No 1. the largest, to No. 25, the smallest. In the manufacture of needles, German and Hungarian steel are of most repute. Besides sewingneedles there are, under the denomination of needle, the netting and the knitting-needle; the glovers' needle, with a triangular point; the tambour needle, which is made like a hook, and fixed in a handle, the hook being thrust through the cloth, the thread is caught under the hook, and the needle is drawn back taking the thread with it.

In the making of them, the first thing is to pass the steel through a coal fire, and, under a hammer, to bring it out of its square figure into a cylindrical one. This done, it is drawn through a large hole of a wire-drawing iron, and returned into the fire, and drawn through a second hole of the iron smaller than the first; and thus successively, from hole to hole, till it has acquired the degree of fineness required for that species of needles; observing every time it is to be drawn that it be greased over with lard, to render it more manageable. The steel thus reduced to a fine wire, is cut in pieces of the length of the needles intended. These pieces, are flattened at one end on the anvil, in order to form the head and eye; they are then put into the fire to soften them further, and thence taken out and pierced at each extreme of the flat part on the anvil, by force of a puncheon of well-tempered steel, and laid on a leaden block to bring out, with another puncheon, the little piece of steel remaining in the eye. The corners are then filed off the square of the heads, and a little cavity filed on each side of the flat of the head; this done, the point is formed with a file, and the whole filed over: they are then laid to heat red-hot on a long narrow iron, crooked at one end, in a charcoal fire; and, when taken out thence, are thrown into a basin of cold water to harden. On this operation a good deal depends; too much heat burns them, and too little leaves them soft; the medium is learned by experience. When they are thus hardened they are laid in an iron shovel on a fire more or less brisk in proportion to the thickness of the needles; taking care to move them from time to time. This serves to temper them, and to take off their brittleness; great care here too must be taken of the degree of heat. They are then straightened one after another with the hammer, the coldness of the water used in hardening them having twisted the greatest part of them.

The next process is the polishing them. To do this they take 12,000 or 15,000 needles, and range them in little heaps against each other on a piece of new buckram sprinkled with emerydust. The needles thus disposed, emery dust is thrown over them, which is again sprinkled with oil of olives; at last the whole is made up into a roll, well bound at both ends. This roll is then laid on a polishing table, and over it a thick plank loaded with stones, which two men work backwards and forwards a day and a half, or two days, successively, by which means the roll thus continually agitated by the weight and motion of the plank over it, the needles withinside being rubbed against each other with oil and emery, are insensibly polished. After polishing they

are taken out, and the filth washed off them with hot water and soap: they are then wiped in hot bran a little moistened, placed with the needles in a round box, suspended in the air by a cord, which is kept stirring till the bran and needles be dry. The needles, thus wiped in two or three different brans, are taken out and put into wooden vessels to have the good separated from those whose points or eyes have been broken either in polishing or wiping: the points are then all turned the same way, and smoothed with an emery stone turned with a wheel. This operation finishes them, and there remains nothing but to make them into packets of from twenty-five to 100 each.

Such was the former method of the manufacture of needles; we shall now give a rather more detailed description of the modern, and improved plan:-The wire when drawn to a proper size, which is ascertained by gages, is made up into coils for package: these coils of wire are heated to a dull red-heat in a furnace, and suffered to cool gradually, to soften and anneal it, with a view of facilitating the working of the steel; this commences by cutting the wire into lengths, which is done by a pair of sheers. The workman, being seated before a bench, takes, perhaps 100 pieces of wire for fine needles, and introduces their ends between the blades, which he opens with his right hand, and pressing the ends of the wire against a gage, which renders them all of one length, he cuts them off, and they drop down into a tin pan placed on a small shelf in front of the bench; the ends of the wire are now pressed against the gage and cut off again. In this way the wires are cut into the lengths of the required needles. The second operation is flatting the end for the eye of the needle, which is done by a workman taking three or four pieces of the wire between his finger and thumb, placing them on a small anvil, and striking one blow upon each expands the end sufficiently to receive the point of the punch which pierces the eye. This the same person does, before he lays them down, with a small instrument fixed on the same block as that to which the anvil is fixed. The end of the needle is placed in a small notch in the bed of the instrument, and is put exactly beneath the punch, and a slight stroke of the hammer punches the eye, and at the same time forms the semi-circular groove near the eye of the needle to bury the thread. The notch which receives the needle is made in a piece of steel which fits into a dovetail notch in the bed of the instrument, so that it can be changed for a larger or smaller, correspondent to the size of the needles to be pierced. The workman holds the needles in the same manner as he did for flatting; and, placing them one by one successively in the notch in the bedpiece, pierces them by striking a single blow of his hammer on the end of a slider; the slider is immediately returned by a spring. He now places the next needle under the punch, and, when they are all pierced in the same manner, he rolls them over by moving his thumb, so as to turn them all half round, and bring them upwards the opposite side to that which was pierced; this being done, he repeats the punch

:

ing on the other side with a view to finish, and clear the eye, and to form the groove which there is in all needles. They are now rounded at the eye-end to take off the roughness, which is done in an instant by applying them to a grindstone. The next process is hardening and tempering: the first is done by placing a great number together upon a piece of iron bent up at the ends and sides that they may not roll off, and, introducing them into a small furnace: when they become of a red heat they are taken out, and suddenly plunged into a vessel of cold water; this renders them very hard. Some manufacturers make use of oil, or tallow, or other ingredients instead of water, which substances are supposed to improve the process. The needles thus hardened are returned to the furnace with the oil upon them, and remain there till the oil inflames, when they are withdrawn, and again cooled in cold water. This second process tempers them at first they were quite hard, and so brittle as to break with the slightest touch; the tempering takes off the brittleness, but leaves them hard enough to take a good point. When they are hardened in water, according to the old method, the heat for tempering them can only be guessed at, or estimated by experience, but the flaming of the oil is a much more certain method. The needles are now examined, and many of them will be found crooked by hardening, which are discovered by rolling them over as they lie in rows on a board, and such are selected and made straight by a blow in the notch in the anvil. Being thus straightened they require to be pointed, which is done by a large grindstone turned by a mill, either of water or steam. In this operation the workman, sitting astride before the stone on a block shaped like a saddle, takes up twenty or thirty needles, laid side by side across a small wooden roller, covered with soft leather; another similar ruler being laid over the needles to confine them. The workman holds the rulers in his hands, and thus, presenting the ends of the needles to the grindstone, points them with great dexterity. After pointing they are to be polished in the manner already described. The points are next finished and rendered perfectly sharp, by grinding them upon a wooden wheel covered with emery, being held in the same manner as for the first grinding. They are then cleaned and packed up in certain numbers according to their sizes. A great number of the small packets are made into larger parcels, wrapped in several thicknesses of paper and coverings of bladder and packing-cloth, in which state they are sent to market.

Surgeons' needles are generally made crooked, and their points triangular; however, they are of different forms and sizes, and bear different names, according to the purposes they are used for. The largest are needles for amputation; the next needles for wounds; the finest needles for sutures. They have others very short and flat for tendons; others still shorter, and the eye placed in the middle, for tying together of vessels, &c. Needles for couching cataracts are of various kinds; all of which have a small, broad, and sharp point or tongue, and some with a sulcus at the point. Surgeons have sometimes used

two needles in this operation; one with a sharp point for perforating the coats of the eye, and another with a more obtuse point for depressing or couching the opaque crystalline lens; but care should be taken in the use of any of these, that they be first well polished with cloth or leather before they are applied to the eye.

The

Mr. Warner observes that the blade of the couching needle should be at least a third part larger than those generally used upon this occasion, as great advantages will be found in the depressing of the cataract by the increased breadth of the blade of that instrument. handle, also, if made somewhat shorter than usual, will enable the operator to perform with greater steadiness than he can do with a largehandled instrument. It is to be observed that needles of silver pierce more easily in stitching arteries after an amputation than those made of steel.

We shall close this short article with an account of a patent invention for the manufacture of needles of all sorts by Mr. William Bell of Walsal, which we shall give in his own words. The method by which I make needles, bodkins, fish-hooks, knitting-pins, netting-needles, and sail-needles, is by casting them with steel or common fusible iron, called pig or cast iron, into moulds or flasks made with fine sand. Or, otherwise, I make stocks or moulds of iron or steel, or any other composition capable of being made into moulds, on which stocks or moulds I sink, engrave, or stamp, impressions of the said articles. Into these I pour my melted iron or steel (I prefer for my purpose sand casting), and prepare my iron or steel as follows: I melt it in a pot or crucible, in small quantities about the weight of twelve pounds (and upwards to twenty pounds), the more conveniently to divest it of its heterogeneous particles, and to purify it from its earthy or sulphureous qualities. When the iron has attained a proper heat, I take charcoaldust mixed with lime or common salt, which I throw into the pot of melted iron; and, by frequently stirring it with an iron rod, I bring to the surface of the iron a scoria which I frequently skim off, and thus bring my iron into a refined state. I then pour it into the mould before described. The articles being thus formed are capable of being softened, hardened, or tempered in the usual way by which needles, bodkins, fish-hooks, knitting-needles, netting-needles, and sail-needles have heretofore been manufactured: therefore the principal merit of my invention is in casting them instead of making them in the usual way.'

Needles are said to have been first made in England by a native of India in 1545, but the art was lost at his death; it was, however, recovered by Christopher Greening in 1560, who was settled with his three children, Elizabeth, John, and Thomas, by Mr. Damar, ancestor of the present lord Milton, at Long Crendon in Bucks, where the manufactory has been carried on from that time to the present period.

NEEDLE, DIPPING. See DIPPING NEEDLE, COMPASS, ELECTRO-MAGNETISM, &c.

NEEDLE-FISH. See SYNGNATHUS.
NEEDLES, sharp pointed rocks, north of the

Isle of Wight. They are situated at the west end of the island, which is an acute point of high land, from which they have been disjoined by the washing of the sea. There were of these lofty white rocks formerly three, but about fourteen years ago the tallest of them, called Lot's Wife, which rose 120 above low water mark, and in its shape resembled a needle, being undermined by the constant efforts of the waves, totally disappeared.

NEEDLE'S EYE, a subterranean passage on the coast of Banffshire, 150 yards long from sea to sea, but through which a man can with difficulty creep. At the north end of it is a cave twenty feet high, thirty broad, and 150 long, containing a space of 90,000 cubic feet. The whole is supported by immense columns of rock, is exceedingly grand, and has a surprising effect on the spectator, after creeping through the narrow passage.

NEELGUR, a town of the province of Orissa, Hindostan, in the district of Cuttoch. It gives name to a range of hills which extend west from Midnapore.

NEESE, v. n. Goth. nesa, the nose. Dan. nyse; Belg. neisen. To sneeze; to discharge flatulencies by the nose.

He went up and stretched himself upon him; and the child neesed seven times and opened his eyes. 2 Kings iv. 35. By his neesings a light doth shine, and his eyes are like the eye-lids of the morning. Job xli. 18.

NE EXEAT REGNO, in law, is a writ to restrain a person from going out of the kingdom without the king's license. It may be directed to the sheriff to make the party find surety that he will not depart the realm, and on refusal, to commit him to prison; or it may be directed to the party himself; and if he then goes he may be fined. And this writ is granted on a suit being commenced against a man in the chancery, when the plaintiff fears the defendant will fly to some other country, and thereby avoid the justice and equity of the court; which has been sometimes practised; and, when thus granted, the party must give bonds to the master of the rolls, in the penalty of £1000, or some other large sum, for yielding obedience to it; or satisfy the court, by answer, affidavit, or otherwise, that he has no design of leaving the kingdom, and give security.

NEFA'RIOUS, adj. Lat. nefarius. Wicked; abominable.

The most nefarious bastards, are they whom the law stiles incestuous bastards, which are begotten between ascendants and descendants, and between collateral, as far as the divine prohibition extends.

Ayliffe's Parergon. NEFASTI DIES, in Roman antiquity, an appellation given to those days wherein it was not allowed to administer justice or hold courts. They were so called, because, non fari licebat, the prætor was not allowed to pronounce the three solemn words or formulas of the law, do, dico, addico, I give, I appoint, I adjudge. These days were distinguished in the calendar by the letter N. for nefastus; or N. P. nefastus primo, when the day was only nefastus in the forenoon, or first part. The days of a mixed kind were called intercisi

NEGAPATAM, a town and citadel of Tanjore, once the capital of the Dutch possessions on the Coromandel coast. It stands at the mouth of a river, capable of receiving vessels which draw little water; but there is a bar over which the surf breaks with great violence in bad weather. South-east of the town, at the distance of five miles, there is a shoal above five miles in length, having from three to six fathoms water in it. The anchoring place is opposite the town, about three miles from shore, where there is very little current. Negapatam was a small village, first fortified and improved by the Portuguese. It was taken from them by the Dutch in 1660, who strengthened its fortifications, and established a mint here. By degrees its trade increased, and the town was resorted to by merchants from all parts of the world. In 1781 it was captured by the British; and, at the ratification of the peace in 1783, was formally ceded; since which the fortifications have been neglected, and much of the trade transferred to other places. North of the town stands a large pagoda, or Hindoo temple, on which is erected a flag-staff, which in clear weather may be seen at six or seven leagues distance. Long. 79° 55' E., lat. 10° 43′ N.

NEGARA, a town of the island of Borneo, and capital of the kingdom of Banjar Massim, situated on the east side of a large river which runs into the sea: 100 miles from the sea, and sixty north from the town of Banjor Massim. NEGATION, n. s. Fr. negation; Lat. NEGATIVE, adj. & n. s. negatio. Denial ; deNEGATIVELY, adv. scription or argument by denial, absence, exclusion, or exception: negative is denying; not positive; having the power to deny or withhold; a proposition or particle of denial: negatively follows the senses of the adjective.

The fathers draw arguments from the Scriptures negatively, in reproof of that which is evil; Scrip. tures teach it not, avoid it therefore. Hooker.

Denying me any power of a negative voice as king, they are not ashamed to seek to deprive me of the liberty of using my reason with a good conscience. King Charles.

A purer substance is defined,
But by an heap of negatives combined;
Ask what a spirit is, you'll hear them cry,

It hath no matter, no mortality. Cleaveland. It may be proved in the way of negation, that they came not from Europe, as having no remainder of the arts, learning and civilities of it. Heylyn. To this I shall suggest something by way of answer both negatively and positively. Wilkins. When I asked him whether he had not drank at all? he answered negatively. Boyle. Consider the necessary connection that is between the negative and positive part of our duty.

Tillotson.

press me to neglect.

Johnson. Preface to Dictionary. There are certain forms and etiquettes in life, which, though the neglect of them does not amount to the commission of a crime, or the violation of a duty, are yet so established by custom, as to pss into statutes, equally acknowledged and almost equally binding to individuals, with the laws of the land, or the precepts of morality. Canning.

NEGOMBO, a large town on the west coast of Ceylon, and well situated for inland trade, particularly with Columbo, by a branch of the Mullivaddy River. It has a fort, and three

ranges of buildings for cinnamon store-houses and barracks. Many Dutch families reside in the town; its other inhabitants are persons from different parts of the east. The women, though dark, are said to be very handsome. The vicinity produces cinnamon and rice in abundance; and the gardens are well stocked with vegetables. It was taken by the British in 1796. Long. 79° 49′ E., lat. 7° 19′ N. NEGOCIATE, v. a. NEGOCIATION, n. s. NEGO'CIATOR.

Fr. negocier, of Lat. negotium.

To have amicable intercourse

I can discover none of those intercourses and negotiations, unless that Luther negotiated with a black boar. Atterbury.

Those who have defended the proceedings of our negotiators at Gertruydenburg, dwell much upon their zeal in endeavouring to work the French up to their demands; but say nothing to justify those demands. Swift.

As soon as this correspondence was concluded, the rupture of the negociation was made known in England by a declaration, which, while any sense of honor remains in the English nation, may always be recollected with pride and satisfaction. Canning.

NEGRAIS ISLE, an island of the Birman empire, with an excellent harbour, situated at the western mouth of the Irrawaddy River. The western point is called Cape Negrais, and is known by a temple of Boodh erected on it. This island was occupied by the British so early as the year 1697, and it was supposed that it would command the whole of the Pegue trade, and form a secure harbour for ships during the monsoons; but, the former idea proving fallacious, the settlement was withdrawn. In 1757, Alompra, the Birman emperor, formally ceded the island to the English, who, in consequence took possession of it in August of that year; but in October 1759 the place was suddenly attacked, and all the British who could not effect their escape were put to death. Since that period the Brmans will not permit any ships to pass up the Bassein branch of the river. Cape Negrais, the south-west point of this island, is in long. 94° 14' E., lat. 16° 1′ N.

NEGRO, n. s.

Span. and Ital. negro; Fr. negre of Lat. niger, black. A black man