POPULAR MISCELLANY. 



569 



by the success which Mr. Joseph "WTiarton has 

 attained in the production of metallic nickel 

 of suitable purity at a reasonable price. Mr. 

 Wharton was one of the first to work the 

 metal successfully, and exhibited at Vienna, 

 in 1873, samples of axles and axle-bearings, 

 and at Philadelphia, in 1876, a remarkable 

 series of objects of wrought-nickel. He pro- 

 duced in his works, between 18V6 and the 

 close of 1882, 1,406,765 pounds of the metal, 

 the principal source of supply of which was 

 from the ores at Lancaster Gap, Pennsylva- 

 nia. The earhest practical process for nickel- 

 plating in the United States was patented by 

 Isaac Adams, Jr., in 1869. He devised a 

 bath of the double sulphate of nickel and 

 ammonium and the double chloride of nick- 

 el and ammonium, with anodes of metallic 

 nickel, in which iron was combined, to ob- 

 viate the bad effects of copper and arsenic 

 impurities. The extensive application of 

 this process was facilitated by the produc- 

 tion of nickel of improved qualities of puri- 

 ty, and the introduction of dynamos for pro- 

 ducing the electric currents, they taking the 

 place of the expensive galvanic battery. 

 Edward "Weston, in 1878, prepared a solu- 

 tion containing boric acid, with the double 

 sulphate of nickel and ammonium, the su- 

 periority of which is generally recognized. 

 The deposited metal is almost silver-white, 

 dense, homogeneous, and tenacious, while 

 the solution maintains a uniform, excellent 

 working quality. Among other solutions 

 which have been introduced, one prepared 

 by adding ammonia and water to the sul- 

 phate of nickel, is recommended by Pro- 

 fessor Bottger, and is said to be well suited 

 for the purposes of amateurs, because of its 

 giving good results with a platinum anode. 

 Compositions containing sulphate of nickel 

 and ammonium and sulphate of ammonium 

 are recommended for coating several differ- 

 ent metals. Where the double sulphate of 

 nickel and ammonium is used, the bath 

 should be maintained as nearly neutral as 

 possible ; but it may be either slightly acid 

 or slightly alkaline. The strength of the 

 current should be carefully regulated ac- 

 cording to the surface of the articles in the 

 bath, or the work will be apt to "burn," 

 ■when the metal is precipitated as a dark- 

 gray or black deposit. To obviate this dif- 

 ficulty, a plate of nickel presenting consid- 



erable surface is suspended from the rods 

 by which the objects to be plated are held 

 in the bath, to divert the surplus of the cur- 

 rent from them. Other things being equal, 

 the slower the rate of deposition, the more 

 adherent and tenacious the coating of depos- 

 ited metal will be. Success in plating de- 

 pends very largely upon the perfect cleans- 

 ing of the articles before they are immersed 

 in the bath ; and this is more important in 

 case of plating with nickel than with other 

 metals, for which the solutions are general- 

 ly more alkaline. As nickel-plated articles 

 can not be burnished on account of the hard- 

 ness of the deposited metal, they should be 

 thoroughly polished before being exposed 

 to the bath. A good coating of nickel prop- 

 erly laid on preserves great durability. 



A People who can not make Fire. — The 



Papuans of the Maclay coast of New Guinea 

 are represented by the Russian explorer, 

 Dr. Miklucho Maclay, as being in the most 

 primitive stage. They are wholly unac- 

 quainted with metals, and make their weap- 

 ons of stone, bones, and wood. They do 

 not know how to start a fire, though fire is 

 in use among them. When the traveler 

 asked them how they made a fire, they 

 could not understand his question, but they 

 regarded it as very amusing, and answered 

 that when a person's fire went out he got 

 some of a neighbor, and, if all the fires in 

 the village should go out, they would get it 

 from the next village. Some of the natives 

 represented that their fathers and grand- 

 fathers had told them that they remembered 

 a time, or had heard from their ancestors 

 that there was a time, when fire was not 

 known, and everything was eateii raw. The 

 natives of the southern coast of New Guinea, 

 having no iron, shave themselves now with 

 a piece of glass. Formerly they shaved with 

 flint, which they could sharpen quite well, 

 and used with considerable dexterity. 



The Art of Early Rising.— The proper 

 time to rise, says the " Lancet," is v.'hen 

 sleep ends. Dozing should not be allowed. 

 True sleep is the aggregate of sleeps, or 

 is a state consisting in the sleeping or 

 rest of all the several parts of the organ- 

 ism. Sometimes one and at other times 

 another part of the body, as a whole, may 



