heart being arrested in diastole, with coincident respiratory failure.
Chloral hydrate is not uniform in its action, some people manifesting
great susceptibility to the drug. It is safe in small doses of 10 to
20 grs. It is difficult to say what is a lethal dose. Cases are recorded
of recovery after 336 grs. taken with an equal amount of potassium
bromide and even after a dose of 595 grs., but in susceptible persons
10 to 15 grs. have produced toxic symptoms and death has occurred
after doses of from 30 to 45 grs. If seen early, the treatment is an
emetic, but if the poison should have been already absorbed, stimulants,
hot coffee, strychnine or digitalin hypodermically, with
perhaps artificial respiration, may be required.
Alcohol in large quantities is a strong narcotic, producing the typical stages of preliminary excitement followed by drowsiness and profound coma, during which death may occur. The treatment is washing out the stomach to prevent the absorption of the poison and the use of strychnine hypodermically.
NARDI, JACOPO (b. 1476), Florentine historian, occupied various positions in the service of the Florentine republic after the expulsion of the Medici in 1494, and even on their return in 1512 he continued in the public service. In 1527 he joined in the movement for the expulsion of the family and was instrumental in defeating the Medicean troops under Cardinal Passerini, who were attacking the Palazzo della Signoria. When the Medici again definitely became masters of Florence in 1530, Nardi was exiled from the city and his property confiscated. He spent the rest of his days in various parts of Italy, chiefly in Venice, and wrote a statement of the claims of the Florentine exiles against the Medici, addressed to the emperor Charles V. The exact date of his death is unknown. His chief work is his Istorie della Città di Firenze, covering the period from 1498 to 1538, in part based on Biagio Buonaccorsi’s Diario.
L. Arbib’s edition of Nardi’s history (Florence, 1842) contains a biography of the author, and so does that of Agenore Gelli (Florence, 1888).
NARES, SIR GEORGE STRONG (1831–), English Arctic explorer, son of a captain in the navy, was educated at the Royal Naval College at New Cross, and entered the navy in 1846. After being employed for some time on the Australian station, in 1852 he became mate of the “Resolute” in the Arctic expedition which was sent out in that year. Serving in the Crimea upon his return, he was appointed lieutenant in charge of the naval cadets on the inauguration of the “Britannia” training ship, and was then employed in surveying work on the N.E. coast of Australia and in the Mediterranean, attaining the rank of captain in 1869. While in command of the “Challenger” (1872–1874), in the famous voyage of deep-sea exploration round the world, he was ordered home to take command of the Arctic expedition which set sail in the spring of 1875 in the ships “Alert” and “Discovery.” He published a narrative of the voyage on his return, and for his services was made K.C.B. (1876). Two years later he was sent in command of the “Alert” to survey Magellan Strait. From 1879 to 1896 he was attached to the Harbour Department of the Board of Trade. He retired from active service in 1886, and became a vice-admiral in 1892. (See Polar Regions.)
NARGILE or Nargileh, the Persian and Turkish name for a “hookah,” a tobacco pipe with a long flexible tube for stem passing through a vessel containing water, often perfumed. This bowl was originally made of a coco-nut (Persian nārgīl), whence the name, but now glass, metal or porcelain, are also used.
NARNI (anc. Umbrian Nequinum, Rom. Narnia), a town and episcopal see of the province of Perugia, Italy, 65 m. N. of Rome by rail. Pop. (1901) 5200 (town), 12,773 (commune). It is picturesquely situated on a lofty rock (787 ft. above sea-level), 480 ft. above the Nera valley, at the point where the river traverses a narrow ravine, and commands a fine view. The cathedral and the portico of S. Maria della Pensola are buildings of the 11th century with flat arches; the former has some good Renaissance sculptures. There are other interesting churches; S. Francesco has a good doorway of the 14th century. In the town hall is a “Coronation of the Virgin” by D. Ghirlandaio. The town also contains some picturesque Gothic houses and palaces. Near the station, below the town, are factories of india-rubber and calcium carbide.
The Umbrian Nequinum was taken by the Romans after a long siege in 299 B.C., and a colony planted there against the Umbrians, taking its name from the river. It was among the twelve colonies that were punished for refusing help to Rome in 209 B.C. It was considered a suitable point to oppose a threatened march of Hasdrubal on Rome. It stood on the Via Flaminia, the great bridge of which over the river lies below the town. The original main road ran to Nuceria by Mevania; a branch by Interamna and Spoletium joined it at Forum Flaminii. According to some authors, the emperor Nerva was born at Narnia. The town is mentioned in the history of the Gothic wars. Procopius (B.G. i. 17) describes the site of the town, the river and the bridge—the latter as built by Augustus, and as having the highest arches that he knew. In the middle ages Narni was under the papal power. It was the birthplace of the well-known condottiere Erasmo Gattamelata.
See G. Eroli, Miscellanea Storica Narnese (2 vols., Narni, 1858–1862), and other works by the same author.
NARRAGANSETT, a township of Washington county, Rhode Island, U.S.A. on the W. shore of Narragansett Bay, about 25 m. S. of Providence and about 8 m. W.S.W. of Newport. Pop. (1890) 1408; (1900) 1523; (1905) 1469; (1910) 1250. Area about 15 sq. m. It is connected at Kingston Station (about 9 m. N.W.) by the Narragansett Pier railway with the shore line of the New York, New Haven & Hartford railway; an electric line connects with Providence. The southern part of the township is a peninsula, lying between the mouth of Narragansett Bay and an inlet separating this part of the township from South Kingstown. Narragansett Pier, within the township, has a fine bathing beach, which extends along the indented coast between the village and the mouth of the Pattaquamscutt river; the force of the surf is somewhat broken by Point Judith, about 5 m. S. (also in the township), on which there, is a lighthouse. On a ridge overlooking the ocean and commanding a fine view is the Point Judith Country Club, with golf courses, tennis courts and a polo-field, on which is held a horse show at the close of each season. Many of the summer visitors at Narragansett Pier are from New England, New York and Philadelphia, but there is a sufficient number from Baltimore, Washington, Richmond, Louisville and other Southern Cities to give to its society a noticeably Southern tone. Narragansett Pier was so-named from the piers that were built here late in the 18th century and early in the 19th to provide a port for the Narragansett Country, or southern Rhode Island, and it still has a coal wharf, and a yacht landing at the Casino. The development of the place as a summer resort was begun about the middle of the 19th century by the erection of a bathing-house and the conversion of some farm houses into boarding houses. The erection of large hotels and private residences soon followed, and the completion of the railway to the pier in 1876 increased its popularity. The District of Narragansett (in the town of South Kingstown) was organized in 1888 and in 1901 was incorporated as a separate township.
The town is named from the Narraganset Indians, a once-powerful Algonquian tribe, which occupied much of the shore of Narragansett Bay. Under their chief Canonicus (d. 1647) they were friendly to the early Rhode Island settlers, and under Miantonomo (q.v.) entered into a tripartite treaty with the Connecticut colonists and the Mohegans; but after the execution of Miantonomo the Narragansets under Miantonomo’s son, Canonchet or Nanuntenoo, were less friendly. Their loyalty to the whites was suspected at the time of King Philip’s War, and on the 19th of December 1675, at the Great or Cedar Swamp (Narragansett Fort) in the present town of South Kingstown (immediately west of the town of Narragansett), they were decisively defeated by the whites, under Governor Josiah Winslow of the Plymouth Colony. The site of the engagement is marked by a granite monument erected in 1906 by the Rhode Island Society of Colonial Wars. Canonchet escaped, but on the 2nd of August 1676 was captured near Stonington, Connecticut, and on the following day was executed. Most of the survivors of the tribe were later settled among the Niantic, to whom the name Narraganset has been transferred. There are now few survivors of pure Indian blood.
NARSES, Nanseh, Narseus, king of Persia, son of Shapur I. He rose as pretender to the throne against his grand-nephew Bahram III. in A.D. 292, and soon became sole king. He attacked
