Nitoes is the name of imaginary daemons or genii whom the inhabitants of Jlolucca, Amboyna, etc., con- sult on every affair of importance. On these occasions twenty or thirty persons assemble, and then they sum- mon the Nito by the sound of a little consecrated drum, while some of the company light up several wax tapers. After some time he appears, or, rather, one of the as- sembly officiates as his minister. Before they enter on the consultation he is invited to eat and drink. After the oracle has made his reply, they eat up the remain- der of the provisions prepared for him. Besides these public entertainments, there are alco private ones. In some corner of the house they light up wax tapers in honor of the Nito, and set something to eat before him ; and the master of each family, it is said, always attaches great value to anything that has been consecrated to their Nito. Yet, notwithstanding these superstitious ceremonies, these islanders laugh at religion, placing it only in a servile fear lest some misfortune should befall them if they should fail in their obedience and respect to the Nito. See Broughton, LHst. of Religion, s. v.
Nitre ("i??.?, ne'ther, from ^^3, to tremble; Sept. drrv/iipopoi', Prov. xxv, 20; vlrpov, Jer, ii, 22; Attic Xirpoi', Plato, Timceus, 00, D), a word occurring in
NITRE
13S
NITRIAN MANUSCRIPT
Scripture only in the two places above referred to, where the substance in question is described as effervescing with vinegar, and as being used in washing ; neither of' which particulars applies to what is now, by a misap- propriation of this ancient name, called "nitre," and wliich in modern usage means the saltpetre of com- merce, but they both apply to the natnnt, or true nitrum of the ancients. The similarity of the naines which is observable in this case is regarded by Gesenius as of great weight in a production of the East, the name of which usually passed with the article itself into Greece. Both Greek and Roman writers describe natron by the words given in the Sept. and Vulg. Jerome, in his not« on Frov. xxv, "20, considers this to be the substance intended. Much has been written on the subject of the nitrum of the ancients; it will be enough to refer the reader to Beclvmann, ^vho {Hist, of Inventions, ii, 482, Bohn's ed.) has devoted a chapter to this subject, and to the authorities mentioned in the notes. It is uncer- tain at what time tlie English term nitre first came to be used for saltpetre, but our translators no doubt under- stood thereby the carbonate of soda, for nitre is so used by Holland in his translation of Pliny (xxxi, 10) in contradistinction to saltpeti-e, which he gives as the marginal explanation of uphronitrum. The word ne- ther thus might be more properly rendered natron, a substance totally different from our nitre, i. e. nitrate of potash or " saltpetre." The original word nether is what is known among chemists as "carbonate of soda." It is found native in Syria and India, and appears there as the produce of the soil. In Tripoli it is found in crys- talline incrustations of from one third to half an inch thick. Captains Irby and Mangles foimd lumps of this salt on the south-east shore of the Dead Sea. Natron, though found in many parts of the East, has ever been one of the distinguishing natural productions of Egypt. Hasselquist (Trav. p. 275) says that natrum is dug out of a pit or mine near Mantura, in Egypt, and is mixed ■with limestone, and is of a whitish brown color. The Egyptians used it (1) to put into bread instead
of yeast, (2) instead of ^ y y e 1 !._
soap, and (3) as a cure for the toothache, being mixed with vinegar. Strabo and Pliny men- tion two lakes in the valley of the Nile, be- yondMomemphis,where it was found in great abundance (Strabo, Ceo.7?-.[Oxf.l807],xvii, p. 1139; Pliny, Hist. Nat. V, 9), and describe the natural and manu- factured nitrum of Egypt («6. xxxi, 10). This substance, accord- ing to Herodotus, was used by the Egj'ptians in the process of em- balming (ii, 70, 77). The principal natron lakes now found in Egj'pt, six in number, are situate in tlie barren valley of Buhr-hela-via, "the Waterless Sea," about fifty miles west of Cairo,wh('re itboth fioats as a whitish scum upon the water, and is found deposited at the bottom in a thick incrustation, after the water is evap- orated by the heat of Specimen of the Codex Kitriensis (containing Luke xs, 9, 10: thk avTuit c\^vreva-ev | ajuTre- SUmmer. It is a natural Awtu | kui cfcSoro | auroi' jeapl-^oa' Kai aTrel^tiMI"'^'' XP°\*">i'! (Ka^oi/t | Kai if natpa)).
mineral alkali, composed of the carbonate, sulphate, and muriate of soda, derived from the soil of that re- gion. Forskal says that it is known by the name of atriin or natrun, that it effervesces with vinegar, and is used as soap in washing linen, and by the bakers as yeast, and in cookery to assist in boiling meat, etc. {Flora ^Egyptiaco-Arahica [Hauni», 1775], p. 45, 46; see Paulus, Sammlunfj. v, 182 sq.). Combined with oil it makes a harder and firmer soap than the vegetable alkali. See Soap. The application of the name nitre to saltpetre seems accounted for by the fact that the knowledge of natron, the true nitre, was lost for many centuries in England, till revived by the Hon. K.Boyle, who says he " had had some of it brought to him from Egypt" {Memoirs for a History of Mineral Waters [Loud. 1864-5], p. 86). See an interesting paper ill which this is stated in the Philosophical Transactions, abridged, 1809, xiii, 216, etc.; and for a full description of the modern merchandise, uses, etc., of the natron of Egypt, see Sonini, Travels (Paris), vol. i, ch. xix; An- dreossi, Memoire sur la Vallee des Lacs de Xati'on De- cade Eyyptienne, No. 4, vol. ii, p. 276, etc. ; BerthoUet, Observations sur le Natron (ibid.), p. 310; Descript. de V E(jypte, xxi, 205; Beckmann, Beitrdrje zur Geschichte der Erfindmigen, iv, 15 sq. : Michaelis, De Nitro He- hrceor. in Comment. Societ. Reyal. Prcelect. i, 166; and Supplem. ad Lex. Hebraic, p. 1704 ; Shaw, Travels, 2d ed. p. 479;^ Gesenius, Thesatir. p. 930. See Alk^vli.