NICKEL AND ITS USES. 255 



that they can be manipulated only by skillful workmen. In this 

 connection it is worthy of note and illustrative of the old saying, 

 " There is nothing new under the sun/' that a coin of the Bactrian 

 king Euthydeinos,* who reigned about 235 years before Christ, 

 is in composition very similar to the alloy adopted by Belgium, 

 the United States, and other countries. 



Nickel-plating annually calls for a large amount of the metal. 

 The process is said to have been invented by Bottcher about 1848, 

 and was first applied to firearms in order to prevent them from 

 rusting, but is now applied to every description of iron and steel 

 work. The effect, as is well known, is very fine, as the nickel, 

 coating is white, bright, and hard, and, since it shows but very 

 little tendency to oxidation, it retains its brightness for a long 

 time. 



Important as are the uses of the metal already indicated, the 

 world's annual consumption has been small ; not over a thousand 

 tons was consumed in 1888, nickel-plating calling for more than 

 half of this amount. 



It is, however, in connection with one of the new uses of nickel 

 — viz., as a constituent of nickel steel — that sj)ecial interest at- 

 taches to the metal at present. 



It is well known that nickel is frequently associated with iron 

 in meteorites, and the view that the well-known and valuable 

 qualities of meteoric iron might be due to the presence of nickel 

 has not wanted advocates in the past. 



Again, as far back as 1853, nickeliferous iron ores from Mar- 

 quette, Mich., were found to produce iron possessing unusual 

 toughness, a very white color, and a diminished liability to oxi- 

 dation. 



For a long time Nature's hints were neglected or disregarded, 

 but in 1888 patents were taken out in England and France by dif- 

 ferent individuals for the preparation of nickel steel. 



Tests of this alloy have been made by competent authorities, 

 and the effect of the addition of small percentages of nickel to 

 steel is seen in greatly reduced tendency to oxidation and increased 

 strength. As an example of the superiority of this nickel steel, 

 the following results of one of the tests may be given : A steel 

 containing 4*7 per cent of nickel "showed an ultimate strength 

 of thirty per cent and elastic limit of sixty to seventy per cent 

 higher than those of mild steel, with a nearly equal ductility, and 

 the valuable quality added of less liability to corosion." f The 

 authority who obtained these remarkable results adds : " Think 

 for a moment of this in connection with the erection of the Forth 



* The Numismatic Chronicle, viii, 305 ; quoted by Roscoe and Schorlemmer. 

 f Journal of the Iron and Steel Institute, No. 1, 1889. 



