Nusku

NUSKU, personification of the new-moon, the name of the light and fire-god in Sumer, Babylonia and Assyria, who is hardly to be distinguished from a god Gibil. Nusku-Gibil is the symbol of the heavenly as well as of the terrestrial fire. As the former he is the son of Anu, the god of heaven, but he is likewise asso ciated with Enlil of Nippur, the earth god, and regarded as his messenger. A centre of his cult in Assyria was in Harran, where, because of the predominating character of the moon-cult, he is viewed as the son of the moon-god Sin (q.v.). He is often called upon to cleanse the sick and suffering in the magic fire rituals.

The fire-god is also viewed as the patron of the arts and the god of civilization in general, because of the natural association of all human progress with the discovery and use of fire, and as the protector of the family. He becomes the mediator between humanity and the gods, since it is through the fire on the altar that the offering is brought into the presence of the gods.

While temples and sanctuaries to Nusku-Gibil are found in Babylonia and Assyria, he is worshipped more in symbolism than the other gods. Nusku and Gibil are symbolized by the lamp.

See A. Deimel, Pantheon Babylonicum, Nos. 598 and 2367. H. Zim mern, Keilinschriften and das Alte Testament, 416-420.

NUT,

a term applied to that class of fruit which consists gen erally of a single kernel enclosed in a hard shell. Botanically speak ing, nuts are one-celled fruits with hardened pericarps, sometimes enveloped in a cupule or cup, formed by the aggregation of the bracts as in the hazel and the acorn. A great number of nuts enter into commerce for various purposes, principally as articles of food or sources of oil, and for several ornamental and useful purposes. The edible nuts are very rich in oil, with a small percentage of the other carbohydrates, starch, sugar, etc., and also a large proportion of nitrogenous constituents. Oleaginous nuts used for food are likewise employed more or less as sources of oil, but on the other hand there are many oil-nuts of commercial importance not em braced in the list of edible nuts.

On the following page is set out an alphabetical enumeration of the more important nuts, and of products passing under that name, used either as articles of food or as sources of oil.

There remain to be enumerated a number of nuts of commercial value for turnery and ornamental purposes, for medicinal use, and for several miscellaneous applications in the arts. See table at foot of p. 646.

The application of the term nut to many of these products is purely arbitrary, and it is obvious that numerous other bodies not known commercially as nuts might with equal propriety be included in the list. Most of the nuts of real commercial im portance receive separate notice, and here further allusion is only made to a few which form current articles of commerce, not otherwise treated of.

The bread nut of Jamaica is the fruit of a lofty tree, Brosimum Alicastrum. It is about an inch in diameter, and encloses a single seed, which, roasted or boiled, is a pleasant and nutritious article of food.

The souari or surahwa nut, called also the "butter nut of Demerara," and by fruiterers the "suwarrow nut," is the fruit of Caryocar nuciferum, a native of the forests of Guiana, growing 8o ft. in height. This is perhaps the finest of all the fruits called nuts. The kernel is large, soft, and even sweeter than the almond, which it somewhat resembles in taste. The few that are imported come from Demerara, and are about the size of an egg, somewhat kidney-shaped, of a rich reddish-brown colour, and covered with large rounded tubercles.

Cola, kola or goora nuts are the seeds of Cola very (Sterculi aceae), a tree, native of tropical Africa, now introduced into the West Indies and South America. The nuts form an important article of commerce throughout central Africa, being used over a wide area as a kind of stimulant condiment. The nuts, of which there are numerous varieties, are found to contain a notable pro portion of caffeine, as much as 2.13%, besides theobromine and other important food-constituents, to which their valuable proper ties are due.