NESTORIUS, a celebrated heresiarch, born in Syria;
was made patriarch of Constantinople in 428, deposed
for heresy by the Council of Ephesus 431, and banished
to the Lybian Desert, where he died; the heresy he
taught, called after him Nestorianism, was that the
two natures, the divine and the human, coexist in
Christ, but are not united, and he would not allow
to the Virgin Mary the title that had been given to
her as the “Mother of God”; the orthodoxy
of the Church as against the doctrine was championed
by Cyril of Alexandria.
NETHERLANDS, a term formerly applied to the whole
NW. corner of Europe, occupied by BELGIUM (q. v.)
and Holland, but now an official designation only
of HOLLAND (q. v.).
NETLEY, the site of the handsome Royal Victoria Hospital,
on the shore of Southampton Water, 3 m. SE. of
Southampton, and connected by a direct line with Portsmouth;
founded in 1856 as an asylum for invalided soldiers,
also the head-quarters of the female nurses of the
army; in the vicinity also are interesting remains
of a Cistercian abbey.
NETTLERASH or URTICARIA, an irritating eruption in
the skin causing a sensation like the stinging of
nettles. It may be acute or chronic, frequently
caused by errors of diet.
NEUCHATEL (109), a western canton of Switzerland,
lying between Lake Neuchatel and France; the surface
is diversified by the Jura Mountains, and plentifully
supplied with small streams; the greater part of the
inhabitants are French Protestants; coal and iron are
found, stock-raising and agriculture are engaged in,
but the great specialty of the canton is watchmaking,
which is chiefly carried on at La Chaux-de-Fonds and
Le Locle; Neuchatel was incorporated in the Swiss
Confederation in 1815. NEUCHATEL (17), capital
of the canton, has a fine situation on the NW. shore
of the lake, 86 m. NE. of Geneva; has many educational,
art, and charitable institutions, and is chiefly engaged
in the manufacture of watches, jewellery, &c.
LAKE OF NEUCHATEL is a beautiful sheet of water, 25
m. in length, and from 3 to 6 in breadth.
NEUSTRIA, western portion of the kingdom of the Franks
in the time of the Merovingian and Carlovingian dynasties,
and in constant rivalry with AUSTRASIA (q. v.), the
kingdom of the East; it extended from the Scheldt
to the Loire and Soissons; Paris, Orleans, and Tours
were the chief towns.
NEUVILLE, ALPHONSE DE, French painter of battle-scenes,
born at St. Omer; he was an illustrator of books,
among others Guizot’s “Histoire de France”
(1836-1885).
NEVA, a river of Russia issuing from the SW. corner
of Lake Ladoga, flows westward in a broad rapid current
past St. Petersburg, and discharges its great volume
of water into the Bay of Cronstadt, in the Gulf of
Finland, after a winding course of 40 miles.
