Numidia. An ancient country of North Africa, the seat of the war of the Romans with Jugurtha, which began 111 B.C., and ended with his subjugation and captivity, 106. The last king, Juba, joined Cato, and was killed at the battle of Thapsus, 46 B.C., when Numidia became a Roman province.
Nuncio. An ambassador from the pope.
Nuremberg (Ger. Nürnberg). A town of Bavaria, in the circle of Middle Franconia, stands on the Pegnitz, an affluent of the Regnitz. In 1219 it became a free city, independent of any European power, and as such it continued till it was given over by Napoleon in 1806 to the king of Bavaria. At the Reformation the inhabitants embraced the Protestant cause; and in the Thirty Years’ War they were on the side of the Swedes, and suffered much in 1632, during the blockade which Gustavus Adolphus endured from the imperial forces under Wallenstein. The city was occupied by the Prussians in 1866, and its fortifications demolished.
Nurse. A person whose whole business is to attend the sick in hospital. In the U. S. service, nurses are detailed in post hospitals from the companies who are serving at the post, and are exempt from other duty, but have to attend the parades for weekly inspections and the musters of their companies, unless especially excused by the commanding officer. Ordinarily one nurse is allowed to every ten persons sick in hospital. In the British service there are sergeants, orderly men, and nurses (generally women) in hospitals of regiments of the line.
Nuthall’s Rifle. See [Small-arms].
Nyköping. A seaport of Sweden, pleasantly situated on the Baltic, about 60 miles southwest of Stockholm. In 1317 the castle of Nyköping was seized and sacked by the people, who demolished its keep and donjons. In 1719 the town was taken and dismantled by the Russians.
Nystadt. A town of Finland, on the eastern coast of the Gulf of Bothnia, 50 miles south of Biorneborg. Here, in 1721, a treaty was agreed to between Russia and Sweden, by virtue of which all the conquests of Peter the Great along the coasts of the Gulf of Finland were annexed to Russia.
O.
Oakum. A tangled mass of tarred hempen fibres, is made from old rope by untwisting the strands and rubbing the fibres free from each other. Its principal use is in calking the seams between planks, the space round rivets, bolts, etc., for the purpose of preventing water from penetrating.