the Netherlands devolved on Mary, his only child; by whose marriage with emperor Maxi milian, the Netherlands were an acquisition to the house of Austria. Emperor Charles V. king of Spain, in 1555, abdicated the sovereignty of the Netherlands, and soon after the Spanish crown, in favour of his son Philip. The tyranny of this cruel bigot, Philip II. who endeavoured to introduce the inquisition into the Low Countries, with the barbarities exercised by the duke of Alva, exasperated the people to such a degree, that they threw off the Spanish yoke, and under the conduct of William I. prince of Orange, formed the famous league of Utretcht, in 1579, which proved the foundation of the Republic of the Seven United Provinces. After a long war (with the interval of a truce of twelve years) Philip IV. expressly acknowledged the independence of these provinces, by the treaty of Westphalia, in 1648. The other ten provinces, namely, Brabant, Antwerp, Malines, Namur, Limburg, Luxemburg, Hainault, Flanders, Artois, and Cambresis, returned under the dominion of Spain, but with very favourable stipulations with respect to their ancient liberties. On the accession of a branch of the house of Bourbon to the Spanish monarchy, it was stipulated, in 1714, that the Spanish Netherlands should return to the German branch of the house of Austria; but some considerable parts were obtained, by conquest or cession, by the French and Dutch. The Dutch had part of Brabant, Limburg, and Flanders: the French had Artois and Cambresis; with part of Hainault, Flanders, and Luxemburg. Austria held the rest; and the provinces of Antwerp and Malines were included under the name of Austrian Brabant. In 1788, emperor Joseph II. having projected many innovations, and enforcing them with violence, a universal spirit of revolt broke out, an army of 40,000 men rose, as if by magic, to support the renunciation of all allegiance, which several of the provinces openly made; a congress was formed from the different states, in whom the supreme government was vested; and by the end of 1789 the Austrians were expelled. The new government, however, was not of long duration; for Leopold II. (the successor of Joseph) was enabled, partly by conciliatory measures, and partly by the mediation of Great Britain, Prussia, and Holland, to recover the entire possession of his authority; the mediating courts having guarantied the restoration of the ancient Belgic constitution. In 1792 the French overran the Austrian Netherlands: they were driven out of the country in 1793; but they returned in 1794, and subdued every part of it; and in 1795 decreed it, with the territories of Liege and Upper Gelderland, an integral part of the French republic. To this country they gave the name of Belgium, and divided it into the following nine departments; Dyle, Forets, Jemappe, Lis, Meuse Lower, Nethes (Two), Ourthe, Sambre and Meuse, and Scheldt; which see. The Netherlands, or Belgium, is 170 miles long and 90 broad;

man

bounded on the N. by Holland, E. by Germany, S. W. by France, NW. by the Ger ocean. The principal rivers are the Scheldt, Meuse, Dyle, Sambre, and Lis: ari there are many fine navigable canais. The arr is temperate, and the soil extremely fertie; but the mouths of the rivers and harbours are frozen in winter. Brussels is the chief town. See HOLLAND, or DUTCH NETHERLANDS, and FRANCE.

NETHERMOST. a. (superlative of nether.) Lowest (Milton).

NETHES (Two), a new department of France, including the northern part of Austro Brabant. It has its name from two rivers which rise on the east border, and unite their streams at Liere. The capital is Antwerp.

NETHINIMS, among the Jews, the pos terity of the Gibeonites, who were condemrei by Joshua to be hewers of wood and drawers of water for the house of God.

NETOPION. A name given by the an cients to a very fragrant and costly ointment, consisting of a great number of the finest spicy ingredients. Hippocrates, in his treatise d the Diseases of Women, frequently prescribes the netopion in diseases of the uterus, and in other places he speaks of its being poured 13 the ear as a remedy for deafness; these compositions, by their attenuating qualities, divicing the viscous and thick humours. The word netopion is also sometimes used to express the unguentum Egyptiacum, and sometimes simply for oil of almonds.

NETTING. s. A reticulated piece of work. NETTINGS, in a ship, a sort of grates made of small ropes, seized together with ropeyarn or twine, and fixed on the quarters and in the tops; they are sometimes stretched upon the ledges from the waste-trees to the rooftrees, and the top of the forecastle to the poop; and sometimes are laid in the waste of a ship, to serve instead of gratings.

NETTLE. See URTICA.

NETTLE (Dead). See LAMIUM.
NETTLE (Snowy), in botany. See URTICA.
NETTLE (Hemp) Tartarian. See URTICA.
NETTLE (Canada). See URTICA.
NETTLE-TREE. See CELTIS.

To NETTLE. v. a. (from the noun.) To sting; to irritate; to provoke (Bentley).

NETTLE-RASH, in medicine, a troublesome cutaneous eruption, of which Dr. Cullen forms the genus urticaria. The disease has its English name from the resemblance of its eruption to that made by the stinging of nettles. These little elevations upon the skin in the nettle-rash often appear instantaneously, especially if the skin be rubbed or scratched, and seldom stay many hours in the same place, and sometimes not many minutes. No part of the body is exempt from them; and where many of them rise together, and continue an hour or two, the parts are often consideraby swelled; which particularly happens in de face, arms, and hands. These eruptions will continue to invest the skin, sometimes in ore place and sometimes in another, for one or tw

hours at a time, two or three times every day, or perhaps for the greatest part of the twentyfour hours. In some persons they last only a few days, in others many months; nay, some times the disease has lasted for years, with very short intervals.

But though the eruption of the urticaria resembles, as already observed, that produced by the stinging of nettles, it is sometimes accompanied with long wheals, as if the part had been struck with a whip. Whatever be the shape of these eminences they always appear sol, without having any cavity or head containing either water or any other liquor; and this affords an easy mark whereby this disease may be distinguished from the itch. For it often happens that the insufferable itching with which this eruption is attended, provokes the patient to scratch the parts so violently, tha a small part of the cuticle on the top of these little tumors is rubbed off; a little scab succeeds; and, when the swelling is gone down, there is left an appearance hardly to be distinguished from the itch but by the circonstance just now mentioned. The nettle rash also further differs from the itch in not being infectious.

Dr. Heberden is inclined to ascribe this disease to some mechanical cause outwardly applied to the skin. He observes, that most people suffer in a similar manner from the real stinging of nettles. Cowhage, a sort of phaselus or French bean, the pod of which is covered over with a kind of down or hair, and the effect of which upon the skin is much the same as that of nettles; and almost any hairs cut equally short, and sprinkled upon the skin, whenever they happen to stick in it, will make the part itch or smart in such a manner as to give great uneasiness; it is also a considerable time before the skin can be cleared of the finer ones, when once they are strewed upon it.

Reaumer, in the fourth memoir of his History of Insects, describes a species of caterpillar to which belong a sort of hairs almost invisible to the naked eye, which are easily detached, and frequently float in the air round their nest, though it have not been at all disturbed. The touch of these hairs has a similar effect with the cowhage; that is, they occasion intolerable itchings, with little bumps and redness, arising sometimes to a slight inflammation. These he found would continue four or five days, if the animal or the nest had been much handled; and though they had not been touched at all, yet by only walking near their nests the same effects would be brought on, but for a shorter time. These hairs affect the skin in this manner by sticking in it, as he could perceive with a glass of a great magnifying power; for with one of a small power they are not visible. The uneasy sensations caused by these small wounds not only, as he says, last several days, but move from one part of the body to another; so that they will cease upon one wrist, and immediately begin on the other; from the wrist they will go to the fingers or the face, or even to parts of the body which are covered. He

the

supposes, that the motion of the body, where much of this fine down lies near or upon the skin, may drive it from one part to another, or change what was lying there inoffensively to a situation fit to make it penetrate into the skin. Neither cold water, nor oil, nor spirit of wine, with which the parts affected were bathed, Rad any effect in removing the itching. He thinks the most efficacious remedy which he tried for this complaint was, to rub the parts strongly with parsley, which instantly lessened the sensations, and after two or three hours entirely freed the patient from them. It is also well known that many species of caterpillars, by only walking over the hands, will produce something like this effect on the parts which they touch, and undoubtedly from the same cause.

Dr. Heberden asks, Is it impossible that the nettle-rash should arise from the same causes, or from others similar, which we miss by looking too deeply for them in the blood and humours? Such (says he) may have been its origin in some instances, where it has lasted only a few days; but where this affection has continued for some years, in persons who change their linen every day, and who bathe frequently all the time, it can hardly be ascribed to such an external cause. He has observed it frequently to arise from cantharides. But whatever be the cause, it seldom, if ever, requires internal medicines; and if the itching could be certainly and expeditiously allayed, there would be no occasion for any other cure.

NETTLE-THREAD and PAPER. It has been long known that this weed may be advantageously and cotton: and the luxuriance of its growth on employed for most of the purposes of heinp, flax, the coarsest waste lands has naturally induced an idea that various articles of cloth and paper might be manufactured from it at a much cheaper price than can be obtained from any other vegetable. The Society of Economy at Haerlem, in 1803, offered a prize for the best memoir upon this subject; but we do not know the result. In our own country the subject has been well studied by Mr. Smith of Brentwood, Essex, and his attention to it has justly obtained for him the silver medal offered upon it by the very meritorious Society for London. He has transmitted to the society the the Encouragement of Arts, &c. established in following specimens of nettle products, which may be seen in the proper department.

Samples of the fibres, in their rough state, resembling different kinds of hemp and flax.

Samples of the fibres equal to the finest flax, and remarkably strong in texture.

Samples of very strong yarn, prepared from the coarsest fibres.

Samples of coarse paper, prepared from the

rough refuse fibres.

Samples of the coarse fibres bleached white. Samples of a coarse substance resembling cot

ton, prepared from the bleached coarse fibres.

the last-mentioned substance.

Samples of white paper prepared by him from

as described to the Society of Arts, is as follows: Mr. Smith's process for preparing these articles,

The kind of nettle capable of being manufactur ed into cloth, &c. it is scarcely necessary to say,

is that which in general is denominated the stinging settle. The most valuable sort, which many years practical experience has furnished me with a knowledge of, in regard to length, suppleness, fineness of the lint, brittleness of the reed, which dresses most freely, with less waste of fibre, and yields the greatest produce of long and fine strong harl, I have found growing in the bottom of ditches among briars, and in shaded valleys, where the soil has been a blue clay or strong loam, but from which situations I have selected some which have measured more than twelve feet in height, and upwards of two feet in circumference. Plants growing in the situations above described are in general from five to nine feet in height, and those growing in patches on a good soil, standing thick, and in a favourable aspect, will average in height about five feet and a half, will work kindly, and the stoms are thickly clothed with lint. Those that grow in poorer soils, and in less favourable situations, with rough and woody stems, and have many lateral branches, run much to seed, are stubborn, and work less kindly, they produce lint more coarse, harsh, and thin. In every situation and different soil I have experienced the most productive nettles to be those which have the smoothest and most concave tubes, the largest joints, the fewest leaves, and which produce the least quantity of seed.

In gathering them, as they are perennial plants, I have preferred the mode of cutting them down instead of pulling them up by the roots. This I recommend to be the practice, with a view to obtain a second crop where the situations will allow of it, and to secure the propagation of them the subsequent year.

The most favourable time for collecting them is from the beginning of July to the end of August, but it may be continued even to the end of October, only the lint of those which remain growing to that time will be less supple, and will not work so freely; and if the season happens to be unfavourable, it is probable there would not be sufficient time to steep and grass them, in which case they should be dried by the heat of the atmosphere, or if the state of the weather would not permit of this, then by means of artificial heat; and when dried they should be housed or stacked till the spring, when they might successfully undergo the same operation of steeping as those of the first collection. Such as grow in grass fields, where the grass is intended for hay, should be cut when the hay is cut, in order to prevent their being spoiled by the cattle when feeding; the harls of which would be fine in quality, and well suited to be wrought up with the second crop, and which crop may be obtained after those of the first cutting, where the situation will admit of their being preserved. The fine quality of such I ascertained last autumn, and found the height of them to average three feet and a half; they were gathered the latter end of November. The following are the processes adopted by me.

After the nettles are gathered they should be exposed to the atmosphere till they gain some firmness, in order to prevent the skin from being damaged in the operations of dressing off the leaves, the lateral branches, and seeds. This should be done a handful at a time; and afterward they should be sorted, viz. those which are both long and line by themselves, those which are both long arse by themselves, and those which are coarse by themselves; then made up as large as can be grasped with both

hands, a convenient size for putting them into the water, and taking them out; a place for this purpose being previously prepared, either a pond or a pit free from mud, or a brook or river. The bundles should then be immersed, and placed aslant with the root end uppermost, and to prevent their floating on the surface some weight should be laid upon them.

The time required for steeping them is from five to eight days; but it is better they should remain rather too long in the water than too short a time, yet great care should be taken that they are not overdone. When the fibre approaches to a pulp, and will easily separate from the reed, and the reed becomes brittle and assumes a white appearance, this operation is finished.

The bundles should then be taken out singly, very carefully, to avoid damaging the fibres, and be rinsed as they are taken out of the water to cleanse them from the filth they may have contracted; they must then be strewed very thin upon the grass, and be gently handled. When the surface of them is become sufficiently dry, and the harl has obtained a degree of firmness, they should be turned repeatedly, till they are suffici ently grassed; the time required is known only by experience, so much depends on the state of the weather during the process; when they are sufficiently done, the harl blisters, and the stems become brittle; they must then be taken up and made into bundles, and secured from the weather.

The harl is now to be separated from the reed, after the manner practised on flax and hemp, either by manual labour, or machinery now in use in those manufactories. This operation was performed in my experiments by hand, and with implements constructed by myself, but which I consider too simple here to describe.

The harl being separated from the reed, it requires next to be beaten, that it may become more ductile for the operation of dressing, which may be performed with such implements as are used for dressing flax or hemp.

This operation being accomplished, the produce of the nettles is arrived at a state ready for spinning, and may be spun into various qualities of yarn, either by hand, or by machinery constructed for the purposes of spinning flax or hemp; and this yarn may be successfully substituted for the manufacturing every sort of cloth, cordage, rope, &c. which is usually made from hemp or flax, and is particularly calculated for making twine for fishing-nets equal to the Dutch twine imported for that purpose, the fibres of the nettles being stronger than those of flax, and not so harsh as the fibres of hemp.

In the course of my experiments on nettles it often occurred to me, that the refuse, and such parts as were damaged in the different processes, with the under-growth, might be applied to useful purposes, and in addition to the nettle manufac tory, as applicable to the purposes for which hemp and flax are used. Another source of productive labour of great magnitude would be derived from a new substance, capable of being converted into so many beneficial uses, if my speculations should be finally accomplished. In contemplating these subjects, I was induced to believe the refuse and under-growth might be converted into paper of various sorts, according to the changes they might be made to undergo from the several operations necessary to reduce them to a proper state for this use; having frequently observed, with regret,

The deterioration in the quality of writing and printing paper, occasioned by the use of cotton rags in the paper manufactory; which evinces itself even to the most superficial observer, who may only casually open many of the modern publications, and which must be admitted is of the utmost moment, as it endangers the preservation of works of literature. Being convinced of the superior strength of nettle substance, I thought, could my speculations be reduced successfully to practice, it would not only remedy this great evil, and operate as an antidote to the use of cotton rags in that part of the paper manufactory, but eventually effect a reduction in the prices of books, which for some years have been rapidly increasing, and are now become excessive, to the great obstruction of disseminating useful knowledge among mankind, and contribute to the diminution of our exports in that material branch of com

merce.

In addition to the above incentives, the consideration of the high price of paper, chiefly occasioned, as I conclude, from the extravagant price of linen rags, and the impediments to the procuring a foreign supply of them, arising from the circumstances of the times; and seeing that the use of linen cloth is in a great measure superseded by the very general introduction of cloth manufactured from cotton, which consequently must materially diminish the supply of linen rags, and probably, in process of time, from the increasing substitution of cotton cloth for linen, linen rags, particularly of the finer qualities, may be totally annihilated. Urged by all these considerations, which were forcibly impressed on my mind, and feeling assured of the practicability of reducing the substance of nettles to a state necessary to the production of paper, and confident in the superior strength of such paper, if it could be manufactured from a substance so substantial, I was most powerfully impelled to attempt to reduce to practice what in theory I had so warmly cherished. The attempt was arduous, not only from an entire want of knowledge of the manufactory, and of the necessary utensils, but I was destitute of any proper implements to engage in the undertaking with any probability of success; hoping however by perseverance to succeed, I proceeded, and found on my first rough trial my expectations realized.

The most favourable condition of the lint, with a view to the paper manufactory, is to begin with it after it is hackled; in order that the fibres may be divested of the skins which enclose them, as, when it is intended to make white paper, having gone through that process, it would greatly facilitate the bleaching, and be the more easily disencumbered of the gross particles.

When I signify as my opinion that the fibres of nettles should be dressed the same as for yarn, previous to their being prepared with a view to the. making of paper, I wish not to be understood to convey the idea that the operation cannot be dispensed with: because I conceive, that by the aid of such machinery as is in use with the paper manufacturers, or by some improvements therein, they might be brought to a pulp easily, even when the nettles are first gathered, should it, with a view to saving of labour, be deemed necessary; but the practicability of this I leave to the experience which time may hereafter afford.

My operation of bleaching the fibres for paper was performed on the grass, which I deemed preferable to the new mode of bleaching with water

impregnated with air by means of oxigenated muriatic acid gass; because the old mode of bleaching on grass weakens the strength of the fibre, leaves it more flexible, and thereby expedites the maceration, which in some degree compensates for the time it requires longer than by the chemical process. But for bleaching of yarn or cloth made of whatever substance, the chemical process, if scientifically conducted, experience has convinced me is pre-eminently superior, as it gives additional strength to the yarn, greater firmness to the texture of the cloth, and is an immense saving of time, labour, &c.

After the lint is bleached it should be reduced to a proper length for paper, and then macerated in water after the manner of rags, and undergo similar processes till the substance is converted into paper, which may be easily accomplished by manufacturers, and the suhstance of nettles made to produce paper of the first quality and the most substantial.

We have no idea that these productions of the nettle can ever be brought to rival those of hemp, flax, or cotton, in an extensive market, any more than that the sugar of the maple-tree or the beet root can be made to vie with that of the sugarcane; for we understand that, weight for weight, the quantity of any article produced from the nettle is far smaller than that obtained from the usual plants: but considering that the nettle grows abundantly all over Europe in wastes where few other vegetables or few other weeds will grow, it may always be had recourse to, now that a good method of working it appears pointed out, as a temporary substitute for hemp and flax in times of scarcity, and may have some effect in regulating their prices.

For the same reason we would advise an attention to the stalks of beans, and the bize or straw of hops: from both which very excellent materials for thread and paper may easily be obtained. The following mode of preparing which we extract from an ingenious paper of the rev. James Hall of Walthamstow, published in the Transactions of the Society of Arts.

Every bean-plant contains from 20 to 35 filaments, running up on the outside under the thin membrane from the root to the top. These, with a little beating, rubbing, and shaking, are easily separated from the strawy part, when the plant has been steeped ten or twelve days in water; or is damp, and in a state approaching to fermentation, or, what is commonly cailed, rotting. Washing and pulling it through hackles, or iron combs, first coarse, and then finer, is necessary to the dressing of bean-hemp; and so far as I have yet discovered, the easiest way of separating the filaments from the thin membrane that surrounds. them.

From carefully observing the medium number of bean-plants in a square yard, in a variety of fields on both sides the Tweed, as well as in Ireland, and multiplying them by 4840, the number of square yards in an acre, and then weighing the hemp or filaments of a certain number of these stalks, I find that there are at a medium about 2cwt. of hemp, or these filaments, in every acre, admirably calculated for being converted into a thousand articles, where strength and durability is of importance, as well as, with a little preparation, into paper of all kinds; even that of the most delicate texture.

There are at least 200,000 acres of ticks, horse, and other beans planted in Great Britain and Ins