1910) 5,026; (1920) 7,012. NEEDLE, a small instrument of steel pointed at one end, and having an eye or hole in it through which is passed a thread, used for sewing. The early-made needles were all square-eyed. Special kinds of needles are required for sewing canvas, for upholstering, in surgical operations, etc. Knitting needles are slender straight rods with rounded ends, and are used in pairs or sets of four or five. They vary in length and are made of wood, bone, or ivory, but chiefly of steel. Crochet needles have a hook at one end. Some needles are used in machinery. They are made of steel and are used for hosiery and stockinet work. Sewing-machine needles have a hook, eye, or barb at the pointed end, and are used with a single thread in making a single loop stitch both with
