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(note:  herbs/plants ref. w/"The English Physitian", Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. -- where possible.)

or   (Botanical.com, A Modern Herbal, Mrs. M. Grieve)

 

Nape  

See:  Wolf

"...Ovid says, that the dog Nape was conceived of a Wolf, and Ovid and Virgil both, mention the dog Lycisca, which, as Isiodore writes, are generated of wolves and dogs coupling together..."

Naphtha/Naptha     

See:  Bitumen

"...now I shall search out the kinds of Bitumen.  The first kind is liquid, called Naphtha, we call it Oil of Peter, which remains in stones and Kitram..."

"... It consists of these things.  Oil of rosinous Turpentine, of Quicksilver (otherwise then I showed in Distilling) of Juniper, of Naphtha, Linseed, Colophonia, Camphire. .."

Napkin        

Napkin - A little towel, or small cloth, esp. one for wiping the fingers and mouth at table.

"...Beat Vitriol and Galls in a Mortar.  Put them in a narrow close sieve, that the powder may come forth very fine.  With this wipe the Napkin, and shake it..."

"... If you rub the edge of the knife, and the Napkin he wipes his mouth with, with the juice of Coloquintida, or flesh of it, and lay it before him..."

Narcissus   

Narcissus - A beautiful youth fabled to have been enamored of his own image as seen in a fountain, and to have been changed into the flower called Narcissus.

"..Some of the most beautiful and handsome young men that ever mankind afforded, as of Nireus, Narcissus, and valiant Hyacinthus, ..."

Nardum   

"...Nardum kills sheep.  Dioscorides.  Cattle and goats, if they drink the water where Rhododendron is steeped, will die.  Pliny and Ononymus, an author nameless.  Flea Bane kills Goats and Sheep.  So does Savin..."

Natural Magick  

Natural Magick - The study and description of the Natural Sciences in all its forms.

"...That Natural Magick is the top, and the complete faculty or Natural Science, in handling it, we will conclude within the compass of this volume, whatsoever is high, noble, choice, and notable, that is discovered in the large field of Natural History..."

Natural History  

Natural History - The study and description of organisms and natural objects, especially their origins, evolution, and interrelationships.

"...That Natural Magick is the top, and the complete faculty or Natural Science, in handling it, we will conclude within the compass of this volume, whatsoever is high, noble, choice, and notable, that is discovered in the large field of Natural History..."

Natural Science    

Natural Science - A science, such as biology, chemistry, or physics, that deals with the objects, phenomena, or laws of nature and the physical world.

"...They that have been most skillful in dark and hidden points of learning, do call this knowledge the very highest point, and the perfection's of Natural Sciences; inasmuch that if they could find out or devise amongst all Natural Sciences, any one thing more excellent or more wonderful then another, that they would still call by the name of Magick..."

"...That Natural Magick is the top, and the complete faculty or Natural Science, in handling it, we will conclude within the compass of this volume, whatsoever is high, noble, choice, and notable, that is discovered in the large field of Natural History..."

Nature                  

Nature - all the animals, plants, rocks, etc. in the world and all the features, forces and processes that happen or exist independently of people, such as the weather, the sea, mountains, reproduction and growth.

"...the Egyptians termed Nature herself a Magician, because she has the alluring power to draw like things by their likes..."

"... Pliny speaking of this, says, for what is more wonderful?  Or wherein is Nature more wanton..."

Nature of the World  

See:  Orpheus

"...by reason of their mutual love, and so they hold and stand together, every member of it being linked to each other by a common bond, which the Spirit of the World, which we spoke of before, has inclined them unto. For this cause Orpheus calls Jupiter, and the Nature of the World, man and wife, because the world is so desirous to marry and couple her parts together..."

Navel    

Navel - . The central part or point of anything; the middle.

"...You must fill up the Navel of the Peach (or that place wherein the stalk was fastened) with a drop or two of scalding Pitch, so that the Wine may not get into the Peach by that passage..."

"...For if any moisture does settle upon them, presently the Worm breeds in them, and if once the Worm has eaten out the Navel as it were of the Pulse, that which is in them like a little mouth, then cannot the other part which is left, be ever fit for seed..."

Navew     

Navew - A kind of small turnip, a variety of Brassica campestris.  (also naphew)

See:  Asphodils, Daffodil, Round-heads

"Bread of Asphodils is eaten... Pliny, the Daffodil is eaten with the seed and head terrified.  But this roasted in the embers as Hesiod affirms, is eaten with oil also braised with figs, it is eaten with great pleasure.  These round-heads are like to Navews of moderate bigness..."

"...And not to be tedious, the same way-Bread to eat, may be made of all Navews, roots, or bulbous-heads..."

Nearchus   

"...as Aristotle writes, is in all his entrails like a wolfs, and is a strong beast, swift, and is wont to encounter a lion. Pliny says, it is kind of wolf, Hesychius says, it is like a wolf, Herodotus, that it is gendered in Africa. Solinus called them Ethiopian Wolves. Nearchus calls these beasts Tygres, and says there be diverse kinds of them..."

Needle    

Needle - . A small instrument of steel, sharply pointed at one end, with an eye to receive a thread.

 "...Put your hand with the Loadstone privately under the table, and there where the head of the Needle, the Loadstone will stick, and the Needle will presently stand upright..."

"... The Needle in the Mariners Compass will move above, as if there were no body between them.  St. August ne Lib. de civitate Dei, knew this experiment..."

Nep  (Catnip)  

Nep - Catnip - A well-known plant of the genus Nepeta (N. Cataria), somewhat like mint, having a string scent, and sometimes used in medicine. It is so called because cats have a peculiar fondness for it.

"...You must get a great root of Brionie, or wild Nep, and with a sharp instrument engrave in it a man or a woman, giving either of them thier genitories..."

Nepos   

Nepos, Cornelius. First century B.C.  - Roman historian whose only extant work is a series of biographies of statesmen and soldiers.

"...There is a kind of Lote without any inward kernel, which is as hard as a bone in the other kind.  Wine is pressed also out of it like mead, that will not last above ten days.  Nepos says the same from Pliny, Athenaus from Polybius. .."

Nero                    

Nero - A Roman emperor (37-68 A.D.).

See: Ceasar

"...And the governor of that country (Byzatium in Africa) sent to Nero, three hundred and fourty stems growing out of one grain..."

".. Nero Ceasar made his face white from the strokes he had received in his Nightwalks, with Wax and Frankincense..."

"... Livia Augusta, when she was young and great with the child of Nero, by Caesar Tiberius, because she earnestly desired to bring first a boy.  She made use of this Omen to try it by..."

Nestis  

Nestis (Water)

"...But Empedocles Agrigentinus not thinking that the elements were sufficient for this purpose, added unto them moreover concord and discord, as the causes of generation and corruption: There be four principal feeds or beginning of all things; Jupiter, that is to say fire; Pluto, that is to say, earth; Juno, that is to say air; and Nestis, that is to say, water..."

Nether    

Nether - Situated down or below; lying beneath, or in the lower part; having a lower position; belonging to the region below; lower; under.

"...Whence we may conjecture, that as the stone  (Loadstone) has a Pole Arctic and Antarctic.  So it has an East and West part, and its upper and Nether  part, as the heavens have..."

Nettle                        

Nettle - A plant of the genus Urtica, covered with minute sharp hairs containing a poison that produces a stinging sensation. "The English Physitian", Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. -- "These are so well known that they need no Description at all, they may be found by the feeling in the darkest night."

A plant of the genus Urtica, covered with minute sharp hairs containing a poison that produces a stinging sensation. Urtica gracitis is common in the Northern, and U. Chamaedryoides in the Southern, United States. The common European species, U. Urens and U. Dioica, are also found in the Eastern united States. U. Pilulifera is the Roman nettle of England.

"...Also the root of wild Nettles boiled with flesh, will make them tender. Pliny..."

"...called Dradella.  It has plaited leaves as wild Rochet, which they sow among Pulse.  The same may be said of the seeds of Nettles, Mustard, Flax, and Rice..."

Nicander / Nicandor               

"... Nicander thinks the stone so called, and so does Pliny from him, from one Magnes, a shepard.   For it is reported that he found it by his hobnailed shoes, and his shepherds-crook that it stuck to, when he fed his flocks in Ida, where he was a shepard.  But I think it is called Maganes, as you should say Magnus, only one letter changed..."

"...That Aconitum, which is called Myoetonon, kills mice a great way off.  Dioscorides and Nicandor..."

Nicocreon   

"...Nicocreon, the Tyrant of Cyprus, had a hart with four horns..."

Nicomedes   

Nicomedes - 3rd century BC, Greek mathematician; discovered the conchoid curve.

"...Suidas says, that when Nicomedes, King of Bithynia, longed for some of these fish, and living far from the sea, could get none.   Apicius the glutton, made the pictures of these fish, and set them on the table, so like, as if they had been the same..."

Nifus  

"...With a Falcon, and with a Buzzard, and the Eagle Nifus..." 

Nightbird 

See: Scopes

"...The Falcon, Seagull, the Turtle, the Blackbird, the Vulture, the Nightbird, called Scopes, perish with Pomegranate kernels..."

Nightingale    

Nightingale - A small, plain, brown and gray European song bird (Luscinia luscinia). It sings at night, and is celebrated for the sweetness of its song.

"... The female Nightingale is shut in a cage, the Fowler counterfeits their note.  The males come when they hear it, and seeing the female, the males flies about till he fall into the net..."

Nightshade   

See: Belladonna, Fair Lady, Hypnoticon, Solanum Manicon

"The English Physitian", Culpeper, Nicholas, 1616-1654. --"Common Nightshade hath an upright, round, green, hollow stalk, about a Foot or half a yard high, bushing forth into many Branches, whereon grow many green Leavs, somwhat broad and pointed at the ends, soft and full of Juyce, somwhat like unto Bazil, but larger, and a little unevenly dented about the edges at the tops of the Stalks and Branches, come forth three or four or more white Flowers made of five smal pointed Leavs apiece, standing on a Stalk together, one above another with yellow pointels in the middle, composed of four or five yellow threds set together which aftewards turn into so many pendulous green Berries of the bigness of smal Pease, full of green Juyce, and smal whitish round flat Seed lying within it. The Root is white and a little woody when it hath given Flower and Fruit with many smal Fibres at it; The whol Plant is of a waterish insipide tast, but the Juyce within the Berries is somwhat viscuous, and of a cooling and binding quality."

"...We may make the same of Nightshade, which is also called, Hypnoticon, from the effect of it.  A drachm of the rind, drank in wine, causes sleep, but gently and kindly.  This later age, seems to have lost the knowledge of Solanum Manicon..." 

Nightwalk    

"... Nero Ceasar  made his face white from the strokes he had received in his Nightwalks, with Wax and Frankincense.  And the next day his face was clear against all reports..."

Nigidius  

"...Nigidius says, that dogs will all day fly from him who pulls off a tick from a sow, and carries it a while about him.  Opian..."

Niphus   

"...Diodorus says, that the dog which the Ethiopian calls Crocuta, is a compound of the Nature of a dog and wolf. When Niphus was hunting, one of his dogs eagerly pursued a she-wolf, and overtaking her, began to line her, changing his fierceness into lust..."

Nipper    

Nipper - One who, or that which, nips.

 "...But when we anoint our heads with a Lye, we take a wet sponge with Nippers, that we may not stain our hands or skin of our heads..."

"...they remove all the Grapes that are either putrified, or dried away, or unripe, and pluck them off with a pair of Nippers, lest they would infect their fellows..."

Nireus   

Nireus - The son of Charopus and Aglaea. After Achilles, he was the most handsome of the Greek heroes at Troy.

"..Some of the most beautiful and handsome young men that ever mankind afforded, as of Nireus, Narcissus, and valiant Hyacinthus, ..."

Nitre (Niter)               

Niter - A white crystalline semitransparent salt; potassium nitrate; saltpeter.

See:  Saltpeter

"...Aelianus writes, that the keeper of Sheep, and Goats, and Mares, do besmear their hands with Salt and Nitre, and then rub the generative parts of them in the time of their coition, for their more lustful and eager performance of that action..."

"...But we use the Loadstone in making Glass.  Pliny.  After Glass was found out, it is a very cunning invention, men were not content to mingle Nitre.  But the began to add Loadstone thereunto, because it is supposed, that it will attract the Liquor of the Glass itself, and into Iron also..."

Nitrous    

Nitrous - Pertaining to niter; partaking of the qualities of niter, or resembling it. Nitrous acid is one of the compounds formed of nitrogen and oxygen, in which the oxygen is in a lower proportion than that in which the same elements form nitric acid.

See:  Nitre (Niter)

"... Nitrous of bitter waters.  If you put Barley flower dried to them, they are tempered...."

Noah   

"...Wherefore in Genesis, Noah sent forth a Pigeon which returned.  But the Raven returned not..."

Nones Of March   

Nones - The fifth day of the months January, February, April, June, August, September, November, and December, and the seventh day of March, May, July, and October. The nones were nine days before the ides, reckoning inclusively, according to the Roman method.

"...This if you practise before the Calends of March, or between the Nones and the Ides of March, you shall have your purpose..."

Nucipruna   

"...Damosins that shall be of the color of Nuts d.htm#damosinfor such kind of fruit were produced by the ancients, and called Nucipruna, that is, Nut-damosins, as Pliny reports..."

Nucleus    

Nucleus - . A kernel; hence, a central mass or point about which matter is gathered, or to which accretion is made; the central or material portion; -- used both literally and figuratively.

"...Or thus may you restrain that part of common Whores, with Galls, Gums, whites of Eggs, Dragon's blood, Acacia, Plantain, Hypocistis, Balanstia, Mastick, Cypress nuts, Grape skins, Acorn cups.  Or in that hollow part where the Glans breaks forth, and gaping, shows the Nucleus, with Mastick and Terra Lemnia..."

Nul   

Nul - No; not any.

 "...Let A be Nul, that is a Cyfer, and there place sixty..."

Nurse   

Nurse - . One who nourishes; a person who supplies food, tends, or brings up; as: (a) A woman who has the care of young children; especially, one who suckles an infant not her own. (b) A person, especially a woman, who has the care of the sick or infirm.

"...Music charms the tender ears of children, and Rattles will make them quiet, and hold their peace when they cry.  Wherefore Chrysippus is reported to have written a peculiar song for Nurses..."

Nut                 

Nut - The fruit of certain trees and shrubs (as of the almond, walnut, hickory, beech, filbert, etc.), consisting of a hard and indehiscent shell inclosing a kernel.

 "...It is a peculiar property of these fruits that are Grafted into Nut trees, that they are in color like to their own kind, but in taste like unto Nuts, being therefore called by a mixed name, Nucipruna..."

"...Others cast in the dust that is on the Catlings of small Nuts, and the Spaniards cast in Gyp, to make it clear and all these we may use in waters..."

Nut-damosins   

"...Damosins that shall be of the color of Nuts for such kind of fruit were produced by the ancients, and called Nucipruna, that is, Nut-damosins, as Pliny reports..."

Nut-peach    

"...Take off two young fruitful sprigs, one form a Peach-apple Tree, and the the other from the Nut-peach Tree, but they must be well grown, and such as are ready to bud forth..."

Nutmeg            

Nutmeg - Nux Moschata. Myristica officinalis (Linn.). Myristica aromata. Myristica. ---Description---The tree is about 25 feet high, has a greyish-brown smooth bark, abounding in a yellow juice. The branches spread in whorls - alternate leaves, on petioles about 1 inch long, elliptical, glabrous, obtuse at base - acuminate, aromatic, dark green and glossy above, paler underside and 4 to 6 inches long.

"...Take two pounds of rose water, of lavender half one, of cretan wine thirteen drachms, of the flowers of Gilliflowers, Roses, Rosemary, Jasmine, the leaves of Marjoram, wild Betony, Savory, Fennel, and Basil Gentle, half a pound.  An ounce of lemon peel, a drachm of cinnamon, Benjamin, Storax and Nutmegs..."

"...At last, take a pound of Cinnamon, half a pound of Nutmegs, as much Mastick and Spikenard, and a third part of Cloves.  Pound them severally, and being well Seirced, put them into the Oil, and mix them with a wooden stick..."

Nux Tarentina   

"...That kind of Nut which is called Nux Tarentina..."

Nux vomica  

Nux Vomica---Poison Nut. Semen strychnos. Quaker Buttons, Dogs Nut. ---Description---A medium-sized tree with a short, crooked, thick trunk, the wood is white hard, close grained, durable and the root very bitter. Branches irregular, covered with a smooth ash-coloured bark; young shoots deep green, shiny; leaves opposite, short stalked, oval, shiny, smooth on both sides, about 4 inches long and 3 broad; flowers small, greeny-white, funnel shape, in small terminal cymes, blooming in the cold season and having a disagreeable smell.

See:  Dogs Nut

"...Powder Nux vomica, and mingle it with flesh.  So also you may make fish drunk.  Opian teaches some ways.."

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