166 Miscellaneous Intelligence. 
thickness was pierced by the same means in fifteen seconds. Good 
steel was pierced even more rapidly than the iron, but a piece of 
grey cast iron, well scaled and heated till nearly in fusion, was not 
at all affected by the application of sulphur to its surface, not even 
a mark being left. A crucible was made of this cast iron, and 
some iron and sulphur put into it; on applying heat the iron and 
sulphur soon fused together, but the cast iron underwent no 
change.—Ann. de Chim. xxv. 107. 
17. Economical Preparation of pure Oxide of Nickel, by M. Ber- 
thier.—Speiss, or impure nickel, is to be reduced to fine powder 
and roasted till it gives off no further vapours of arsenic, the heat 
being at first moderate to prevent fusion, and then increased. 
Metallic iron in the state of filings or nails is to be added in a 
quantity which ought previously to be determined, and the whole 
dissolved in boiling nitro-muriatic acid, so much nitric acid 
being used that no protoxide of iron remain in the solution; eya- 
porate to dryness and re-dissolve in water, when a large quantity of 
arseniate of iron will be left. Add to the solutions successive 
portions of carbonate of soda until a greenish precipitate appears, 
at which time ali the arsenic and iron will be separated, and part of 
the copper; the rest of the copper may be separated by sulphuretted 
hydrogen, and the clear solution thus obtained, when boiled with 
sub-carbonate of soda, yields the carbonate of nickel. 
Thus obtained, the carbonate of nickel contains a little cobalt; 
to separate the latter, the precipitate as obtained above by boiling 
with sub-carbonate of soda, is to be well washed and diffused 
whilst moist in water, and~a current of chlorine passed into it 
until in excess: the excess of chlorine is to be allowed to dissi- 
pate and the solution filtered ; it now contains not the smallest trace 
of cobalt, that remaining as a hydrated peroxide, with a certain 
portion of nickel in the same state. Ifin the mixed carbonate of 
nickel and cobalt, the latter is in excess; the residue, after the 
action of the chlorine, is pure hydrate of cobalt, and the solution 
contains the nickel with a small quantity of cobalt.—Ann. de Chim. 
xxv. 95. . : 
18. White Copper.—According to M. Keferstein, a metallic com- 
position resembling silver has been employed under the name of 
white copper, for a long time at Suhl, in ornamenting fire-arms. 
M. Brandes, by analysis, found it to be an alloy of copper and 
nickel. MM. Keferstein and Muller have recently sought out the 
origin of this substance, and have ascertained that it is found in 
‘the scoria of some ancient copper-works, formerly attached to 
mines now abandoned. ‘The white copper, which had formerly 
‘been rejected as useless, is now obtained by fusion, for the purpose 
above stated.—Ann, de Chim, xxiv, 234. 
